Martin Antonenko
A Fixture
- Joined
- Jul 11, 2008
- Messages
- 8,823
Happy Valentine's Day from Al Capone!
On February 14, 1929, two black "Cadillac" sedans, resembling those of the Chicago Criminal Police Department, pull up at a Clark Street auto repair shop...:
The workshop belongs to the moving company "S-M-C Cartage Company"...:
And "S-M-C" in turn belongs to ganster boss George "Bugsy" Moran...
...and is actually a front company for illegal money laundering.
Five people get out of the two cars, three of them wear police uniforms and enter the garage..:
The whole thing looks like a raid - nobody of the many people on the street suspects, because that the workshop belongs to "Bugs" Moran is well known in the neighborhood and that the police are interested in Moran doesn't surprise anyone either...
In the workshop, the five newcomers meet seven people - these in turn are neither customers nor fitters, but form the core of a gangster group, the "North Side Gang".
It is a matter of:
- John May (35), the garage's auto mechanic; had already stood trial for robbery and theft.
- Adam Heyer (40) aka "Frank Snyder"; operated a dog track for Moran.
- Albert Kachellek (42) aka "James Clark"; the robber and burglar was involved with the Gusenberg brothers
Murder of Pasqualino "Patsy" Lolordo, President of the Unione Siciliana and friend of Al Capone.
- Peter Gusenberg (39) and
- Frank Gusenberg (36); the two were the gang's main hit men.
- Reinhart H. Schwimmer (29); an optician who had had to close his shop but was hoping for a new one to be able to open. He was probably friends with Dean O'Banion and belonged to the Mobster environment.
- Albert R Weinshank (35); he was considered an important confidant of Moran. Allegedly had his entire appearance Resemblance to that of his boss.
The "policemen" order the seven mobsters to stand against the wall and frisk them. They notice the similarity between Weinshank and Moran...:
They think they caught "Bugsy" themselves, as per the order!
Two of the killers, because that's what they are, pull Thompson submachine guns from under their coats...
...and less than ten minutes after entering the workshop, all seven "North Side" gangsters are dead!
The following three pictures do not show the real murders, but a reconstruction of the crime by the police at the crime scene...:
...and a scene from a US film adaptation of the 1967 massacre...:
The five killers calmly leave the workshop and - in order to deceive any witnesses - stage an "arrest" when they leave:
The three men disguised as police officers lead the two men in civilian clothes with their hands up - and drive away unmolested!
The massacre caused quite a stir in the press...:
The police then have to clear away the bodies...:
A power rival gang boss, Alphonso "Al" Capone himself, had ordered the massacre! The goal was to kill "Bugsy" Moran.
Capone had gone on holiday to much fanfare a few days earlier - so he had a "watertight" alibi!
Although there are seven dead in the so-called "Valentine's Day Massacre" in the press, the action is a failure for Capone:
"Bugs" Moran stays alive! He was actually on his way to his "garage" and had already been on Clark Street and seen the two cars with the killers pull up. Moran had known at once what had rung the bell and had bolted.
Moran will not die until 1957 - of lung cancer in Leavenworth, Kansas Federal Penitentiary.
At this point, Al Capone had been dead for ten years. He had served a sentence for tax evasion (that was all he could prove!) in the high-security prison "Alcatraz" and had been released in 1939. Capone died in 1947 at his Florida home from pneumonia caused by syphilis.
The "Valentine's Day Massacre" had a bizarre aftermath:
When the Clark Street workshop was demolished in 1967, the wall where the seven North Side gangsters were shot was sold and brick by brick to George Patey...
...transported by a Canadian with a gangster whim who rebuilt them in the men's room of his 1920s-style bar...:
...nicht ohne die Einschusslöcher sorgfältig mit roter Farbe zu marrkieren...:
Nachdem die Bar geschlossen wurde, verkaufte Patey die Steine einzeln als Souvenirs.
On February 14, 1929, two black "Cadillac" sedans, resembling those of the Chicago Criminal Police Department, pull up at a Clark Street auto repair shop...:
The workshop belongs to the moving company "S-M-C Cartage Company"...:
And "S-M-C" in turn belongs to ganster boss George "Bugsy" Moran...
...and is actually a front company for illegal money laundering.
Five people get out of the two cars, three of them wear police uniforms and enter the garage..:
The whole thing looks like a raid - nobody of the many people on the street suspects, because that the workshop belongs to "Bugs" Moran is well known in the neighborhood and that the police are interested in Moran doesn't surprise anyone either...
In the workshop, the five newcomers meet seven people - these in turn are neither customers nor fitters, but form the core of a gangster group, the "North Side Gang".
It is a matter of:
- John May (35), the garage's auto mechanic; had already stood trial for robbery and theft.
- Adam Heyer (40) aka "Frank Snyder"; operated a dog track for Moran.
- Albert Kachellek (42) aka "James Clark"; the robber and burglar was involved with the Gusenberg brothers
Murder of Pasqualino "Patsy" Lolordo, President of the Unione Siciliana and friend of Al Capone.
- Peter Gusenberg (39) and
- Frank Gusenberg (36); the two were the gang's main hit men.
- Reinhart H. Schwimmer (29); an optician who had had to close his shop but was hoping for a new one to be able to open. He was probably friends with Dean O'Banion and belonged to the Mobster environment.
- Albert R Weinshank (35); he was considered an important confidant of Moran. Allegedly had his entire appearance Resemblance to that of his boss.
The "policemen" order the seven mobsters to stand against the wall and frisk them. They notice the similarity between Weinshank and Moran...:
They think they caught "Bugsy" themselves, as per the order!
Two of the killers, because that's what they are, pull Thompson submachine guns from under their coats...
...and less than ten minutes after entering the workshop, all seven "North Side" gangsters are dead!
The following three pictures do not show the real murders, but a reconstruction of the crime by the police at the crime scene...:
...and a scene from a US film adaptation of the 1967 massacre...:
The five killers calmly leave the workshop and - in order to deceive any witnesses - stage an "arrest" when they leave:
The three men disguised as police officers lead the two men in civilian clothes with their hands up - and drive away unmolested!
The massacre caused quite a stir in the press...:
The police then have to clear away the bodies...:
A power rival gang boss, Alphonso "Al" Capone himself, had ordered the massacre! The goal was to kill "Bugsy" Moran.
Capone had gone on holiday to much fanfare a few days earlier - so he had a "watertight" alibi!
Although there are seven dead in the so-called "Valentine's Day Massacre" in the press, the action is a failure for Capone:
"Bugs" Moran stays alive! He was actually on his way to his "garage" and had already been on Clark Street and seen the two cars with the killers pull up. Moran had known at once what had rung the bell and had bolted.
Moran will not die until 1957 - of lung cancer in Leavenworth, Kansas Federal Penitentiary.
At this point, Al Capone had been dead for ten years. He had served a sentence for tax evasion (that was all he could prove!) in the high-security prison "Alcatraz" and had been released in 1939. Capone died in 1947 at his Florida home from pneumonia caused by syphilis.
The "Valentine's Day Massacre" had a bizarre aftermath:
When the Clark Street workshop was demolished in 1967, the wall where the seven North Side gangsters were shot was sold and brick by brick to George Patey...
...transported by a Canadian with a gangster whim who rebuilt them in the men's room of his 1920s-style bar...:
...nicht ohne die Einschusslöcher sorgfältig mit roter Farbe zu marrkieren...:
Nachdem die Bar geschlossen wurde, verkaufte Patey die Steine einzeln als Souvenirs.
