French government crisis talks after Marseille football club director’s son is shot dead in the city’s 15th gun killing in the crime-ridden city this year

  • Adrien Anigo, son of Olympique Marseille boss Jose Anigo, gunned down in French city
  • Shooting is 15th murder in region since start of this year
  • Marseille's mayor and officials call for end to in-fighting to solve gangland crisis in city
  • French Prime Minister last month ordered 130 police officers and 24 investigators to crack down on Marseille drug trade

By Ellie Buchdahl

PUBLISHED: 15:44 GMT, 7 September 2013 | UPDATED: 15:45 GMT, 7 September 2013


Marseille has become the focus of emergency French government talks after the son of a football boss was gunned down in the street on Thursday in the city's latest gangland killing.

Adrien Anigo - whose father, Jose Anigo, is the sporting director of Olympique Marseille - was the second person in a day to be killed in the region of the southern port city - and the 15th murder since the start of the year.

The 30-year-old was shot dead in the middle of the day by two men on a motorbike while he was getting out of a rented Renault Twingo.

Shooting: Police and forensic experts investigate the scene where Adrien Anigo was murdered

Shooting: Police and forensic experts investigate the scene where Adrien Anigo was murdered

The killing is being seen as part of a worrying and increasing gangland culture in a city rife with drugs and political corruption - even in the year it holds the title of European Capital of Culture.

Last month, French Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault ordered 130 extra riot police and 24 investigators to Marseille, which has France's second-biggest population and a large immigrant community.

Authorities say AK47s are available in the region for €500 each, and that execution-style killings - described by the state prosecutor as Marseille's 'regrettable speciality' - are becoming increasingly common.

Anigo, a restaurant owner, had been under investigation by police over armed robberies of jewellery stores and involvement in a local gang.

Gunned down: The 30-year-old son of Olympique Marseille's sporting director was shot dead by men on a motorbike as he was getting out of his car

Gunned down: The 30-year-old son of Olympique Marseille's sporting director was shot dead by men on a motorbike as he was getting out of his car

Investigation: Anigo was already under investigation by police and was due to appear in court over armed robberies of jewellery stores

Investigation: Anigo was already under investigation by police and was due to appear in court over armed robberies of jewellery stores

Bloodbath: The men who shot Adrien Anigo fled the crime scene on a motorbike

Bloodbath: The men who shot Adrien Anigo fled the crime scene on a motorbike

He was due to appear in court, having been jailed in the past before being released because of a judicial error, according to French media.

The father-of-two suffered multiple gunshot wounds, including one to the head, as he was targeted by the men who fled the scene.

His killing came hours after gunmen shot a 24-year-old as he arrived for work in the town of La Ciotat, some 20 miles from Marseille.

Jose Anigo, the director of one of France's oldest and most popular clubs, grew up on a poor estate before becoming a player at Marseille.

He has denied having any mafia or crime links of his own, telling the Journal du Dimanche two years ago: 'The street sucked in my son, but that's got nothing to do with anyone but the justice system.'

Popular: Olympique Marseille, with players such as Andre Pierre Gignac, pictured left (with Eric Abidal of AS Monaco, right) is one of the best-loved clubs in France

Popular: Olympique Marseille, with players such as Andre Pierre Gignac, pictured left (with Eric Abidal of AS Monaco, right) is one of the best-loved clubs in France

Crisis: The incident, which took place in broad daylight in front of passers-by, was the second in a day - the first involving a 24-year-old man gunned down by masked motorbike men at La Ciotat just outside Marseille

Crisis: The incident, which took place in broad daylight in front of passers-by, was the second in a day - the first involving a 24-year-old man gunned down by masked motorbike men at La Ciotat just outside Marseille

Tourist numbers have risen sharply in Marseille in the past six months, with the city aiming to attract 10 million visitors this year as it holds the Capital of Culture title.

Officials have had some success at cracking down on drug-smuggling, particularly the heroin trade, but it is still a hub on the cocaine route through Europe from Africa.

The death toll has not reached last year's total of 24 gang killings in the Bouches-du-Rhone area including Marseille.

 

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However, unemployment remains above the national average, with more than 20 per cent of Marseille residents below the poverty line and more than 40 per cent youth unemployment in some parts of the region.

Marseille's right-wing major Jean-Claude Gaudin has accused politicians in France of 'Marseille-bashing'.

Crackdown: A suspect is led away by police as part of an anti-drugs operation in the city, which has seen the deployment of around 150 extra officers

Crackdown: A suspect is led away by police as part of an anti-drugs operation in the city, which has seen the deployment of around 150 extra officers, including riot police

'Chicago of the South': High unemployment is blamed for the persistent drug trade in the city

'Chicago of the South': High unemployment, particularly among young people, is blamed for the persistent drug trade in the city

Dead end: Poor housing estates are said to be focal points for an underground economy of drug deals between youths with few prospects

Dead end: Poor housing estates are said to be focal points for an underground economy of drug deals between youths with few prospects

French interior minister Manuel Valls called on political parties to unite to solve this crime issue in the city.

He said: 'I understand the anger of the Marseille people but we need time [to act] against drug-trafficking and daily delinquency.'

Marie-Arlette Carlotti, a government minister competing in the Socialist primary race to choose a Marseille mayoral candidate next year, said 'real mafia networks' must be neutralised.

'We have to find out where the money is, the white collars, because there are bosses in all this, even if the mafia is less well-organised than it was in the past,' she said.

'We have to look at exterior signs of wealth, trace the networks to their bank accounts in protected places.'

Marseille's drug trade became famous in the 1971 Hollywood film The French Connection, named after the postwar heroin gangs in the city.

By the late Sixties, about 80 per cent of heroin in the US was trafficked from Marseille.

Enforcement: Government officials hope a heavy police presence will neutralise mafia-like networks in the southern French port city

Enforcement: Government officials hope a heavy police presence will neutralise mafia-like networks in the southern French port city

Gangland: AK47s are said to be available in the city for a few hundred euros

Gangland: AK47s are said to be available in the city for a few hundred euros


 

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The headline is repetitive.

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15 gun shootings in 9 months hardly makes a city crime ridden. Marseille has a population of about 1,500,000. I bet Nottingham has more gun shootings than that in a year and that city has half the population of Marseille. Shootings happen in every major city. To label Marseille as crime-ridden is unfair.

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Dont let this put you off visiting Marseille....best Bouillabaise in the world..

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