The St. Valentine's Day Massacre, Feb 14, 1929, Chicago



On this date, 6 members of the "Bugs" Moran gang, and a doctor who thought it was cool to hang out with gangsters, were lined up against a wall in a garage and machine-gunned and shotgunned to death by rival crime lord Al Capone's gunmen.

However, these gunmen, who were disguised as vice cops and pretended to "arrest" the victims, neglected to get their primary target, Moran himself, who missed the murders by mere minutes.

Moran, true to the gangland code, refused to talk about the killings or who might have been responsible, but, when pressed, snarled, "Only Capone kills like that."

For almost a decade, the gangland wars of Chicago had rampaged unchecked as Al ruthlessly and methodically picked off his rivals for the vast market in bootlegging and vice--the Genna brothers, the O'Donnells, and his most formidable rival, Dion "Deenie" O'Bannion (whose booze was MUCH better than Capone's rotgut), while the cops, judges, mayors, and citizens looked the other way. At one point, the killings averaged over one a week, and Capone's estimated profit was 20 million per week, tax-free.

Tho popular in the Windy City because he was seen as only "providing a service that people would just get somewhere else", Capone crossed the line with this massacre. It was considered too brazen, too many, tho the Chicago papers set a new record for sales when they printed full-page pictures of the victims sprawled on the floor on their front pages. Truly this marked the beginning of the end for the crime lord, who eventually was convicted on tax charges (he had claimed he was a "used-furniture salesman" with a paltry income of a few hundred dollars yearly.) After serving time at various Federal pens, including Alcatraz, where he was a model prisoner, he died in 1947 a drooling lunatic, his mind and body ravaged by unchecked syphyllis.

No convictions were ever handed down for the massacre, tho it was widely believed that one of Capone's favorite henchmen, the handsome, sharp-dressing "Machine-Gun" Jack McGurn, who'd leave a nickel in his victim's hands, was one of the shooters. He was later shot to death in a bowling alley, and a nickel pressed into his hand.

I got no problem with violence so long as the participants keep it amoungst themselves. This is why I think duels should be legal. Keep the innocent bystandards out of it.

Originally posted by 500lbguerilla
Keep the innocent bystandards out of it.

;)

Thanks for the little St. Valentine's treat ren :)

Originally posted by 500lbguerilla
I got no problem with violence so long as the participants keep it amoungst themselves. This is why I think duels should be legal. Keep the innocent bystandards out of it.

Thats how early leaders solved their differences. Then each of them realized it was far more effective to hire other, more capable people to fight for them. Then they got the idea to send in a bunch of them. Then they gave all the participants knives, swords, spears, gunts, etc. And now we have nuclear weapons...

A young man with whom my wife works was complaining today about having to get a Valentine's Day gift for his girlfriend. He said "Why do they even have a holiday for someone who killed all those people!?"

[i]Originally posted by sedan
He said "Why do they even have a holiday for someone who killed all those people!?" [/B]

LOL, ah, the romance of it all....maybe he could get his girlfriend a tommy gun?

It seems that we learn so little from history sometimes. The ne prohibition aka The War on Drugs is producing similair problems and profits. We have gangs and drive by shootings. The gangsters say they are just providing something that people want and are willing to pay for.
The biggest financial hit organized crime ever took was the repeal of prohibition. It was estimated that organized crime had to lay off almost a third of their employees. Want to hurt organized crime? The easiest way is to legalize drugs and let the marketplace and competition bring down the prices. Not only that, if it's legal you can collect taxes on the business.

Originally posted by Imagineer
It seems that we learn so little from history sometimes. The ne prohibition aka The War on Drugs is producing similair problems and profits. We have gangs and drive by shootings. The gangsters say they are just providing something that people want and are willing to pay for.
The biggest financial hit organized crime ever took was the repeal of prohibition. It was estimated that organized crime had to lay off almost a third of their employees. Want to hurt organized crime? The easiest way is to legalize drugs and let the marketplace and competition bring down the prices. Not only that, if it's legal you can collect taxes on the business.

