he killed Harry Romani, a semi-pro boxer and crook who was allied with the Egan gang. Willie Egan and four of his men confronted Cherries Dunn at the Typo Press Club on September 19, 1916. Walter Costello and Frank "Gutter" Newman shot and killed him. The war between the Egan and Bottoms gangs claimed almost a dozen lives, including both of Harry Dunn's murderers. Despite the passage of a Prohibition law, Tom Egan was unable to reap the full benefits of his liquor smuggling ring. Tom died of Bright's Disease on April 20, 1919. After Tom Egan's death in 1919, Egan's Rats was taken over by his younger brother, Willie. Unfortunately, Willie wasn’t a natural leader like his brother. As a result, younger gang members became restless. While Egan wanted to build up the bootlegging business for longterm profits, the younger members wanted the quicker payoffs of armed robberies. Rebelling against Egan, these youthful gangsters, known as “red hots”, began robbing up banks, armored cars, and messengers with lightning rapidity. By 1921, these disputes worsened when Max "Big Maxie" Greenberg, a dissatisfied Egan's Rats member, double-crossed Willie Egan over a shipment of whiskey. In retaliation, Egan unsuccessfully attempted to kill Greenberg. At this point, Max defected to a new rival, the Hogan Gang. The Hogan Gang was headed by Egan archrival, Edward "Jelly Roll" Hogan, who also served as the Deputy Missouri State Beverage Inspector. On October 31, 1921, Willie Egan was gunned down in front of his Franklin Avenue saloon. The Hogan Gang were considered to be the likely suspects. With the murder of Willie Egan in 1921, William "Dint" Colbeck took over Egan’s Rats. A former plumber and World War I infantryman, Colbeck aggressively led Egan's Rats against the Hogans. Shootings swept the city, with both gangsters and innocent bystanders being killed on the streets. A primary order of business was tracking down Willie Egan's alleged murderers. According to Dint Colbeck, James Hogan, John Doyle, and Luke Kennedy had been paid $10,000 each to kill Egan. Doyle was shot and killed by St. Louis police on January 6, 1922, while Luke Kennedy was trapped in Wellston on April 17, 1922. Kennedy was shot and killed while begging for his life. Jimmy Hogan spent most of the next year in hiding. In the winter of 1923, the Egan-Hogan war was re-ignited when the Rats killed Hogan lawyer Jacob Mackler