The Saint Valentine's Day Massacre
In the early 1929's Al Capone was living in Miami with his family (to escape Chicago's brutal winter) when his partner Jack McGurn or "machine Gun" visited him McGurn, who had just recently survived a assassination attempt ordered by Moran, wanted to talk about away to deal with Moran's gang. In a attempt to eliminate the Moran gang entirely Al Capone agreed to fund the assassination and put McGurn in charge of organizing it. McGurn planned carefully, he had located the Moran gang's headquarters,which was in a large garage behind the offices of S.M.C Cartage Company at 2122 North Clark Street. McGurn hired people from out of the Chicago area to assassinate Moran, so the Moran gang wouldn't think they were part of the Capone gang. McGurn hired lookouts and set them up in a apartment near the garage. Also essential to the plan was for McGurn to get a stolen police car and two police uniforms.With the plan organized and the killers hired, it was time to set the trap. McGurn had instructed a local booze hijacker to contact Moran on February 13. The hijacker was told to tell Moran that he had obtained a shipment of Old Log Cabin whiskey (i.e. very good liquor) which he was willing to sell at the very reasonable price of $57 per case. Moran quickly agreed and told the hijacker to meet him at the garage at 10:30 the following morning.On the morning of February 14, 1929, the lookouts (Harry and Phil Keywell) were watching carefully as the Moran gang assembled at the garage. Around 10:30, the lookouts recognized a man heading to the garage as "Bugs" Moran. The lookouts told the gunmen then gunmen climbed into the stolen police car.When the stolen police car reached the garage, the four gunmen (Fred "Killer" Burke, John Scalise, Albert Anselmi, and Joseph Lolordo) jumped out. (Some reports say there were five gunmen.)Two of the gunmen were dressed in police uniforms. When the gunmen rushed into the garage, the seven men inside saw the uniforms and thought it was a routine police raid. Continuing to believe the gunmen to be police officers, all seven men peacefully did as they were told. They lined up, faced the wall, and allowed the gunmen to remove their weapons.The gunmen then opened fire, using two Tommy guns, a sawed-off shotgun, and a .45. The killing was fast and bloody. Each of the seven victims received at least 15 bullets, mostly in the head and torso.The gunmen then left the garage.Though the plan had been carefully crafted, one major problem occurred. The man that the lookouts had identified as Moran was really Albert Weinshank. "Bugs" Moran, the main target for the assassination, was arriving a couple minutes late to the 10:30 a.m. meeting when he noticed a police car outside the garage. Thinking it was a police raid, Moran stayed away from the building, unknowingly saving his life.