# Canonical recap data for St. Valentine's Day Massacre (1929)
# Source: https://recap.at/1929/st-valentine-day-massacre
# Format: YAML 1.2 (UTF-8). Generated at request time.
slug: st-valentine-day-massacre
canonicalUrl: "https://recap.at/1929/st-valentine-day-massacre"
title: St. Valentine's Day Massacre
aliases:
- Clark Street Massacre
- North Clark Street Massacre
- Moran-Capone Massacre
subtitle: ""
recapType: global_event
eventStatus: concluded
startDate: 1929-01-01
datePrecision: year
year: 1929
decade: 1920
country:
name: United States
slug: united-states
summaryShort: On February 14, 1929, seven members of Chicago's North Side Gang were executed in a garage, a killing that marked the peak of Al Capone's dominance during Prohibition and effectively ended organized resistance to his rule.
summaryLong: |-
  The St. Valentine's Day Massacre wasn't a single crime so much as a coronation written in blood. On the morning of February 14, 1929, in a Lincoln Park garage at 2122 North Clark Street, seven men affiliated with George "Bugs" Moran's North Side Gang were lined up against a wall and shot dead by men dressed as police officers. The victims included optometrist Reinhardt Schwimmer, who happened to be in the wrong place, and mechanic John May. The hit was swift, clinical, and unmistakably a message.

  Chicago's bootlegging wars had simmered for years-a profitable chaos that fed speakeasies and filled coffins in roughly equal measure. Bugs Moran controlled the North Side; Al Capone controlled most of everything else, including the police, judges, and politicians. By 1929, Moran represented the last significant threat to Capone's monopoly on Chicago's illegal liquor trade. The massacre on Clark Street wasn't about a single shipment or debt. It was about consolidation. It was about reminding every other gang in the city who held the gun.

  Capone himself was conveniently in Miami when the shooting happened-a detail that satisfied nobody's sense of justice, though it kept him legally insulated. The actual shooters were never definitively identified or prosecuted, though most historians finger Jack McGurn and Fred Burke as likely participants. The police investigation went nowhere. The grand jury found nothing. Moran survived but his operation was effectively finished. Within months, the North Side Gang had dissolved into irrelevance.

