James Baquet

Saint Valentine’s Day! A day associated with love, nesting birds and chubby little Cupids flying around shooting arrows at unsuspecting “victims” of love. Odd, then, to hear the holiday’s name followed by the word “massacre,” and to contemplate victims of another kind.

But the Saint Valentine’s Day Massacre was a very real event, occurring during a gang war between rival factions in 1920s Chicago — the era of Prohibition and rum runners — and featuring two of the city’s most famous crime bosses, Alphonse “Al” Capone and George “Bugs” Moran.

Here’s how it went down.

Thursday morning, February 14, at 10:30 a.m., seven men were waiting for a shipment of illegal whiskey in a garage in Chicago’s Lincoln Park neighborhood, when four men entered, two of them dressed as Chicago policemen. The “policemen” directed the men to line up against the wall of the garage, and the other two then sprayed them with bullets from Thompson submachine guns — so-called “Tommy guns.” Two of the shooters were armed with shotguns.

Five of the victims were members of the North Siders, an Irish gang run by crime boss George “Bugs” Moran; the other two were associates of the gang. One of the victims was Moran’s brother-in-law and second in command, Albert Kacheliek (aka James Clark). Also shot were the gang’s bookkeeper, business manager and occasional mechanic, as well as two “enforcers” and another associate.

Not present was the likely intended victim: Moran himself. Fortunately for him, he had left home late, and turned away when he saw the fake policemen approaching the building.

One of the victims was still alive when the real police arrived. When asked who shot him, he replied, “No one shot me.” He died of his fourteen bullet wounds a few hours later.

The gunmen were allegedly working for Al Capone, America’s most notorious gangster, who was head of the Italian gang called the South Side gang. Numerous suspects connected with Capone were questioned, but no one was ever convicted of the shootings.

Vocabulary:

Which words above mean:

1. people or animals who have been injured or injured or killed

2. not genuine

3. killing of many people

4. shot from side to side

5. smugglers of alcohol

6. happened

7. an era in U.S. history during which alcohol was made illegal

8. proved guilty

9. wife’s brother or sister’s husband

10. famous for doing something bad