ARTICLES: A Valentine's Day to Die For! by Michael GavinGangsters, Guns and Ghosts-
Candy is dandy, but liquor is quicker. Especially bootleged liquor... The year was 1929 and Chicago, along with the rest of the nation, is in the midst of the Great Depression. To make matters worse, the sale of alcohol is prohibited. But, for some, business was booming. George Moran, better known as "Bugs" Moran was making a fortune selling illegal hooch in the Windy City. So much money, that he earned the disapproving attention of crime kingpin Al "Scar face" Capone. The set up went like this; an offer that could not be refused revealed itself in the form of quality booze at an unbelievable price. Once Moran and his men took the bait that cool February morning, Capone's heavies (led by "Machine Gun" McGurn) showed up at the car garage on Clark Street in stolen police uniforms to "raid" the transaction.
Bugs' men were lined up against the wall and mowed down by a steady hail of machine gun bullets. Seven men were gunned down at 10:30 that morning-Valentine's day. Even though he was the intended target, Moran himself escaped with his life due his tardiness.
This year, Monday, February 14, 2005 marks the 75th anniversary of what has become known as "the St. Valentine's Massacre". While the garage at 2122 Clark Street in Chicago Illinois is long gone, the memories remain. Many claim to hear the moans of Moran's men as if they were still lying there waiting to die. Others, who regularly walk their dog near the site of what used to be the S.M.C. Cartage Co. Garage, allege their pets become extremely agitated with each step closer to the location of the infamous St. Valentine's Day Massacre.
Al Capone was intentionally hiding out in Florida during the St. Valentine's Day Massacre, and McGurn married his girlfriend, disabling her ability to testify against him. As a result no one was ever brought to justice for the 1929 bloodbath. Could the moans of agony heard by so many over the years be a cry for justice, or is it just another chapter in the bloody history of a holiday known as Valentine's Day?
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