Thomas Egan

Thomas "Tom" Egan (born November 1, 1874 in St. Louis , Missouri ; † April 20, 1919 ibid) was namesake and, alongside Thomas Kinney, one of the founding members of the Egan's Rats , an organized crime group that formed between 1890 and 1924 St. .Louis ruled. At the same time, the leader of the Egan's Rats was a local St. Louis politician.

Egan's youth - Criminal entry with the Ashley Street gang

Thomas Egan was born as the third child of Martin and Annie Egan on November 1, 1874 in the so-called "Kerry Patch" of St. Louis, where he lived with his family in his childhood and youth. Thomas Egan started making friends with Thomas Kinney, 6 years his senior, at an early age . While Kinney slowly turned to politics , Tom Egan began a career on the street where he and several other boys formed the Ashley Street gang , which terrorized St. Louis Third District and engaged in criminal projects such as burglary and theft . On June 3, 1893, Egan began his first sentence , as a result of various offenses that could be proven him. A year later, he finished his sentence and immediately re-established himself in the Ashley Streeters hierarchy and participated in various break-ins.

Another break-in turned out to be fatal on October 17, 1894, when a planned project failed. Egan and a partner, presumably Dave Hickey , were caught by a security guard hired privately by the shopkeeper. An ensuing exchange of fire caught the attention of a patrolling police officer who shot the two intruders with his gun. While Hickey was able to escape, Egan was hit by a bullet that entered his neck and exited the left side of his face. Egan surprisingly survived and escaped prosecution , presumably due to the growing political influence of his friend Thomas Kinney.

Ashley Streeters leadership position - clashes with rivals

In 1895, some members of the Ashley Streeters were arrested again, including Egan and Hickey. A conflict on June 3, 1895 ended with Egan hitting Hickey's head with a hammer (the prisoners had to crush stones). Dave Hickey also survived this attack despite a broken skull and stayed with the Ashley Streeters. Thomas Egan, on the other hand, had established his leadership position within the group with this action (probably the background for the attack was Hickey's escape during the unsuccessful break-in a year earlier). In 1896, the Ashley Streeters conflict over Kinney and Egan ended with George "Baldy" Higgins , who was wounded with a revolver shot on September 20, 1896 in a fight between Higgins and Kinney of Kinney and died only two days later. To date, Higgins and his gang represented the greatest competition to the Ashley Streeters.

The new century resulted in a feud for Egan with the Walnut Street Gang , supported by Ed Butler . This held political power in St. Louis in the background for years, but a restructuring of the St. Louis Democratic City Committee by Harry B. Hawes used Kinney to alliance with it and advance his own political career. Opponents of Hawes did not approve of this move, whereupon the Walnut Street gang around John "Bad Jack" Williams and William "Tough Bill" Condon carried out attacks against associates of Kinney. By 1902, however, this danger could be eliminated by Egan and Kinney, Thomas Egan soon served several more prison terms due to assaults with killing intent.

Undisputed at the top and the conflict with the Bottoms Gang

While Kinney was planning to run for Senator from Missouri in 1904, Thomas Egan was now the undoubted leader of this duo on the street, which took care of gang activities. A dispute between Kinney and an African American singer in February 1904 made it clear to Kinney that he had to distance himself more from gang activities in public, which is why Thomas Egan now officially took control of the group, which are now known as the Egan Gang could. Shortly thereafter, Egan began to act with Michael Kinney as a delegate of the Fourth Ward of St. Louis, with which they supported Harry Hawes. In March 1903 the Egan Gang caused unrest at the meeting of the Democrats of St. Louis, only a few weeks later Hawes succeeded in winning the city of St. Louis in the decisive election against Joseph W. Folk . However, Folk managed to win over enough of the surrounding areas of Missouri and he was appointed governor of Missouri in 1904. At the same time, however, Kinney also achieved his goal of senatorial office, making the Egan group a powerful political ally.

