Les Minots (Paperback or Softback)

"This isn't Marseille, it's Rio, the favelas of Rio!"
On Friday, November 19th 2010, the state prosecutor in Marseille, Jacques Dallest uttered those words in front of several television cameras set up at the foot of Building 37 of the Clos la Rose housing project, one of the most dangerous sectors of the neighborhoods of northern Marseille. A few minutes earlier, Jean-Michel Gomez, nicknamed Michou was pumped full of bullets by a Kalashnikov while he was outside chatting with friends. He was only 16. The killers didn't stop there. While they were getting away, the also shot Lenny, an 11 year old lookout. He miraculously survived. The suspected murderers, the Bengler brothers, were acquitted after a highly publicized trial.

Thanks to interviews with Michou's family, Lenny the miraculous survivor, today an adult, social workers and the inhabitants of the Clos la Rose, Roman Capdepon accurately depicts life in a very rough neighborhood in Marseille. Through his discussions with police officers, lawyers, the federal prosecutor and the minister of the Interior of the time, he describes the backdrop of this tragic incident: how for several years, the future of an entire generation of inner city youths has been crushed by the relentless, destructive wheels of drug trafficking.