Saint Valentine's Day Massacre Rats, had been the valet of the Chicago hit man Fred Goetz. Bolton was privy to many of the Barker Gang's crimes and pinpointed the Florida hideout of Ma and Freddie Barker (both of whom were killed in a shootout with the FBI a week later). Bolton claimed to have taken part in the St. Valentine's Day Massacre with Goetz, Fred Burke, and several others. Because the FBI had no jurisdiction in a state murder case, they kept Bolton's revelations confidential, until the "Chicago American" newspaper reported a second-hand version of the bank robber's confession. The newspaper declared that the
Saint Valentine's Day Massacre were tested and it was determined that both had been used in the massacre. One of them had also been used in the murder of Brooklyn mob boss Frankie Yale, which confirmed the New York Police Department's long-held theory that Burke, and by extension Al Capone, had been responsible for Yale's death. Gun No. 2347 had been originally purchased on November 12, 1924, by Les Farmer, a deputy sheriff in Marion, Illinois, which happened to be the seat of Williamson County. Marion and the surrounding area were then overrun by the warring bootleg factions of the Shelton Brothers and Charlie