“The contract point near me generated between 15,000 and 20,000 euros per day. ” – L’Express

In the spring of 2023, Siam Spencer, an independent journalist, moves to Nice for a professional opportunity. With high rental prices in the city center, the young woman decided to rent a shared apartment in the Moulins district, famous for hosting “La Laverie”, one of the biggest deal points of the Alpes-Maritimes. The reputation of the place, considered a “sensitive neighborhood”, does not affect it. For several months, the journalist saw, live, the operation of the agreement point a few meters from her home. While she is shopping, she passes in front of those “little hands” of the network, sometimes aged 12, 13 or 14, who wait for the police or serve customers “of all age and every socio-professional sector”.

From her apartment, she observes the “cat and mouse” game between the police and the traffickers, the fatigue of the residents, the unhealthy condition of the community, the violence of everyday life. Then he decided to write a book, which was published in November 14 by Robert Laffont. In The LaundromatSiam Spencer thus describes how he woke up to the sound of Kalashnikov explosions, the agreement becoming common, the abandonment of public policies, the trap employed by traffickers and the ubiquitous influence and dis- created “the network”. An interview.

L’Express: From the first chapter of your book, you evoke the daily life full of violence that you saw at Les Moulins, especially describing the beatings that woke you up on your first night in the apartment . How did this violence take hold of the community, and what is its impact on the daily lives of residents?

Siam Spencer: This violence is both horrific and brutal. My first awakening is very important, because I am awakened for the first time in my life by these famous guns. I remember what I felt every second, the moment is frozen in my memory, there is an almost tragic side to it. At first I told myself that I had to go out, to help anyone who might be hurt. In fact, the people outside were mostly calm. I had this movement in my head then, when I realized that if no one panicked, I shouldn’t panic either – in a way, it had to be considered “normal”.

This is why I speak of brutal violence: the residents of Les Moulins have become accustomed to this kind of scene, little by little. There, as in many similar neighborhoods, there have always been few thugs, fights, small deals. But from the beginning of the 2000s, the drug trade went on and became organized, and the violence increased, slowly, until people no longer accepted it. In the beginning, there were no guns, so there were no explosions, no scores. Then the weapons arrived around the middle of the 2010s, while the network continued to grow, with more violent attacks, and even death in 2022.

Obviously, we can have elderly people who are still in shock and shock after violence or a shooting, mothers who play in the children’s playpen and panic at that time, or events that still in memory of all the inhabitants. But these incidents are still normal, even justified: for example, when a young man from the neighborhood tried to break down my door, thinking that my apartment was abandoned to squat, I talked about about it immediately to my friends. They were not surprised. They told me “You are new here, they must have seen you”, with a kind of habit when faced with this kind of reality.

This violence mainly comes from the drug trade, crystallized by the presence of the famous trading place Moulins, nicknamed “La Laverie”. How would you describe the impact of the presence of this traffic on the community, and how it evolved over time?

This contract point, which was 30 meters from my window, generates between 15,000 and 20,000 euros per day. Everyone knows it exists, and it is evident that it transcends the community: money is involved, strong demand with more and more users, of all ages and all socio-professional sectors. There was only a market available, and it was seized by small boys who began to organize themselves, and to give new portions to the traffic. They started fighting to keep their business, with violence, revenge, hunters to build on… Even if the different clans are still difficult to recognize. In Marseille, it’s clear that there are specific networks, with their names, their logos… But in Nice it’s a bit more unclear, it moves much faster, we can’t -Really knowing who owns this or that contract point. And the competition is not as obvious as it is in Marseille.

In your book, you describe at length the omnipresence of watchers in the community, who specifically warn of the presence of the police. What are the relationships between traffickers and law enforcement in Les Moulins?

For a long time, there was a small local police station in the heart of Les Moulins. A former police officer explained to me that there was a lot of communication between the officers and the residents, and despite the little thugs, everyone communicated well. In 2008, a larger police station was built outside the area. Relationships became strained, there were riots in 2005, traffic intensified. Today, it is literally a game of cat and mouse. The police come by, the dealers throw away the drugs, the patrols try to get the packages back, and then the next day comes to patrol the point contract Their presence does not solve anything.

Among the residents, it is obvious that everyone has an opinion on the matter: there are those who almost want the army to intervene, and those who ‘ finding that a stronger police presence would be of no use. There is a kind of anger towards this helplessness: I think back, for example to “Net space” activity. organized by the Ministry of the Interior, some of which took place at Les Moulins. During the time they lasted, the agreement was settled: I remember a small child telling me that he was no longer selling anything, that he had become a “trouble”. But at the same time, the development of online delivery and of the famous “Uber shit”. developed to a power of ten, with another way of selling taking hold, more and more customers, more financial commitments, and therefore more violence to get the point of agreement back.

You mention in detail the small hands that keep this point alive, such as Matteo, whom you describe as “the young neighborhood delinquent par excellence: small, drug addict, not so bad , withdrawn and out of school”. Who are these traffic “paints”?

At Les Moulins, there are two types of small hands: unaccompanied minors (MNA), first. They are vulnerable, alone, young, unique and uncertain – everything the network is looking for. When they arrive in France, many wait for several months in hotels or hostels, which is where they are picked up. We offer them fifty euros a day, we scare them, or both. They fall into the contract, then get used to some kind of comfort, or get caught in debt. And then there are the local young people, who grew up there, and are exposed to the network through a bad company. It’s a friend’s brother or cousin who gets them to smoke their first joint at 10, 12, or 14 years old… Then they start hanging around the Laundromat, asking for the drinks buy their own, get a salary. And that’s how they get bullied.

I really felt that none of these “little hands”, whether for small children or young people in the community, were really aware of the dangers. When I talked about it with them, most of them answered: “I’ll be fine”, “I’ll get through it”, “Then I’ll have a nice car, I can go and live my life and be happy “… There is a serious unconsciousness, especially induced by the group phenomenon.

What is the role of parents or adults to prevent the younger ones from being “alpagated” by the network?

We often hear about the responsibility of parents, but I noticed during my immersion that most parents are completely unaware of what is happening. I’m thinking of a little watcher who was raised more or less by his grandmother, who was very far from thinking that he could be part of the network. And then we have to forget that they are children: they do stupid things without their parents seeing them, like anywhere else… Except that we are in Les Moulins. And the stupidities there have far greater consequences. This is also why the presence of a connection is essential, to create a buffer between what is happening in the community and the families, to keep the connection with these young people, to try to get out of the network through other ways.

You describe in detail the abandonment of public policies and the State in this community: the unsanitary conditions, the dirt, the lack of social support… What is the effect of this feeling of abandonment in the daily life of the residents?

The feeling is overwhelming, and three-quarters of the time it translates into anger. It’s a feeling of being a second class citizen, with a broken elevator while living on the 15th floor, life among cockroaches and rats, the hot water cuts off regularly … Even if it is ten minutes from the tram, you are looking at the biggest palaces in Nice. Many residents work in these places as well, with a difference in lifestyles that causes this anger. The network can benefit from this frustration, for example with the phenomenon of the apartments. Traffickers come to offer residents the keys to their homes in exchange for payment, to hide drugs or members of the network during police raids. People quickly do the math, telling themselves they will be “helped” financially for a small service…