- Apache (gang)
:"See
Apache (disambiguation) for other meanings."Les Apaches were members of a Parisian underworld subculture during the late 1800s and early 1900s. "Apaches" were so called because their alleged savagery was compared with that attributed by Europeans to the
Native American tribe s ofApache s.The Apaches were especially associated with the
Montmartre district ofParis , which was also home to the famousMoulin Rouge dance hall and nightclub.During their heyday, the prospect of being mugged or otherwise assaulted by Apache gangsters was especially feared by members of the emergent
bourgeois middle class. Some of the gangs used a unique type of pistol which was named the "Apache revolver " or "Apache pistol": apinfire cartridge revolver with no barrel, a set of foldoverbrass knuckles for a handgrip, and a folding knife mounted right underneath the revolver drum for use as a stabbing weapon.The Apaches also evolved a semi-codified collection of "tricks" used in mugging and
hand-to-hand combat . The most famous was the "coup du père François", a tactic by which a victim was stalked by several Apaches before being garotted from behind; one Apache was assigned the job of searching through the victim's pockets for any valuables, while another served as a lookout.Certain elements of the Apache "style" became influential in French and then international
popular culture , including the Apache dance andApache shirt .The famous French 10-part 7-hour
silent film "Les Vampires " (1915, re-released on DVD in 2005) is about an Apache gang named "the Vampires".
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.