90 years ago today: Valentines Day Massacre

The Saint Valentine's Day Massacre was the 1929 Valentine's Day murder of 7 members of Chicago's North Side Gang. The men were gathered at a Lincoln Park garage on the morning of Valentine's Day, where they were lined up against a wall and shot by four unknown assailants, 2 of whom were dressed like police officers. The incident resulted from the struggle to control organized crime in the city during Prohibition between the Irish North Siders (led by George "Bugs" Moran) and their Italian South Side rivals (led by Al "Scarface" Capone). The perpetrators have never been conclusively identified, but former members of the Egan's Rats gang working for Capone are suspected of a significant role, as are members of the Chicago Police Department who allegedly wanted revenge for the killing of a police officer's son.

The victims:

-Peter Gusenberg, a frontline enforcer for the Moran organizations.

-Frank Gusenberg, the brother of Peter Gusenberg and also an enforcer.

-Albert Kachellek (alias "James Clark"), Moran's second-in-command.

-Adam Heyer, the bookkeeper and business manager of the Moran gang.

-Reinhardt Schwimmer, an optician who had abandoned his practice to gamble on horse racing and associated with the gang.

-Albert Weinshank, who managed several cleaning and dyeing operations for Moran. His resemblance to Moran, including the clothes he was wearing, is what allegedly set the massacre in motion before Moran actually arrived.

-John May, a car mechanic for the Moran gang.

The only two survivors were gang member Frank Gusenberg, who died at the hospital 3 hours later after telling police "nobody shot me," and a German shepherd named Highball, who was miraculously unscathed (and he wouldn't talk either).

Alarmed by an increase in mob-related violent crime that culminated in 64 related murders that same year, members of the public put increasing pressure on law enforcement to put an end to the violence. Labeled "Public Enemy No. 1," Capone soon became the target of multiple federal investigations, which ultimately landed him in the slammer.