The Saint Valentine's Day Massacre was a brutal event that took place on February 14, 1929, in Chicago. Seven members and associates of the North Side Gang were gunned down in a Lincoln Park garage by four assailants, two of whom were disguised as police officers. This violent act was a result of the fierce competition for control of organized crime in Chicago during Prohibition, pitting George "Bugs" Moran's Irish North Siders against Al Capone's Italian Chicago Outfit. While the exact perpetrators remain unidentified, former members of Egan's Rats working for Capone are suspected, along with rumors of involvement from the Chicago Police Department seeking revenge for the death of an officer's son.
The Massacre occurred on the morning of February 14, 1929, at 2122 North Clark Street in Chicago's Lincoln Park neighborhood. Seven men, including prominent members of George "Bugs" Moran's North Side Gang, were shot to death by four assailants, two of whom were disguised as police officers. The victims, lined up against a wall, were gunned down with Thompson submachine guns.
Among the victims were Moran's second in command, Albert Kachellek (James Clark), the gang's bookkeeper Adam Heyer, manager Albert Weinshank, enforcers Frank Gusenberg and Peter Gusenberg, as well as gang associate Reinhardt Schwimmer and occasional mechanic John May.
Frank Gusenberg, despite being shot 14 times, was found alive and taken to the hospital but died shortly after, refusing to identify the killers. The massacre was believed to be orchestrated by Al Capone, Moran's rival, possibly in retaliation for the North Side Gang's hijacking of Capone's whisky shipments.
Moran, who was not present at the garage, narrowly escaped the massacre, as did several other gang members who were warned by Moran and his associate Ted Newberry. The killers, mistaken by lookouts for Moran and his men, methodically executed the victims before fleeing the scene.
The massacre was a culmination of tensions between Moran and Capone over control of Chicago's organized crime during Prohibition. Moran's aggressive predecessors, Hymie Weiss and Vincent Drucci, had been killed in earlier violence, leaving Moran as the main target of Capone's efforts to eliminate the North Side Gang.
The victims of the massacre included:
- Peter Gusenberg, a key enforcer for the Moran organization.
- Frank Gusenberg, Peter's brother and another enforcer for the gang.
- Albert Kachellek, known as "James Clark," Moran's second-in-command.
- Adam Heyer, the gang's bookkeeper and business manager.
- Reinhardt Schwimmer, an optometrist who had turned to gambling and association with the gang.
- Albert Weinshank, who managed cleaning and dyeing operations for Moran and was mistaken for Moran due to their resemblance, including their clothing.
- John May, an occasional mechanic for the Moran gang.
The Saint Valentine's Day Massacre sparked public outrage and posed a challenge for the leaders of the National Crime Syndicate. Following the massacre, Al Capone was summoned to testify before a grand jury on Prohibition charges, but he claimed to be too ill to attend.
The police investigation initially focused on the Detroit-based Purple Gang, as it was known that Moran had been hijacking Capone's liquor shipments from Detroit. Two landladies identified mugshots of Purple Gang members but later withdrew their identification. The police also suspected the involvement of corrupt officers.
A few days after the massacre, a burned-out car linked to the killers was found, leading to Claude Maddox's Circus Café, frequented by gangsters associated with Capone and the Purple Gang. Despite leads, including a witness description of a missing-toothed driver, the case went cold.
Police later suspected Fred Burke, a former member of Egan's Rats, as one of the killers. They also considered Capone gunmen John Scalise and Albert Anselmi, along with Jack McGurn and Frank Rio. McGurn was charged but later cleared due to lack of evidence. Capone retaliated against Scalise, Anselmi, and Joseph Giunta, fearing they were planning to kill him.
The case gained traction when police raided Burke's bungalow in Michigan, finding incriminating evidence linking him to the massacre, including stolen bonds, weapons, and ammunition. Ballistics tests confirmed the weapons' use in the massacre and other crimes. Burke was later captured and sentenced to life in prison for the murder of Patrolman Charles Skelly, dying behind bars in 1940.
