Mafia Africa

Marseille, northern neighbourhoods, early 2020s. A tower block squatted by Nigerians is engulfed in flames, migrants clash with machetes in broad daylight and girls barely of age find themselves condemned to sell their bodies without respite. For some time now, death threats, extortion and gang rapes have been on the increase. Hyper-violent gangs with mystical beliefs are sowing terror among African asylum seekers and provoking the local kingpins on their own territory to compete with their trafficking.

To unravel the mystery of these new criminal groups known as cults, we need to go to the source of their history, in the rundown megalopolises of southern Nigeria. It was there, 6,000 kilometres from Marseille, that the cults were born over half a century ago. After all, why shouldn't Africa also have an international mafia?

Authors : Célia Lebur & Joan Tilouine. Illustrated by Johan Baggio

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