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Fred Goetz

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Fred Goetz Famous memorial Veteran

Birth
Chicago, Cook County, Illinois, USA
Death
20 Mar 1934 (aged 37)
Chicago, Cook County, Illinois, USA
Burial
Chicago, Cook County, Illinois, USA Add to Map
Memorial ID
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Organized Crime Figure. He gained notoriety as an American, who was born Fred Samuel Goetz but was known as "Shotgun George Ziegler." During World War I, he served as a second lieutenant in the Army Aviation branch as a pilot. The son of German immigrants, he earned an engineering degree from the University of Illinois in 1923. While being a lifeguard, he was charged of raping a seven-year-old girl in 1925. After jumping bail, his parents lost the property that was used as collateral for the bail. Within a year, he had participated in a robbery with another man in which a victim was killed. He is believed to have participated with the Saint Valentine's Day Massacre, in which seven men were murdered in Chicago in 1929. In 1930, he left the ranks of Organized Crime, becoming an independent bootlegger working in Kansas City, Missouri. He used a long list of aliases. Following joining the notorious Ma Barker gang, he participated in several bank robberies with Fred and Doc Barker and Alvin Karpis. When the Barkers kidnapped millionaire Edward G. Bremmer in 1933, they asked for ransom of $200,000 and Goetz acted as the go-between, collecting the ransom and releasing Bremmer. Known to talk about his activities after having too much alcohol, he was killed by four shotgun blasts to the face, by either the Barkers, Al Capone's gunmen, who believed he might reveal the identities of the St. Valentine's Day Massacre or by the Bugs Moran gang, seeking vengeance for the massacre.
Organized Crime Figure. He gained notoriety as an American, who was born Fred Samuel Goetz but was known as "Shotgun George Ziegler." During World War I, he served as a second lieutenant in the Army Aviation branch as a pilot. The son of German immigrants, he earned an engineering degree from the University of Illinois in 1923. While being a lifeguard, he was charged of raping a seven-year-old girl in 1925. After jumping bail, his parents lost the property that was used as collateral for the bail. Within a year, he had participated in a robbery with another man in which a victim was killed. He is believed to have participated with the Saint Valentine's Day Massacre, in which seven men were murdered in Chicago in 1929. In 1930, he left the ranks of Organized Crime, becoming an independent bootlegger working in Kansas City, Missouri. He used a long list of aliases. Following joining the notorious Ma Barker gang, he participated in several bank robberies with Fred and Doc Barker and Alvin Karpis. When the Barkers kidnapped millionaire Edward G. Bremmer in 1933, they asked for ransom of $200,000 and Goetz acted as the go-between, collecting the ransom and releasing Bremmer. Known to talk about his activities after having too much alcohol, he was killed by four shotgun blasts to the face, by either the Barkers, Al Capone's gunmen, who believed he might reveal the identities of the St. Valentine's Day Massacre or by the Bugs Moran gang, seeking vengeance for the massacre.


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  • Maintained by: Find a Grave
  • Added: Sep 2, 2000
  • Find a Grave Memorial ID:
  • Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/12227/fred-goetz: accessed ), memorial page for Fred Goetz (14 Feb 1897–20 Mar 1934), Find a Grave Memorial ID 12227, citing Irving Park Cemetery, Chicago, Cook County, Illinois, USA; Maintained by Find a Grave.