Organized crime in France
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Organized crime in France is primarily based in major cities like Marseille, Grenoble, Paris, and Lyon. It is often referred to as grand banditisme in France.[1][2]
From the 1900s to the late 1930s, le milieu primarily engaged in
France's geographical location makes it an attractive venue for trafficking (i.e. smuggling) and counterfeiting. The port of Marseille is a hub for Le Milieu to move large amounts of product into domestic and European markets.[3] Low economic development continues to be the largest factor in youth joining French criminal organizations.
The most prominent criminal organization within Le Milieu is the Corsican mafia (milieu corse). Although the mafia has encompassed many criminal groups from the 1960s to the 1980s, modern (1990s–present) criminal activity is managed by the Marseille-based Unione Corse and Northern Corsica–based Gang de la Brise de Mer (i.e. "the sea breeze gang"). In 2007, an internal conflict led to the deaths of 102 people on the island of Corsica fracturing the influence of the two larger groups in the island (Brise de mer gang and Colonna family).[4] These two mobs remain powerful as of 2018, often controlling nightclubs, bars, restaurants, apartments, and hotels in Aix-en-Provence, Marseille and the French Riviera. In 2016, it was estimated that France's organized crime net US$23 billion in its underground economy.[5]
Terms used
The term milieu literally means middle or environment and figuratively
- "Traditional Milieu" (1930 to 1989): encompasses the older, foundational criminal organizations of the French underworld
- "French Corsican mafia" or "Milieu corso-marseillais" (1990–present): encompasses the newer, modern criminal groups in France and Corsica
Organization
Due to the early historical connection the Corsican mafia shares with the Sicilian one, the modern structure of most French mobs typically break down into crime families with a strict hierarchy. Usually the goodfellas that carry out "orders" are known as une équipe multi-qualifiée (i.e. a multi-skilled team) composed of les beaux voyous (i.e. "the good fellows"). Most of these groups of members maintain and protect "mouvances" (i.e. territory).[2] Members of the French Mob are highly professional as compared to lower-level crime groups in that they usually split their work by specialty (e.g. some members serve as the "brain", while others the "muscle" and/or "specialist").[2]
- Caïd (French: [kay-id] "the big boss"; "the boss")
- Parrain (French: [pah-rahn] "godfather")
- Spécialiste (French: [speh-sjah-leest] "specialist")
- Associés ("associate")
- Beaux voyous ([bow vwah-yo] "goodfella"; "the good fellows")
Externally, and more generally, the organization of the French mob is as follows:[2][7][6]
- Le Milieu (French: [luh mil-yuh]) "the underworld") / The French Mob: a general term for criminal organizations in France
- Mafia-type criminal organizations (e.g. the Corsican mafia): a criminal network composed of crime families
- Gangs (e.g. Rédoine Faïd gang, Gang des postiches): a smaller criminal group with a soft hierarchy
- Crime families (e.g. Carbone crime family): a subset of a mafia-type organization that executes orders and/or missions
Activities and strategies
According to a 2004 study on organized crime, the activities of criminals within the French underworld typically fall into three broad categories:[2]
- Wholly illegal activity: criminal activities that are blatantly and duly illegal e.g. racketeering, kidnapping, armed robbery, trafficking, assault, etc.
- Associative illegal activity: criminal activities associated with their main wholly illegal activities e.g. bribery, corruption of police officials, tax fraud, grand theft auto, etc.
- Legal activity: activities used to cover up illegal activities e.g. operating a business for money laundering purposes, running gambling machines, restaurants, etc.
History
Origins: 1910s to 1920s
The history of organized crime in France can be traced to the
"French Connection": 1930s to 1970s
During the 1940s and 1950s, many gangs — most notably the
"The Godfathers": 1980s
During the 1980s, many "godfathers" (e.g. Tany Zampa, Jacky Imbert, and Francis Vanverberghe) fought for control over racketeering and drug trafficking in the port area of Marseille. It was during this time that the Zemmour brothers — known as "The Godfathers of Paris" — were killed. Claude Genova quickly assumed the gap the brothers left and continued running low-level prostitution rings until his 1994 assassination. The Gang des postiches robbed nearly 30 banks during their run from 1981 to 1986. Claude Genova's connections and infrastructure was overtaken by the Hornec brothers in 1994.
Push to extortion: 1990–2000
At the start of the 1990s, cities were split up by families or "godfathers"[5] (parrains). Larger cities, however, were fractured into various "mouvances" (territories). Many of these crime families established complex extortion rings in Marseille extending to Aix-en-Provence and the greater French Riviera.
The
Revitalization: 2000–present
Minority members of French society are being lured into crime families as a way of "fitting in". Low economic growth in the south of France is also leading youth to join the ranks as drug mules to gain an income alternative.[3] An increase in youth-centered gang activity lead to the separation of the Milieu. Since the 1990s, the French Corsican mafia (Milieu corso-marseillais has encompassed the newer, modern criminals in an effort to distinguish them from the "traditional Milieu" (1930s to 1980s).[3]
During the early 2000s, French
Inter-gang fighting led to a spike in murder rates on the island of Corsica in 2008.[21] In 2010, The "Venzolasca Gang" penetrated large amounts of territory previously occupied by the Brise de Mer Gang.
In 2011, it was reported that various North African gangs had moved to the suburbs of Paris in order to sell crack cocaine.[22] Members of these gangs introduced heroin and pure cocaine to their business operations in 2015.[23][24][25] On 18 October 2011, a large holding of art was stolen from the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Ajaccio, Corsica, by the Valinco, Brise de Mer, and Venzolasca gangs.[26]
In 2014, there was also an influx of "Voyageurs" or "Traveller" gangs in Paris, Marseille, Grenoble, and Montpellier. The most famous of them is the Hornec crime family;[18] they regularly participate in robberies, extortion, drug trafficking, prostitution, and illegal slots machines. Their hubs of operation are in the Camargue and the Étang de Berre regions.[18]
In 2023, a war erupted in Marseille between the Yoda and DZ Mafia gangs, leaving 40 people dead as of September 2023.[27]
List of French mobs
The following list contains historical and contemporary renditions of organized crime groups originating and/or operating in France. Mobs that also serve as crime families are denoted accordingly.
† | Mob and crime family |
Name | Location | Activities | Known Status |
---|---|---|---|
Gang des postiches | Paris | bank robberies | 1981 and 1986 |
Bonnot Gang† | All major cities | racketeering | 1911 to 1912 |
Gang des Tractions Avant | Paris | bank robberies | 1915 to 1950s |
Bande des Trois Canards | Marseille | burglaries, hold-ups and racketeering | 1950 to 1965 |
Rédoine Faïd gang† | Paris | 1990 to 2013 | |
Hornec gang† | Paris | racketeering, drug dealing, illegal slot machines | 1980–present |
Unione Corse (it's not the name of a gang but a nickname given by the US press to the complex network of gangsters from a Corsican and/or Marseillaise origin that participated to the French Connection ad were protected by french authorities between 1945 and the 1970s) | Marseille | racketeering, drug dealing, extortion, bank robbery | 1945-1970s |
Gang de la Brise de Mer | Corsica | racketeering, drug dealing, extortion, bank robbery | 1970s–present |
Les Caïds des Cités (it's not the name of a gang, it means all the different gangs that come from HLM neighbourhoods mostly from Arabian and black immigrants) | Paris | rent-controlled property extortion, drug trafficking | 1990s–present |
Venzolasca Gang[26] | Corsica | racketeering, drug dealing, extortion | 1990s–present |
Valinco Gang[26] | Valinco | extortion | 1970s-1985 |
La bande du Petit Bar[28]
|
Ajaccio | extortion, drug trafficking | 2000s–present |
List of crime families
Crime families in France are smaller units of mobs, (i.e. a crime syndicate) which are in-turn either smaller units of a mafia group or the general Milieu. Alternately the phrase "crime family" could also mean the entirety of a mob, if it is small enough.[8] The following list encompasses groups that are solely crime families and do not double as French mobs:
- Corsican mafia
- Unione Corse (Marseille, French Riviera, France and Ajaccio, Corsica)
- Francisci crime family
- Guerini brothers (defunct)
- Orsini crime family (defunct)
- Venturi crime family (defunct)
- Carbone crime family (defunct)
- Sarti crime family (defunct)
- Mondoloni crime family (defunct)
- Barbieri crime family (Toulon-based)
- Barresi crime family
- Campanella crime family
- Brise de mer gang (Bastia, northern Corsica and France)
- Mariani crime family
- Casanova crime family
- Guazzelli crime family
- Patacchini crime family
- Colonna crime family (southern Corsica)
- Unione Corse (Marseille, French Riviera, France and Ajaccio, Corsica)
- Traveler families
- Other major groups
- Perletto crime family (defunct)
- Zampa crime family (defunct)
- Zemmour crime family (defunct)
In popular culture
- On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1963), James Bond novel and film (1969), wherein a character heads the French Mafia and is of Corsican descent.[29]
- The French Connection (1971), American film on the heroin trade, based on the book of that name
- Les Brigades du Tigre(2006), French crime film loosely based on le milieu
- In the film trade in Harlem.
