St. Valentine’s Day Massacre

Date: February 14, 1929
Location: 2122 North Clark Street, Lincoln Park, Chicago, Illinois
Appears In: Five Seconds Too Late
Jump Type: Historical Jump

What Happened

On the morning of February 14, 1929, a black Cadillac made to resemble a police car pulled up outside a garage on Chicago’s North Side. Several men got out, two dressed as police officers, and entered the building where seven men connected to George “Bugs” Moran’s bootlegging operation had gathered. Believing they were being raided, the men lined up against the wall without resistance. They were then shot with submachine guns and a shotgun, and all seven died. No one was ever charged, though the killings were widely believed to have been ordered by rival gang leader Al Capone as part of the ongoing war for control of Chicago’s illegal liquor trade.

Historical Context

The massacre was the bloody peak of a years-long rivalry between Capone’s South Side Outfit and Moran’s North Side Gang during Prohibition, when control of Chicago’s bootlegging trade meant enormous money and near-total impunity from law enforcement. The killings shocked the country and turned public opinion decisively against Capone, drawing federal attention that would eventually end his criminal career—not through a murder charge, but through tax evasion two years later.

Timeline of the Event

~10:30 AM — A car resembling a police vehicle arrives outside the garage at 2122 North Clark Street.
Four to six men enter, at least two dressed as police officers conducting a raid.
Seven men inside are ordered to line up facing the wall.
The men are shot with submachine guns and a shotgun; all seven die.
The gunmen leave posing as officers escorting the “arrested” men, and are not stopped.
Police arrive shortly after to find the scene and one survivor, who dies without naming his killers.

The Five Seconds Connection

In Five Seconds Too Late, this is one of the earliest uncontrolled jumps caused by Everett Frankwyler’s original TDU. The travelers arrive inside the garage in the final five seconds before the shooting begins—unable to stop what is about to happen, forced to witness it from within the room. It is one of the jumps that first proves to the group that the device isn’t just moving them through time. It is choosing where to put them.