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The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre: : The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre: Constructing a Classification and Thesaurus for a Notorious Crime! Ivy Blackman LIS 765 Knowledge Representation Spring 2007


A brief historical note:  On February 14, 1929, six gangsters and one optometrist were executed in a garage on Chicago’s North Side by men wearing police uniforms.  The shootings were planned by Jack “Machine Gun” McGurn on behalf of mob boss Al Capone. The targets included key members of rival George “Bugs” Moran’s gang.  As a result of these well-publicized murders, Capone gained control of Chicago’s powerful bootlegging outfit. Capone also drew the heightened attention of the authorities, resulting in his eventual incarceration for tax fraud. Bergreen, Lawrence. Capone: The Man and the Era. New York : Simon & Schuster, c1994. : A brief historical note: On February 14, 1929, six gangsters and one optometrist were executed in a garage on Chicago’s North Side by men wearing police uniforms. The shootings were planned by Jack “Machine Gun” McGurn on behalf of mob boss Al Capone. The targets included key members of rival George “Bugs” Moran’s gang. As a result of these well-publicized murders, Capone gained control of Chicago’s powerful bootlegging outfit. Capone also drew the heightened attention of the authorities, resulting in his eventual incarceration for tax fraud. Bergreen, Lawrence. Capone: The Man and the Era. New York : Simon & Schuster, c1994.


Constructing the classification: In extracting my terms, I had to narrow my focus: The Prohibition-era events leading up to the crime, the many ancillary characters, and the repercussions that helped shape organized crime legislation would make for an unmanageable ontology.  This classification focuses on three elements: The key players—mastermind Al Capone and his gangster rival, George Moran, the several Capone crewmembers involved in the planning and implementation of the event, and the seven victims; the locations around Chicago and elsewhere that were central to the Massacre; and the several objects most often mentioned in relation to the event, including weapons and disguises.  : Constructing the classification: In extracting my terms, I had to narrow my focus: The Prohibition-era events leading up to the crime, the many ancillary characters, and the repercussions that helped shape organized crime legislation would make for an unmanageable ontology. This classification focuses on three elements: The key players—mastermind Al Capone and his gangster rival, George Moran, the several Capone crewmembers involved in the planning and implementation of the event, and the seven victims; the locations around Chicago and elsewhere that were central to the Massacre; and the several objects most often mentioned in relation to the event, including weapons and disguises.


Constructing the classification: I organized my terms into facets and assigned alphanumeric indicators to each element; the resulting classification looked like this:  (A) The Players  (1) Planners (not present at Massacre)  (a) The Capone Gang  (AA) Al “Scarface” Capone  (AB) Jack “Machine Gun” McGurn (2) Shooters (present at Massacre)  (a) The Capone Gang  (BA) Fred “Killer” Burke  (CA) James Ray  (CB) John Scalise  (CC) Albert Anselini  (CD) Joseph Lolordo   : Constructing the classification: I organized my terms into facets and assigned alphanumeric indicators to each element; the resulting classification looked like this: (A) The Players (1) Planners (not present at Massacre) (a) The Capone Gang (AA) Al “Scarface” Capone (AB) Jack “Machine Gun” McGurn (2) Shooters (present at Massacre) (a) The Capone Gang (BA) Fred “Killer” Burke (CA) James Ray (CB) John Scalise (CC) Albert Anselini (CD) Joseph Lolordo


Slide5 : In this classification, indicators are repeated but each class (Players, Places, and Props) has only one occurrence of an indicator. Each element string begins with a class letter (A, B, or C) followed by subgroup indicators to the desired level of specificity. They are expressed in a string and separated by hyphens. As such, the element string for Al Capone (A) The Players (1) Planners (not present at Massacre) (a) The Capone Gang (AA) Al “Scarface” Capone (AB) Jack “Machine Gun” McGurn is A-1-a-AA. is A-1-a-AA.


Slide6 : When two elements at the same hierarchical level are being discussed together, preceding elements are separated by hyphens and the two elements in question are separated by plus signs. So, the classification for the two Gusenberg brothers looks like this: (A) The Players … (4) Victims (present at Massacre) (b) The Moran Gang (EA) Frank "Tight Lips" Gusenberg (EB) Peter Gusenberg (EC) Adam Heyer (ED) James Clark (EF) John May (EG) A. R. Weinshank A-4-b-EA+EB is the resulting call number.


Slide7 : When two different classes, or one class at two different hierarchical levels, are being discussed at the same time, the strings for each class are separated by slashes. Here are the sections of the classification for James Ray and machine guns: (A) The Players … (2) Shooters (present at Massacre) (a) The Capone Gang (BA) Fred “Killer” Burke (CA) James Ray … (C) The Props (a) The Capone Gang (AA) Weapons (A1) Machine guns As such, James Ray’s use of a machine gun would be found under A-2-a-CA / C-a-AA-A1.


Slide8 : Here’s the classification in its entirety. Note the exceptionally long string required to express the precise location of the shooting; the length of such specific strings poses a potential ease-of-use issue. (A) The Players (1) Planners (not present at Massacre) (a) The Capone Gang (AA) Al “Scarface” Capone (AB) Jack “Machine Gun” McGurn (2) Shooters (present at Massacre) (a) The Capone Gang (BA) Fred “Killer” Burke (CA) James Ray (CB) John Scalise (CC) Albert Anselini (CD) Joseph Lolordo (c) The Detroit Purple Gang (CE) Harry Keywell (CF) Phil Keywell Bergreen, Lawrence. Capone: The Man and the Era. New York : Simon & Schuster, c1994. Hill, Jeff. Prohibition. Detroit: Omnigraphics, c2004.


Slide9 : (3) Intended victims (not present at Massacre) (b) The Moran Gang (DA) George “Bugs” Moran (4) Victims (present at Massacre) (b) The Moran Gang (EA) Frank "Tight Lips" Gusenberg (EB) Peter Gusenberg (EC) Adam Heyer (ED) James Clark (EF) John May (EG) A. R. Weinshank (d) Non-gang members (FA) Dr. R. Schwimmer (5) Survivors (present at Massacre) (d) Non-gang members (FB) John May’s Alsatian dog Bergreen, Lawrence. Capone: The Man and the Era. New York : Simon & Schuster, c1994. Hill, Jeff. Prohibition. Detroit: Omnigraphics, c2004.


Slide10 : (B) The Places (1) Site of Massacre (a) Chicago (AA) North Side (A1) Lincoln Park (1A) 2122 N. Clark St. (aa) SMC Cartage (ba) Garage (ca) Rear wall (2) Site of Capone headquarters (a) Chicago (2A) Lexington Hotel (da) 5th floor suite (3) Site of Moran headquarters (a) Chicago (AA) North Side (4) Capone hideout during Massacre (b) Miami Bergreen, Lawrence. Capone: The Man and the Era. New York : Simon & Schuster, c1994. Hill, Jeff. Prohibition. Detroit: Omnigraphics, c2004.


Slide11 : (C) The Props (a) The Capone Gang (AA) Weapons (A1) Machine guns (A2) Sawed-off shotgun (A3) .45 (AB) Disguises (B1) Police uniforms (B2) Trench coats (AC) Transportation (C1) Stolen police car Bergreen, Lawrence. Capone: The Man and the Era. New York : Simon & Schuster, c1994. Hill, Jeff. Prohibition. Detroit: Omnigraphics, c2004.