contrived, yet very interesting; and it makes me very curious to see if the OED captured this...

...voilà!
Apache ... 2. Also apache. [Fr., f. prec.] A ruffian of a type infesting Paris; also gen. a man of ruffianly behaviour.
1902 Westm. Gaz. 22 Oct 8/1 The leader of the band of roughs in Paris known as the ‘Apaches’. 1909 Times 9 Feb. 4/4 Those apaches with which Brussels is haunted. 1920 Times Lit. Suppl. 10 June 363/2 Something a little more Bacchic than the calculated extravagances of the drawing-room apache would occasionally relieve the atmosphere. 1933 ‘G. Orwell’ Down & Out iii. 20 He wore side whiskers, which are the mark either of an apache or an intellectual.


...and the thug reference? (With capital T.) One of an association of professional robbers and murderers in India, who strangled their victims.

one can easily suppose why the Fr. opted for the American term....