‘Crime influencers’ recruit killers in Marseille drug war

Ruthless gangs hire ‘Kleenex killers’ to eliminate rivals and post gruesome details online

TEENAGE hitmen hired by drug barons fighting turf wars in Marseille have begun boasting of their exploits on social media to earn bonuses on top of their payments.

Drug kingpins are using Snapchat, Instagram and TikTok to act as “crime influencers” to recruit new hands, brag about weapons, sell their wares and speak about killing rivals amid the port’s murderous gang wars.

Marseille has suffered 22 fatal shootings this year – more than the whole of 2022 – making it Europe’s murder capital. Much of the violence involves two rival gangs – DZ Mafia and Yoda – who trade Kalashnikov fire almost daily.

The high death toll has prompted gang leaders to recruit ever younger hitmen, whom some experts have nicknamed “Kleenex killers” because they are seen as disposable.

The phenomenon came to light after the arrest in April of an 18-year-old known only as Matteo F. Charged with the murder of three members of a rival gang, his victims were aged 15, 16 and 20. Police believe he was paid €200,000 (£172,000) for these and other crimes, involving another six or seven hits.

In a video shared on encrypted messaging apps but circulating on social media, the masked Matteo says: “I’m going to rake in the contracts, bro. I’m gonna take them down. On my mother’s life, I’m piling up the contracts. I’m having a laugh.”

When caught, he showed no remorse, telling police: “It’s just as well I wasn’t carrying a gun when you arrested me otherwise I would have died using it.”

The teenager, reportedly from a middle-class family, was recruited via Snapchat, provided with guns and a car, and told to avoid Marseille except when conducting hits. He was ordered to film his jobs to prove success – the more social media coverage of the crimes the better. “The price was €20,000 per contract but it could go up to €50,000 depending on views on Instagram,” one source told Le Parisien.

“One of their strategies is gaining media attention to say ‘look how strong we are’,” said Dominique Laurens, a prosecutor.

“They film themselves, challenge and provoke each other all the time,” a local police source told Le Parisien. “It’s done to intimidate rivals and to galvanise soldiers on the frontline when drug ringleaders are on the run or in prison.”

Marseille is not the only city affected. In another case of young hitmen recruited online, police arrested nine people in Paris in March including a 16-year-old caught over the fatal shooting of a 38-year-old man.

Experts say that the “sociology” of gangland killers is changing. “Before a limited number of professional killers paid €100,000 per contract at the behest of a given network,” one police source told JDD. “Now we are coming up against less experienced but no less dangerous profiles. They are handed a weapon before being given a target.”

Frédérique Camilleri, state prefect of the Bouches-du-Rhône region, said the younger hitmen also reflected younger, lower-level targets. “Three or four years ago, those targeted in drug dealing disputes were usually high-ranking in the ring’s hierarchy,” she said. “Now they go after dogsbodies.”

“It has gone from lieutenants to the ‘choufs’ (scouts) – that’s why 15 or 16-yearold kids die. And as the killers, often themselves young, do not know how to use their weapons and they shoot in bursts, no one is safe from a stray bullet,” said Jérôme Pierrat, a journalist.

More than 200 extra police officers have been sent to Marseille to try and quell the violence, including 30 this month. But the killings continue.

The 22nd murder took place last week in the Paternelles housing estate, epicentre of the drug war.