#publisher World news RSS feed France RSS feed Europe RSS feed Turn autoplay off Turn autoplay on Please activate cookies in order to turn autoplay off * Jump to content [s] * Jump to comments [c] * Jump to site navigation [0] * Jump to search [4] * Terms and conditions [8] Edition: UK US AU * Your activity * Email subscriptions * Account details * Linked services Profile Mobile About us * About us, * Contact us * Press office * Guardian Print Centre * Guardian readers' editor * Observer readers' editor * Terms of service * Privacy policy * Advertising guide * Digital archive * Digital edition * Guardian Weekly * Buy Guardian and Observer photos Today's paper * Main section * Comment * Sport * New Review * Magazine * Observer Tech Monthly * Observer Food Monthly Subscribe The Guardian home * News * Sport * Comment * Culture * Business * Money * Life & style * Travel * Environment * Tech * TV * Video * Dating * Offers * Jobs * News * World news * France Marseille gangland murders prompt French crisis talks Son of football boss becomes latest victim of violence in city with long history of organised crime * Share * Tweet this * * [pin_it_button.png] * * Email * Angelique Chrisafis in Paris * * theguardian.com, Friday 6 September 2013 17.34 BST Jump to comments (…) Adrien Anigo murder in Marseille Police at the scene of Adrien Anigo's murder in Marseille. Photograph: Guillaume Horcajuelo/EPA The French government will lead crisis talks on Saturday over a spate of gangland murders in Marseille, after the shooting of a football boss's son â the 15th gun death this year â sparked soul-searching over the Mediterranean city's inability to shed its image as the "Chicago of the south". Adrien Anigo, 30, whose father, José Anigo, is sporting director of Olympique de Marseille, was shot dead in broad daylight on Thursday by two men on a motorbike while he was driving a rented Renault Twingo. The father of two, who ran a brasserie, was well known to police. He had been under investigation over jewellery store armed robberies carried out by a local gang and had been due to appear in court in the near future. In the past he had served time in prison on remand before being released over a judicial error, French media reported. Anigo's father grew up on a poor estate before becoming a player at Marseille, one of France's oldest and most popular clubs, and then sporting director. Anigo Sr, an imposing figure, has always denied having any mafia or crime links of his own. Two years ago, asked by the Journal du Dimanche about his son, he said: "The street sucked in my son, but that's got nothing to do with anyone but the justice system." Hours before Anigo was killed, a 24-year-old man was gunned down at La Ciotat just outside Marseille after masked men on motorbikes tracked him arriving at his place of work. The government is under pressure to act on the violent crime that has blighted Marseille as it tries to shed its old image as a city of gangs, drug deals, corruption and political clientelism. The ongoing problems have cast a shadow over Marseille's stint as European capital of culture this year. While tourist numbers have risen sharply in the past six months, with the city aiming to attract 10 million visitors this year and the new Museum of the Mediterranean hailed as an architectural masterpiece, French headlines have been dominated by gang murders. This year's death toll has not yet matched 2012's exceptionally high total of 24 gang killings in the Bouches-du-Rhone area including Marseille, but the methods have alarmed authorities. Increasingly, AK47s â reportedly available for â¬500 each â are being used to settle scores. Execution-style killings, once described by the state prosecutor as Marseille's "regrettable speciality", persist. The interior minister, Manuel Valls, has ordered together all political parties, saying: "I understand the anger of the Marseille people but we need time [to act] against drug-trafficking and daily delinquency." He called a truce on the left-right political slanging matches over who was to blame. The rightwing mayor of Marseille, Jean-Claude Gaudin, has denounced France's "Marseille-bashing". Last month the state sent 130 extra riot police and 24 investigators to Marseille. but many observers say the problem runs deeper. Although Marseille has recovered from the 1990s horror years of industrial decline, unemployment remains above the national average and more than 20% of residents live below the poverty line. Some estates have more than 40% youth unemployment, and young people have few prospects but the "underground economy" of drug deals. Marie-Arlette Carlotti, a government minister competing in the Socialist primary race to choose a Marseille mayoral candidate next year, said the "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. We have to look at exterior signs of wealth, trace the networks to their bank accounts in protected places." Marseille had hoped to move on from its long history of organised crime and murderous mobsters with names such as The Belgian, The Blond or The Tomcat. After the second world war, Marseille gangs known as the "French Connection" ran vast illegal laboratories processing heroin coming in from Turkey and the east. By the late 60s, about 80% of heroin in the US was trafficked from Marseille. In 1971, the figure of the Marseille drug baron was immortalised in the Hollywood film the French Connection. Marseille is no longer a heroin or drug-processing capital, but it remains at the centre of the trade in cannabis coming into Europe through Spain from Morocco. The city is also a key point in the cocaine smuggling route into Europe from South