Hogan Gang
| Founded by | Edward "Jelly Roll" Hogan |
|---|---|
| Founding location | St. Louis, Missouri, United States |
| Years active | 1920's-1930's |
| Territory | St. Louis, Missouri |
| Ethnicity | Irish-American |
| Membership (est.) | 100–150 (est. 1923) |
| Criminal activities | Organized crime |
| Allies |
Cuckoo Gang Russo Gang |
| Rivals | Egan's Rats |
The Hogan Gang was a St. Louis-based criminal organization that sold illegal liquor during Prohibition in addition to committing labor slugging, voter intimidation, armed robbery, and murder. Although predominantly Irish-American, the Hogan Gang included several Italian and Jewish mobsters amongst their ranks; most notably, Max "Big Maxie" Greenberg. They fought a notoriously violent gang war with Egan's Rats in the early 1920s.
The Hogan Gang got their name from their leader, Edward J. Hogan, Jr.. The son of a St. Louis police captain, Hogan was a local saloon keeper who had gone into state politics in the 1910s. Known by the unwanted nickname of “Jelly Roll” due to his hefty build, Hogan served in the Missouri State Legislature, where he was known as an effective, garrulous lawmaker. Jelly Roll Hogan was also known to be temperamental (he and a companion assaulted a politician named Ben Neale on the steps of the Missouri Capitol Building.)
With the advent of Prohibition, Hogan and a group of hoodlums that worked under him began selling illegal beer and liquor on a large scale. Jelly Roll was also dubbed a deputy inspector for the State Beverage Department of Missouri, which gave the new gang boss a new position of influence in state and local government. Headquartered out of Hogan’s saloon at Jefferson and Cass streets, the Hogan Gang was primarily Irish-American, but had a broad range of ethnicity. Key members included James Hogan (Jelly Roll’s younger brother), Humbert Costello, Charles Mercurio, Leo Casey, Abe Goldfeder, John “Kink” Connell, and Patrick Scanlon. The gang’s top marksman was a dangerous shooter named Luke Kennedy.
In addition to bootlegging, some members of the gang occasionally robbed banks and/or the mesengers. Members of the Hogan Gang were linked a mail robbery in St. Charles, Missouri on February 4, 1921 that netted $26,100 in Liberty bonds and another mail heist in Jefferson City on March 1, 1921 that got $34,400. The fallout from these robberies led to a series of murders that spring; most of which were allegedly perpetrated by Tommy Hayes, who would later make his name as an ace hitman for the Cuckoo Gang.
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