On February 14, 1929, Chicago experienced a massacre.
While people were busy buying roses and chocolates for their significant others last week, 91 years ago, Alphonse Gabriel Capone ordered the slaughter of a rival’s henchmen.
“The Saint Valentine’s Day Massacre” would be remembered as a barrage of bullets that hailed a dark memory over the city of Chicago for years to come.
Alphonse Gabriel Capon (also known as “Scarface” and “Al Capone”) was ordering the killing of his rival’s (“Bugs” Moran’s) men.
Previously, Moran had shot thousands of bullets at a hotel that Capone was staying at off of Cicero Avenue in a drive-by shooting.
This was the final straw for the Capone and Moran feud.
The Valentine’s Day massacre saw the destruction of Moran and his entire North Side Chicago empire.
Moran’s gang was expecting a delivery of bootlegged whiskey at Moran’s base of operations, but instead they were met by seven officers at the entrance.
These “officers” were assassins sent by Capone to take out the entire Moran gang.
The gang was lined up and shot in a way that can be seen in countless Noir films.
Capone’s gravestone is located in the back of the Mount Olivet Catholic Cemetery off of 111th Street here in Chicago and can be spotted by the word Capone.
The Xavierite caught up with a fellow student who lives near the resting place of Capone. Reneé Nealis of Morgan Park lives on the outskirts of the cemetery and when asked what it is like living near the grave of someone of such stature she had this to say: “I think it is really cool because it is such a conversation starter. People find it fascinating that there is only a fence between my backyard and the cemetery where Al Capone was buried. He was moved years ago because people kept defacing the grave, but overall the stone still stands and the energy that he had still lingers there.”
The gravestone is a black statue of darkness and a reminder of Chicago’s dark past. It also serves as a warning of what happens when people operate outside the law.
Capone was the orchestrator and killer of many men, but in death the only thing that lingers here is the memory.
Saint Xavier University sits so close to something so horrible yet the vast majority of students are not aware of the dark monument.
This dark part of history still remains and is still remains and is still relevant to modern-day Chicago.
The 91st anniversary of the horrific event happened just this past week and though the city has moved on from this event, everyone and everything is still connected to it in one way or another. The Saint Xavier community is connected to this event by the history and students that have grown up close to this monument.
The Saint Valentine’s Day Massacre will forever be known as the bloody barrage that etched its name in the Chicago timeline and still reverberates in the city today.
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