In the late 1920s, gang warfare ruled streets of Chicago. Among the most famous rose chief gangster Al Capone, who sought to consolidate control by eliminating his rivals in the illegal trades of bootlegging, gambling, and prostitution. One of the darkest moments in mob history was the elimination of the last challenge to Al Capone for the mantle of crime boss in Chicago - the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre.
The bloody climax of the gang war between Irish gangster George “Bugs” Moran’s bootlegging operations and Capone’s rival gang occured on February 14 of 1929. At 10:30 a.m. in a garage at 2122 North Clark Street, seven men were murdered at the hands of four other men using weapons that included two Thompson submachine guns. Two of the shooters were dressed as uniformed policemen, while others wore suits, ties, overcoats, and hats. They were gunned down while standing lined up, facing the wall of the garage. Around 70 rounds of ammunition were fired.
The victims included Frank “Hock” Gusenberg, Moran’s enforcer, his brother, Peter “Goosy” Gusenberg, four Moran gangsters, and Dr. Reinhardt Schwimmer, a former optician turned gambler and gang associate.
Moran and the others alleged Capone and his gang for the massacre, but the famous gangster himself claimed to be at his home in Florida, providing an alibi for his whereabouts and disclaiming knowledge of the cold blooded killings. Nobody was ever brought to trial for the murders.
Though the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre marked the end of any significant gang opposition to Capone’s rule in Chicago, it is also said to have marked the beginning of his ultimate downfall. Newspapers dubbed him “Public Enemy No. 1” in reference to impressive income, his willingness to ruthlessly eliminate his rivals, and his status as the nation’s most notorious gangster. Within days of the massacre, Capone received a summons to testify before a Chicago grandy jury on violations of the federal Prohibition Law, but he claimed to be too unwell to attend at the time. In May 1929, Capone was sentenced to a prison term in Philadelphia’s Eastern State Penitentiary after being charged with contempt of court, and he was convicted within 16 hours of being arrested for carrying a gun during the trip there. Meanwhile, the U.S. Treasury Department had launched an investigation of Capone for income tax evasion, and Special Agent Frank Wilson and other members of the Intelligence Unit of the Internal Revenue Service was able to put together a case and indict Capone in June 1931. He was sent to Atlanta U.S. Penitentiary in May 1932 for 11 years in prison, eventually dying at his Florida home in 1947.
Very interesting post Elise! After reading your post I was fascinated with Al Capone. I also saw that you mentioned that Al Capone went to jail in Atlanta, however I had a question because I thought he went to Alcatraz. Using the source http://www.sftodo.com/alcatraz-al-capone.html, I found out that you were right and that he only got transferred to Alcatraz in 1936. I was also curious about Al Capone's upbringing. Using the source http://www.history.com/topics/al-capone, I found that Al Capone was born into a poor Italian immigrant family. He was guided by his friend Torrio into gangs and the alcohol smuggling industry. I believe that the rise of gangsters such as Al Capone was because the government did not protect the rights of poor immigrants and Abolition didn't stop people from drinking, it just made drinking illegal.
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