America through west Africa. But local dealing on poor housing estates is now at the centre of its problems. Mothers complain that young men are falling victim to increasingly violent attacks over petty fallings-out or small debts. Daily Email close Sign up for the Guardian Today Our editors' picks for the day's top news and commentary delivered to your inbox each morning. Sign up for the daily email * Print this Print this * Share * Contact us Send to a friend Close this popup Sender's name ____________________ Recipient's email address ____________________ Send Your IP address will be logged Share Close this popup Short link for this page: http://gu.com/p/3thqh * StumbleUpon * reddit * Tumblr * Digg * LinkedIn * Google Bookmarks * del.icio.us * livejournal * Facebook * Twitter Contact us Close this popup * Report errors or inaccuracies: userhelp@theguardian.com * Letters for publication should be sent to: letters@theguardian.com * If you need help using the site: userhelp@theguardian.com * Call the main Guardian and Observer switchboard: +44 (0)20 3353 2000 * + Advertising guide + License/buy our content Article history About this article Close this popup Marseille gangland murders prompt French crisis talks This article was published on the Guardian website at 17.34 BST on Friday 6 September 2013. It was last modified at 00.07 BST on Saturday 7 September 2013. World news * France · * Europe More news * Share * Tweet this * * * Email Comments Click here to join the discussion. We can't load the discussion on theguardian.com because you don't have JavaScript enabled. Today's best video * Kennedy riding in Dallas motorcade JFK: former secret service agent relives assassination Former secret service agent Clint Hill gives his account of the day John F Kennedy died as the US marks 50 years since Kennedy's assassination * Doctor Who 50th anniversary title sequences Doctor Who theme re-recorded New recording marks the series' 50th anniversary * Bayern Munich's Franck Ribbery Bayern Munich recreate Borussia Dortmund stunt Players recreate trick on board team bus * Ricky Gervais, Miss Piggy and Kermit the Frog Muppets Most Wanted The Muppets return with a new adventure. Watch the trailer GuardianWitness * Rescuers work in a flooded street in the small town of Uras, Sardinia Sardinia storms: share your experiences If you have been affected by the recent storms and flooding in Sardinia â share your videos, photos and experiences * raft of sea otters Tech Monthly readers' photography project: networks Whether it's a web of neurons or the building of a new train line, we'd like to see your photos on the theme of 'networks' * Father and daughter together Gypsies, Roma & Travellers: introduce us to your family Help us find out what life is really like for Gypsy, Roma and Traveller families around the world by telling us about your own family * Send us your assignment ideas Do you have an idea for an assignment you think should run on GuardianWitness? Let us know. * The NSA files trailblock image Live: Follow NSA-related developments as controversy over leaks continues to make headlines On World news * Most viewed * Latest Last 24 hours 1. [John-Kerry-at-Iran-talks--006.jpg] 1. Iran seals nuclear deal with west in return for sanctions relief 2. 2. Vatican displays Saint Peter's bones for the first time 3. 3. China imposes airspace restrictions over Japan-controlled Senkaku islands 4. 4. Yemeni wedding guests accidentally shot while dancing to Gangnam Style 5. 5. Uganda: no country for gay men 6. More most viewed Last 24 hours 1. [Anti-government-protest-i-003.jpg] 1. Ukrainian protesters flood Kiev after president pulls out of EU deal 2. 2. Timeline of Iran's nuclear programme 3. 3. French horse riders take tax protest on to streets of Paris 4. 4. Bahrain: two former Guantánamo inmates arrested 5. 5. Iran and US could cause shift in tectonic plates of Middle East alliances 6. All today's stories Guardian Bookshop This week's bestsellers 1. Eat - The Little Book of Fast Food 1. Eat - The Little Book of Fast Food by Nigel Slater £17.50 2. 2. Tales from the Secret Footballer £7.99 3. 3. For Who the Bell Tolls by David Marsh £8.99 4. 4. Stage Blood by Michael Blakemore £15.49 5. 5. Autobiography by Morrisey £7.19 Search the Guardian bookshop ____________________ (Submit) Search Sponsored feature guardian jobs Find the latest jobs in your sector: * Arts & heritage * Charities * Education * Environment * Government * Graduate * Health * Marketing & PR * Media * Sales * Senior executive * Social care Browse all jobs ____________________ Search Video Journalist New York | Competitive GUARDIAN NEWS AND MEDIA Today in pictures * sports peronality 2012 BBC Sports Personality of the Year â in pictures Bradley Wiggins capped his remarkable sporting year by taking home the big prize at the ceremony in London * Martin Parr's M Video Christmas party photograph Dinner, dusk and dancing Russians: my best winter shot A glass of wine with a rough sleeper, Santa in trunks, a thousand partying Muscovites ⦠in a My Best Shot special, top photographers pick the image that sums up winter for them * Kimon, a long-tailed monkey grooms a kitten, whom, she treats as her baby, Bintan Island, Indonesia Monkey adopts kitten â in pictures Kimon, an eight-year-old pet female long-tailed monkey, treats a kitten as her baby in Bintan Island, Indonesia * License/buy our content | * Privacy policy | * Terms & conditions | * Advertising guide | * Accessibility | * A-Z index | * Inside the Guardian blog | * About us | * Work for us | * Join our dating site today * © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. * Share * Tweet this * * Quantcast