Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited
by Olesya Orlenko
[REGNUM] In July 2026, Christophe Rivenc, a member of the Republican party and mayor of the southern French city of Alès, received a letter containing two bullets and death threats.
Similar graffiti appeared on the walls of his home. Law enforcement took the situation very seriously. Meanwhile, it once again illustrates a problem that has been a sad part of everyday life in France for many years.
The authors of the message and graffiti identified themselves as members of the DZ mafia group, legendary in the French criminal world. It emerged from a showdown in Marseille.
More than a decade ago, the city's criminal underworld was controlled by the so-called "Yoda" gang, which specialized in drug trafficking. Their rivals, who eventually seized control, used the DZ symbol. The acronym refers to the Arabic name of the capital, Algiers, from which the new leaders or their families primarily hailed.
The mayor of Alès has been assigned a substantial security detail. And the leader of the Republican party, Bruno Retaillo, who recently served as Minister of the Interior, reiterated on social media his earlier warnings about the "Mexicanization" of the country. He believes this is reflected in the rise of organized crime and the increasing pace of drug trafficking in France.
Retailo believes that the best way to combat drug trafficking and gangs would be to isolate dangerous areas of cities where criminals operate—including with armored vehicles. He also believes that total monitoring of citizens' social media communications to detect suspicious content would be necessary. However, the effectiveness of these proposed measures is questionable.
French police have long been actively combating organized crime, the existence of which they have only reluctantly begun to acknowledge and comment on in the last two or three years.
From late 2023 to March 2024, police carried out a series of special operations called "Clean Square" aimed at combating drug trafficking in Marseille and surrounding cities.
Their goal was to eliminate members of the Yoda and DZ gangs, who had begun to destroy each other in bloody clashes. One such operation was personally launched in March 2023 by President Emmanuel Macron. According to Interior Ministry reports, these operations resulted in over 1,700 arrests and the confiscation of over 150 kg of cocaine. Security officials claim that both gangs were eliminated.
Indeed, some key figures from the Yoda gang are now in the hands of the French justice system. However, a significant number of "mid-level managers" managed to escape. And it's possible that this group's disappearance from the criminal map was due less to law enforcement than to the efforts of competitors. After all, the DZ brand resurfaced in 2025.
Shootouts involving members of this organized crime group have occurred in Marseille and Nice. According to police, they control the criminal underworld of Avignon and Nîmes.
In the city of Ales, law enforcement conducted an operation in several neighborhoods in the spring of 2025. Mayor Rivenk recalls that at that time, "a new network emerged, bringing with it new, more radical methods: reprisals, shootouts, masked men in neighborhoods—a veritable division of the streets." Could this gang be spreading across the country thanks to its power?
In fact, the security situation is problematic and even critical in many French cities. Crimes are committed against mayors, regardless of their political affiliation.
In 2026, criminals burned the cars of the mayor of Echirolles (near Grenoble) and the assistant mayor of Villiers-Saint-Paul (near Paris), both of whom were running as communist candidates. On June 29, the house of the mayor of Riversaltes, a member of the National Rally, was burned down on the Spanish border.
A similar incident occurred in the city of Saint-Brévin. The mayor resigned after a fire started in his home by unknown assailants, followed by a series of threats. Socialist Mayor Benoît Payant of Marseille also received hundreds of threats. And the brother of his deputy, Amine Kessachi, was killed by the mafia.
In 2021, 1,186 local government officials were targeted by criminals. In 2024, this number increased to 2,501. These statistics are frightening and, in some cases, have dampened the enthusiasm of politicians to run for local government.
In addition to threats to the authorities, street shootouts in which bystanders are injured and killed are becoming a daily occurrence in an increasing number of cities. The suburbs of Paris, Grenoble, Marseille, and Nice have long featured in French crime reports.
But the phenomenon is spreading further. From July 15 to 17, 2026, shootouts involving Kalashnikov assault rifles occurred in the tourist town of Carcassonne. DZ claimed responsibility for these incidents.
Current members of the group call themselves "New Generation," mimicking the Mexican cartel Jalisco New Generation. French impersonators actively use social media and make videos mimicking the Mexicans, confirming Retailo's claims.
After threatening the mayor of Alès, they also made a video to claim they weren't behind it. In the footage, "official representatives" of DZ, dressed in black and balaclavas, called the threats against Christophe Rivenk "a vile and disgusting act committed by people seeking to harm society, denigrate French morals, and, above all, target the DZ group." According to the video's creators, their organization's primary goal is profit. And to achieve this, they absolutely don't need to attract the attention of the authorities.
Experts believe that by doing so, the group's members are sending signals in two directions. First, they seek to intimidate their competitors with the inevitability of consequences. Second, they demonstrate to the state their intention to set their own rules.
Attempts by criminal groups to assume state functions have already been observed in recent criminal history—in particular, in Marseille. In disadvantaged areas of the city, gangsters sometimes spread information among residents, promising to repair property damage caused by showdowns. They even made isolated attempts to carry out so-called social campaigns, for example, purchasing school supplies for children from poor families at the start of the school year.
These rare actions are understandable: the loyalty of the population serves as a guarantee of confidentiality. And young people from areas where gangs operate swell their ranks.
Peculiar advertisements for "employees" with specified salaries have been flooding the streets of many French cities since 2025. Recruiters promise that standing guard at a "product" point of sale will earn 150 euros per day. A security guard will earn 200 euros, and a salesperson 300.
The entire situation points to one thing: organized crime is moving in where the state is leaving. Systematic cuts to government spending, streamlining of law enforcement, curtailing youth outreach, and government corruption are leading to other forces filling the vacuum.
Individual measures won't solve this systemic problem. But the current French government's budget and resources are currently focused on militarization and funding the war in Ukraine.
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