Six Months after PNACO’s Launch: The New Public Prosecutor’s Office Takes Stock for the First Time in the Fight Against Organised Crime

Paris – July 14, 2026: At the Paris courthouse, an institution tasked with coordinating France’s response to organized crime has been operating for six months. The National Prosecutor’s Office for Organized Crime (Parquet national anticriminalité organisée), abbreviated as PNACO, presented its first assessment of its work on Monday. The institution is headed by prosecutor Vanessa Perrée. PNACO does not see itself as an organization competing with regional investigative bodies, but as a coordination hub, particularly for complex cases.

PNACO began operations on January 5, 2026, at the Paris Judicial Court (Tribunal judiciaire de Paris). It was established under the law of June 13, 2025, designed to enable France to respond more effectively to drug trafficking structures. It has jurisdiction over serious forms of organized crime, including cases in which economic and financial crime plays a key role. This includes, in particular, money laundering, financing criminal networks, and cross-border links.

In presenting the assessment, Perrée stressed that the new prosecutor’s office was not created to take cases away from other judicial bodies. Cooperation with the eight interregional specialized courts, known as JIRS, is particularly crucial, she said. These bodies have accumulated knowledge of local criminal environments, crime scenes, and long-term investigations. PNACO’s role is to reveal links between cases when investigative leads extend far beyond one region.

According to the prosecutor’s office, the main focus is drug trafficking and its economic infrastructure. Investigations target not only the transport and sale of narcotics, but also assets, shell companies, and digital payment channels. This is a shift in perspective that is often not visible to those involved. An arrest is often followed by lengthy analyses of financial flows, communications data, and requests for international judicial cooperation.

The institution also deals with violence, intimidation, and threats against members of judicial institutions occurring around criminal groups. Such cases show that organized crime is not only about drugs or money. It can shape everyday life in local areas, make families feel unsafe, and increase pressure on investigators, judges, and other public officials. Perrée did not mention any specific ongoing cases.

At its launch, PNACO was staffed with 16 prosecutors, 13 administrative employees, and specialist personnel. Liaison officers from the police, national gendarmerie, customs, and intelligence services also participate. According to the Ministry of Justice’s plans, the number of prosecutors is expected to rise to 30 by September 2026. The staffing increase is part of a gradual organizational build-up, and the sustainability of this structure is likely to become apparent only over the coming years.

Six months after its launch, PNACO is therefore above all a new working structure being put to the test. The prosecutor’s office must demonstrate that coordination at the central level and regional experience can work together. For the judicial authorities, this is about more than simply a new jurisdiction. It must target the strongest points of criminal networks: their money, their connections, and their ability to create fear.