Al Capone was born on January 17, 1899, in New York City, to poor, immigrant parents. At the age of 12 he dropped out of school. Shortly after leaving school, Capone became affiliated with a notorious street gang, ‘Five Points Gang’. Al Capone met Johnny Torrio within this gang. Capone and Torrio developed a close, and lifelong friendship. Torrio took Capone under his wing, with Capone looking to Torrio as his mentor.
Gang warfare ruled the streets of Chicago during the late 1920’s. Two of they key players involved in this warfare were Al “Scarface” Capone and George “Bugs” Moran. As the infamous Al Capone took the reigns of chief crime lord from his boss Johnny Torrio in 1925, he sought to seek out and eliminate his rivals in the illegal
…show more content…
George “Bugs” Moran’s gang were opposition to Capone’s rule in Chicago. Something had to be done, they had to be eliminated. Capone sent members of his gang to the garage where they shot and killed 7 men who were associated with the Irish gangster. They were gunned down whilst standing lined up, facing the wall of the garage. Some 70 rounds of ammunition were fired. When police officers from Chicago’s 36th District arrived, all but one gang member was dead. One gang member, Frank Gusenberg was alive, but barely. Before he died, the police pressed him to reveal what had happened, but Gusenberg wouldn’t …show more content…
The police eventually concluded that the gunmen had dressed as police officers and had entered the building under false pretences that they were going to arrest the men. Though Moran and others immediately blamed the massacre on Capone’s gang, this brutal crime would never officially be linked to Capone due to the lack of evidence against him. The famous gangster claimed to have been at his house in Florida at the time, but he was generally considered to have been responsible for the murders. No one was ever brought to trial for the murders. The St. Valentines Day Massacre, as it was to be known, was one of the bloodiest days in mob