Valentine's Day celebrations were not all the time sugar and spice. The early twentieth century witnessed a blood-soaked 14 February in 1929 -- on the very day that hearts elsewhere were beating to a dissimilar rhythm. It remains a Black Day in the calendar of Valentine's Day down the centuries.
On 14 February 1929, the infamous Valentine's Day Massacre brought the sleazy underbelly of Chicago to the forefront as gang rivalry reached a bloody climax. Seven gangsters of the notorious George 'Bugs' Moran gang were gunned down in cold blood by members of the rival Al 'Scarface' Capone gang.
Valentine
Unbridled gang rivalry was already spattering blood on the streets of Chicago. For years, the George 'Bugs' Moran gang and the Al 'Scarface' Capone gang had been bitter rivals -- each aiming to be the undisputed king of the underworld. On this day that rivalry truly reached a gruesome climax.
The scene of all that carnage was a seedy, abandoned stable in downtown Chicago. It was Al Capone, the dreaded kingpin among gangsters, who had masterminded the entire plan to eliminate arch rival Moran. Moran and his men fell headlong into the trap laid for them, fully taken in by an sufficient disguise and the bait of bootleg whiskey.
Seven members of Moran's gang were asked to arrive at a stable of the S-M-C Cartage business on North Clark road in Chicago. The date was 14 February 1929. That's where the promised cheap, bootlegged whiskey would be delivered to them. fully unaware that anyone sinister was going on, the unsuspecting victims duly gathered at the appointed spot. Within minutes of their arrival, a car screeched to a halt covering the garage. Out stepped Capone's trusted six lieutenants, a few of whom were disguised as police officers. Mistakenly reasoning it to be a police raid, Moran's men did as they were ordered - obediently lining up against the wall, with their backs towards Capone's men. Seconds later, a volley of gunshots rent the calm and seven bodies collapsed to the ground. Somehow, one man in that ill-fated group just managed to survive the onslaught. He, however, died on the way to the hospital without disclosing anyone to the frustrated police who had pinned their hopes of an arrest on his confession.
The Valentine's Day Massacre, as the media dubbed it, created a sensation in Chicago's crime world. The news spread like wildfire and big and small gangs were compelled to answer Capone as the king of the underworld. Al Capone had covered his tracks well, and the police simply could not arrest him for lack of evidence.
Though he managed to fly the police net this time, years later he served a prison sentence for seven years for tax invasion!
Nevertheless, the infamous Valentine's Day Massacre made a celebrity out of Capone, production him larger than life to his rivals, who feared and resented him in equal measure. The incident also had all the ingredients of a Hollywood pot-boiler -- suspense, drama, thrills and lots of action. Sure enough, two movies emerged from Hollywood on the branch -- "Some Like it Hot" in 1959 and Roger Corman's prosperous "The St. Valentine's Day Massacre" in 1967.
A Blood-Soaked Saint Valentine's Day
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