Valentine’s Day is most often associated with love, happiness, and, of course, CHOCOLATE. Candy hearts with cute, little sayings abound; elementary students rush home with handmade crafts for their moms and dads; shopkeepers smile deeper with every beep at the checkout stand; and if his creator was still alive and drawing, Charlie Brown would go another year without a valentine. Today will probably go down in the annals of time as another in a series of typical holidays, but February 14, 1929, was far from your ordinary Valentine’s Day.
(A smiling Al Capone...Was he responsible for the crime?)
On that evening in Chicago, one doctor and six notorious mobsters working for George “Bugs” Moran unfortunately became part of holiday history. The infamous Valentine’s Day Massacre, where seven men were executed in cold blood, has remained one of the unsolved mysteries of the twentieth century. Oh, there is little doubt as to how the crime was committed. Eyewitness reports from outside the S.M.C. Cartage Co. garage and detailed investigation by the police have led authorities to believe that the unlucky seven were somehow tricked into believing that they were being detained by two uniformed police officers. While lined up and facing the wall, two more men in plain clothes came in and mowed the seven down. The four killers then exited the garage with the fake policemen holding guns on their two accomplices, making those who had heard the shooting believe that the criminals had just been arrested. There is also a pretty good idea as to why the crime occurred. Al “Scarface” Capone, probably the most notorious bootlegger and gangster of the time period, was in direct competition with Moran. By having his men kill much of Bugs’ gang, Capone would be one step closer to taking out his rival. Yet despite knowing the means, the manner, and the probable motive for the murders, the police never had enough proof to arrest anyone.
So the mystery behind the Valentine’s Day Massacre remains unsolved, and probably will remain so, but the tale of that fateful February night has forever tarnished the history of the holiday.
For further reading:
http://www.mysterynet.com/vdaymassacre/
http://www.infoplease.com/spot/valmassacre1.html
On that evening in Chicago, one doctor and six notorious mobsters working for George “Bugs” Moran unfortunately became part of holiday history. The infamous Valentine’s Day Massacre, where seven men were executed in cold blood, has remained one of the unsolved mysteries of the twentieth century. Oh, there is little doubt as to how the crime was committed. Eyewitness reports from outside the S.M.C. Cartage Co. garage and detailed investigation by the police have led authorities to believe that the unlucky seven were somehow tricked into believing that they were being detained by two uniformed police officers. While lined up and facing the wall, two more men in plain clothes came in and mowed the seven down. The four killers then exited the garage with the fake policemen holding guns on their two accomplices, making those who had heard the shooting believe that the criminals had just been arrested. There is also a pretty good idea as to why the crime occurred. Al “Scarface” Capone, probably the most notorious bootlegger and gangster of the time period, was in direct competition with Moran. By having his men kill much of Bugs’ gang, Capone would be one step closer to taking out his rival. Yet despite knowing the means, the manner, and the probable motive for the murders, the police never had enough proof to arrest anyone.
So the mystery behind the Valentine’s Day Massacre remains unsolved, and probably will remain so, but the tale of that fateful February night has forever tarnished the history of the holiday.
For further reading:
http://www.mysterynet.com/vdaymassacre/
http://www.infoplease.com/spot/valmassacre1.html
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