14th February 1929. A day of love, and death. And bloody revenge.
2122 North Clark Street, Lincoln Park, Chicago would become famous for all the wrong reasons when four men, two disguised as police officers, entered a garage. They “arrested” seven members of the North Side Gang, lined them up against the wall and murdered them in an unofficial firing squad with Thompson submachine guns, otherwise known as Tommy guns. Six of the victims died immediately. Frank Gusenberg had been short fourteen times but refused to identify their killers, telling the police, “no-one, nobody shot me.” He later died. This is the St Valentine’s Day Massacre.
Motive
Police and historians believe this was an attempt to kill the gang’s leader, George “Bugs” Moran, however, he wasn’t there when the massacre occurred. The North Side gang were rivals of another gang, the Chicago Outfit, which was led by Al Capone. Bugs Moran and Al Capone hated each other and spent years trying to kill each other. The North Side Gang were believed to be responsible for a failed hit on one of Capone’s men, Jack “Machine Gun” McGurn. Seven years later, McGurn – who was suspected in the Valentine Day’s Massacre – was gunned down in a bowling alley. Bugs Moran was a suspect but was never charged.
The police found two cars used in the killings, but they had been destroyed. Police arrested several gang members, but couldn’t charge anyone due to lack of evidence. Capone was in Miami at the time of the shootings, but was believed to have ordered the hit in revenge.
In 1935, Byron Bolton, who was arrested on unrelated charges, admitted to being the lookout to the St Valentine’s Day Massacre. He claimed that Fred Goetz, Gus Winkler, Ray Nugent and Bob Carey were responsible. Gus Winkler’s widow, Georgette, confirmed this in her memoirs. Historians believe “Three Fingered Jack” White and Tony Accardo were involved. Members of the Chicago police department were also suspected, in revenge for a gang killing of a police officer’s son. The shootings were the last battle between the two rival gangs. In 1931, Al Capone was sent to Alcatraz for tax evasion. With seven of his top men dead, Bugs’s power waned and he returned to small time robberies. He was jailed in 1946 but released after ten years. He was immediately re-arrested and returned to jail, where he died of lung cancer on 25th February 1957.
Memorial Wall
The garage was demolished in 1967. Businessman named George Patey, from Vancouver, took the bricks and spent the next 40 years displaying them in a travelling exhibit, a crime museum and a men’s restroom in a nightclub. In 2012, The Mob Museum in Vegas acquired the 300 bricks and rebuilt the wall. The bricks were numbered, when they were originally sold, so the museum rebuilt the wall. Someone enhanced the bullet holes with red paint.
Regardless of the motive behind the hit, this was a cowardly act. Seven men were tricked into believing they were being arrested, and were lined up, unarmed, facing the wall before being executed by a vicious firing squad. They had no chance to defend themselves, and had no idea Death was standing right behind them.
The Mob Museum is well worth a visit, even if, like us, you’re not particularly interested in the Mob. It’s good to know the history behind the legends.
If you want to find out what ghosts haunted Mob Museum, read our post, Dicing with Death.
Address:
300 Stewart Avenue
Las Vegas, Nevada, 89101
Sources:
Historyhit.com/saint-vantines-day-massacre