  The massacre became the symbolic endpoint of Prohibition-era gangland violence in Chicago, the moment when the last pretender to the throne was publicly executed and the game's rules became unmistakably clear. It would take federal tax charges, not murder investigations, to finally bring Capone down four years later. But on February 14, 1929, in a garage on Clark Street, the outcome was already decided.
lede: On February 14, 1929, seven men were executed inside a Chicago garage by shooters dressed as police officers. The killings were meant to eliminate the last significant rival to Al Capone's bootlegging operation during Prohibition and marked the violent peak of Chicago's gang wars.
heroImageUrl: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f8/St_Valentine%27s_Day_Massacre_-_view_from_above.jpg/1280px-St_Valentine%27s_Day_Massacre_-_view_from_above.jpg"
heroImageCredit: Wikipedia · "Saint Valentine's Day Massacre"
importance: 50
sourceConfidence: 50
keyFacts:
- label: Date
  value: February 14, 1929
- label: Location
  value: 2122 North Clark Street, Chicago, Illinois
- label: Victims
  value: 7 confirmed dead
- label: Gang affiliation of victims
  value: North Side Gang (affiliated with Bugs Moran)
- label: Suspected architect
  value: Al Capone
- label: Time of shooting
  value: "Approximately 10:30 AM"
- label: Capone's location
  value: Miami, Florida
- label: Prosecutions for the massacre
  value: None
timeline:
- date: 1920-01-17
  title: Prohibition begins
  description: The Volstead Act takes effect, beginning federal Prohibition and creating the conditions for organized bootlegging in Chicago.
- date: 1925-01-01
  title: Capone consolidates power
  description: Al Capone assumes control of Chicago's South Side bootlegging operation after the death of Johnny Torrio, beginning his rise to dominance.
- date: 1927-01-01
  title: Moran and Capone tensions escalate
  description: Bugs Moran's North Side Gang and Capone's South Side operation engage in increasing violence over territory and bootlegging routes.
- date: 1929-02-14
  title: St. Valentine's Day Massacre
  description: Seven men, mostly members of the North Side Gang, are shot and killed in a garage at 2122 North Clark Street by men dressed as police officers.
- date: 1929-02-15
  title: Chicago police investigation begins
  description: Police discover the bodies and launch an investigation into the shootings; Bugs Moran narrowly avoided being present at the time.
- date: 1929-03-01
  title: North Side Gang effectively dissolves
  description: Following the massacre and loss of territory, Bugs Moran's organization fragments and ceases to function as a serious rival to Capone.
- date: 1931-10-17
  title: Capone convicted of tax evasion
  description: Al Capone is convicted of federal income tax charges and sentenced to 11 years in prison-charges unrelated to the massacre.
sources: []
related: []
gallery:
- url: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f8/St_Valentine%27s_Day_Massacre_-_view_from_above.jpg/1280px-St_Valentine%27s_Day_Massacre_-_view_from_above.jpg"
  thumbnailUrl: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f8/St_Valentine%27s_Day_Massacre_-_view_from_above.jpg/800px-St_Valentine%27s_Day_Massacre_-_view_from_above.jpg"
  caption: Saint Valentine's Day Massacre
  credit: Wikipedia · "Saint Valentine's Day Massacre"
  width: 330
  height: 231
- url: "https://ark.digitalcommonwealth.org/ark:/50959/sj139r243/thumbnail"
  thumbnailUrl: "https://ark.digitalcommonwealth.org/ark:/50959/sj139r243/thumbnail"
  caption: Seven dead gangsters - St. Valentine's Day massacre, Chicago, Ill (JPJ)
  credit: Boston Public Library
  width: 0
  height: 0
archiveSnapshots: []
categories:
- disaster
metaDescription: Chicago's deadliest gang hit. Seven men gunned down in a warehouse on February 14, 1929. Capone's boys cleaned house. Nobody was ever charged.
originSignals:
- "wikipedia:st-valentine-day-massacre"
impactStatement: Seven members of the North Side Gang were executed by Al Capone's hitmen on February 14, 1929, in a Chicago garage, cementing Capone's dominance of the city's bootleg liquor trade and marking the violent apex of Prohibition-era gangland warfare. The massacre crystallized public revulsion toward organized crime and accelerated federal law enforcement's determination to dismantle Capone's operation, which culminated in his conviction on tax evasion charges in 1931. The event became the defining symbol of 1920s American criminality and gang violence.
relationships:
- targetSlug: tulsa-race-massacre
  type: echoed
  confidence: 72
  evidence: Both events represent major episodes of organized mass violence in early 20th-century America, though the Tulsa massacre (1921) was racially motivated while St. Valentine's Day (1929) was intra-criminal gang conflict; each shaped public perception of lawlessness and violence in their era.
  source: ai
- targetSlug: hitler-rise-to-power
  type: caused
  confidence: 75
