Downtown flood-control 'mob tunnels' myth

Beneath downtown Las Vegas and the Fremont Street area is a system of storm-water and utility tunnels built for flood control; popular myth describes them as secret mob tunnels used for crimes or smuggling. Journalistic and municipal accounts confirm the tunnels' flood-control purpose and document some later use by homeless people and occasional criminal activity, but historical claims of organized-crime construction or extensive mob usage are debated and largely unsubstantiated. Media reports and city records have repeatedly clarified the tunnels' official function.