tThe discovery of a mysterious network of tunnels hidden under a florid city has sparked wild theories about its origin.
The passageways beneath Ybor City, a suburb near downtown Tampa, remained hidden for decades before a series of discoveries revealed the underground network.
Since then, historians have widely speculated about its use, from transporting illegal alcohol, human trafficking and cash smuggling to simply “as sewage.”
The last tunnels were found in 2018 near the Old Florida Brewery, near East 6th Avenue and Noccio Parkway, while construction of a new office building was underway.
Workers were tearing down a warehouse when they found the hidden passage, tall enough to stand up with a rounded roof.
During construction in Tampa, Ybor City, Florida, extensive tunnels were discovered that could have been used to smuggle Chinese-Cuban prostitutes during Prohibition.
History professor and researcher Dr Gary Mormino described the tunnels to DailyMail.com as “nothing too extraordinary to look at”, flat at the bottom and wide, making them unsuitable as a sewage system, and even more interesting For those who wonder why they exist
Several of the tunnels are lined with brick and are only a few feet high and a few feet wide, enough for an adult to crouch or crawl through. The layered bricks suggest that they were built by skilled workers.
There has been talk of mysterious passageways beneath the Central Florida suburb of Ybor City for about 20 years, according to Dr. Gary Mormino, professor emeritus of history at the University of South Florida in St. Petersburg.
Professor Dr. Gary Mormino said the tunnels were likely part of a criminal network and that Ybor City officials would have known about it.
Mormino, 77, who has been researching Ybor City’s history for about 40 years, said the first such tunnels were unearthed about two decades ago when work was being done beneath a Blue Ribbon grocery store.
“That raised the question, ‘Why would you build a tunnel in an area that has a water table about a foot below sea level?'” he previously told DailyMail.com.
While some have surmised that the underground passages could have been used by smugglers, Mormino said that does not make sense and that it is more likely that they were used to bring in prostitutes or Chinese workers from Cuba.
Mormino described them as “nothing too extraordinary to look at”, flat on the bottom and wide, making them unsuitable as a sewage system and all the more interesting to those wondering why they exist.
Dr. Mormino’s work has attempted to “rule out” uses of the tunnels, as well as establish their purpose.
“I wonder, ‘Why weren’t the tunnels used for?'” he said.
While some are quick to guess that they may have been used to transport contraband alcohol during the 1920s and early 1930s, Mormino said that doesn’t make any sense either.
This undated photo shows federal authorities unearthing a cache of whiskey buried in the backyard of a Ybor City home.
Mormino told DailyMail.com that they were likely part of a criminal network and that Ybor City officials would have had a hand in the construction; The historic 7th Avenue street in Ybor City is seen in a Nov. 28, 2016, file photo.
“I interviewed many people in the 1970s and 1980s who would have been involved in the smuggling of the 1920s and 1930s and they all said that the only people who feared the police were those who were not involved in the frauds.” he said. “If you paid the police, you were fine.”
Mormino shared a story about one of his interview subjects named Sam, who said that his father was an Italian smuggler, who would receive a call from the police once a month telling him that he had to come, get arrested and pay his fines.
Once at the police station, Sam said the police would ask his father what name he wanted to be arrested under “this time,” and the next day the front page of the newspaper would read: “Seven Italians.” smugglers arrested’, as part of a ruse aimed at appeasing the public.
In fact, Mormino said Sam also told him that he used to deliver boxes of contraband alcohol to stores and that when the police were there, they would open the door and help him carry the boxes, praising him for being such an enterprising young man.
So, Mormino has determined, the tunnels were probably not used for smuggling.
The walls of the tunnel are built with several layers of brick.
The tunnels are large enough for an adult to crawl or crouch.
Instead, he said, it is much more likely that they were used for “white slavery related to transporting women across interstate borders for immoral purposes,” along with the smuggling of Chinese workers and Chinese-Cuban prostitutes.
Mormino said Ybor City has had a large Chinese-Cuban population dating back to 1886.
“The Chinese were brought to Cuba after slavery ended in the late 19th century to replace slaves and work in the sugar industry,” Mormino said.
Ybor City was founded in the 1880s by cigar magnate Vicente Marinez-Ybor and became a center of the United States tobacco industry. Immigrants from Cuba, Spain and Italy rolled millions of cigars in the city’s factories.
Mormino surmised that in the early 20th century, Tampa city officials may have been involved in creating tunnels that would otherwise have been a huge and expensive undertaking for a criminal enterprise.
The researchers used imaging techniques to map the direction and depth of some of the tunnels.
Another image shows how a tunnel leaves an industrial building.
Mormino believes local leaders may have expanded passages to the port.
“Basically, corrupt politics probably allowed criminal elements to use those tunnels as part of a vast interconnected network,” he said.
But Mormino made sure to mention that while it’s fun to guess what might have happened in those hidden passageways all those years ago, anything anyone came up with is just a guess.
“To be honest, I don’t know if we’ll ever know the truth,” Mormino said. ‘Is Quite an elusive story now.
Dr. Lori Collins of USF’s Center for Digital Heritage said the tunnels are “pretty substantial.”
Rodney Kite-Powell of the Tampa Bay History Center added that the tunnel found under the Blue Ribbon store could have been connected to the old Ybor cigar factory.
He said it could have been used to transport money, adding: “It may have been a way of moving cash in the early years… because it was something illegal.”
A 2020 report from the University of South Florida said several historians believe the tunnels were actually sewers.
