How an American gangster plants a tree

Al Capones gift 70 years ago to a Baltimore hospital: two Weeping Cherry Trees. (Baltimore Sun)
Al Capone's gift 70 years ago to a Baltimore hospital: two Weeping Cherry Trees. (The Baltimore Sun)

In 1939, Al Capone contracted syphilis and commandeered an entire floor of the Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore for about a week.

In thanks, he “planted” two Weeping Cherry Trees.

The remaining 70-year-old tree split in two Saturday and is going to need professional care to survive.

“I can’t care if Capone was infamous or just famous, that tree he gave us was like a still-life fireworks display,” said passerby Stephen Alexander to The Baltimore Sun. “And I wonder what’s going to happen to all that nice cherry wood.”

If you missed other editions in the ‘How (so & so) plant a tree” series: How Hollywood stars plant a tree; How President Obama plants a tree; How a prince plants a tree; and How an engineer plants a tree.

–Toshio Suzuki