St Valentines Day Masacre
What does one think of when they hear the phrase “The Roaring Twenties”, “The Jazz Age”, or even what our grandparents refer to as the “Golden Years”? It was the best of times. Women’s liberation was just beginning. The stock market was at its highest most glorious days. Alas, “The Roaring Twenties”. It was the foundation of the largest Cultural Revolution in America’s history. People were really questioning the meaning of life and finding out who they really were with the answers they received. On the contrary, many people only view this time period skin deep. It wasn’t the glorious, carefree days that past generations remember. They too had the problems of violence, scandals, drugs, sex, and alcohol. However, it was all underground. Let me take you back to a time where the girls were dancing, the music was blasting, and underground crime was at its peak. The date you ask? February 14, 1929. A date that would go down in American history as “The Valentines Day Massacre.”Prohibition was the eighteenth amendment, the Volstead Act, which was passed on October 10th, 1919 against alcohol. This Act outlined that it was illegal to import, export, transport, sell,
One of the worst effects of Prohibition was alcohol export being controlled by huge gangsters like Al Capone, who had his headquarters based in Chicago. More than 100,000 speak-easies were in New-York City alone. It almost seemed impossible to control the huge amounts of alcohol being transported throughout the United States. Phase one of Capone’s plan was complete, now onto phase two. Capone’s friend from Detroit informed him of the arrangements. Members of Capone’s team then gained access to a police paddy. They retrieved that just like any well-mannered gangster would, either by theft or bribery. (You gotta do what you gotta do…right?) Two of them were dressed in police uniforms. The rest of the hit men were dressed in long trench coats resembling the “detectives” of the group…respectively. They pulled up to the garage and charged out and into the building, as the police would normally do in a routine raid. Inside the garage waited Moran’s men. Among them were Adam Meyer, John May, James Clark, Al Weinshank, the Gusenburg brothers, Frank and Pete and an optometrist Dr. Reinhardt Schwimmer. (He picked a bad day to visit. Wouldn’t you agree?) The hit team had them seven men stand up against the wall with their backs faced to them. The seven men did as the “police” ordered thinking they would just get a pat down. Then, two of Capone’s men opened fire with Thompson submachine guns and brutally murdered the seven men with rounds from the .45 caliber weapon. The “police” then marched out with the gunmen making it seem as though they were under arrest. The plan was so convincing, even newspapers printed that the police had committed the murders in revenge for alcohol stolen from them a week earlier. (Ironic, isn’t it?) The St Valentines Day Massacre went down in history. It has been the main source for many movies and books. As long ago as it was it still continues to make people wonder. “It was the best of times. It was the worst of times.” The 1920s was truly a period of growth for those who had the pleasure to live it. The decade alone mixed entertainment, liberation, crime, and people all with a twist of irony. Truly, it was an experience to live for…for others, an experience to die for. Bugs Moran’s crimes turned petty compared to what they were in the 1920s. He moved to Ohio where he w
Some topics in this essay:
Reinhardt Schwimmer,
Phase Capone’s,
Revolution America’s,
Capone Moran,
Revenue Service,
Bugs Moran’s,
Day Massacre,
Al Capone,
United Al,
Volstead Act,
valentines day,
north siders,
al capone,
“the roaring twenties”,
al “scar face”,
14 1929,
phase capone’s,
february 14,
capone moran,
george “bugs”,
“bugs” moran,
february 14 1929,
valentines day massacre”,
capone’s plan,
george “bugs” moran,
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Approximate Word count = 1606
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)
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