The Swiss Gang, lead by the Elly Widler, aka “The Swiss” (his father was from Switzerland), was a gang made up of European thieves. In 1940, they stole copper ingots from an American warehouse, (total value of the ingots would be USD 8 million today), it was the largest single heist in Shanghai’s history. Elly Widler never lived in Switzerland, but he still somehow seems to have missed “home”, as he decorated his Shanghai suite like a Swiss chalet. He was also quite a popular person, all the foreign criminals really loved him.
More details about the story can be found in a That’s Shanghai article by Paul French, writer of the bestseller Midnight in Peking. Paul French wrote a series for That’s Shanghai called Gangsters of Old Shanghai, the author is currently in China to present his new book, City of Devils.
