St valentine day massacre
This name was given to the massacre of 7 men which took place on St Valentine’s Day, 1929 in the SMC Cartage Company garage, Lincoln Park, Chicago North Side in the state of Illinois, USA. 6 of the seven men were members of George ‘Bugs’ Moran’s gang, the seventh victim was an innocent garage mechanic.
At this time there was a conflict between the two Chicago gangs. On the North Side was the Irish/German Gang whose leader was ‘Bugs’ Moran. On the South Side was the Italian gang led by Al Capone. It is believed that the St Valentine Day massacre was carried out by members of Al Capone’s gang for reasons of retaliation. The North Side gang had tried to kill South Side gang member Jack McBurn earlier that year and had succeeded in murdering Pasqualino Lolordo and Antonio Lombardo, both members of Capone’s gang. ‘Bugs’ Malone was also trying to take over a dog race track in the Chicago suburbs owned by Al Capone. There was also general rivalry between the two gangs who both wanted control of the bootlegging business in Chicago during this era of Prohibition.
On the morning of the 14 February, 1929, four men arrived at the premises of the SMC Cartage Company garage in cars similar in appearance to those used by police detectives; two were dressed as police officers. Inside the garage were six members of the North Side gang and a garage mechanic. The ‘Police Officers’ holding shotguns entered the building and told the 7 men to stand against a wall, the phoney Police Officers then let in the other two men who gunned down the seven in a hail of bullets. A total of seventy machine gun bullets and two shotgun blasts were used in the massacre according to the coroner’s report. After the shooting, to belay suspicion, the two men in plain clothes were led outside with their hands in the air by the ‘Police Officers’.
The seven victims of the massacre were James Clark, Peter Gusenberg, Frank Gusenberg,Adam Heyer, Reinhart Schwimmer, John May and Al Weinshank.
Capone gang members charged with the crime by the Police were Jack McBurn and John Scalise. John Scalise was murdered before the trial. Charges against Jack McBurn were reduced to violation of the Mann Act after he crossed the state lines to marry the main witness against him, Louise Rolfe. He was later murdered on Valentine’s Day, 1936, ‘Bugs’ Gang was believed responsible. Al Capone was on holiday in Florida at the time of the massacre so was not charged.
The consequences of this event changed the lives of many of those involved and brought about a stalemate between the two gangs. Al Capone came under serious scrutiny by the Federal Government, was later charged with income tax evasion and jailed for 11 years. ‘Bugs’ Malone suffered a serious blow to his power and eventually control passed to Frank Nitti in the 1930’s. One of the gunmen, Fred Burke, was later sentenced to life imprisonment for another crime and died of heart disease in 1940.
