Gangs of Marseille

MAYBE IT'S BECAUSE I'm working my way through the great show The Wire, but this story really struck me. You don't think of this in Europe the way you do the States. That's probably naive.

MARSEILLE, FRANCE - The hit squad drove up about 10 p.m. in a pair of sporty cars, one Italian the other German, and opened fire with AK-47 assault rifles smuggled in from Eastern Europe.

When the dry crack of gunfire went silent, a 16-year-old drug-runner lay mortally wounded and an 11-year-old boy who had gone out with his sister for pizza was bleeding profusely from rounds that slammed into his foot and, after piercing his arm, ripped a hole in his throat.

Whole story from the Washington Post is here.