Apache is a criminal subculture that existed in Paris during the late XIX - early XX centuries. The main crimes committed by these groups were pogroms of entertainment, as well as financial institutions and street robberies. They were characterized by special attributes: gestures, clothes, weapons, tattoos, language. By the beginning of the 1910s Apache gangs were defeated by the police.
Native American Romance
Apaches are a criminal subculture of the Parisian suburbs that spread in the so-called Beautiful era. It began in the last decades of the 19th century and lasted until the First World War. Among the signs of that time were the rise of science and engineering inventions, the appearance of many cars, cinemas, boulevards, street cafes.
The atmosphere of the mass exit of the public to places of entertainment did not fail to take advantage of the Parisian criminal elements. Then, in the French capital, the Buffalo Bill show was very popular. It was a spectacle of "Wild West", which recreated the paintings characteristic of the life of cowboys and Indians.
While the townsfolk enjoyed exotic dances and hunting scenes, the Parisian "gentlemen of fortune" cleaned their pockets and tracked down potential victims of the robbery. However, the culture of the Apache Indians, presented in the show, had a peculiar effect on the criminals, whose average age was no more than 20 years.
They began to be called "apaches." This is the same as the Apache, but only in the French manner. Thus, the meaning of the word "apache" becomes clear. The bandits began to consider themselves heirs of the Indians. It seemed to them that they looked like proud primitive warriors, a kind of urban partisans, opposing the cursed world of the bourgeois.
Gangster dress code
Apaches began to pay attention to their appearance. Loose shirts that flutter in the wind came into fashion with young robbers. They had a turn-down collar with wide lapels. Today it is known as the “apache” collar, being a symbol of negligence and free style, as it implies the absence of a tie. But it is unlikely that the general public knows that he is directly related to the French bandits.
And also the Apaches wore colorful scarfs wrapped around their necks. They were also characterized by caps and pointed nibbles, cleaned to a mirror shine. Some representatives of this criminal community began to tattoo on their faces in order to stand out in the crowd and recognize their own. They saw a special chic in robbing passers-by in broad daylight and even attacking policemen.
Apache culture developed, they developed their own language, incomprehensible to outsiders, renamed areas of their influence like the names of the Wild West, gave each other nicknames similar to Native American. It should be noted that other attributes were also important for Apache.
Weapons and dance
Weapons are a separate issue for French robbers. Most of them were actively engaged in the robbery of Parisian citizens, so items such as knives, brass knuckles, batons were objects of special pride for them. They were covered with jewelry, often made based on those that were characteristic of Native American warriors.
There is evidence that the bandits gave names to their “tools”. It could be a woman’s name or something like a nickname, for example, “Skull crusher”. However, documentary evidence of this has not yet been submitted.
The universal tool of the Apache is a revolver, which was their interesting invention. He had no trunk and combined with a folding knife and brass knuckles. This weapon was called “revolver-apache”. However, it turned out to be not only ineffective, but also dangerous for its owner, as it could be discharged spontaneously, causing significant damage to the owner.
Another attribute of the Parisian bandits was their unique dance “Apache”, symbolizing the relationship of man and woman, as they understood them. From the side, he resembled a fight between partners, in which the man most often won.
End of apache
By the beginning of the 1910s the Apaches, which had already spread throughout France, had so exhausted the patience of the people that it was decided to end them once and for all. The police and army units began to smash the brothels, clogging to failure sections with people who looked like representatives of the gangster subculture. A characteristic scarf or cap could give rise to brutal beating with batons.
With the outbreak of the war, Apaches began to be massively sent to the front.