The Saint Valentine's Day Massacre

THE SAINT VALENTINE'S DAY MASSACRE

Gang Rivalry in Chicago

By early 1929 Al Capone had neutralized most of his major underworld enemies in Chicago. But one gang operating on the North Side, led by George "Bugs" Moran, continued to defy him, and Capone resolved to liquidate all its leadership, especially Moran. Through informants Capone knew that Moran's gang congregated regularly in a garage on North Clark Street to await the arrival of their liquor-truck convoys and that one such shipment was due to arrive at 10:30 A.M. on 14 February 1929. Capone ordered his main "enforcer," Fred "Killer" Burke, to prepare a "surprise" for Moran and company.

Gangsters Disguised as Policemen

It was decided that three gunmen would gain access to the garage by disguising themselves as Chicago police officers conducting a routine raid. Through cash payoffs Capone procured a police car and several police uniforms. Since the intended victims already knew most of the Capone mob, members of the "Purple Gang" of Detroit were hired to pose as the policemen. When these men entered the garage, they encountered seven men: Albert Kashellek (Moran's brother-in-law), Adam Heyer (reputed to be the bookkeeper for the gang), John May and Reinhart Schwimmer (both minor gang figures), Pete and Frank Gusenberg (Moran's most dangerous gunmen), and Albert Weinshank (a speakeasy operator who bore a striking physical resemblance to Moran). Mistaking Weinshank for Moran, who was having coffee in a diner three blocks away, the bogus policemen ordered all seven to raise their hands and stand spread-eagled against the back wall. At that point Burke and a companion quietly entered the garage, and the hit team opened fire on the hapless men with three machine guns, a shotgun, and a .45-caliber revolver. Within thirty seconds the seven lay dead on the floor while their killers drove away, without hindrance, in the police car. None of the guilty parties, including Capone and Burke, were ever prosecuted for their roles in the "Saint Valentine's Day Massacre."

THE FIRST CHICAGO GANGLAND FUNERAL

In 1920 James Colosimo was the reputed "kingpin" of the Chicago underworld. After arriving in Chicago from Italy in 1895, "Big Jim" had started a lucrative loan-shark operation on the South Side. By the late 1910s Colosimo also dominated prostitution and gambling in the Windy City from his headquarters at Colosimo's Café on South Wabash Avenue, one of the most popular night-spots in Chicago. There gangsters freely mingled with figures from high society. In 1915 Colosirao brought in his brother-in-law, Johnny Torrio, from New York City to help manage his burgeoning operations. Five years later Torrio arranged for another New Yorker, Al "Scarface" Capone, to join the organization.

With the advent of Prohibition in January 1920, Colosimo began a sizable bootlegging enterprise. Later that spring Frank Yale, a former associate, decided to" "muscle in" on Colosimo's rackets, fatally shooting "Big Jim" in the spacious lobby of Colosimo's Café on the afternoon of 11 May 1920. Contrary to rumors Capone played no part in this slaying—generally considered the first major gangland "hit" in Chicago during the 1920s.

Colosimo was the first dead racketeer to be accorded a lavish public funeral. His "send-off" at Holy Name Catholic Cathedral was also the first for which gangster/florist Dion O'Banion provided the lavish floral arrangements that became standard displays at mob funerals.

Sources:

Laurence Bergrecn, Capone: The Man and His Era (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1994);

John Kelly, "Gangster City," American Heritage, 46 (April 1995): 65-88.

THE CRUSTY JUSTICE MCREYNOLDS

The group photograph of the U.S. Supreme Court justices customarily taken each year was not taken in 1924. On the basis of seniority Associate Justice James C. McReynolds was supposed to be seated next to Associate Justice Louis D. Brandeis for the photograph, but McReynolds refused to pose beside his fellow justice. In 1915 McReynolds, a conservative Democrat from Kentucky, had opposed Brandeis's appointment because he was Jewish. The Kentuckian never accepted the notion that there should be a "Jewish seat" on the Supreme Court, and he had little regard for the liberal views of Justice Brandeis. He deliberately left the courtroom on several occasions when Brandeis was reading an opinion.

Appointed to the court by President Woodrow Wilson in 1914, McReynolds was regarded as the most reactionary member of the Taft Court. He bitterly regretted the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920, publicly declaring that having the right to vote did not necessarily mean that women could serve on juries. In the early 1920s he boycotted Supreme Court sessions at which female attorneys argued cases. He refused to appoint women as his law clerks and rebuked those colleagues who committed that "folly." A stickler for protocol, the irascible McReynolds required that his male clerks walk two paces behind him. In the 1930s McReynolds was a dedicated opponent of the New Deal and among the "tired old men" that President Franklin D. Roosevelt denounced in 1937.

Source:

Clare Cushman, ed., The Supreme Court Justices: Illustrated Biographies 1789-1993 (Washington, D.C.: Congressional Quarterly, 1993).

Source:

Laurence Bergreen, Capone: The Man and His Era (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1994).