&ldquo\;Bloody Chicago&rdquo\; was the nam e given to America&rsquo\;s most corrupt city after the grotesque scene th at left seven humans embedded into masonry walls and oil-slickened concret e. Two Thompson submachine guns did the majority of the damage but the mas terminds behind the St. Valentine&rsquo\;s Day Massacre escaped. Ten month s later\, on December 14\, 1929\, St. Joseph\, Michigan Police Officer Cha rles Skelly working a routine traffic crash came face to face with a kille r. Shots were fired\, the assailant escaped\, and the dying Officer Skelly identified his murderer before taking his last breath. The trail led to a home in Stevensville\, Michigan where authorities found an arsenal of wea ponry\, over $300\,000 worth of stolen bonds\, bulletproof vests\, and two Thompson submachine guns. The hideout belonged to Fred Burke\, a highly s ought suspect in the St. Valentine&rsquo\;s Day Massacre and now the most wanted man in the nation. The &ldquo\;backwash of bloody Chicago&rdquo\; h ad made its way into the rural neighborhoods of Southwestern Michigan and Northern Indiana. Citizens who turned a blind eye to crime\, helped create &ldquo\;Capone&rsquo\;s Playground\,&rdquo\; an environment abundant in a ll that is illegal and immoral.
\nUsing never before published polic e reports\, interviews with family members of key witnesses\, and leading experts\, historian Chriss Lyon establishes the foundation for what would develop as a haven for gangsters from the onset of the Prohibition Era thr ough to the mid-twentieth century\, while revealing new information about the eventual capture of notorious gangster Fred &ldquo\;Killer&rdquo\; Bur ke.
\nChriss Lyon is a retired public safety professional and histor ian\, who has not only walked the beat\, but shot the most famous Thompson submachine guns in the world\, all while documenting and researching the historic era of the &ldquo\;The Roaring Twenties.&rdquo\; Using techniques of forensic genealogy combined with investigative research\, she has been able to uncover little known facts about the people and events surroundin g the St. Valentine&rsquo\;s Massacre\, revealing them at presentations at schools\, museums\, genealogical\, and historical societies. Her passion in Prohibition-era gangsters\, maritime\, and aviation history as well as historical weather has afforded opportunities to write articles for variou s magazines and journals and assist other authors with historical research . A graduate of Grand Valley State University&rsquo\;s Film/Video School\, Chriss began working behind the scenes at CNN Headline News but now is ou t in front of the camera. She has appeared in an episode of the PBS series \, &ldquo\;History Detectives&rdquo\; as well as documentaries on the Nati onal Geographic Channel\, American Heroes Network\, Travel Channel\, Germa n Public Television\, and Investigation Discovery Channel.
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