Death of the Head Rat

William T. “Willie” Egan took over “Egan’s Rats” on the death of his older brother Tom in 1919. Thomas “Snake” Kinney and his childhood friend and brother-in-law Tom Egan formed St. Louis’ criminal organization in the late 1800s. Both Kinney and Tom Egan were saloon keepers and Democratic politicians. They employed “the Rats” for political slugging and other criminal activities.

Thomas Kinney died in 1913. Tom Egan died at 44 years of age in 1919. On the death of his brother, Willie Egan took over leadership of the Rats. Born on June 1, 1884, the thirty-five-year-old Willie Egan was not as respected as his older brother.

The leader of a criminal organization must ruthlessly hold onto power because there are always younger gangsters who want to be bosses. In 1916, a feud occurred within “The Rats” that left Thomas “Skippy” Rohan dead in Tom Egan’s saloon. The killing violated one of the cardinal rules of the Rats. You did not fight in the bosses’ saloon.

Tom Egan settled the issue before it became an all-out war but after his death the old feud erupted. Within two years, the feud claimed the life of his younger brother and caused Max Greenberg to leave St. Louis.

Greenberg came to the Rats from Detroit, Michigan. Greenburg was responsible for both murders and teaching the Rats bank robbery. After the courts sentenced Greenburg to federal prison, Willie Egan and Thomas Kinney’s brother Michael secured Greenburg’s release. Greenburg repaid Egan by trying to undercut his bootlegging operation.

On March 11, 1921, Willie Egan responded by sending men to shoot Greenburg. The hit men only wounded Greenburg but killed Greenburg’s friend, lawyer, and Democratic politician John Sweeney. On October 31, 1921, Greenburg got his revenge. The November 1, 1921, edition of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch described the circumstances leading up to the shooting.

Willie Egan should have been suspicious when Greenburg conspicuously left town on a noon train for New York with his lawyer. Greenburg drew enough of a crowd that scores of witnesses saw him leave. Greenburg accomplished his goal with the loud exit.

Later that evening at about 9 p.m., Willie Egan was standing in front of his saloon at 1400 Franklin Avenue, when a black sedan pulled up and shot Egan multiple times. Two drivers and a plumber, William “Dinty” Colbeck, took Egan to the hospital but Egan’s car ran out of gas. Colbeck did own a plumbing shop, but he was Egan’s chief lieutenant. He took over the Rats upon Willie Egan’s death.

While witness saw Egan with a revolver shortly the hit men shot Egan, the police did not find a revolver on Egan at the hospital. Willie Egan also had four hundred, thirty-one dollars in his pockets. The police did not suspect robbery anyway. They believed the shooting and subsequent death of Willie Egan was related to the earlier Sweeney and Greenburg shooting.

Willie Egan died about 10:00 p.m. from his wounds at 37 years of age. Egan steadfastly refused to name a suspect in his shooting. Over the next week, St. Louis Police arrested thirteen men but did not charge anyone with the murder. The St. Louis Police never solved the crime.

Max Greenburg returned to town briefly. When “Dinty” Colbeck took over, Greenburg returned to New York for good. Unknown assassins killed Greenburg in New York during 1933.

The Rats continued as an organization until 1924 when the courts sentenced Colbeck and the other leaders to long federal prison sentences for robbery. Most organized crime then moved to the counties on the Illinois side of the St. Louis Metro area.

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Sources: St. Louis Post-Dispatch (St. Louis, Missouri), November 1, 1921, p. 1