Suspected bootlegging tunnel found beneath New Jersey home
By Vanessa Murdock
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ATLANTIC HIGHLANDS, New Jersey (WCBS) — Construction unearthed a suspected bootlegging tunnel under a home in Atlantic Highlands, New Jersey.
As CBS News New York’s Vanessa Murdock reports, it’s not exactly a surprising find.
About two months after moving into 68 West Highland Avenue, Richard Conley learned about the likely bootlegging tunnels connected to his home.
“Vito Genovese lived here, I believed it,” Conley told Murdock.
Mob boss Vito Genovese called it home in the 1950s when he rented it from a well known bootlegger.
“I gutted the basement looking for them, and I could not find them,” said Conley.
Joanna Halick lives across the street, and she’s looked for them, too.
“There’s some cinderblocks, and we thought maybe it was there, but we were unsuccessful,” Halick said.
Her search was unsuccessful, until very recently.
“I guess it’s about 10 days ago, we got word from the developer that they had found something at their work site,” said Conley.
The entry to the tunnel is now sealed for safety and to keep out the curious.
“Is this truly the catacombs of Vito Genovese?” resident Carolyn Derose asked.
It may not look like much, but if the tunnel walls could talk. Mayor Lori Hohenleitner said rumors about bootlegging in the borough go way back to Prohibition.
“At one point, supposedly, it was the bootlegging capital of the world,” she told Murdock.
The tunnel leads to or from Halick’s home and enters just below the spot she suspected. She crawled into it from the construction site.
“It was a little scary. It’s pretty incredible, the craftsmanship that was done,” she said.
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