The FBI's raid on a Chicago apartment building in 1935 led to the capture of several members of the notorious Barker Gang, including Byron Bolton, a Navy machine-gunner associated with Egan's Rats and a former valet of hit man Fred Goetz. Bolton's revelations during interrogation implicated him in the St. Valentine's Day Massacre, where he claimed to have been involved alongside Goetz, Fred Burke, and others.
Bolton's confession was initially kept confidential by the FBI, but a newspaper report later leaked the story, declaring the massacre "solved." Bolton detailed a meeting in Wisconsin where the plan to murder Bugs Moran was allegedly hatched by Al Capone, Frank Nitti, and others. Bolton claimed to have been tasked with watching Moran's garage and signaling the killers when Moran arrived.
According to Bolton, the actual killers were Burke, Winkeler, Goetz, Carey, Nugent, and Maddox. He described a different sequence of events than commonly believed, suggesting a second car was used by the killers. Bolton also claimed that Capone was enraged by his mistake in identifying Moran and threatened to kill him, but was dissuaded by Goetz.
His account was supported by Gus Winkeler's widow and Chicago detective William Drury, who stayed on the case long after others gave up. However, no action was taken by the FBI, as all the named men were dead by then, except for Burke and Maddox. Harvey Bailey, a bank robber, later claimed he and Burke were elsewhere at the time of the massacre. Historians remain divided on Bolton's claims and the true perpetrators of the St. Valentine's Day Massacre.
Other suspects in the St. Valentine's Day Massacre have been suggested over the years. Two notable ones are Cosa Nostra hit men John Scalise and Albert Anselmi. Scalise was reportedly heard boasting about his power in Chicago after the massacre, but he, along with Anselmi and Joseph Guinta, were later found dead near Hammond, Indiana. Legend has it that Capone personally beat them to death with a baseball bat at a dinner party, believing they were planning to betray him.
In 1995, Chicago criminologist Arthur Bilek, who had extensively researched the massacre, named Capone henchmen "Machine Gun" Jack McGurn as the organizer. McGurn assembled a team that included lookouts Byron Bolton, Jimmy Moran, and Jimmy McCryssen, whose job was to alert the triggermen—Tony Accardo and others—when Bugs Moran arrived. The shooters allegedly included Fred Burke, Gus Winkler, Freddie Goetz, and Robert Carey. Another member, Claude "Screwy" Maddox, reportedly arranged the killers' transportation. Capone and McGurn established alibis, with Capone going to Florida and McGurn checking into a hotel with his wife. Former FBI agent William Roemer also heard claims implicating Tony Accardo as one of the shooters through a microphone planted in a Chicago tailor shop.
The two Thompson submachine guns found in Fred Burke's Michigan bungalow were confirmed to have been used in the St. Valentine's Day Massacre. One of these guns was also linked to the murder of Brooklyn mob boss Frankie Yale, supporting the New York Police Department's belief that Burke was responsible for Yale's death.
Gun number 2347 was purchased by Deputy Sheriff Les Farmer in Marion, Illinois, a town embroiled in bootlegging conflicts. Farmer had ties to Egan's Rats in St. Louis, and the gun eventually ended up with Burke. This gun may have been used in the Milaflores Massacre in Detroit in 1927. Gun number 7580 was sold by a Chicago sporting goods owner to Victor Thompson but ended up with James "Bozo" Shupe, a West Side hood with connections to Capone's outfit. Both guns are now in the possession of the Berrien County, Michigan Sheriff's Department.
The garage at 2122 N. Clark Street, the scene of the massacre, was demolished in 1967. The site is now a parking lot for a nursing home. The bricks from the north wall, against which the victims were lined up and shot, were purchased by a Canadian businessman. Initially displayed in crime-related exhibits, many were later sold individually, and the rest are now part of the Mob Museum's collection in Las Vegas.
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