The Saint Valentine's Day Massacre that took
place on February 14, 1929 at North Chicago is actually a true
crime story of guns and gangsters. The massacre is said to be
the most spectacular gangland slaying in the mob history.
The massacre was result of the never-ending competition between
two gangster rivals Al "Scarface" Capone and George "Bugs"
Moran. It all began with Al Capone having arranged for Chicago
mobster George "Bugs" Moran and most of his North Side
Gang to be eliminated on February 14, 1929.
The Massacre Plan
It is likely that Al Capone's henchman Jack McGurn, popularly
known as "Machine Gun", devised the plan of the
massacre. Though the plan was deviously clever yet Capone's
prime target, George "Bugs" Moran, became able to
escape. According to the plan a bootlegger loyal to Capone told
Moran that a truck of smuggled whiskey was on its way to
Chicago. The delivery of the truck was set for a red brick
warehouse, named S-M-C Cartage Company at 2122 North Clark
Street in Chicago at 10:30 a.m. on the Valentine's Day.
The Seven Victims
At S-M-C Cartage Company a group of seven men who were all
Moran's men waited inside the warehouse for Bugs Moran to
arrive. Among them were Johnny May, an auto mechanic hired by
Moran; Frank and Pete Gusenburg, who had previously attempted to
kill "Machine Gun" Jack McGurn; James Clark, Moran's
brother-in-law; Reinhardt Schwimmer, a young optometrist who
often hung around for the thrill of sharing company with
gangsters, Adam Heyer and Al Weinshank.
What Happened On February 14, 1929
It was a snowy Valentine's Day morning. When the seven men were
inside the warehouse a police car had pulled up outside and no
one could know about it. At the same time Moran's car turned the
corner onto North Clarke and he along with his lackeys, Willy
Marks and Ted Newbury, spotted that police car and immediately
took over.
In that police car there were five men. Three of them were
dressed in police uniforms and two in civilian clothing. They
all entered the warehouse and it could be possible that at their
arrival Moran's men would have assumed it to be a routine bust
by the policemen. The so called "cops" would have
ordered all the seven men to line up against the rear wall of
the garage, which all of them followed. And the disguised
criminals would have sprayed them all with their 'Thompson
submachine guns'.
Just after few minutes of the killing the five men came out of
the warehouse. While coming out of the front door of the garage
uniformed policemen were escorted by the plain clothed men who
held their hands up in the air, as if they were under arrest.
They all successfully drove away in the same police car.
Six of Moran's men, out of seven, died on the spot whereas one
of them, Frank Gusenberg, survived the attack and died only
after he was taken to the 'Alexian Brothers Hospital'.
The Aftermath Of Massacre
All the newspapers dubbed this heinous crime as the "Saint
Valentine's Day Massacre". The crime story was published on
the front pages of the newspapers. Bugs Moran instantly targeted
Capone as ordering the hit and also proclaimed "Only Capone
kills guys like that". On the other hand Capone said he had
been in Florida when the massacre was committed and he stated, "The
only man who kills like that is Bugs Moran".
The unfortunate case of the St. Valentine's Day Massacre seems
to contain every element of mystery, but the clear ending.
Authorities had no concrete evidence against Capone as he
managed to prove that he was in Florida at the time of crime so
he was never arrested for the crimes. Even no one was ever tried
for this most spectacular slaying in the mob history because
those mysterious gunmen were also never identified. However some
years later Capone was blandly indicted for tax evasion and
hence sentenced seven years imprisonment. He was released only
to retire in Florida, where he died from Syphilis in 1947.
The place where the massacre was committed later became a
tourist attraction.
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