Avoiding A Saint Valentine’s Day Massacre

Besides sending flowers or a card to your sweetheart on Valentine's Day, we like to remind our employer clients that a good way to show some love to your employees is by taking steps to protect them from workplace violence.

But first, a little history. Valentine's Day became forever linked with workplace violence in 1929 when Al Capone's South Side gang fatally shot seven members of Bugs Moran's North Side gang at a warehouse in Chicago. The incident became known as "the Saint Valentine's Day Massacre" and has been depicted in numerous movies ever since, including Scarface and Some Like it Hot. One victim, Frank Gusenberg, was still alive for a short time after the shooters fled the scene. When asked who shot him, he replied, "Nobody shot me" despite being riddled with bullet holes. Now known as "Tight Lips Gusenberg," he became the inspiration behind The Simpson's character "Johnny Tightlips."