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Edward J. “Jellyroll” Hogan, Jr. and his brother James
headed the Hogan Gang. “Jellyroll” was one of six sons born to
St. Louis Police Officer Edward J. Hogan Sr. “Jellyroll,” born
in 1886, like Thomas Egan, was involved in the political affairs
of the city. He was elected to the legislature in 1916 as a state
representative. After surviving the bootleg wars in St. Louis,
Hogan continued in politics. In the 1930s, it was disclosed that
one of Hogan’s legislative clerks on the state payroll was a St.
Louis brewery worker who found it “unnecessary” to travel to
the capital, Jefferson City, even once during the 1937 legislative
session.
In March 1923, the Rats tried to ambush Edward “Jellyroll”
Hogan and Humbert Costello as they were driving on Grand Blvd. Two
of the shooters, Rat gunmen Elmer Runge and Isadore Londe, were
arrested and Hogan was brought to police headquarters to identify
them.
“I’ll identify them, all right,” Hogan snapped at police.
“I’ll identify them with a shotgun.”
Humbert Costello was known as the muscle in the Hogan Gang and
was a suspect in several shootings. He was later convicted of a
jewelry store robbery and sentenced to 25 years in prison. After
12 years he was able to obtain a pardon with Hogan’s help.
However, upon release, federal agents were waiting with
deportation papers. After a long legal battle, Costello was
finally deported in 1937.
Rat Gang members and Hogan hoodlums next staged a wild shootout
on Lindell Boulevard. Although no one was injured, the public
again was incensed. Commenting on the public’s outrage over the
violence, Colbeck told reporters, “We are not insensitive to the
fact that the public is aroused over what the newspapers have
consistently characterized as the violence attending the fights
between the Hogan and Egan factions. Our men are not trying to
disturb peaceful citizens and it is unfair every time violence
occurs in St. Louis to attribute it to myself, my men or the rival
gang.”
In April 1923, with Philip Brockman, president of the Board of
Police Commissioners, and Father Timothy Dempsey acting as
mediators, Colbeck and “Jellyroll” Hogan agreed to peace
terms. The truce lasted a few months before Rat gunmen opened up
on a crowd, trying to kill James Hogan. They missed and two
innocent men were killed. One, William McGee, was a state
representative. Colbeck, who expressed shock about the shooting
when police questioned him, blamed the incident on “boyish high
spirits.”
“I know three of the boys were full of moonshine and were
riding around in a big touring car,” Colbeck said. “They might
have seen Hogan in the crowd at Jefferson and Cass and maybe took
a few shots at him for fun.”
By this time, Colbeck had other matters besides the continuing
gang war to worry about. On April 2, 1923, Egan’s Rats gunmen
hijacked $2.4 million in negotiable bonds from a mail truck at
Fourth and Locust Streets. The following month they struck again,
getting $55,000 in cash from the Staunton, Illinois postmaster.
Egan’s Rats members had teamed up with members of the Cuckoos to
pull off these robberies. However, when police began questioning
Rat members, one of them ratted.
With Ray Rennard testifying for the government against his
former Rat associates –Colbeck, David “Chippy” Robinson,
Oliver Dougherty, Louis “Red” Smith, Charles “Red” Lanham,
Frank Hackenthal, Gus Dietmeyer, Frank “Cotton” Eppelshelmer,
Steve Ryan, and Cuckoo Gang members Roy Tipton, Leo Cronin, and
Rudolph “Featheredge” Schmidt – all were found guilty and
sentenced to terms of 25 years in Leavenworth.
Colbeck was released after 16 years in prison. He tried to get
back into the rackets, but his comeback was short lived. On
February 17, 1943, Colbeck was returning home at 10:30 p.m. After
crossing the McKinley Bridge, a car pulled alongside his at Ninth
and Destrehan Streets. A man with a Thompson opened up on Colbeck
putting half a dozen slugs into him. At the age of 58, Colbeck’s
career was over.
After leaving prison in the early 1940s, Louis C. “Red”
Smith was convicted of income tax evasion in 1955. He was fined
$2,000 and sentenced to a year in jail. Authorities named Smith as
having been involved in the Capone syndicate’s attempted take
over of the race wire service. Although questioned in several
murders, Smith was never charged. He died of heart disease in
September 1959.
Steve Ryan was released from Leavenworth on January 1, 1941. In
1944, he and David Robinson were arrested after a mysterious
shooting that took place at the Club Royal, a gambling casino near
Belleville, Illinois. Ryan then filed a petition seeking an
injunction to halt alleged police persecution claiming to be
arrested on many occasions without cause. The detainments, he
claimed, lasted from 20 hours to as long as three days. Later in
1944, Ryan and Robinson were again arrested after the murders of
Harley Grizzell and Norman Farr on the city’s East Side. Still
later, the two were questioned in the murder of a union boss and
his driver. On trial in 1946, for extorting $10,000 from a
building contractor, a grand jury said there was not enough
evidence to indict them. Ryan, one of the last living members of
the Egan’s Rats, died on May 3, 1965 after a heart attack.
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Fred 'Killer'
Burke
(POLICE) |
The St. Louis Egan’s Rats, for all intents and purposes,
ceased to be an organized crime power after the imprisonment of
most of its members for the 1923 robberies. Two former Rat members
would gain notoriety in later years. In 1929, Fred “Killer”
Burke participated in the infamous St. Valentine’s Day Massacre.
On December 14, 1929, Burke murdered police officer Charles Shelby
after a minor automobile accident. Burke fled leaving his car
behind. The ensuing investigation turned up a machine gun that
ballistics experts tied to both the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre
and the murder of Frank Yale in New York City in 1928. Burke was
later convicted of the policeman’s murder and sentenced to life
in prison. He died of a heart attack in July 1940.
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