Organized Crime in France
Organized crime in France is primarily based in major cities like Marseille, Grenoble, Paris, and Lyon. It is often referred to as grand banditisme in France.
From the 1900s to the late 1930s, le milieu primarily engaged in prostitution, bookmaking, fencing, and hijacking. Favored criminal activity in France turned to bank robbery, drug trafficking, and smuggling from 1940 to the late 1970s. The 1980s saw a resurgence of large-scale bank robberies and heists. From 1990 to 2000, criminal organizations established complex extortion rings in Marseille extending to Aix-en-Provence and the greater French Riviera. Since 2002, Le Milieu is known for, in addition to its extortion rings, large counterfeiting and white-collar crime operations. Due to increased financial regulation, Le Milieu has collectively pushed to integrate their crime profits into the legal economy.
France's geographical location makes it an attractive venue for trafficking (i.e. smuggling) and counterfeiting. The port of Marseille is a hub for Le Milieu to move large amounts of product into domestic and European markets.[3] Low economic development continues to be the largest factor in youth joining French criminal organizations.
The most prominent criminal organization within Le Milieu is the Corsican mafia (milieu corse). Although the mafia has encompassed many criminal groups from the 1960s to the 1980s, modern (1990s–present) criminal activity is managed by the Marseille-based Unione Corse and Northern Corsica–based Gang de la Brise de Mer (i.e. "the sea breeze gang"). In 2007, an internal conflict led to the deaths of 102 people on the island of Corsica fracturing the influence of the two larger groups in the island (Brise de mer gang and Colonna family). These two mobs remain powerful as of 2024, often controlling nightclubs, bars, restaurants, apartments, and hotels in Aix-en-Provence, Marseille and the French Riviera. In 2016, it was estimated that France's organized crime net US$23 billion in its underground economy.
Terms used
The term milieu literally means middle or environment and figuratively society or environment, used as shorthand for le milieu criminel (criminal environment) or le milieu interlope (illegal environment). It's a generic term that can designate any type it criminal society (eg: le milieu chinois, short for le milieu criminel chinois, the Chinese criminal underworld), when used without additional info or context (Le milieu) it is inferred as native historical French criminal society and it refers to the set of criminal figures operating in the French metropolitan areas who are known to the public for being involved in high level organized crime. Members working within the milieu are collectively known as the French mob. This category does not include criminal organizations that were formed in another country and operate within France (e.g. the Campanian Camorra, Serbian mafia, Albanian mafia, Chinese Triads, or Kurdish terrorist PKK).[6] French gangs considered part of the milieu usually have long-standing ties to the country.[8] An increase in youth-centered gang activity lead to the separation of the Milieu.
"Traditional Milieu" (1930 to 1989): encompasses the older, foundational criminal organizations of the French underworld "French Corsican mafia" or "Milieu corso-marseillais" (1990–present): encompasses the newer, modern criminal groups in France and Corsica
Organization
Due to the early historical connection the Corsican mafia shares with the Sicilian one, the modern structure of most French mobs typically break down into crime families with a strict hierarchy. Usually the goodfellas that carry out "orders" are known as une équipe multi-qualifiée (i.e. a multi-skilled team) composed of les beaux voyous (i.e. "the good fellows"). Most of these groups of members maintain and protect "mouvances" (i.e. territory). Members of the French Mob are highly professional as compared to lower-level crime groups in that they usually split their work by specialty (e.g. some members serve as the "brain", while others the "muscle" and/or "specialist").
- Caïd (French: [kay-id] "the big boss"; "the boss")
- Parrain (French: [pah-rahn] "godfather")
- Spécialiste (French: [speh-sjah-leest] "specialist")
- Associés ("associate")
- Beaux voyous ([bow vwah-yo] "goodfella"; "the good fellows")
Externally, and more generally, the organization of the French mob is as follows:
Le Milieu (French: [luh mil-yuh]) "the underworld") / The French Mob: a general term for criminal organizations in France Mafia-type criminal organizations (e.g. the Corsican mafia): a criminal network composed of crime families Gangs (e.g. Rédoine Faïd gang, Gang des postiches): a smaller criminal group with a soft hierarchy Crime families (e.g. Carbone crime family): a subset of a mafia-type organization that executes orders and/or missions
