thumb|left|Blackheart Beagle and his three sons, from "The Fantastic River Race" (1957). The Beagle Boys are most often shown without an established leader, instead acting as a very coherent and homogeneous unit, and only giving orders between each other interchangeably when needed. However, sometimes the Beagle Boys are led by their grandfather, Blackheart Beagle, who has the prison number 186–802. The Blackheart character originates from two characters created by Carl Barks: Blackheart Beagle, a riverboat pirate from The Fantastic River Race (Uncle Scrooge goes to Disneyland #1, 1957), and Grandpa Beagle, who appeared in The Money Well (Uncle Scrooge #21, 1958). It was Don Rosa who later combined the character into one in chapters 10 and 11 of The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck. Also, according to Rosa, Blackheart Beagle semi-retired in 1947, following a failed attempt at robbing Scrooge's Money Bin. In The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck, Scrooge first met The Beagle Boys in his Mississippi riverboat days, circa 1880. Those Beagle Boys included Blackheart Beagle and his three sons.
thumb|left|Blackheart Beagle and his three sons, from "The Fantastic River Race" (1957). The Beagle Boys are most often shown without an established leader, instead acting as a very coherent and homogeneous unit, and only giving orders between each other interchangeably when needed. However, sometimes the Beagle Boys are led by their grandfather, Blackheart Beagle, who has the prison number 186–802 The Blackheart character originates from two characters created by Carl Barks: Blackheart Beagle a riverboat pirate from The Fantastic River Race (Uncle Scrooge goes to Disneyland #1, 1957), and Grandpa Beagle, who appeared in The Money Well (Uncle Scrooge #21, 1958). It was Don Rosa who later combined the character into one in chapters 10 and 11 of The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck. Also, according to Rosa, Blackheart Beagle semi-retired in 1947, following a failed attempt at robbing Scrooge's Money Bin. In The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck, Scrooge first met The Beagle Boys in his Mississippi riverboat days, circa 1880. Those Beagle Boys included Blackheart Beagle and his three sons.