The Valentine’s Day Massacre in 1929 was an unsuccessful attempt by Al Capone’s gang to eliminate Bugs Moran’s gang in Chicago. The massacre led to Capone’s downfall and racial tensions were evident between the Italian and mixed Irish and German gangs. The victims were lured to a warehouse and killed by two plainclothes men disguised as policemen. Moran was not present, and an innocent mechanic was also killed. The case took almost a year to solve, and Capone was ultimately brought down for non-payment of taxes.
The Valentine’s Day Massacre was a notorious gangland murder that occurred on Valentine’s Day in 1929. It was supposed to be the culmination of a bitter fight for control of Chicago between two rival gangs, but it proved unsuccessful. Not only did the target of the Valentine’s Day Massacre fail to show up, but the massacre attracted so much public attention that it led to the ultimate downfall of notorious Prohibition-era mobster Al Capone.
Prohibition-era Chicago certainly knew mob violence, thanks to the fact that it was conveniently located for bootlegged booze and other black-market goods, but the Valentine’s Day Massacre shocked even weary Chicagoans . Although a number of gangs and organizations operated in Chicago in the 1920s, two fought for supremacy: Al Capone’s South Side gang and Bugs Moran’s North Side gang. The battles between these rival gangs also illustrated the racial tensions of the 1920s, as Al Capone supervised an Italian gang, while Bugs Moran headed a mixed Irish and German gang.
At some point in 1929, Al Capone decided it was time to eliminate Bugs Moran and delegated the job to one of his lieutenants while on vacation in Florida to establish an alibi. A four-man team engineered the Valentine’s Day Massacre, luring representatives of Bugs Moran’s gang to a warehouse in hopes of ensnaring Moran as well. The nature of the bait used is not known; the butchered men were dressed very well, suggesting they didn’t come to the warehouse to pick up a shipment of liquor, but perhaps to do business.
Once the men arrived at the warehouse, two assassins dressed as policemen entered the building and pretended to be on a regular police operation. After disarming the seven victims and forcing them to stand with their backs to the room, the “policemen” stepped back and allowed two plainclothes men to mow down the victims. To allay suspicions about the shootings, the fake policemen led the plainclothes men out at gunpoint and away from them, staging an orderly escape and delaying any phone call to the actual police.
Five of the men killed in the Valentine’s Day Massacre were definitely in Moran’s gang, and another was a follower. The seventh appears to be an innocent mechanic who was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. Moran himself was not on site; witnesses suggested he saw the men dressed as policemen and fled.
It took almost all of 1929 to solve the case, which attracted a lot of attention. Thanks to the events of the Valentine’s Day Massacre, the federal government felt the need to make a move on Al Capone, ultimately bringing him down through the Internal Revenue Service, which prosecuted him for non-payment of taxes.
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