On February 14, 1929, around 10:30 a.m., seven members of Bugs Moran’s gang were gunned down in cold blood.
To this day, the St. Valentine’s Day massacre remains one of the most brutal and infamous mob hits in American history.
The Werner Storage Company building located at 2122 N. Clark St., shown here in 1953 is the scene of the St. Valentine’s Day massacre on Feb. 14, 1929. The building was torn down December 1967. (Credit: Chicago Tribune)
The aftermath of the Valentine’s Day Massacre of February 14, 1929. Seven members of the O’Banion Moran gang were trapped in a garage, lined up against the wall, and shot with sawed-off shotguns. According to the Chicago Police authorities the cause of the murders was the illicit gangster-controlled liquor traffic in Chicago during Prohibition. (Credit: Hulton-Deutsch Collection/CORBIS)
The aftermath of the Valentine’s Day Massacre of February 14, 1929. (Credit: Hulton-Deutsch Collection/CORBIS)
The bodies of six of the seven men slain on Feb. 14, 1929, in the S. M. C. Cartage Company garage at 2122 N. Clark St. on Chicago’s North Side in what became known as the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre, sprawl on a floor and a chair. Several of the dead were members of a North Side gang run by George “Bugs” Moran, who had a rivalry with Al Capone and his gang. (Credit: Chicago Tribune)
A crowd outside the Clark Street garage, owned by George “Bugs” Moran, where the St. Valentine’s Day massacre took place on Feb. 14, 1929. (Credit: Chicago Tribune)
A crowd gathers in the alley behind 2122 N. Clark St., as police remove the victims of the St. Valentine’s Day massacre.
The body of Albert Kachellek, aka “James Clark”, is removed from the county morgue on Feb. 15, 1929. Clark was the brother-in-law of gang leader George “Bugs” Moran and was said to have the reputation of a hardened killer. (Credit: Chicago Tribune)
The body of one of the seven victims is placed in an ambulance with Coroner Herman M. Bundesen, center, in attendance after the mass shooting occurred. (Credit: Chicago Tribune)
Curious spectators and friends and family of the dead rush to the scene of the St. Valentine’s Day massacre to identify the victims. (Credit: Chicago Tribune)
Mrs. Alphonsine Morin, who lived across the street from the garage, was one of two witnesses who saw the assassins leave the garage after the massacre. According to the Chicago Tribune, Morin saw two men who looked like policemen coming out of the garage after hearing the shooting. Both Morin and the other witness, Mrs. Jeanette Landesman, received a letter six days later advising them to “keep your mouth shut.” Morin, seen here circa February 1929, left town the minute she received the letter. (Credit: Chicago Tribune)
Mrs. Myrtle Gorman, center, of 434 Roscoe Street, was the wife of Peter Gusenberg, a gang leader for George “Bugs” Moran. Gusenberg, 40, was murdered when during the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre. Mrs. Gorman denied all knowledge of her husbands activities, leaves the courthouse after the coroner’s inquest. (Credit: Chicago Tribune)
The coroners jury, led by Coroner Herman N. Bundesen, left, at the inquest for the Clark Street St. Valentine’s Day Massacre on Feb. 15, 1929. The coroner said 20 to 25 bullets were found in each of the seven bodies. (Credit: Chicago Tribune)
Mrs. Josephine Schwimmer, the mother of murdered Dr. Reinhardt Schwimmer, 29, at an inquest for the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre on Feb. 15, 1929 at the Hudson Avenue police station in Chicago. Dr. Reinhardt Schwimmer was the only one of the seven men killed who was not in the George “Bugs” Moran gang. The Chicago Tribune noted that Schwimmer was an optometrist with a hoodlum complex, who liked to associate with gangsters. (Credit: Chicago Tribune)
On April 19, 1929, Coroner Herman N. Bundesen, right, and Lt. Col. C. H. Goddard look over machine guns believed to be used in the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre. Coroner Bundesen had summoned all firearm dealers in the area who had been known to sell machine guns to the coroner’s jury in Chicago. (Credit: Chicago Tribune)
Capt. William ‘Shoes’ Schoemaker shows four machine guns at the inquest for the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre on April 19, 1929. Coroner Bundesen had summoned all firearm dealers in the area who had been known to sell machine guns to the coroner’s jury in Chicago. (Credit: Chicago Tribune)
The coroner jurors watch a re-enactment of the St. Valentine’s Day massacre of 1929. (Credit: Chicago Tribune)
Mrs. Josephine Schwimmer (with handkerchief), the mother of Dr. Reinhardt Schwimmer, leaves the chapel at the funeral for her son on Feb. 18, 1929. Schwimmer, an optometrist with a hoodlum complex, was one of the seven men killed during the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre on Feb. 14, 1929. (Credit: Chicago Tribune)
The funeral for gangster brothers Frank and Peter Gusenberg was held on Feb. 18, 1929, and was packed with floral arrangments, including one heart believed to be sent from gang leader George “Bugs” Moran. The brothers were leaders in the Bugs Moran gang. (Credit: Chicago Tribune)
