CHICAGO — 1929 · Murder

The St. Valentine's Day Massacre

UnsolvedSources: ALast updated: 14 October 2026

On the morning of 14 February 1929, in a garage at 2122 North Clark Street in Chicago's Lincoln Park, seven men linked to a rival bootlegging gang were lined up against a wall and shot. Four attackers, two wearing police uniforms, had entered staging what looked like a police raid. The killing is seen as the peak of Chicago's Prohibition-era gang wars. Al Capone's organisation was widely blamed, yet no one was ever tried for the murders. The massacre caused a public backlash against organised crime, spurred federal efforts against the gangs and helped establish ballistics in forensic science.

Date: 1929
Place: Illinois, USA, Chicago, US
Category: Murder
Case Status: Unsolved
Coordinates: 41.9210, -87.6370 ↗

Timeline of Events

14 February 1929Seven men shot in the North Clark Street garage.
1929Early ballistic examinations of the bullets.

1931Al Capone convicted of tax evasion; never tried over the massacre.
1967The garage building is demolished.

Sources

The Mob Museum — St. Valentine's Day Massacre Wall themobmuseum.org ↗
NLEOMF — Saint Valentine's Day Massacre: Chicago, 1929 nleomf.org ↗
Wikipedia — Saint Valentine's Day Massacre en.wikipedia.org ↗
Britannica
The Mob Museum
National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund

Source grade A: several independent sources, at least one an official record or reference work. If you spot a mistake or something missing, report it with "Suggest a correction" in the app.