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The st Valentine's Day Massacre, 1929: FBI Files Relating to the Murder of Seven Members of the Bugs Moran Gang on 14 February 1929
On February 14th, 1929, seven men died in a gangster shooting in Chicago. Nobody was convicted of these murders, which gave rise to a public outcry. In 1935, the FBI began to gather information arising from the arrest of one of the suspects and from the newspaper articles written about him. The FBI files, which are reproduced here, a curious set of relationships between the Bureau, the local police, the gangsters and the press.
- GenresHistory
120 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2002
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September 4, 2021
I'm happy that this documentation has made it to publication, for those highly invested in the subject, but it wasn't what i was expecting. It's essentially a collection of primary source documents, including newspaper reports, FBI correspondence among bureau personnel, and other communications regarding the St. Valentine's Day Massacre, particularly focusing on the identities of the actual killers, which is still somewhat debated.
This hundred-odd-page, small book is divided into four primary sections. The first includes primarily newspaper reports and pieces (which would admittedly otherwise be somewhat difficult to find) and short snippets of FBI correspondence, focusing on whether the confession of one of the purported shooters, Byron Bolton, who likewise named four other associates whom he claimed were also present, was actually telling the truth about his involvement. The proof he offers is pretty thin, replete with inaccuracies and inconsistencies, so the jury is still out, so to speak, as to whether he was actually telling the truth. It's also striking that apparently then-FBI director J. Edgar Hoover was directly involved, such was the public outcry over the massacre and the demand that the federal government get involved in crushing the scourge of organized crime, in Chicago and elsewhere, which had reached critical mass during Prohibition. The organized crime gangs would not reach this level of power, after Capone's arrest and subsequent imprisonment, until the 1960s.
The second short chapter discusses yet another alleged killer, Claude Maddox, whom officials thought so little of, with regard to his involvement in the massacre, that some didn't even want to keep him in jail, and no one wanted to question him about the massacre.
The third chapter begins with correspondence between a police chief in Tuscon, Arizona, to J. Edgar Hoover, asking for the identities of all of the suspected gangsters involved in the slayings. Hoover's reply was that, despite newspaper reports, the FBI had no information in its files indicating the identities of the perpetrators of the massacre. He also categorically denied that a "subject" of an FBI investigation had made a statement naming anyone, sating that "such dispatches were absolutely false and without foundation in fact." So much for confessions. The public was of a different opinion, however: also included is a latter signed "Slumbering Public Indignation," which stated the widely-held belief that "federal authorities have all the information leading up to the killers of the St. valentine's massacre," asking what action was going to be taken. This chapter in general highlights the surprising lack of interest by the feds, at least officially, in the slayings, ostensibly because the FBI at the time lacked jurisdiction, but I wonder if it was really that simple.
The last chapter, "Tenth Anniversary and After," illustrates that it wasn't just Prohibition which led to the gang violence which has plagued Chicago for the better part of a century. It was not only illicit alcohol, the drug of choice of former years, which fueled rivalries between the various gangs of Chicago and beyond. Gambling, brothels, and even dog tracks, as well as other business rackets, were also heavily infested with notorious figures such as Al Capone and Company. Others rose to take the place of Bugs Moran, whose influence was essentially wiped out with his men on that frigid day in February, now nearly a century ago.
In general, this is a helpful book with regard to primary sources, but there is little additional analysis or discussion of the material, which would have made it much more complete. The book should really be titled "The FBI Files Related to the Identities of the Killers," as that's definitively the book's focus. It's good material for those particularly invested in this topic, but, in full disclosure, it doesn't really reveal anything new or different from what is largely already known.
This hundred-odd-page, small book is divided into four primary sections. The first includes primarily newspaper reports and pieces (which would admittedly otherwise be somewhat difficult to find) and short snippets of FBI correspondence, focusing on whether the confession of one of the purported shooters, Byron Bolton, who likewise named four other associates whom he claimed were also present, was actually telling the truth about his involvement. The proof he offers is pretty thin, replete with inaccuracies and inconsistencies, so the jury is still out, so to speak, as to whether he was actually telling the truth. It's also striking that apparently then-FBI director J. Edgar Hoover was directly involved, such was the public outcry over the massacre and the demand that the federal government get involved in crushing the scourge of organized crime, in Chicago and elsewhere, which had reached critical mass during Prohibition. The organized crime gangs would not reach this level of power, after Capone's arrest and subsequent imprisonment, until the 1960s.
The second short chapter discusses yet another alleged killer, Claude Maddox, whom officials thought so little of, with regard to his involvement in the massacre, that some didn't even want to keep him in jail, and no one wanted to question him about the massacre.
The third chapter begins with correspondence between a police chief in Tuscon, Arizona, to J. Edgar Hoover, asking for the identities of all of the suspected gangsters involved in the slayings. Hoover's reply was that, despite newspaper reports, the FBI had no information in its files indicating the identities of the perpetrators of the massacre. He also categorically denied that a "subject" of an FBI investigation had made a statement naming anyone, sating that "such dispatches were absolutely false and without foundation in fact." So much for confessions. The public was of a different opinion, however: also included is a latter signed "Slumbering Public Indignation," which stated the widely-held belief that "federal authorities have all the information leading up to the killers of the St. valentine's massacre," asking what action was going to be taken. This chapter in general highlights the surprising lack of interest by the feds, at least officially, in the slayings, ostensibly because the FBI at the time lacked jurisdiction, but I wonder if it was really that simple.
The last chapter, "Tenth Anniversary and After," illustrates that it wasn't just Prohibition which led to the gang violence which has plagued Chicago for the better part of a century. It was not only illicit alcohol, the drug of choice of former years, which fueled rivalries between the various gangs of Chicago and beyond. Gambling, brothels, and even dog tracks, as well as other business rackets, were also heavily infested with notorious figures such as Al Capone and Company. Others rose to take the place of Bugs Moran, whose influence was essentially wiped out with his men on that frigid day in February, now nearly a century ago.
In general, this is a helpful book with regard to primary sources, but there is little additional analysis or discussion of the material, which would have made it much more complete. The book should really be titled "The FBI Files Related to the Identities of the Killers," as that's definitively the book's focus. It's good material for those particularly invested in this topic, but, in full disclosure, it doesn't really reveal anything new or different from what is largely already known.
February 2, 2016
Made through by hoping that it would eventually reveal something interesting. Unfortunately it did not.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews