After the end of World War II, gangs of robbers wreaked havoc in Austria’s capital, Vienna. They were known as the Plattenbrüder (Plate Brothers), and the most dangerous and largest criminal organization in the post-war period was the Simon gang, named after its leader, 25-year-old August Simon. The Simon gang, which committed murders in addition to burglaries and fraud, was founded in 1944 during the Nazi dictatorship. It was broken up when its leader was killed. On April 2, 1946, for the first time after a robbery in Vienna’s 14th district, Ottakring, a member of the Simon Gang was arrested after four days because he wanted to sell part of the loot from the robbery on the black market. After that, the detectives caught more and more gang members. Two weeks after the robbery in Ottakring, two detectives even managed to track down the leader of the Simon gang, August Simon. When the detectives entered his apartment, August Simon immediately opened fire in Wild West style. One of the detectives was killed and the other was wounded by a shot to the leg. August Simon initially managed to escape. But he did not get far, as he was confronted by detectives from the Ottakring police station on Flurschützstraße. Another shootout ensued, in which August Simon was fatally wounded. A major trial was held against the Platte gang, in which over 70 gang members and accomplices stood trial until 1947. In total, they were charged with 20 murders and attempted murders, as well as robberies, car thefts, fraud, and burglaries. Naturally, this major trial caused a great stir among the public and ended with the dismantling of the Platten gang. Organized crime then took on a new form. Thus ended the era of the Platten gang.
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Isabella Mueller (crime writer)