  evidence: Timeline of "St. Valentine's Day Massacre" references "Hitler's Rise to Power" (2 shared tokens incl. title anchor).
  source: ai
- targetSlug: storming-of-bastille
  type: caused_by
  confidence: 75
  evidence: Timeline of "St. Valentine's Day Massacre" references "French Revolution Begins (Storming of the Bastille)" (2 shared tokens incl. title anchor).
  source: ai
- targetSlug: trail-of-tears-indian-removal
  type: caused_by
  confidence: 75
  evidence: Timeline of "St. Valentine's Day Massacre" references "Indian Removal Act & Trail of Tears begins" (2 shared tokens incl. title anchor).
  source: ai
comparisonThenNow:
- metric: Chicago homicides per year
  thenValue: ~395
  thenYear: 1929
  nowValue: ~500
  nowYear: 2023
  note: 1929 figure represents peak Prohibition violence; modern rates vary by source but remain elevated
- metric: Estimated Capone organization annual revenue
  thenValue: $60-100 million
  thenYear: 1929
  nowValue: $1.5+ billion (estimated major crime syndicates)
  nowYear: 2024
  note: Adjusted for inflation, 1929 value equivalent to ~$1.2 billion in 2024 dollars
- metric: Federal law enforcement agencies focused on organized crime
  thenValue: Minimal coordination
  thenYear: 1929
  nowValue: FBI Organized Crime Task Forces in major cities
  nowYear: 2024
  note: FBI's Organized Crime Division not formalized until 1960s
consequences:
- title: Capone's federal conviction
  year: 1931
  description: Al Capone was convicted on tax evasion charges on October 17, 1931, and sentenced to 11 years in federal prison. The Massacre had consolidated his power, but it also intensified federal focus on his organization under Eliot Ness and the Treasury Department.
- title: Decline of competing gang structure
  year: 1929
  description: The North Side Gang ceased to exist as an organized force following the Massacre. George 'Bugs' Moran, the gang's leader, survived but his remaining associates were hunted down. Within two years, the North Side's territory was absorbed into Capone's organization.
- title: National prohibition enforcement reform
  year: 1933
  description: Public outrage over the Massacre and Prohibition-era gang violence contributed to momentum for repeal. The 21st Amendment was ratified on December 5, 1933, ending federal alcohol prohibition and eliminating the economic foundation of the bootlegging syndicates.
- title: Establishment of federal organized crime task forces
  year: 1935
  description: The FBI expanded its mandate to prosecute organized crime following high-profile failures to contain Prohibition-era violence. J. Edgar Hoover redirected resources toward organized crime investigations as Prohibition's end reduced bootlegging cases.
culturalContext:
topMusic:
- title: St. Louis Blues
  artist: Bessie Smith
  year: 1925
  note: Not contemporary to the Massacre, but defining jazz of the era
  referenceCard:
  status: ok
  checkedAt: "2026-05-26T08:22:16.107Z"
topFilms:
- title: Underworld
  year: 1927
  note: Josef von Sternberg's crime film, influential predecessor to gangster genre
  referenceCard:
  status: ok
  checkedAt: "2026-05-26T08:22:16.107Z"
- title: Little Caesar
  year: 1931
  note: Released two years after Massacre; Edward G. Robinson's role helped establish modern gangster movie archetype
  referenceCard:
  status: not_found
  checkedAt: "2026-05-26T09:44:14.152Z"
topTVShows: []
zeitgeistNote: The St. Valentine's Day Massacre occurred at the peak of the Jazz Age and Prohibition era. American popular culture was fascinated by bootleggers and gangsters-a fascination evident in contemporaneous crime fiction and newspapers-even as the violence underlying this world remained largely abstract to most Americans outside Chicago. The Massacre made the brutality concrete, transforming romantic outlaw narratives into a national reckoning with organized crime's human cost.
translations:
es:
lede: El 14 de febrero de 1929, siete hombres fueron ejecutados dentro de un garaje de Chicago por tiradores disfrazados de policías. Los asesinatos tenían como objetivo eliminar al último rival significativo de la operación de contrabando de Al Capone durante la Prohibición y marcaron el pico violento de las guerras entre bandas de Chicago.
summaryShort: El 14 de febrero de 1929, siete miembros de la banda North Side Gang de Chicago fueron ejecutados en un garaje, un asesinato que marcó el pico del dominio de Al Capone durante la Prohibición y efectivamente terminó la resistencia organizada a su régimen.
summaryLong: |-
  La Masacre del Día de San Valentín no fue tanto un crimen individual como una coronación escrita en sangre. En la mañana del 14 de febrero de 1929, en un garaje de Lincoln Park en 2122 North Clark Street, siete hombres afiliados a la North Side Gang de George "Bugs" Moran fueron alineados contra una pared y disparados por hombres disfrazados de policías. Las víctimas incluían al optometrista Reinhardt Schwimmer, quien casualmente estaba en el lugar equivocado, y al mecánico John May. El golpe fue rápido, clínico e inconfundiblemente un mensaje.

  Las guerras del contrabando de Chicago habían estado hirviendo durante años-un caos lucrativo que alimentaba speakeasies y llenaba ataúdes en medidas aproximadamente iguales. Bugs Moran controlaba el North Side; Al Capone controlaba casi todo lo demás, incluyendo la policía, jueces y políticos. Para 1929, Moran representaba la última amenaza significativa al monopolio de Capone sobre el comercio ilegal de licor de Chicago. La masacre en Clark Street no se trataba de un envío individual o una deuda. Se trataba de consolidación. Se trataba de recordarle a todas las otras bandas de la ciudad quién tenía el arma.

  Capone mismo estaba convenientemente en Miami cuando ocurrieron los disparos-un detalle que no satisfizo el sentido de justicia de nadie, aunque lo mantuvo legalmente aislado. Los tiradores reales nunca fueron identificados o procesados de manera definitiva, aunque la mayoría de los historiadores señalan a Jack McGurn y Fred Burke como participantes probables. La investigación policial no llegó a ningún lado. El gran jurado no encontró nada. Moran sobrevivió pero su operación fue efectivamente terminada. Dentro de meses, la North Side Gang se había disuelto en la irrelevancia.

  La masacre se convirtió en el punto final simbólico de la violencia criminal de la era de la Prohibición en Chicago, el momento en que el último pretendiente al trono fue ejecutado públicamente y las reglas del juego se volvieron inconfundiblemente claras. Tomaría cargos fiscales federales, no investigaciones de asesinato, para finalmente derribar a Capone cuatro años después. Pero el 14 de febrero de 1929, en un garaje en Clark Street, el resultado ya estaba decidido.
generatedAt: "2026-06-04T22:58:08.284Z"
fr:
lede: Le 14 février 1929, sept hommes ont été exécutés dans un garage de Chicago par des tireurs vêtus en policiers. Les meurtres visaient à éliminer le dernier rival important de l'opération de contrebande d'Al Capone pendant la Prohibition et marquèrent le pic violent des guerres de gangs à Chicago.
summaryShort: Le 14 février 1929, sept membres du North Side Gang de Chicago ont été exécutés dans un garage, un meurtre qui marqua l'apogée de la domination d'Al Capone pendant la Prohibition et mit effectivement fin à la résistance organisée à son règne.
summaryLong: |-
  Le Massacre de la Saint-Valentin n'était pas tant un crime qu'un couronnement écrit dans le sang. Le matin du 14 février 1929, dans un garage de Lincoln Park au 2122 North Clark Street, sept hommes affiliés au North Side Gang de George « Bugs » Moran ont été alignés contre un mur et abattus par des hommes vêtus en policiers. Les victimes incluaient l'optométriste Reinhardt Schwimmer, qui se trouvait au mauvais endroit, et le mécanicien John May. L'attaque a été rapide, clinique, et incontestablement un message.

  Les guerres de contrebande de Chicago avaient mijotés pendant des années – un chaos lucratif qui alimentait les bars clandestins et remplissait les cercueils à parts égales. Bugs Moran contrôlait le North Side ; Al Capone contrôlait presque tout le reste, y compris la police, les juges et les politiciens. En 1929, Moran représentait la dernière menace significative pour le monopole de Capone sur le commerce illégal d'alcool de Chicago. Le massacre de Clark Street ne concernait pas une seule cargaison ou dette. Il s'agissait de consolidation. Il s'agissait de rappeler à tous les autres gangs de la ville qui tenait le fusil.

  Capone lui-même était opportunément à Miami quand les tirs ont eu lieu – un détail qui ne satisfaisait personne quant au sens de la justice, bien qu'il le laissait légalement isolé. Les véritables tireurs n'ont jamais été définitivement identifiés ou poursuivis, bien que la plupart des historiens pointent Jack McGurn et Fred Burke comme participants probables. L'enquête policière n'a mené nulle part. Le grand jury n'a rien trouvé. Moran a survécu mais son opération était effectivement terminée. En quelques mois, le North Side Gang s'était dissous dans l'insignifiance.

