A “rat’s fink” was a low-level associate who betrayed their criminal organization to the police. They were despised and often had short, brutal lives. The term “Rat Fink” was also used in popular culture to refer to a character created by Ed “Big Daddy” Roth, which represented the custom car and motorcycle building craze of the 1950s and 1960s.
In the chatty, gin-soaked underworld of speakeasies, gunslingers, hoods, and cops, a “rat’s fink” ranked among the lowest of the low. If a major crime boss like Dutch Schultz or Al Capone ever saw the inside of a prison, it was most likely caused by the loose lips of a low-level associate trying to cut a deal. That unfortunate soul would forever be known as a scoundrel, since he dared to “snatch” his head from the cops. The life of an identified rat ruffian was often brutal and short.
In criminal underworld parlance, being labeled a fraudster was already a serious offense. A fraudster may cave under police pressure and name names or otherwise compromise a criminal operation, but is also subject to jail time as an accomplice. A scoundrel, on the other hand, might have ambitions to rise through the ranks, so information about him is leaked to law enforcement in a less obvious way. His reputation in the organization would still be secure as long as no one linked him to the leak. A true rat ruffian usually lived his criminal career in the dark medium, enjoying the benefits of the criminal lifestyle, but not getting too close to those he might betray.
There is another popular culture reference to a rat ruffian, and it has nothing to do with underworld gangsters. During the 1950s, an underground artist and hot rod car aficionado named Ed “Big Daddy” Roth created a character based on his hatred for the sanitized Disney icon Mickey Mouse. Roth drew a rat, complete with bulging eyes, a mouth full of razor-sharp teeth, and a distinctly nervous disposition. The rat character also wore a T-shirt with the initials “RF,” which stood for “Rat Fink.” Other artists continued to draw the character in Roth’s comics and catalogs.
The Rat Fink character soon began to represent the burgeoning custom car and motorcycle building craze of the 1950s and 1960s, often referred to as Kustom Kulture. The Kustom Kulture phenomenon had a great influence on the hairstyles, clothing and attitude of the teenagers growing up during that time. “Rat Fink” was often portrayed as a freewheeling custom biker, which helped inspire characters in leather jackets and jeans like Fonzie in the TV show Happy Days and Danny Zuko in the musical Grease.
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