Alcatraz sells among tourists

The penitentiary of Alcatraz, where such notorious criminals as Al Capone and Robert Stroud did time, is getting tourists hooked on it as much as Hollywood does. However, The Rock is increasingly needing a facelift that´s going to be paid for by selling cherished keepsakes to visitors: chunks of the prison´s old walls, just like some people did with the Berlin Wall.

The pieces of stone are supposed to allow organizers to rake in as many as $20,000 to $40,000. Shipping and handling fees, coupled with an authenticity warranty, set purchasers back $4.95.

After its definite lockdown as a federal prison back in 1963, Alcatraz couldn´t escape the flows of tourists that eventually turned that enigmatic islet on the San Francisco Bay into one of the premiere must-sees for the Californian city.

Every year, over a million people visit the former prison of Alcatraz, now turned into a hair-raising museum that offers grand tours led by very peculiar guides who know all the ropes about The Rock: former inmates and wardens.

For a mighty long time. Alcatraz was considered to be the most secured U.S. jail. Its cells lodged the cream of the mob crop from the 1940s and 1950s, and gave rise to some of the biggest box-office blockbusters of all time like "Escape from Alcatraz," starred by Clint Eastwood; Burt Lancaster´s movie "Alcatraz Man," and the most recent smash hit, "The Rock," with Sean Connery and Nicolas Cage.