St. Valentine’s Day Massacre Wall

The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre in 1929 in Chicago remains one of the darkest moments in Mob history. Seven members and associates of Bugs Moran’s gang were lined up against a brick wall and shot to death by assassins allegedly associated with Al Capone’s gang.

In 1967, the garage where the shooting occurred was torn down, and a Vancouver businessman bought the bricks from the wall, some of which were still full of bullet holes from the massacre. Over the next 42 years, the bricks were featured in a traveling exhibit, housed in a short-lived crime museum and displayed in a nightclub restroom. They finally found a permanent home at The Mob Museum.

From their first sale in 1967 the bricks were lettered and numbered, allowing The Mob Museum to assemble and display the wall in a manner very close to the original. At some point, some of the bullet holes in the bricks were enhanced by red paint (no, it’s not blood!).