Saint Valentine's Day Massacre
The Saint Valentine's Day Massacre, which occurred on February 14, 1929, in Chicago, is a notorious event in organized crime history. On that day, seven men were brutally murdered by assailants posing as police officers at a garage linked to the North Side Gang led by George "Bugs" Moran. The massacre is widely believed to have been orchestrated by rival gangster Al Capone, who sought to eliminate Moran and consolidate control over the city's bootlegging operations during Prohibition. The violent incident highlighted the fierce rivalry between the North Side and South Side gangs, which were embroiled in a bloody power struggle throughout the 1920s.
The attack involved a group of men who entered the garage under the pretense of conducting a police raid, executing the victims with submachine guns. Although initial suspicions pointed to corrupt police involvement, evidence soon implicated Capone’s gang. Notably, Bugs Moran narrowly escaped the massacre due to his late arrival. Despite investigations and indictments, including charges against Capone associates, the case remained officially unsolved, with many details surrounding the massacre lingering in mystery. The Saint Valentine's Day Massacre remains a significant event in understanding the violent landscape of organized crime in America during that era.
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Saint Valentine's Day Massacre
The Event: Murder of seven Chicago gang members and associates
Date: February 14, 1929
Place: Chicago, Illinois
On Valentine’s Day of 1929, five members of Chicago mobster George “Bugs” Moran’s gang and two others were murdered by a group of men dressed as police officers. Known as the Saint Valentine’s Day Massacre, the event was thought to have been orchestrated by rival gangster Al Capone in an attempt to consolidate his power over organized crime in Chicago.
Chicago was a major crime center during Prohibition as various gangs vied for control over the manufacture and sale of illegal alcohol, among other criminal enterprises. During the 1920s, the two primary criminal factions in Chicago were the North Side Gang and the South Side Gang, led by rival gang leaders George “Bugs” Moran and Al Capone, respectively. Each attempted to kill the other on several occasions, and this escalating violence was likely one of the causes of the Saint Valentine’s Day Massacre.
Massacre
Around 10:30 a.m. on February 14, 1929, a black Cadillac similar to those driven by police stopped in front of a garage in Chicago. The garage was owned by the SMC Cartage Company, a front for the Moran gang’s illegal activities. Two of the four men in the car were disguised as police officers. Under the guise of a raid, the men entered the garage and instructed everyone inside to stand against a wall. The assailants opened fire with two Thompson submachine guns and a shotgun, killing or mortally wounding all seven men. Five of the men were members of Moran’s gang: Peter and Frank Gusenberg, Albert Kachelleck, Adam Heyer, and Albert Weinshank. The other two were John May, a mechanic, and Reinhart Schwimmer, an optician and associate of the gang members.
Investigation
While some in Chicago initially believed that the shooting had, in fact, been perpetrated by corrupt police officers, suspicion soon shifted to Al Capone and his gang. Bugs Moran, the suspected target, was scheduled to be in the garage that morning but arrived late. Capone, who was vacationing in Florida at the time of the shooting, likely wanted Moran dead for a number of reasons, including his interference with Capone’s bootlegging and dog-racing operations and role in the attempted murder of Jack McGurn, Capone’s primary enforcer. The Cadillac used by the killers was partially burned in a garage fire on February 22, and Claude Maddox, a gang member and good friend of McGurn, had been seen in the vicinity of the garage beforehand.
The police detained several suspects, including McGurn and other Capone gang members. McGurn and John Scalise, another Capone gunman, were indicted in mid-March of 1929 for the massacre. Scalise was murdered before his trial, while McGurn’s future wife, Louise Rolfe, provided him with an alibi. Charges against McGurn were eventually dropped, and he was charged with a lesser, unrelated crime. In December, police in Michigan raided the home of Fred Burke, another Capone gang member, after he killed a police officer. Several firearms were recovered, including two Thompson submachine guns that ballistics expert Calvin Goddard later identified as the weapons used in the massacre. Burke would be apprehended in 1931 but would not be extradited to Illinois or charged for his suspected role in the massacre. The case remained officially unsolved into the 1930s.
Impact
Eig, Jonathan. Get Capone:The Secret Plot That Captured America’s Most Wanted Gangster. New York: Simon and Schuster, 2010. Argues that South Side gangster Jack “Three Fingers” White was the mastermind of the massacre rather than Capone.
Helmer, William, and Arthur Bilek. The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre: The Untold Story of the Gangland Bloodbath That Brought Down Al Capone. Nashville: Cumberland House Publishing, 2006. Suggests that a group of gangsters from St. Louis were responsible for the massacre and that law enforcement ignored evidence that pointed to anyone except Capone.
Jacobs, David. The Mafia’s Greatest Hits. New York: Citadel Press Books, 2006. Discusses the Mafia’s ten most famous murders, including the Saint Valentine’s Day Massacre.
McDonough, Daniel. “Chicago Press Treatment of the Gangster, 1924–1931.” Illinois Historical Journal 82 (Spring, 1989): 17–32. Provides a summary of the massacre and investigation through newspaper reports, including direct quotes.
Schoenberg, Robert. Mr. Capone: The Real—and Complete—Story of Al Capone. New York: Harper Collins, 1993. Explores Capone’s motivations and outlook on life, including a section on the massacre.