Saint Valentine's Day Massacre — February 1929 gang showdown in Chicago, Illinois, USA
The massacre of seven North Side Gang members in Chicago became a defining moment of Prohibition-era gang violence and contributed directly to U.S. gun control legislation in 1934.
Key Facts
- Victims killed
- 6 killed immediately, 1 died shortly after
- Total victims
- 7 people
- Rounds fired (Thompson)
- 70 rounds
- Date of massacre
- February 14, 1929
- Legislation prompted
- National Firearms Act 1934
- Suspected perpetrators
- Fred Goetz, Fred Burke, Gus Winkler, Ray Nugent, Bob Carey
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
During Prohibition, Chicago's criminal underworld was divided between the North Side Gang, led by George 'Bugs' Moran, and the Chicago Outfit under Al Capone. Intense rivalry for control of organized crime in the city created escalating violence between the two factions, with the North Siders seen as the primary obstacle to Capone's dominance.
On February 14, 1929, four to six men — two disguised as police officers — entered a Lincoln Park garage where seven members and associates of the North Side Gang had assembled. The victims were lined up against a wall and shot with Thompson submachine guns and a sawed-off shotgun. Six died immediately; the seventh survived briefly but refused to name the killers. Target Bugs Moran had not yet arrived and escaped.
No one was ever charged with the murders despite multiple investigations. The massacre heightened public alarm over gang violence and the lethality of automatic weapons, contributing to the passage of the National Firearms Act in 1934. The event effectively ended the North Side Gang's power and cemented the massacre's place as a symbol of Prohibition-era lawlessness in American cultural memory.