St. Valentines Day Massacre | Public Enemy No. 1
2/11/202639 min
On Valentine’s Day 1929, seven men were gunned down in a Chicago garage in an attack that stunned the nation. Photographs of the bloody scene appeared on front pages across the country, and the public reacted with horror. Even in Chicago—a city hardened by daily gang violence—the message was clear: this was different.
City officials were under intense pressure to respond, and suspicion quickly fell on the city’s most powerful gang leader, Al Capone. But proving who ordered the hit would be far more difficult than expected. And as investigators struggled to build their case, th...
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First 90 secondsLindsey Graham· Host0:00
[upbeat music] Imagine it's February 13th, 1929. You're sitting in your office behind a flower shop on the North Side of Chicago, bent over a ledger book trying to reconcile the numbers. But the sales you're tallying aren't for roses or carnations. Instead, they're for beer and whiskey. Normally, these are big numbers, but today you're frustrated because they're just not adding up. You're the leader of one of the largest bootlegging operations in the city, and for the past five years, you've been embroiled in a turf war against a gang based on the South Side, run by Al Capone. One by one, all the other leaders in your organization have been killed or have fled the city, so now it's up to you to stay on top of the books. [phone ringing] You're about to try adding the numbers up again when the phone rings. Yeah, hello? Hey, it's me. You recognize this voice as an acquaintance you've done business with in the past. You narrow your eyes because you've never fully trusted him. Yeah, what do you want? Why do I have to want something? Maybe I'm just calling to say hello. Are you calling to say hello? Well, no, but I've got an opportunity for you, and you're not gonna want to miss out. All right, what's that? There's a truck coming into town tomorrow carrying some precious cargo, and I know for a fact that it's gonna have some mechanical troubles along the way. The man is trying to play coy, but