By New York Post (World News) | Created at 2026-08-09 23:50:46 | Updated at 2026-08-10 00:51:25
1 hour ago
The “most valuable pistol on Earth” — a reputed $42 million Luger that belonged to Adolf Hitler — is at the center of a sensational court battle involving an appliance repair man and a cop in Argentina.
The weapon — described as the “Holy Grail of firearms’’ — was allegedly swiped during a SWAT-style raid by masked officers at repair man Juan Pablo Ruppel’s home in rural Buenos Aires province in 2016.
“It’s a one of a kind piece, and there is no question that it is the most valuable semiautomatic handgun in the world,’’ the 48-year-old dad of four told The Post in his first interview since a recent court ruling in the case.
Ruppel — who inherited the haunting historic “ghost of the Third Reich’’ from his German great-uncle and former Hitler bodyguard, Hans Ruppel — had been accused of stealing minor items such as plates, glasses and cutlery at the time of the raid, his suit says.
He was never charged over the allegations — but that didn’t stop a crooked cop from swiping the alleged legendary Luger from his home, according to the lawsuit.
The make of the gun, a Luger Parabellum .45 calibre No.5, is one of only five 1907 prototypes forged by the late famed Georg Luger — and already so legendary that it was mentioned by Michael Douglas’ character Gordon Gekko in the hit 1987 flick “Wall Street” as “the rarest pistol in the world.’’
But it’s the Hitler provenance that makes it an invaluable — even if chilling — piece of history, experts said.
“To understand the stakes here, you have to understand that this isn’t just a beautiful firearm; it is a ghost of the Third Reich, the most valuable pistol on Earth,” said British investigative journalist Laurence de Mello who is leading the family’s independent investigation into the missing gun as they continue to search for it.
The gun’s 1979 firearms owner license listed in Argentina’s national registry has a Buenos Aires address — where heinous Nazi “Angel of Death’’ Josef Mengele lived for more than two years before fleeing the Argentine capital.
The Luger No. 5 also is described in an Interpol notice as having the inscription “Adolf Hitler” on it.
Juan Pablo says Hans told him that it belonged to Hitler and was taken to Argentina in 1948 with the help of the country’s president at the time, Juan Domingo Peron.
“I’ve been saying the same thing for 10 years: If someone offered me either $50 million or getting the gun back, I would choose the gun every time,” Ruppel told The Post.
“But since it still hasn’t turned up and I can’t keep waiting, I want the government to pay up.”
Ruppel is suing the Buenos Aires Ministry of Security for compensation for the gun, which was never returned to him after it disappeared while in police custody.
A civil court this month held the agency liable for $15,000 plus interest for now, pending an independent expert’s analysis of its current worth — which Ruppel’s lawsuit puts at around $42 million.
The two cops who led the raid on Ruppel’s home are due to go on trial on criminal charges of aggravated theft and breach in the duties of a public officer in March next year.
Ruppel told The Post that his great-uncle Hans — who was his grandfather’s brother and had no children of his own — gave him the Luger No. 5 as a birthday present.
Hans Ruppel had served in the SS Division Leibstandarte — Hitler’s personal bodyguard unit — during the Second World War and fled to Argentina in 1945.
He was not involved in Mengele’s war crimes and was never accused in connection with Nazi atrocities during World War II, De Mello said.
“After 25 years tracking post-war Nazi escape routes into South America, I know exactly how high-profile figures, U-boats and priceless assets slipped into Argentina,’’ she told The Post.
“Finding Georg Luger’s pristine Parabellum .45 Calibre No. 5 — the holy grail of firearms — inside a rural electrician’s home is no surprise to me,’’ she said.
“What is incredible, is that provincial cops conducted a raid on a false premise to get it and knew exactly what they were looking for.
“They took it into state custody and the state simply cannot find it. This smells worse than one dirty cop.”
