Customers call it “the stadium”, because it’s easier to find. The police call it “the oven”, because it’s hot all the time. The inhabitants themselves do not talk about it for fear of reprisals. However, this is the biggest cannabis deal point in the Val-de-Marne.
Every day, more than 200 customers from the Paris area come to get their supplies in this recess located at the corner of rue Henri-Barbusse and rue Pasteur, next to the Gabriel-Thibault stadium in Villejuif. In the summer or on weekends, it gets so crowded that the queue looks like a subway platform during rush hour. I went there on a Friday night to buy some weed. And I understood why this deal point was so famous.
An ideal geographical position for business. It is almost the most important. “The secret of a point of deal that works is that the customer can come to it easily,” sums up a connoisseur. The vast majority take line 7 and get off at the Villejuif-Léo-Lagrange metro station. Just walk five minutes up the former N 7. Then turn left, rue Henri-Barbusse. Here, between 5 p.m. and 9 p.m., there are only inhabitants or customers.
“Chouf chouf”, avenue Henri-Barbusse. From the first meters, the eardrums are abused. At the handlebars of a backfiring motocross, a prepubescent teenager goes up the avenue only on the rear wheel. He stares at me when he passes me. Arrived as far as the N 7, he turns around and goes down at full speed. The “chouf”, or watchman, is paid between 40 and 50 € per day to monitor the sector. “It’s not often guys from here, says a policeman. They come from other departments. There are either kids, sometimes 10/12 years old, who cycle, or old people who are too burnt out because of convictions and who can no longer take the risk of selling ”.
Three sinister porters. They are three at the entrance to the deal point. You have to go past them to get through the anti-bicycle turnstile. They too are “choufs” but one is equipped with a snow removal shovel. And no, it was not snowing that day. A few years ago, one of them was shot in the butt. “Probably a message from a competitor,” sighs a regular. In the corner, the bosses of two other deal points, 40 Charles-Gide in Kremlin-Bicêtre and the “Div” in Villejuif, located avenue de la Division-Leclerc, are salivating at the turnover of the “oven”.
What the police can do
Express sale. After the turnstile on the right at the bottom of the building, half a dozen customers are being served in the dark. The dealer, or “bicraveur”, with the lamp of his telephone, takes out of a plastic bag the pouches containing the grass or the resin of cannabis. I wait for them to finish. At the end of the transaction, this teenager aged 16 or 17 approaches me. ” What do you want ? he asks me. “20 € of grass”. “Go pretend to watch the football match, I’ll whistle you as soon as it’s good”. “The bicraveur always makes sure that the customer does not know where the product is hidden, notes a policeman. He generally receives 100 to 150 € per day, sandwich included. He’s not necessarily from the area.
In front of the locals. On a small field, at the bottom of the buildings, children are kicking a ball. Next door, football training takes place at the stadium. I’m waiting for my dealer, my €20 in hand. An awkward situation. It is all the more so when a father holding his son in his hand walks past me, glaring at me. “The inhabitants are exasperated, enrages a policeman. There are quite a few new homes here. Many bought off plan. They did not expect to see customers parading all afternoon in front of their house. Precisely, a young person comes and crashes three meters from me. He too is waiting to be served. Five minutes later, the bicraveur approaches us. ” Follow me “.
A satisfied clientele. The dealer leads us to the same place as before, where the transactions are made. He opens his plastic bag again. Two pouches come out, one of grass for me, the other of resin for my neighbour. We give him our ticket and we spin past the three doormen. Before he descends the stairs of the Villejuif station, I catch up with him and strike up a conversation. “It’s the third time I’ve come to serve myself here,” explains Roland. I am from Mantes-la-Jolie (Yvelines) but I moved to Paris. I don’t know many people to supply me near my home. I was told about the Villejuif stadium. I’m going there because it happens very quickly and it’s not far. Basically, it’s practical”. Verdict of an experienced smoker on the quality of the weed: “Oily and tasty. She must be from Holland. Anyway, she’s very good. And no scam in terms of quantity”.
€6,000 turnover per day. At the end of his day, the bicraveur returns the money to the lieutenants. “Them are the accountants even if they also take care of the packaging of drugs, sums up a connoisseur. This point of deal must make €6,000 in turnover per day. That’s a lot when you know you only have to pay five of your soldiers afterwards. There must be €3,000 left to share between the owners of the deal point”.
The smile of the bosses. Who runs the “oven”? Hard to say. “In fact, there would be several of them buying the drug in large quantities, blows a specialist. Let’s say that the one who has the plan to recover the goods is more important than the others”. “When one of the bosses shows up from time to time, we recognize him right away, laughs a policeman in the field. He’s the only one who greets us with a smile. He keeps telling his guys that you have to behave well because it’s good for business. In general, he is older than the others, like about thirty years old. He launders his money locally. It’s easier. »
