The Holland Tunnel
Originally the Hudson River Vehicular Tunnel and Canal Street Tunnel, the Holland Tunnel connects Manhattan with Jersey City, New Jersey under the Hudson River. Construction was started in 1920 and the tunnel opened in 1927 with a toll of fifty cents per car. The design consists of two tubes, each providing two lanes in a twenty-foot roadway width. The north tube runs 8,558 feet and the south tube is 8,371 feet in length. The tubes have eighty-foot-diameter fans blowing air in one series of ducts and out another. Both tubes are situated in the bedrock beneath the river, with the lowest point of the roadway approximately ninety-three feet below mean high water. The Holland tunnel claimed the lives of fourteen workers over the course of its construction. Story Idea: Nazi Saboteurs
In late November of 1942, the Germans were able to get a U-Boat as close as Long Beach, Long Island, and saboteurs got into New York City with a plan to blow up several hot spots. This particular group was caught. A second group however, has made it onto the sandbar without detection. The saboteurs come on shore with explosive components, maps, and several hundred dollars of American money and disappear into the city. The FBI is certain that it rounded up all of the Germans, but Agent William Hargrove is not so sure, as he found drag marks on nearby Jones Beach, next to the jetties. A Brooklyn native, Hargrove’s insistence that they follow up on any possible leads involving the Germans destroying New York City has, over the past few months, made Hargrove the laughing stock of the department. Because of this, he comes to New York and enlists the help of the characters, whether or not they are on the right side of the law—“It’s our town. Ain’t nobody gonna blow up our town.” Without the department’s help, Agent Hargrove follows weak tips and hunches. Before working for the government, Hargrove was a beat cop in downtown Manhattan and still has a few contacts to work. He has made sure that some of his old buddies are keeping an eye on the biggest landmarks, like the Empire State Building, Statue of Liberty, and Brooklyn Bridge. Unfortunately, he is running out of time, so he lists a few places that he believes may become targets, including the Holland Tunnel. In a long story, Hargrove passes on the information and, should the characters prove diligent, the Germans make their move on Memorial Day weekend, the start of the busy summer season. August Deitrich (Lead German Saboteur)

	fitness			awareness			creativity			reasoning			influence
	4			3			2			3			2

Skills: athletics 4, brawling 5, driving 4, finesse 5, firearms 5, stealth 5, disguise 5, mechanics 5, composure 5
Gimmicks: multilingual, fugitive, eloquent, jack of all trades
Equipment: high-caliber pistol, knife, explosives, maps Nikolaus and Johann Kraus (Underling German Saboteurs; brothers)

	fitness			awareness			creativity			reasoning			influence
	3			3			3			5			1

Skills: athletics 3, brawling 5, finesse 5, firearms 4, stealth 5, disguise 5, mechanics 8, composure 5
Gimmicks: multilingual, fugitive
Equipment: high-caliber pistol, knife, explosives, maps Agent William Hargrove (G-man)

	fitness			awareness			creativity			reasoning			influence
	4			2			1			3			2

Skills: driving 6, finesse 4, firearms 7, stealth 6, academics 5, streetwise 6, investigation 6, composure 5
Gimmicks: police contacts, medical contacts, legal authority, paranoia
Equipment: high-caliber pistol The Lincoln Tunnel
Originally named the Midtown Hudson Tunnel, the Lincoln Tunnel also spans the Hudson River, connecting Manhattan to Weehawken, New Jersey. Construction on the twin tube design began in 1934 and the first tube was finished in 1937. The second tube took longer and was stalled by World War II. It was finally finished in 1945. The Lincoln Tunnel is one and a half miles in length and initially cost fifty cents to traverse. A third tube was proposed by the Port Authority, but initially opposed by the City of New York. A compromise was reached, and the third tube opened in May 1957 to the south of the original two tunnels. Story Idea: Smuggling Gambit
The Lincoln Tunnel is incomplete. Although fifty-thousand cars use the tunnel daily, the second tube sits idle, waiting for final adjustments before opening. Most of the workers have moved on to other jobs, but several of the foremen keep an eye on it to ensure that work can resume normally once the steel crunch ends. The rules are strict for the sandhogs of the Lincoln tunnel; the workers can only remain in the tunnels for an hour, and then they must take a five-hour break before reentering the tunnel. The result is one of the slowest but most efficient smuggling operations in and out of Manhattan. The chief foreman is Michael Manelli, a mob associate from New Jersey with an uncle higher up in the rankings. The mob uses him to move specialty items, such as hard-to-hide art pieces and other stolen goods, through the tube and off the island, as well as laundered money, drugs, or weapons back into Manhattan. Manelli has a team of movers, mostly illegal or dead-broke immigrants, which he utilizes on a regular basis. If the characters are associated with the mob, they are told to pick up some items at the entrance into Manhattan. Another options is that they run to a connection with the mob to get rid of some hot items and are sent near the tunnel entrance for a meet. If the gang is enforcing the law, investigations into a series of robberies in Manhattan have turned up nothing; the items seem to disappear without a trace. One item was found in New Jersey, and the gang is sent to explore other methods of transfer between Manhattan and New Jersey. Michael Manelli (Chief Sandhog)

