St. Valentine's Day Massacre: The Untold Story of the Gangland Bloodbath That Brought Down Al Capone. The machine-gun murders
of seven men on the morning of February 14, 1929, by killers dressed as cops became the gangland crime of the century." Or so the story went.
Since then it has been featured in countless histories, biographies, movies, and television specials. 'The St. Valentine's Day Massacre, ' however, is the first book-length treatment of the
subject, and it challenges the commonly held assumption that Al Capone ordered the slayings to gain supremacy in the Chicago underworld."
ISBN-13 : 9781581825497
Publisher : Turner Publishing Company
Publication date : 08/28/2006
Author : William J. Helmer, Arthur J. Bilek
Comments
The Saint Valentine's Day massacre is the first time the shooting of seven members of the north side gang was but into a full biography. The book was based on a careful review of reliable
evidence, a critical reading of reading of news accounts by the authors William J. Helmer and Arthur J. Bilek, and a widow of one of the gunmen, and a lookout¿s long detailed confession.
Throughout the story the authors are able to set up an image of 1920's Chicago, during the time of prohibition, and illegal bootlegging of alcohol. Through this method of imagery, the authors are
also able to use the background of Chicago¿s beer wars, the victims, and the gunmen, to allow the reader to feel as if the crimes are currently occurring. On the morning of February 14, 1929 in
the SMC Cartage Company A four-man team led by Fred Burke would then enter the building, two disguised as police officers, Capone¿s men disguised as cops lined the mechanic and six members of the
north side gang against the wall and repeatedly shot them with Thompson machine guns killing all seven.
The hit was a setup for Bugs Moran, but Moran never showed up. To show by-standers that everything was under control, the pair in street clothes came out with their hands up, led by the two
uniformed cops. Alphonse Gabriel Capone was cheifly behind the murders of the seven men. Capone was an American gangster who led a crime syndicate dedicated to the smuggling and bootlegging of
liquor and other illegal activities during the Prohibition Era of the 1920s and 1930s. And by wiping out head members of the north side gang Capone would be able to climb on top of the industry
with no competitors. The time frame was the roaring twenties in Chicago during the Prohibition in the United Through the use of detailed imagery Helmer and Bilek are able to set up a written
visual of the scenarios around the crime. The era of the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, the years 1920 to 1933, during which alcohol sale, manufacture and transportation
were constitutionally banned throughout the United States. Prohibition can also encompass the antecedent religious and political temperance movements calling for sumptuary laws to end or encumber
alcohol use.
Prior to the St. Valentines Dat massacre there were brutal gang wars between Capone¿s gang and Moran¿s gang. The crime itself was provoked by Moran and previous attempts on Capone¿s life. By
thoroughly discussing the Chicago beer wars and events stirring up the bad blood between these two gangs the authors are able to allow the reader to understand the timing and significance of the
St. Valentines day massacre. Overall the St. Valentines day Massacre is a very interesting book to read, and gives the reader a better knowledge of the crime. Through the authors factual writing
the biography of the crime serves as a far more informative account of the crime and the 1920's Chicago gangs, then any other previous collections of these events. Allowing the reader to become
aware of the beginning and end of the Chicago beer wars, and Capone¿s empire.
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St. Valentine's Day Massacre
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