Fred Goetz

Fred Samuel Goetz (February 14, 1897-March 20, 1934), also known as "Shotgun" George Ziegler, was a Chicago Outfit mobster and a suspected participant in the Valentine's Day Massacre, in 1929.

Born in Chicago, Illinois, and graduating from Lane Tech High School, he was stationed at Langley Field, Virginia, during World War I, as a pilot in the US Army's aviation branch where he rose to the rank of 2nd Lieutenant. After graduating from the University of Illinois, in 1922, Goetz worked as a lifeguard at Clarendon Beach until he was charged with assaulting seven-year-old Jean Lanbert. Goetz denied the charges and jumped bail on June 10, 1925. Four months later, Roger Bessner implicated Goetz in a failed robbery of Dr. Henry R. Gross, in which the family chauffeur was killed.^[1]

During the next several years, Goetz would become associates with underworld figures such as Joseph "Yellow Kid" Weil and Morris Klineman, as well as participating in several armed robberies, including the robbery of $352,000 from the Farmers and Merchants Bank, in Jefferson, Wisconsin, with Gus Winkler and four others, in 1929.

After the Valentine's Day Massacre, Goetz left Chicago and began bootlegging operations in Kansas City, Missouri before becoming associated with the Barker Gang. He later participated in several bank robberies with Alvin Karpis, Fred and Doc Barker, as well as the 1931 kidnapping of St. Paul, Minnesota banking millionaire Edward G. Bremer, in 1933. Goetz collected the ransom and released Bremmer.

Returning to Chicago, Goetz was killed in a drive-by-shooting while outside a closed Cicero, Illinois, restaurant, The Minerva, on March 20, 1934. The culprit for his murder are unclear. However a number of his former associates had motives for his murder, including the Barker Gang. Barker Gang leader Alvin Karpis, believed that Outfit boss Frank Nitti had ordered Ziegler's murder.

Fred Goetz

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