Valentine’s Day. If those two words are a bit of an emotional massacre for you, don’t worry – this column concerns a literal one instead.
The St Valentine’s Day Massacre of 1929 belongs in that category of ‘events from the GCSE History curriculum that have indelibly lodged in my brain’, ready and waiting to be deployed at a pub quiz one day – or indeed, an en article.
Public enemy number one
It was during Chicago’s Prohibition-era when, on 14 February 1929, four unidentified gunmen – two of whom were disguised as police officers – stormed a garage being used by Chicago’s North Side Gang and shot seven of its members at close range. It was quickly assumed to be the work of the rival South Side Gang and its notorious leader, Al Capone. While neither Capone nor his associates were ever convicted, the incident marked a sea-change in public opinion towards him. The media dubbed him ‘public enemy number one’ and federal authorities finally succeeded in jailing him (for tax evasion) in 1931.
American blind spots are challenging my own
Last night I got back from a work trip to The Gospel Coalition’s Women’s Conference.Over 8,500 of our American …