'Narcorama': a century of drug trafficking dissected in Marseille
A new documentary series traces the history of drug trafficking in Marseille, from the French Connection to the DZ Mafia, through rare testimonies and previously unseen archives. The France.tv platform is broadcasting the first season.
Marseille and its century of drugs: the 'Narcorama' series
According to france3-regions.franceinfo.fr, a masterful documentary series, 'Narcorama', untangles the history of drug trafficking in Marseille. The first season is now available on the France.tv platform, tracing a century of drug trafficking through the early Corsican and Italian godfathers, the birth of the DZ Mafia, the French Connection and the assassination of judge Michel.
An event that changes everything
The series opens with the Clos la Rose shooting in November 2010. That evening, two sports cars pull up to a dealing point. Automatic weapons emerge from the windows, spraying everything in their path. Jean-Michel, sixteen years old, who was acting as a lookout, is killed by the bullets. Little Lenny, eleven years old, a witness to the carnage, becomes a target himself. The assailants pursue him. The boy escapes, seriously wounded and traumatised, but survives. This shooting marks a turning point: for the first time, drug traffickers target children. They no longer kill for revenge; they kill to sow terror and seize territory.
An investigation without compromise
The series relies on rare testimonies, notably that of a customs chief explaining how tons of cocaine are unloaded at the port thanks to a presumed system of internal complicity. Exceptional archives complete the picture: old Marseille from before the war, when Carbone and Spirito begin trafficking heroin. Without voice-over narration, the editing conveys how drugs and their traffickers held the city in their grip for nearly a century.
Vincent Hérissé, the director, explains the choice of this approach: "Following the thread of drugs was a way of telling the story of Marseille. We had to look back at what happened yesterday to understand what is happening to us today."
Poverty and complicity
The documentary exposes unflinchingly the poverty, collusion between political and mafia powers, and the deliberate willingness to turn a blind eye for decades. 'Narcorama' watches like a Greek tragedy: you know that in the end, it ends badly.
The series also debunks certain persistent myths. Hérissé points out: "The absolute record for the number of deaths in Marseille is 2023, with 49 drug-related murders. But there were almost as many in 1986. A small reminder for those with short memories." It refuses to be sentimental towards the Corsican-Marseille underworld whilst avoiding stigmatising current populations, favouring a factual and documented perspective, close to the victims.
Anne-Sophie Maxime, director of broadcasting and content for Ici Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, emphasises: "It is precisely because we are a public service television that refuses sensationalism that many witnesses agreed to speak to us."
Broadcasting and what comes next
Season 1 will be broadcast in full during a debate evening on 11 October, with exceptional airtime from 9 p.m. A second season is already in preparation. It will explore how drug trafficking is poisoning entire sections of civil society today — notably the music industry and cinema — thanks to the considerable revenues it generates.
The DZ Mafia's annual turnover runs into several billion euros. Hérissé concludes pessimistically: "I do not know if we have lost the war, but most of the witnesses I interviewed say they are very pessimistic."
Source: Google News FR — Crime (fr)