	fitness			awareness			creativity			reasoning			influence
	4			2			2			3			2

Skills: athletics 4, driving 4, firearms 5, drinking 5, mechanics 4, streetwise 5, structural sciences 6, negotiation 4, street cred 6
Gimmicks: gangster contacts, ex-con, constitution, night worker, toughness, debt
Equipment: tools Typical Sandhogs (3)

	fitness			awareness			creativity			reasoning			influence
	5			2			1			3			1

Skills: athletics 6, brawling 4, mechanics, 4
Gimmicks: constitution, night worker, quick, toughness, discrimination, illiterate, fugitive
Equipment: tools The Queens-Midtown Tunnel
The Queens-Midtown Tunnel, or Midtown Tunnel, connects the Borough of Queens with the Borough of Manhattan under the East River. Also started in 1934 in conjunction with the Lincoln tunnel, it was finished in 1940. Similar in design to the previously-mentioned tunnels, it spans 6,414 feet. A set of apartment houses overlook the toll plaza. Story Idea: Assassination Attempt
It seems that all it would take is a couple of drivers to start arguing with the toll booth operators and a traffic jam would ensue. That is the plan. A couple of cars hold up the line at the tollbooths in the hope that it causes the impatient assassination target to roll down his window or open the door to see what is happening. A sniper in the apartment over the road shoots the target or fires on the vehicle as a warning for the target to stop whatever he is doing wrong. For those involved with the shooting, this is a safe venture; the shots come from nowhere, no one on the road can be directly connected with the shooting, and the police take too long to reach the plaza with the traffic jam in place. They are unlikely to get to the apartment building in time to find the shooter. For those characters trying to rise in the ranks of the mob, this could be a test to see how far they are willing to go and if they can coordinate an attack. If the characters are affiliated with the police, they can be sent in after the shooting to investigate the murder of a crime boss, unshakable politician, or witness in a coming trial. The Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel
The Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel crosses under the East River at its mouth, nearly passing under, but providing no vehicular access to Governors Island. It connects the Borough of Brooklyn with downtown Manhattan. Robert Moses, chairman of the Triborough Bridge Authority, attempted to scuttle the tunnel proposal and have a bridge built instead. Many objected because it would spoil the dramatic view of the Manhattan skyline, reduce Battery Park to minuscule size, and destroy the New York Aquarium. Moses insisted, and it was only an order from President Franklin D. Roosevelt via military channels that restored the tunnel project on the grounds that a bridge built seaward of the Brooklyn Navy Yard would be a hazard to national defense. This edict was issued despite that both the Manhattan Bridge and the Brooklyn Bridge were seaward of the Navy Yard. Construction began in 1940, but World War II postponed work until 1945. It was finally finished in 1950 at a length of 9,117 feet. Four air ducts, including one offshore at Governors Island change the air completely every ninety minutes. Story Idea: Kidnapping and Ransom Plot
In June of 1943, the Mayor’s eleven-year-old adopted son, Eric, is kidnapped outside of his Bronx home after school. After a frantic night of searching and making phone calls, a bassinet is found on the steps of the Forty-Second Precinct early the next morning. The black-and-white photograph shows the boy with his arms behind his back. He is sitting on a crate surrounded by items, but the background is bleached out in a circle around the boy. An unsigned ransom note for seventy-five thousand dollars in Federal Reserve Notes is also found, instructing the Mayor to have the payment ready in forty-eight hours or he will never see the boy alive again. A phone call is made to the Mayor’s Office in City Hall at twelve noon on the second day with drop-off instructions. Closer examination of the photograph shows that the kidnapper purposely bleached out the background in a circle around the boy, meaning the perpetrator has his own darkroom—not an uncommon occurrence at this time. Near the boy’s left foot appears to be a corner of a second box and a possible end of a long beam. Directly behind the boy is blackness. The boy looks terrified. On the second day, the kidnapper calls the mayor’s office and tells him in a loud whisper to take the paper bag of money to the end of East River Drive and walk into the entrance of the unfinished Brooklyn-Battery tunnel. The mayor has thirty minutes to get there from the end of the phone call. The voice does not allow negotiations for more time, but does allow the Mayor to substitute someone else for himself. The boy will be released when the money is handed over to the kidnapper. If the money is not at the entrance within thirty minutes, the boy will be buried alive. The call is traced to Hoboken, New Jersey and anyone can determine that more than one kidnapper is involved for the half-hour limit. Whoever arrives at the tunnel entrance can see that a door has been made in the wooden blockade, protecting the entrance to the tunnel. A note above the door requires the money handler to come inside. After passing a lot of equipment and materials, the person sees a gas lamp next to an empty