Around 1905, another dangerous group slowly emerged that would become a competitor of the Egan Gang. Led by 17-year-old Tony Foley and politically backed by Frank Hussey and his half-brother Lawrence "Lawler" Daly , the Bottoms Gang would become a serious threat to St. Louis and the Egan Gang. Especially Hussey (who was shot in the battle between the Walnut Streeters and Kinney's gang in 1900) and Daly (who had lost an election for constable to Egan member Sam Young ) had a long-standing dislike of Egan and it was clear to them that they had to eliminate Thomas Egan to get to the top of the criminal business. Egan had managed to have around 100 members by 1906, and he was also deputy to Constable Michael Kinney. One of Egan's most important confidants was Sam Young, who was the representative for the highly competitive 15th District of St. Louis. This district also hosted a physical confrontation between the Egan and Bottoms gang during a Democratic primary on October 6, 1906 . At the same time, Tom Egan also lost his license to serve his saloon in 1906 , but this was withdrawn through the influence of Senator Kinney. Shortly thereafter, however, Egan signed his license over to a friend who officially continued to run the saloon.

The Gagel and Wilson murders

On January 15, 1907, there was a discussion between the two leaders Thomas Egan and Tony Foley at the Jolly Five Club to reach an agreement on which democratic group should rule the 15th district. Egan had previously exerted pressure on Frank Hussey's gambling business through his police contacts, which he then called for this meeting. While the actual meeting ended on a positive note, the evening wasn't to end for Egan when William "Willie" Gagel suddenly showed up. Gagel, himself an Ashley Street member, shot Jerry Caples in a dispute in November 1895 , whereupon Thomas Egan swore revenge on Gagel. He was willingly arrested by the police the following year and served a ten-year sentence to protect him from the anger of Egan. Now he wanted to take the opportunity and make peace with Egan again. However, Egan decided to act (presumably he thought Gagel wanted to shoot him) and shot Gagel in the stomach area, after which he was taken to the hospital. However, he refused to name the perpetrator, and various suspects were arrested by the police. The unwillingness to cooperate led a police officer to refer to all of the suspects (Egan's men) as a bunch of rats , from which the name the gang was to be given. Gagel succumbed to his injuries eight days later without incriminating Egan. In spite of all this, however, he was arrested on suspicion of murder, but was able to initiate imprisonment after paying bail and was acquitted in June 1907 for self-defense.

In late October 1907, however, Egan was involved in another murder, this time of James "Kid" Wilson , whom he suspected of having an affair with his wife, Nellie Egan (former Woelfel). On October 22nd, when he watched them go for a walk together, he decided to make an example and shot him in the chest with two bullets. His wife Nellie and Wilson did not accuse Egan, despite which he was charged, but was acquitted from his attorney after he successfully argued with the unofficial law of the horned husband. Around 1908 Egan succeeded in eliminating the Bottoms Gang around Tony Foley by increasing the police pressure on them, which led to various arrests and convictions of gang members. Through a few attacks on police officers, the Bottoms Gang weakened itself and Egan's group in 1909 saw itself as the winner of this conflict.

The Egan's Rats hit the headlines - Most powerful group in St. Louis

The first mention of the name Egan's Council in the media came in the wake of the murder of Fred "The Yellow Kid" Mohrle , a former associate of the council who wanted to join the Republicans and in April 1909 shot his boss, Constable Sam Young. In the following trial (Mohrle had willingly surrendered and argued in self-defense ) he feared acts of revenge on the part of the council, which would prove to be true in the courthouse on June 4, 1909, when he was behind the approaching Thomas "Red" Kane during a trial Headshot was executed. The whole city was outraged by this behavior, whereupon the name "Egan's Rats" in connection with this gang was published for the first time in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch .

In 1910 Egan's members numbered around 250 men and William Egan had taken over Sam Young's saloon in the 15th district, which also served as the base for this group in the district. Even so, the Egan's Rats were to suffer a nasty surprise in November 1910 when Thomas Kinney unexpectedly lost to Republican Leonidas C. Dyer . Likewise in this election, a vote on a possible alcohol prohibition had failed, but Thomas Egan noticed a shift in the mentality of the population and reckoned that it would only be a matter of time before an alcohol ban would become law. Knowing that he could make big profits from smuggling alcohol from this point on, he slowly began to build up a smuggling network in the second decade of the 20th century.

