A BBC investigation has found one of Europe’s most powerful drug gangs in France is recruiting teenage children from across the country to commit kidnap and murder.

Known as the “DZ Mafia”, the gang won a bloody turf war against a rival group in Marseille during 2023, and is now recruiting from further afield.

One member who is in prison awaiting trial after being implicated in several murders told the BBC he was part of a DZ Mafia hit squad.

He agrees the killings he has been charged with were “quite shocking”.

“Attempts in broad daylight, in traffic jams… it can range from going to hit a guy, slap him to taking him in front of his mother and burning him up in a car. I think I have good composure, I handle it fairly well.”

When challenged over whether he feels regret when carrying out such acts of brutality, he says he feels “guilty in-part” but claims to have no regrets.

Like so many teenagers from Marseille, he knew large sums of money could be earned quickly in drug trafficking. Now in his twenties, he admits the environment he entered was a “trap”.

The BBC’s Paris Correspondent, James Waterhouse, reports from Marseille.