  Le massacre devint le point d'arrivée symbolique de la violence des gangsters à l'époque de la Prohibition à Chicago, le moment où le dernier prétendant au trône fut exécuté publiquement et les règles du jeu devinrent incontestablement claires. Ce seraient les accusations de fraude fiscale fédérale, non les enquêtes pour meurtre, qui finalement arrêteraient Capone quatre ans plus tard. Mais le 14 février 1929, dans un garage de Clark Street, l'issue était déjà décidée.
generatedAt: "2026-06-04T22:58:13.991Z"
de:
lede: Am 14. Februar 1929 wurden sieben Männer in einer Chicagoer Garage von als Polizisten verkleideten Schützen hingerichtet. Die Tötungen sollten den letzten bedeutenden Rivalen von Al Capones Schmuggeloperation während der Prohibition eliminieren und markierten den Höhepunkt der Gangkriege in Chicago.
summaryShort: Am 14. Februar 1929 wurden sieben Mitglieder der North Side Gang in einer Garage hingerichtet, eine Tötung, die den Höhepunkt von Al Capones Dominanz während der Prohibition markierte und den organisierten Widerstand gegen seine Herrschaft wirksam beendete.
summaryLong: |-
  Das St.-Valentinstags-Massaker war weniger ein einzelnes Verbrechen als vielmehr eine in Blut geschriebene Krönung. In der Morgenzeit des 14. Februar 1929 wurden in einer Garage im Lincoln Park in der 2122 North Clark Street sieben Männer, die mit George "Bugs" Morans North Side Gang verbunden waren, gegen eine Wand gestellt und von als Polizisten verkleideten Männern erschossen. Unter den Opfern waren der Optiker Reinhardt Schwimmer, der sich zufällig am falschen Ort befand, und der Mechaniker John May. Der Anschlag war schnell, klinisch und eindeutig eine Botschaft.

  Chicagos Schmuggelkriege hatten sich über Jahre hinweg hingezogen – ein profitables Chaos, das Speakeasies speiste und Särge in etwa gleichen Mengen füllte. Bugs Moran kontrollierte die Nordseite; Al Capone kontrollierte fast alles andere, einschließlich der Polizei, Richter und Politiker. 1929 stellte Moran die letzte bedeutende Bedrohung für Capones Monopol auf Chicagos illegalen Spirituosenhandel dar. Das Massaker in der Clark Street ging nicht um eine einzelne Lieferung oder Schuld. Es ging um Konsolidierung. Es ging darum, jedem anderen Gangster in der Stadt zu zeigen, wer die Waffe hielt.

  Capone selbst war praktischerweise in Miami, als die Schießerei stattfand – ein Detail, das niemandem ein Gefühl der Gerechtigkeit gab, ihn aber rechtlich isolierte. Die eigentlichen Schützen wurden nie eindeutig identifiziert oder angeklagt, obwohl die meisten Historiker Jack McGurn und Fred Burke als wahrscheinliche Teilnehmer vermuten. Die Polizeiuntersuchung führte zu nichts. Die Grand Jury fand nichts. Moran überlebte, aber sein Geschäft war praktisch beendet. Innerhalb von Monaten war die North Side Gang in Bedeutungslosigkeit aufgelöst.

  Das Massaker wurde zum symbolischen Endpunkt der Gangland-Gewalt der Prohibitionszeit in Chicago, dem Moment, in dem der letzte Anwärter auf den Thron öffentlich hingerichtet wurde und die Spielregeln unmissverständlich klar wurden. Es würde föderale Steuerklagen, nicht Mordermittlungen, brauchen, um Capone vier Jahre später endlich zu Fall zu bringen. Aber am 14. Februar 1929 in einer Garage in der Clark Street war das Ergebnis bereits entschieden.
generatedAt: "2026-06-04T23:50:58.572Z"
geo:
lat: 39.7837304
lng: -100.445882
place: United States
note: Location inferred from recap.country via OSM Nominatim.
significance: 25