Thomas Egan as a powerful boss - problems with the Dunn brothers

During Christmas 1911, the Egan's Rats murdered the thief Thomas "Fingers" Regan . Regan was initially unwilling to name his murderer, which caused a wave of public excitement, but Regan decided to change his mind shortly before his death and he was able to accuse Fred Woelfel, Thomas Egan's brother-in-law, of being the perpetrator, but he could will not be charged as there was no other evidence other than this "confession". This situation led to a famous interview with Thomas Egan in January 1912 in the Post-Dispatch, in which he openly admitted that his men kept an oath of silence and would never denounce each other to the police. He confessed that he was the leader of a group and that nothing could be done about it. At around the same time, Thomas Kinney was diagnosed with tuberculosis and ultimately died of the disease on May 15, 1912. His brother Michael Kinney took the post of his brother, whereupon the political contact of the Egan's councils was ensured until further notice. By the summer of 1914, Egan had established his smuggling network and assigned men to Chicago , Detroit , New Orleans and Terre Haute to ensure that alcohol deliveries regularly arrived in St. Louis and that Egan's elections for the Democrats went out in the other cities . Thomas Egan could call himself one of the most powerful gangsters in the Midwest .

Trouble would build for Egan in late 1915 when a member of the council, Harry "Cherries" Dunn , became increasingly dissatisfied with the Egan faction (mainly due to the fact that Egan had little influence over his brother John "Pudgy" Dunn from the Jail) and toying with joining the Bottoms Gang , which wooed him. At the same time, he probably offered himself to the police in December 1915 to pass on information about the Egan group. The proposal was turned down and on leaving the building, Dunn is believed to encounter William "Skippy" Rohan . Rohan had returned to St. Louis the year before and had established the old contacts with Egan (they both knew each other from the time of the Ashley Streeters), although he decided to continue his life in an honest way. Dunn now had to reckon with the fact that he at Egan at any time from grace may fall, would fall victim to a stop when his police visit would be known.

On January 8, 1916, Rohan was in Egan's saloon with an acquaintance when Dunn entered. Shortly thereafter, a dispute arose (presumably Rohan named Dunn a spy, which heightened his fears), which ended with Dunn shooting Egan's old companion Skippy Rohan. Thus, for the first time in the long history of Egan's saloon, someone was murdered, as was a close friend of Egan. Dunn was the wanted person, Egan openly swore vengeance for the murder of Rohan, but could be dissuaded because his brother William stood up for Dunn. Despite all of this, Dunn was officially expelled from the group and joined the Bottoms Gang. On September 19, 1916, however, he was shot dead by Egan's Council members after he had previously shot a Council associate with his accomplice Eddie Schoenborn in August . This situation resulted in a new war between the Egan's Rats and the Bottoms Gang. The release of Pudgy Dunn and his campaign of revenge should claim further deaths, which ultimately further broke up the Bottoms Gang and reformed a few remnants later than the Cuckoo Gang around 1907.

Egan's end

Thomas Egan continued to rule the criminal underworld, his street boss meanwhile was William Egan. Thomas Egan allowed various other groups to operate in St. Louis as long as they did not interfere with the affairs of Egan's councils. While more and more new blood was found in the ranks of the council towards the end of this decade (Thomas Egan was the last of the old guard) , in January 1919 the long-cherished dream of Thomas Egan, meanwhile also chairman of the Democratic Club Committee , was to come true: when the prohibition was officially decided. However, he was not to see the law come into force himself, as he died on April 20, 1920 of kidney disease (then known as Bright's Disease ) and was buried in a small circle next to Thomas Kinney in Calvary Cemetery . He was succeeded by his younger brother William "Willie" Egan .

literature

• Daniel Waugh; Egan's advice. The Untold Story Of The Prohibition-Era Gang That Ruled St. Louis ; Cumberland House 2007; ISBN 1-58182-575-7