and became the main leader of the increasingly powerful Rats. By 1904, Egan's Rats was the most powerful street gang in St. Louis. The fabric of the gang were the Democratic political clubs scattered around the city. Most members of the Rats belonged to one club or another. Some Egan-affiliated clubs were the Jolly Five, Cross Keys, and Friendly Ten. The Egan Gang's main rival at this time was the violent Bottoms Gang from the Twenty-second Ward. However, the Bottoms Gang made the mistake of assaulting police officers and were soon forced out of existence. Ruthless killers, the Rats Gang was willing to assassinate anyone, regardless of the consequences. On June 7, 1909, the Rats murdered rival gunman Fred "Yellow Kid" Mohrle in the Four Courts Building while he was on trial for killing Egan gangster Sam Young. The Rats got a little taste of their own medicine when John "Bad Jack" Barry, leader of the Cross Keys Club, was fatally shot in a North Side courtroom on February 24, 1910 by Henry Diederichsen. By 1912, Tom Egan headed an organization of 300 to 400 men. That same year, he gave an astounding interview to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch in which he flaunted his power and underworld status. The murder of auto mechanic Fred Hesse, in particular, underscored the Rats' blatant gangsterism. At high noon on November 7, 1913, dozens of witnesses saw Deputy Constable Harry Levin shoot and kill Hesse in front of 2647 Olive Street. Fred Hesse was suspected to have "snitched" on the Rats over a $15,000 railroad swindle. Despite the fact that numerous people saw the unprovoked murder, Levin was acquitted on April 23, 1914. With Snake Kinney’s death from tuberculosis, Tom Egan moved the gang into more sophisticated rackets. Correctly suspecting that alcohol consumption would soon be prohibited in the United States, Tom Egan set up a liquor smuggling network in St. Louis. By early 1916, the Egan's Rats went to war with the depleted Bottoms Gang. The main cause was disgruntled Egan gangster Harry "Cherries" Dunn, who was angry that Tom Egan did little to help his imprisoned brother John. Dunn shot and killed original Egan gang member William "Skippy" Rohan inside Tom Egan's saloon on January 8, 1916. Tom's brother Willie successfully argued to spare Dunn's life. "Cherries" defected to the Bottoms Gang and instigated a full-blown war on August 21, 1916, when