St. Valentine Day Massacre
Valentine's
Day Massacre is considered to be one of the most widely publicized
incident of gang war in the history. The infamous incident was a result
of the rivalry between two notorious criminal gangs of Chicago. One gang
was the South Side Italian gang, whose leader was Al ‘Scarface'
Capone and the other gang was the North Side Irish gang led by George
'Bugs' Moran. It is said that on February 14, 1929, a well planned
massacre was executed inside a warehouse located at 2122 N. Clark
Street, where seven of Moran's men lost their lives. It is very strange
though the massacre was much talked about in public but nobody was ever
booked for the incident.
The Plan
Al Capone devised the ghastly plan for the Valentine's Day massacre.
The motive was to eliminate arch rival Moran. The idea was to influence
Moran and his gang to visit a warehouse on North Clark Street on the
pretext of buying some whiskey at cheap price. At that time a team of
six men in the disguise of police officers would conduct a routine raid
and enter the warehouse. During this time Capone were to be away from
the scene.
The Massacre on 14th February morning
As per plan, Capone's men entered the warehouse. Two of them dressed as
police officers while the remaining four in plain clothes. The two
policemen asked Moran's gang members to line up facing the wall. Moran's
gang consisting of seven members followed the instructions thinking that
they were just harmless policemen who have come to raid the place.
Immediately Capone's men shot and killed the men with Thompson
submachine guns and the seven men died on the spot.
In order to leave the place without raising suspicion, the men in plain
clothes marched out of the warehouse with their hands raised. Those in
police uniform walked behind them. This gave the appearance that the
police caught the bootleggers.
However the massacre missed the prime target Moran. When Moran was
about to reach, he saw the policemen pulling up near the garage and so
he retraced back.
Aftermath of the St. Valentine Massacre
When the real police arrived at the crime spot, it was extremely hard
tracing the clues to establish the criminal's plan. Prime suspect of the
massacre, Al Capone proved that he was out of town and the shooters were
never identified. Thus, nobody was ever punished for this dreadful
massacre as there was no proof. Consequences The massacre was widely
publicized by the media and popularly referred as the "St.
Valentine's Day Massacre" as it occurred on Feb 14th. Ironically
the media publicized the event so much that it helped Al Capone to
attain a celebrity status, establishing him as a supreme and dreadful
gangster. On the other hand, the massacre led to the end of Moran's
leadership in the North Side and his gang vanished.
However, the incident brought Al Capone's activities in the eyes of
Federal Government. He was at last convicted and imprisoned for seven
years on income tax evasion charges in 1931. Capone died in 1947. The
massacre also became the subject of various movies like “Some Like
it Hot” and “The St. Valentine's Day Massacre”. |
