More violent, younger. But also more feminine. In recent years, organized crime in France has changed its face. Women have been able to find their place in an environment that has long smelled of testosterone. This is the observation made by analysts from Sirasco (information, intelligence and strategic analysis service on organized crime) of the judicial police in their latest report.
Women have “a long time [été] excluded from the management of physical deal points, the recruitment via social networks of delivery people for call centers has contributed to feminizing the sale of narcotics,” underline the authors of the document. “This is not a fight by organized crime for gender equality, it is pure opportunism,” insists their leader, divisional commissioner Annabelle Vandendriessche.
“There have always been women in drug cases,” recalls Me May Sarah Vogelhut to 20 Minutes. This Parisian lawyer, who defends clients often implicated in trafficking cases, recalls that many mules arrested at airports are women “of all social origins”. “There are also many nannies [qui gardent la drogue à leur domicile] who are little grannies from the neighborhood,” adds the criminal lawyer.
But she has also noted, for around six years, a feminization of the sector linked to the “Uberization” of drug trafficking. “One evening, it’s 1 a.m., I’m at the Seine-Saint-Denis PJ, and I only see girls arriving, handcuffed and everything. Before, we never saw girls in cells, it was improbable. »
“More discreet than four guys in a car”
Among these young women, many are “coke delivery girls”, recruited by the networks to deliver the drugs ordered by their customers using encrypted messaging. They drive “Smarts or Minis” and are “a little fresh”, “pimped out as if they were going to the Champs-Elysées in the evening”. According to the lawyer, traffickers quickly understood the benefit of recruiting girls to carry out this type of task. “It’s more discreet than four guys in a car in tracksuits, flip flops, socks and pockets. The guys were burned out,” notes Me May Sarah Vogelhut.
“In terms of physical deals, it was a strictly male universe. There is not one candidate who would have presented herself. On the other hand, criminal networks saw an advantage in recruiting women to make deliveries. Their profile is less associated with crime, and there is less risk of control,” adds Divisional Commissioner Vandendriessche.
“We see women taking responsibility”
But women are no longer confined only to the job of delivering drugs. “It’s a gateway to a criminal network. This then allows, depending on the skills of each individual, to occupy more important positions. Today, we have a lot of women involved in drug convoys or in assassination tracking. Because a couple looks a lot better than two guys dressed in black. We see women rising to responsibility, we are not just on small hands, even in the case of the DZ Mafia,” observes the head of Sirasco.
Last March, the gendarmes launched a large-scale operation targeting the Marseille criminal group. Twenty-six people were indicted in this case. Among them, nine women. For the public prosecutor of Marseille, Nicolas Bessone – who did not wish to answer questions from 20 Minutes – their indictment illustrates this “true feminization of narco-banditry”.
10% of those involved
Me May Sarah Vogelhut notes, in the cases she handles, that certain women play, within the networks, “roles that go beyond those of salesman or nanny”. “We are now seeing some of them with higher positions in drug trafficking. They are not at the head of the networks but they are at the top of the basket,” she explains. Before adding: “Drug traffickers are without faith or law. What they want is results. They are willing to do anything, as long as it works. And if that means taking a girl, they don’t hesitate. Efficiency will always come first. »
The fact remains that the proportion of women implicated in drug cases remains very low compared to men. Between 2016 and 2024, the figure stagnates at around 10%, according to the data communicated last December by the Ministry of the Interior. Analysts from the SSMSI (ministerial statistical service for internal security) note that women are more involved in trafficking in amphetamines and methamphetamine (16%), opioids (18%) and ecstasy (14%) than in cannabis or crack (8%).
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