These are good points. The War on Drugs is an abysmal failure, as was Prohibition. The Volstead Act didn't stop drinking, it just made normally law-abiding citizens turn to crime--by drinking alcohol. This had the impact of making a laissez-faire attitude towards crime in general, which is why many of these gangsters are glamorized too ( and I'll admit to a certain fascination with them myself, and I can't help but think that many of the older-style crooks had a bit more style and class than many of their more modern day sorts--they really did ususally "only kill each other" (Buggsy Seigel) and one gangster, Vincent "Mad Dog" Coll, who accidentally killed a young boy in a shootout with other gangsters, was dealt with mercilessly by fellow rumrunners....they also had better nicknames, lol).

What the solution is, I do not know. And while it's true that the repeal of Prohibition had a severe impact on many gangster's fortunes, the more intelligent ones more than made up for this loss with gun running, prostitution, loan sharking, extortion, controlling labor unions,gambling and of course, the lucrative drug trade. I would imagine that even if drugs were legalized, they'd once again find more and better ways to make money--they consider themselves "businessmen" and are always looking for newer and better methods of making an illegal buck!

When will we finally have PROOF that Hoffa wuz a...



...HARDENED... criminal?




When we find his body buried in... CONCRETE...





:(

"I don't smoke. I don't drink. I guess my only vice is robbing banks."
John Dillinger


That quote is PRICELESS, rendova! And ya can take THAT all the way ta the...



...bank!


;)



"Yep, I may be a Gawdless heathen, but jest remember thingz didn't alwayz look so good fer Bonnie 'n Clyde, either, yet they finally ended up... holier... than the Pope..."--In Odder Words, who once actually saw their machinegunned car

LOL, Johnny had class, he did. And he was always up front about who and what he was. I admired his brains and derring-do and he truly spread the wealth around, frequently giving to the poor.

My Dad shook his hand as a 7 year old. His aunt was a part time girlfriend of Baby Face Nelson's. Johnny gave Dad $50, told him to stay in school and help his mom. When he was gunned down in Chicago a few months later ( shot in the BACK, I might add, and what were East Chicago cops doing there for a Federal crook?--he was also robbed of $14, 000 he was carrying in his pocket), Dad was inconsolable. He was a real hero to Depression era folks like my Dad and family and we have visited his gravesite many a time.

Originally posted by rendova
My Dad shook his hand as a 7 year old. His aunt was a part time girlfriend of Baby Face Nelson's.

That's really neat ren, he is my favorite figure of all organized crime. BTW- what is this "part-time" girlfriend? bowchickabowbow :D

Dad's aunt played piano in a honky tonk and that's where she met Lester Gillis, aka "Baby Face", who was a short, hot tempered former choir boy from Chicago. Johnny had reservations about taking him into his second Dillinger gang but was short handed. Nelson's temper frequently got him and the gang in all kinds of trouble and he's shoot places and people up for no reason. He was basically a trigger-happy thug and Johnny couldn't stand him.

Lester took one look at dainty sweet looking Aunt Corinne and fell in love. However, she was even meaner than he was and after taking him for all the cars, jewels, mink coats and diamonds that she could, she dumped him. She remained on good terms with the rest of the gang and would stand watch over their numerous hideouts and let them know about suspicious movements by the law. She heard a LOT of stuff at the honky tonk, and thought the world of Dillinger. He came to eat chicken with her family once and brought presents for everyone.

"...and after taking him for all the cars, jewels, mink coats and diamonds that she could, she dumped him."



Which proves ONCE AGAIN what I've been sayin' all along, rendova:



"Ta some dames a mink STOLE ain't really much different than a mink...



...BOUGHT!"




;)




www. the day it's proved that jimmy hoffa's buried in CONCRETE is the day he'll go down as a HARDENED criminal fer SURE... .edu




;)

When will we finally have PROOF that Hoffa wuz a...



...HARDENED... criminal?




When we find his body buried in... CONCRETE...





:(

LOL, poor Jimmy didn't even get a last meal---I doubt he ever even went into that restaurant where he was supposed to meet the fellas who ended his long reign of embezzlement and racketeeering.
I've heard he was buried in the end zone of Giants stadium..but his poor bullet-riddled bod is probably dissolving in some handy vat of chemicals. He was born and raised not too far from where we live now! A very smart fella but made a few too many enemies over the years.