Near the East 33rd Street entrance of the Union Memorial Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland, stands a beautiful Japanese weeping cherry tree (Prunus pendula). Each spring, the tree bursts into a marvelous display of pink cherry blossoms. The cherry blossoms or sakuras represent beauty, rebirth, and mortality. Ironically, this tree was gifted to the hospital by infamous American mob boss and gangster Al Capone. During his 11-year sentence for federal income tax evasion, Capone spent four-plus years incarcerated at Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary in San Francisco. While there, he was diagnosed with syphilis…
