St. Valentine's Day Massacre: The Untold Story of the Gangland Bloodbath That Brought Down Al Capone (Paperback)

by William J. Helmer (Author), Arthur J. Bilek (Author)
Key Phrases: massacre investigation, bootlegging gangs, gangland violence, New York, North Side, Frank Nitti (more...)

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Product Description
During Prohibition, Chicago's Beer Wars turned the city into a battleground, secured its reputation as the gangster capital of the world, and laid the foundation for organized crime nationwide. Bootlegger bloodshed was greater there than anywhere else.
The machine-gun murders of seven men on the morning of February 14, 1929, by killers dressed as cops became the gangland "crime of the century." Or so the story went. Since then it has been featured in countless histories, biographies, movies, and television specials. The St. Valentine's Day Massacre, however, is the first book-length treatment of the subject, and it challenges the commonly held assumption that Al Capone ordered the slayings to gain supremacy in the Chicago underworld. Instead, authors William J. Helmer and Arthur J. Bilek assert the deed was a case of bad timing and poor judgment by a secret crew from St. Louis known to Capone's mostly Italian mob as the "American boys."
The target of the murder squad was indeed Bugs Moran, but the American boys, who were dressed as policemen and arrived in two bogus police cars, arrived at the garage where the massacre took place before Moran arrived. They didn't know who Moran was or what he looked like, and since none of Moran's crew would admit to being him, the counterfeit cops stupidly killed everyone, just to be sure they got him. Much of the evidence that pointed to the American boys was deftly and intentionally ignored by law-enforcement officials in Chicago. The story surfaced again briefly in 1935 with a manuscript written by the widow of one of the gunmen and with public knowledge of a lookout's long-suppressed confession. In the end, the machine-gun bullets heard 'round the world marked the beginning of the end for Al Capone.

About the Author
William J. Helmer is the author of The Gun That Made the Twenties Roar and the coauthor of Dillinger: The Untold Story and Baby Face Nelson. He lives in Boerne, Texas. Arthur J. Bilek was chief of the Cook County Sheriff's Police, a member of the Chicago Crime Commission, and a professor at Loyola University. He lives in Evanston, Illinois.

Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Cumberland House Publishing (August 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1581825498
• ISBN-13: 978-1581825497
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #228,811 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Culminating Event That Backfired, February 12, 2004

By	C. W. Emblom "Bill Emblom" (Ishpeming, Michigan USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The St. Valentine's Day Massacre: The Untold Story of the Gangland Bloodbath That Brought Down Al Capone (Hardcover)

William Helmer, author of the recent page turner on Baby Face Nelson, along with Arthur Bilek, have provided us with another superb effort on the infamous St. Valentine's Day Massacre just in time for its 75th anninversary. This brazen event was not pleasing to the New York mob because it drew too much attention to federal authorities and the public in general. Although Al Capone didn't know it at the time his heyday as the Chicago crime czar were on the downswing, with Frank Nitti ready to take his place. Many of the details have remained under wraps for many years, and the authors state the book is largely "the product of the personal memories and cooperative interrogations of Georgette Winkeler" whose husband Gus was involved with "his partners in crime." All the characters of the 1920's and early 1930's Chicago crime era are here in all their infamy. The authors show how ballistic evidence was used to identify two machine guns that Fred "Killer" Burke had in his possession when he was arrested for the murder of a police officer in St. Joseph, Michigan, as being guns used in the St. Valentine's Day Massacre. The authors relate how J. Edgar Hoover closed his mind to the existence of any organized crime, instead focusing on two bit hoodlums such as Dillinger, Nelson, and Floyd. Hoover comes across as a ego maniac who became disgustingly jealous of the recognition that came agent Melvin Purvis's way following the killing of John Dillinger. Hoover had Purvis "reassigned", and Purvis finallly quit the F.B.I. in frustration. Hoover then made it a point to make sure Purvis could not find any other work in law enforcement. Finally when Purvis died of a gunshot wound in 1960, the F.B.I. made it seem as though it was a suicide, even though evidence showed it to be accidental. Even though you may be well versed in Chicago crime lore you will find new information in this book, and want to make it a permanent part of your personal library. I did find a few spelling errors that got by the editor, but it in no way detracts from the book.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A new insight to the old story, November 9, 2006

By	nigel harpham - See all my reviews

This review is from: The St. Valentine's Day Massacre: The Untold Story of the Gangland Bloodbath That Brought Down Al Capone (Hardcover)

This book sheds light on to an old subject that has for years had people wondering about the true facts of the St. Valentines Day Massacre, I have enjoyed reading it and I am very glad that I bought the book so that I could at last learn all the true facts about this event.
It's a good book and a good read.

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Truth Unveiled, February 3, 2004

By	Rick "Mad Dog" Mattix (Iowa) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The St. Valentine's Day Massacre: The Untold Story of the Gangland Bloodbath That Brought Down Al Capone (Hardcover)

For over 70 years the traditional story has been told: how Al Capone decided to eliminate his chief rivals in one mass slaughter, using a booze hijack to lure them into their garage headquarters, to be mowed down by machine gunners in police uniforms. Most of this pure fiction. The real story of the St. Valentine's Day Massacre has been largely buried in FBI files since 1935 though evidence pointing to the actual killers was available almost from the beginning. Helmer and Bilek have uncovered the truth about this most infamous gangland slaughter which rather than entrenching Capone as the master of Chicago actually signalled his downfall. A fascinating study of a mass murder no one in authority seems to have really wanted solved. Marvelously written and out just in time for Valentine's Day!