ST. VALENTINE'S DAY 1929

By GEORGE ANGELL

On 17 January 1920 a law was passed that prohibited the manufacture and sale of liquor anywhere in the USA, and although gangsters had already been around for many years they had never been presented with such a fabulous opportunity. Vast sums of money could be made from prohibition, and this could only lead to one conclusion murder on an unprecedented scale. The years up to 1932 led to 2000 civilians (mainly gangsters and beer runners) and 500 prohibition agents being killed. At one stage it was one a day! But the slaughter would reach its peak on 14 February 1929 St. Valentine's Day.

In Chigago fierce gang wars had raged for years. Bugs Moran's gang, who controlled the north side were sworn enemies of Al Capone, whose gang controlled the south side. Two previous leaders of what was now the Moran gang, had both ended up dead as a result of bungled attempts upon Capone's life. But Moran pushed Capone too far when he continued to hijack his liquor shipments.

On the night of 13 February 1929, Moran received a phone call confirming a delivery of illegal whiskey. It was to be taken to his headquarters, a garage called the S.M.C. Cartage Co. on 2122 North Clark Street, at 11:00 am the following morning.

Whilst Al Capone was entertaining dignitaries at his home in Florida, he left his top killer "Machine Gun Jack McGurn to settle the matter for once and for all. McGurn was the architect of one of America's bloodiest peace time killings, "Machine Gun" Jack would show the world exactly who was boss!

THE MASSACRE

The morning of 14 February 1929 was a typical midwinter Chigago day: cold and windy with powdery snow that drifted along the nine mile clutter of buildings that make up Clark Street. At the S.N.C. Cartage Co. five men of the Bugs Moran gang chatted to the owner of the garage. They were Frank & Pete Gussenburg whose speciality was burglary and train robbing, John May a safe cracker, Al Weinshank, and Jim Clark a gunman who was also Moran`s brother in law. The seventh person present at the garage on that fateful day was Dr. Reinhart H Schwimmer, a young occultist and admirer of Moran.

Meanwhile Moran, his bodyguard and Ted Newberry, who was in charge of the whiskey sales staff and the overseer of Moran's speakeasies, were on their way to the garage, when a black Packard tourer with the top raised and the side curtains drawn, sped past. Noticing the blackened bell on the running board, they assumed it to be a police car and hid in a shop doorway. At 10:50 am the car pulled up at the front of the garage. One man who was dressed in police uniform, stayed at the wheel of the car, while his four passengers got out.Two were dressed as policemen and two were in civilian overcoats and hats. The four then entered the building.

The two men dressed as policemen entered the garage forecourt first. Moran's men took it to be just another routine raid and behaved as professional criminals normally did, complying with police demands. All seven were the lined up facing a wall and their guns were removed. They probably expected to be arrested, taken to the police station and then released without charges just after midday, when suddenly the two men in overcoats appeared and opened fire with machine guns, At 10:58 am the two men in overcoats came out with their hands up, closely followed by the two uniformed men who were holding guns in their backs, so as not to arouse unnecessary suspicion. All four then got into the car where the fifth was waiting, and sped away.

Of the 100 bullets fired that day only 8 missed flesh and bone and ended up in the wall. Four of the men died immediately, two more were finished off with shotgun blasts to the head. Only Frank Gusenberg made it to the hospital before he died. One reporter said afterwards that he had more brains on his feet than he did in his head.

THE AFTERMATH

The only reason Moran had survived was that Capone's gang had mistaken Al Weinshank for him,he was a man of similar build and also dressed in the same brown overcoat and olive green fedora hat as he often wore. Although Moran had survived the massacre, he and the remnants of his gang would never be the same again. Essentially, with a single blow, Capone had crushed the opposition and was now undisputed king of Chigago.

There are many theories as to the names of the killers on that fateful day. One of the likeliest is that a Joseph Lolordo could have been one of the plain clothes men, as his brother had been murdered by Moran's gang and he was known to be desperate for revenge. Another is that Fred Burke and James Ray, both members of Egan's Rats gang from St Louis, masqueraded as the policemen. McGurn knew them to be expensive but efficient killers, and probably reasoned that as they weren't from Chigago they were not likely to be recognised. Other names linked with the massacre are those of Albert Anselmi and John Scalise, two professional killers who were known as the Homicide Squad. Not content with more rational explanations, prohibition agents later claimed that Moran had threatened to expose three corrupt policeman, and that they on hearing this, had decided to silence him. whilst not impossible in this age of high corruption, this explanation seems unlikely as two cheques from McGurn for $10,000 are known to have been given to Egan's Rats men Burke and Ray around this time.

Seven years later to the day "Machine Gun" Jack who used to put a silver nickel in the palm of his victims to show how little they were worth to him, lay dead. Only this time it was Jack who had a silver nickel in his hand and the comic "Valentine" lay by his body.

GAMING POSSIBILITIES

Whilst the events of the massacre were in reality clinically simple, and only eight minutes in length, they rely on a few key elements, mainly that none of the intended victims would recognise or resist their killers. But what if Bugs Moran and the two other members of the gang had of arrived earlier? Would they have recognised any of the killers, and therefore not believed it to be just another routine police raid? Or would they too have been murdered along with the rest of the gang? What if there had been a real police raid in progress at the time? Could a threeway gun battle have ensued? The Capone gang were also relying on both the garage owner and the occultist not recognising them. Had they smelt a rat, as it were, the outcome could have been very different!

The ST Valentine's Day Massacre has real possibilities as a scenario for a skirmish or role-playing game. It could involve two or more players and preferably a game judge, and of course could be assembled at potentially minimal expense as there need only be a limited number of figures involved. The game would require only a small playing space and could easily be resolved in an evening.