Thomas Egan (November 1, 1874 – April 20, 1919) was a St. Louis politician and organized crime figure involved in bootlegging and illegal gambling. Egan was the namesake of the infamous Egan's Rats. The son of an Irish-American saloonkeeper, Egan was born and raised in Kerry Patch, then known as the riverfront Irish ghetto of St. Louis. With some of his childhood pals, he began running with a local gang of thugs, known as the Ashley Street Gang. Egan's best friend, Thomas "Snake" Kinney, was a local street tough and Democratic politician. During an ill-fated burglary attempt on October 17, 1894, Egan was shot through the face by a policeman. Tom survived but was left with an ugly scar on his jaw. Throughout the years, his stock in the gang climbed. By 1904, when Snake Kinney was elected to