- A Prophet, 2009 French drama film centering on a petty criminal who rises in the Corsican mob
- 22 Bullets (2010), French film based on the leader of the Bande des Trois Canards, Jacky Imbert
See also
References
Notes
Citations
- ^ Lalam, Nacer, "How organised is organised crime in France?" in Organised Crime in Europe: Concepts, Patterns and Control Policies in the European Union and Beyond
- ^ ISBN 9781402026157.
- ^ ISSN 0319-0781. Retrieved 2018-01-12.
- ^ "Corsica Organized Crime On The Rise". The Huffington Post. Retrieved 26 December 2014.
- ^ a b c "Organized crime in Europe: A country-by-country breakdown | The Mob Museum". The Mob Museum. 2015-06-23. Retrieved 2018-01-12.
- ^ a b "Tamil Tiger Mafia, a major threat to French society – Jérôme Pierrat". Retrieved 26 December 2014.
- ^ a b "La camorra Paris : quand le boss roulait sa Lamborghini sur les Champs - AgoraVox le mdia citoyen". AgoraVox. 30 April 2010. Retrieved 26 December 2014.
- ^ ISBN 9781402026157. Retrieved 26 December 2014.
- ^ "The World: The Milieu of the Corsican Godfathers". TIME.com. 4 September 1972. Archived from the original on November 10, 2007. Retrieved 26 December 2014.
- ^ "Huit jours pour juger les braqueurs". Le Parisien (in French). 8 October 2001. Retrieved 14 April 2013.
- ^ "La PJ coffre Rédoine Faïd, le braqueur médiatique" (in French). 28 June 2011. Retrieved 14 April 2013.
- ^ "French prisoner escapes after dynamiting through doors". Telegraph. 13 April 2013. Retrieved 14 April 2013.
- ^ "Top French gangster in spectacular jailbreak". AFP. 14 April 2013. Retrieved 14 April 2013.
- ^ "Fin de cavale en Seine-et-Marne pour le braqueur Redoine Faïd", leparisien.fr, 29 May 2013
- ^ "France's most wanted, gangster Redoine Faid, uses explosives to blast out of jail". The Australian. 14 April 2013. Retrieved 14 April 2013.
- ^ "Le Figaro - Actualités". Retrieved 26 December 2014.
- ^ "Les caïds de cité succèdent aux Italo-Grenoblois". Le Figaro. 4 August 2010. Retrieved 26 December 2014.
- ^ a b c cites2grenoble (16 November 2007). "A Grenoble Caid de cits et manouches s'affrontent dans une guerre sans merci". Skyrock. Retrieved 26 December 2014.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ "Les caïds des cités, nouveaux rois du milieu marseillais". leparisien.fr. 26 December 2014. Retrieved 26 December 2014.
- ^ "Marseille Drug War Killings: Government Refuses to Send in Army". International Business Times UK. 30 August 2012. Retrieved 26 December 2014.
- ^ "France - Corsica, a local breed of violence". France 24. 19 October 2012. Retrieved 26 December 2014.
- ^ "Mission d'information sur les toxicomanies : compte rendu de la semaine du 23 mai 2011". Retrieved 26 December 2014.
- ^ "Guerre des Dealers dans une Cité Interdite". lefigaro.fr. 15 June 2007. Retrieved 24 June 2015.
- ^ Le Point, magazine. "L'or blanc des Blacks des cités". Archived from the original on 26 December 2014. Retrieved 26 December 2014.
- ^ "Nouveaux gangs, les caïds des cités tiennent les stups". marianne.net. Retrieved 24 June 2015.
- ^ a b c "Eleven suspects examined for Musée des Beaux-Arts robbery in Ajaccio | AMA | Art Media Agency". en.artmediaagency.com. Retrieved 2018-01-15.
- ^ "French woman shot through wall in Marseille drug shooting dies". BBC News. 12 September 2023.
- ^ "Corse : la bande du Petit Bar démantelée". leparisien.fr. 2013-10-04. Retrieved 2018-01-15.
- ^ Benson, Raymond (2015-12-07). The James Bond Bedside Companion. Crossroad Press.
External links
- Oliver Jungen Wenn der Bock zum Gärtner wird, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (in German), 7 February 2017, retrieved 27 June 2017
- Ursula Scheer Geldwäsche in Germania, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (in German), 16.06.2015, retrieved 27 June 2017