Dead Men are Red, Violets are Blue: The Bloody History of St. Valentine’s Day

By Emily Priest, Gale Ambassador at the University of Portsmouth

Valentine’s Day is generally known for chocolate, cards and big fluffy hearts, but 90 years ago today the colour red wasn’t for love but blood. In Chicago in 1929, seven members of the Chicago North Side Gang were ambushed, lined up against a wall, then shot in cold blood. Who was responsible? None other than the notorious crime lord Al Capone.

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