St. Valentines Day Massacre

In the roaring twenties, the life of organized crimes was at its peak. What was the greatest mob hit ever pulled off in history? Well I’ll tell you. It all happened on Valentines Day, the morning of February 14th, 1929. This incident was call, “The St. Valentines Day Massacre”. The man behind this infamous crime was none other than, the infamous Al “Scarface” Capone. Al Capone was the all time greatest mobster of all time. The idea of organized crime fascinates me in so many ways. Capone was the only person to have pulled off such a crime. Al Capone was top gangster in Chicago and was one of the greatest members of the Italian Mafia and George “Bugs” Moran was the leader of the Irish/German mafia and he was the main target behind this hit. He targeted Capone because Al Capone‘s had a bounty on his head, $60,000,000, and found George Moran as a threat. George was Capone’s biggest threat of all. He needed to take him out quickly. (Al Capone, True Crime Story). Writing this paper will let me learn a lot more about this massacre. There is one question I would like answered, “Why hadn’t Moran’s crew made an attempt to fight back?” (Al Capone, True Crime Story). Moran’s men had a long history of being violent with others. This is one question that we will never know. My most used source on this essay will be internet information and a book. I feel these sources will give me the most amount of information. Using a magazine will too but it was very hard to find a 20’s magazine article.

A mob hit such as this one seems tough but only someone with the man power and skill could have pulled it off. It took Capone awhile to think about because he needed an alibi. His alibi was finally established and it was time to go to part one of the Valentines Day Massacre. Something you probably didn’t know was Al Capone did not participate in the killings or plans of this crime. All though Capone was the main man behind the massacre, he had “Machine Gun” McGurn take care of the set up. Jack McGurn was responsible for many of Chicago's gangland murders, often without Capone's consent. McGurn upset Capone on a number of occasions for going over the top in violence, because everything McGurn did reflected on Capone in the media. Capone liked things kept quiet, but McGurn's reckless behavior of killing and maiming, prompted Capone to implore him not to take actions unless he had permission. This gave Capone a chance to start his alibi. Just as McGurn was setting up the plot to take out “Bugs”, Capone had already gotten in his car with his girlfriend and went to Florida for a vacation in his Miami Condo, but for an even better alibi, he was talking to the district attorney at the time of the hit. (St. Valentines Day Massacre - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia).

McGurn had to plan carefully. He needed to find a place for Moran and his men to meet up. Jack McGurn chose a large garage behind the offices of S.M.C. Cartage Company at 2122 North Clark Street. If any of the men had died, and if they were apart of Capone’s gang, then the police would have recognized them and would have known who to go after. So McGurn used what brains he had and hired men from outside Chicago to help. McGurn also hired look outs to stay in the apartment across from the garage to inform McGurn that George Moran and his seven gang members had arrived. To make the plan more convincing, McGurn somehow acquired a police “paddy wagon” and two officer uniforms. He got them either by steeling them or bribery. All was set and McGurns gunmen were ready to go once they got the signal. The gunmen’s names were Albert Anselmi, Joseph Lolordo, Fred "Killer" Burke, and John Scalise. McGurn did not participate in the shooting either, he also needed to establish a quick and easy alibi. McGurn’s plan all begun early morning when he instructed a Detroit booze hijacker to call Moran on February 13th, 1929. The booze man told George that he had obtained a whole shipment of what was known as Old Log Cabin whiskey. This was possibly the best liquor at the time and very expensive. But because the booze hijacker was informed about the brutal killings that were about to occur and easy offered a low price of $57 per case of liquor. Considering this was top notch liquor, Moran quickly accepted the man’s price and made an arrangement at the garage at 10:30 the next morning. Perfect. (http://history1900s.about.com (Jennifer Rosenburg))

This was the beginning of part two of this infamous crime. It’s early in the morning, almost 10:30. The lookout men, Harry and Phil Keywell, spotted Moran’s car pulling around the corner and then assembling in front of the garage. Seven men hoped out of the vehicle. (http://history1900s.about.com (Jennifer Rosenburg)). They were apart of the O’Banion gang. They consisted of Adam Heyer, Al Weinshank, Frank and Pete Gusenburg, Johnny May, James Clark,