chair. A voice in the darkness tells the money handler to put the funds on the chair and back away—if it is in a briefcase or suitcase, it is to be opened; if in a bag, it is to be opened and rolled down to expose the top layer of bills. Any attempts to see Eric first are met with refusal—“The boy is safe deeper in the tunnel.” Once the money handler backs away, a section of wall steps forward, revealing itselt to be a man-sized black square of cloth blocking the light of the lamp. Next to the chair, the figure drops the cloth over the lamp plunging the area into darkness. Sounds are heard as the container of money is grabbed. A light then flashes, revealing a lit fuse heading rapidly towards a dynamite keg sitting in the chair. A voice shouts, “you better run...” The keg is not real, but looks convincing enough to (hopefully) get the money handler to high-tail it towards the entrance. The kidnapper heads further into the tunnel. A second gas lantern is behind some equipment deeper underground, and the kidnapper uses it to make his way another two-thousand feet to reach the air shaft at the northwestern portion of Governors Island. Eric Laguardia is here, and the kidnapper leaves the tunnel with the boy via the airshaft. A fishing boat with the New Jersey caller is waiting. They free the boy on the island, directing him south along the shore towards the Army Headquarters and disappear back into New Jersey. That is the plan, whether or not it is successfully executed is another story. Jacob Woods was an ordinary math and science teacher in Far Rockaway Elementary School when Mayor Laguardia announced that all civil servants’ salaries would be cut by ten percent to make up for other deficits. Maxwell Schwartz translated German, Yiddish, and French for the courts of Manhattan. Maxwell was there at City Hall in the background when Jacob made an impassioned speech regarding the unfairness of the edict, along with the rest of the Far Rockaway school board. He later met with the disgruntled teacher and together they hatched a plan to recoup their lost pay and live comfortably elsewhere in the United States. This plan was by no means haphazard; many of the necessary elements were already on hand, including a fishing trawler owned by Jacob Woods’ father and Maxwell’s intimate knowledge of the tunnel from translating for the city to the sandhogs in 1940 and 1941. Jacob transferred to the Secaucus Middle School six months prior to the event. New Jersey ends its school year a week earlier, setting up the perfect time to snatch Eric Laguardia. Maxwell talked about joining the army as a translator overseas on several occasions in the courthouse. Neither are missed for some time. Jacob cruised the streets of Riverdale between the Laguardia home and Eric’s private school for two days before seeing an opportunity to call the boy to his car and pull him inside. They spent several hours at Schwartz’s empty apartment in the Yorkville region of Manhattan waiting for nightfall; Schwartz moved all of his belongings to a storage unit in Secaucus and informed his landlord that he was leaving to join the Army on the first of July. They moved the boy into the tunnel inside a crate that evening while they were dressed as sandhogs. Food, water, and supplies were also brought to the tunnel. Jacob took the picture and left, leaving Schwartz with the boy. Jacob developed the picture in his dark room overnight in New Jersey and took the prepared bassinet to the Police Station at four o’clock in the morning. He was dressed in billowy clothing, paying a drunken man twenty dollars to walk across the street and put the bassinet on the steps. Changing back out of the outfit, he waited for someone to bring the basket inside and then returned to New Jersey. The next night, he moved his father’s fishing trawler from its pier in Jersey City to Hoboken, and made the call in forty-eight hours from a pay phone in Hoboken. Getting back on the boat, he landed at Governors Island twenty minutes later. Once back in Secaucus, they split the money and head their separate ways. Maxwell plans to head north to Maine and Jacob wants to go west and buy a ranch. There are several places where this plan can go awry—when Eric is snatched, when they move into the tunnel, and when the bassinet is left at the police station. Each time, there is a slight chance someone saw something and that they mention it to an authority. Several people report that they saw the initial kidnapping once the newspapers report it, but most are lying to collect a reward or gain fame. The mobsters also look for the child to get to the Mayor, who hates them. A gang of police detectives, private investigators, vigilantes, or even gangsters can easily get involved for the search of poor Eric Laguardia. Jacob Woods (Schoolteacher)

	fitness			awareness			creativity			reasoning			influence
	3			3			2			3			1

Skills: driving 6, finesse 4, investigation 4, design 4, disguise 3, general knowledge 4, physical sciences 5, etiquette 4, performance 6, composure 4
Gimmicks: constitution, quick Maxwell Schwartz (Court Translator)

	fitness			awareness			creativity			reasoning			influence
	2			2			1			4			3

Skills: athletics 3, driving 4, interrogation 4, investigation 6, academics, 4, general knowledge 5, bureaucracy 5, streetwise 4, etiquette 3, negotiation 4, performance 4, composure 6
Gimmicks: legal authority, multilingual, sure-footed Written by Jennifer Schoonover.