The Original Chicago Mass Shooting
96 years ago today seven members and associates of Bugs Moran's North Side Gang were gunned down in a garage at 2122 N. Clark St. in Lincoln Park.
Reposting our standing Valentine’s Day content because it was so insightful, thoughtful, and simply brilliant, but with a few changes and additions.
"These murders went out of the comprehension of a civilized city, the butchering of seven men by open daylight raises this question for Chicago: Is it helpless?" - Chicago Tribune, February 16th, 1929
Aside from being better dressed, not much has changed in the subsequent 96 years. As of today, we've already recorded 56 homicides this year, which is 8 times more than what the massacre tallied. In 2024, we tallied the equivalent 87 St. Valentine's Day Massacres which is down from the 92 equivalent massacres in 2023, which is down from the 105 massacres in 2022. See? Crime is down.
We’ve been fortunate enough to have never recorded seven homicides at the same location in our 11 years of tracking this nonsense, but we came close on February 2nd, 2016:
A co-worker's concerns about a man who failed to show up at work led to a grisly discovery Thursday afternoon on Chicago's Southwest Side — six bodies found inside a tidy brick home on a quiet street in the Gage Park neighborhood.
Chicago police officers who arrived at the home at 1 p.m. for a well-being check found no signs of a break-in but spotted a body on the floor just inside the home. A search revealed the scope of the carnage — five other victims, including at least one child, had been slain. (full story)
Unlike the 1929 massacre where no one was convicted, the 2016 massacre did result in a conviction which even the casual follower knows is a rarity:
A judge denied bail for a man and his girlfriend charged in connection with the murder of six family members in their Gage Park home in February.
Diego Uribe-Cruz, 22, who is related to the family, and Jafeth Ramos, 19, face six counts of first-degree murder, Chicago Police Supt. Eddie Johnson announced Thursday. The couple was arrested Wednesday night at their Little Village home where they were raising their infant son.
Police say both gave recorded confessions. At the bond hearing, the judge said the slaughter of the Martinez family "can only be described with two words: pure evil." (full story)
Another parallel to today is that the code of silence (or “snitches get stitches” or “no talking”) was alive and well back then too. Frank Gusenberg, who was the only one of the seven to survive the attack, told the cops "nobody shot me". He died three hours later from 14 bullet wounds. Today he'd be labeled as being 'uncooperative'.
Massacres aside, since 2014 we have recorded 48 incidents with seven or more shot with a total of 414 shot, and 46 ended up proving fatal. Of those 48, the deadliest occurred on June 15th, 2021 in the 6200 block of South Morgan St. where a total of 8 people were shot with 5 killed. No one remembers that one.
If we look at just mass shootings as defined by an incident with four or more shot, since 2014 there have been 430 incidents with 2,116 shot where 287 proved fatal. No one remembers any of those either.
Then and Now
Back in 1929, the Illinois Crime Survey was released and a part of the massive tome was 50 pages of Chicago-related homicide data for 1926 and 1927. The way they did things back then was slightly different than today, but the definition of a homicide today is no different than in 1929:
In its broadest sense, "homicide" is defined in law as the killing of one person by another, but is popularly and erroneously understood to be limited to murder, and murder in turn is immediately associated in the mind of the average person with machine guns, sawed-off shotguns, pistol fights, pay roll robbery holdups and gang warfare. This is especially true of killings in Chicago. Homicide may perhaps best be described as the destruction of the life of one human being by the act, procurement, or culpable omission of another. It is either justifiable or excusable and, therefore, lawful; or it is felonious homicide, as in cases of murder and manslaughter.
Hence, our pinned Tweet would have held true back then as much as it does today.
However, 1929 cast an even wider net by counting homicides that today would be considered legal (abortions) and accidents (auto manslaughters). As such, a very dapper 1926-27 HeyJackass! using our current day methodology would have recorded 584 homicides in 1926 and 546 in 1927. Not great, but not quite the Tommy Gun-riddled killing fields as portrayed by pop culture and less compared to what we see today.
If we look at just murders assuming the CPDs of the two periods would be on more or less the same page, the murder trend of 1926-27 would be considered a huge “crime is down” moment if it were today.
380 murders a year means Brandon could finally ditch that racist Shotspotter… oh wait…
As for public attitudes towards violent crime, it would appear as if the public of the 1920s wasn’t all that different than the public of today. As long as IT happens over THERE and not over HERE… whatever.
Finally, two stats from today as compared to today’s anniversary:
48 days in the last 12 years have recorded at least seven or more homicides for a total of 382 killed
May 31, 2020, St. George of Fentanyl Day, tallied 18 homicides or 2.5x what 2/14/29 posted - likely the most ever recorded in Chicago’s history
Download the homicide section of the Crime Survey if you’re interested in how things played out back then.
Tees Last Longer Than Candy and Flowers
Mickey Mouse was first introduced in 1928. Shortly thereafter, 7 lay dead in a garage in Lincoln Park. Coincidence? Unlikely.
If you’ve made it this far, thanks for reading. Thanks and remember “We don't want nobody nobody sent”.
Regula Legum Delenda Est.
If you don’t know what that means, ask your lawyer.