Friday, February 13, 2009

The Book Came In, But I Read Slow

The book arrived on Saturday: express delivery courtesy of mom. I'm not the fastest reader in the world, and thanks to my dyslexia I'm not the best reader in the world either, if there was a competition for reading I would come in dead last. Fortunately this is a book and a subject that I am very interested in; I had seen the film previously but it wasn't a direct translation of the book, unlike the Godfather. I managed to reach Chapter 5 before I had to see Alan today but I know that we can do anything more until I finish the book, which could take a week or two. I don't want to fall behind in this project, I want to be ahead. So far in the book the main characters have been introduced and the first reference to how the trailer could open. The book makes reference to the St Valentine's Day massacre that Capone organised to get rid of the competition in Chicago. I did a built of digging about the St Valentine's Day massacre; The Saint Valentine's Day massacre is the name given to the horrible deaths of seven people as part of a conflict during the prohibition era. The conflict was between two powerful criminal families in Chicago; the South Side Italian Gang run by Al Capone and the North Side Irish Gang run by Bugs Moran.
Al Capone was afraid of Bugs Moran, who’d been gunning for him for 5 years. In retaliation Capone hatched a plan to end the rivalry by killing him.
On February 14 1929 Capone tricked Moran and his men into arriving at S-M-C Cartage Co warehouse on North Clock Street with the promise of a crate of bootleg whiskey. Four of Capone’s men, two dressed policemen, would enter the building and kill Moran and his men.
The plan went off without hitch that morning – 5 members of gang, 1 follower and a mechanic that happened to be at the scene died in a hail of machine gun bullets. They were lined up against rear inside wall of garage and shot to death. Only one man was not at the scene – Bugs Moran himself. Bugs arrived late and saw Capone’s men go in and he fled when the firing started.
While he lay dying Frank Gusenberg was asked ‘who shot you’, to which he replied – in accordance with the Code of Secrecy (or the Code of Silence) - ‘nobody shot me’.
Capone, who was on vacation in Palm Island state Florida, could never be linked to the murders.
As side note – here’s a joke: when the police asked Frank who shot him in the left ass-cheek Frank replied no-one shot me in the left ass cheek. After this, when Frank went home his wife asked him ‘how was your day’, Frank replied ‘worst day ever, I got shot in the ass.’

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