New York City's underground has become an unlikely hunting ground this summer, as a wave of clandestine sewer excursions has captured the city's imagination — all fueled by rumors of lost gold trapped in storm drains.
The Arrest That Exposed the 'Mole People' Mystery
Two men, Samuel Reveron and Kevin Rodriguez, were apprehended in Queens after police tracked them down through video footage. The pair were allegedly spotted entering the sewers with four other people who have yet to be identified. Both were charged with criminal trespassing — but it's their stated motive that has truly fascinated New Yorkers.
"We go into the sewer and look for valuables that get stuck in the storm drains and sewers, gold, anything of value," Reveron, 25, reportedly told police after his arrest.
A Misguided Get-Rich-Quick Scheme
The duo's quest fits an apparently misguided pattern of people believing New York's sewers are paved with gold. Last year, three men were arrested after allegedly emerging from a Brooklyn sewer, with one telling police: "The reason we went down there is that people lose their gold down there. We got to get it and sell it to make money."
Despite the vaulting ambition, there's little evidence that sewer foraging pays off. Steve Duncan, a former urban explorer who has spent extensive time in the city's sewers and subway tunnels, told the New York Times that across more than 100 sewer trips, the most valuable thing he ever found was an expired credit card.
Real-Life Ninja Turtles?
The phenomenon shows no signs of slowing down. In May alone, there were three separate reported incidents of people climbing down into sewers, two of which were captured on video. In footage from Astoria, Queens, three people wearing dungaree-style hip waders and carrying flashlights hauled aside a manhole cover and descended into the darkness.
"Three random guys walking around in a strange suit. Open the sewer, go in like the Ninja Turtles," eyewitness Aki Jakupovic told NBC New York at the time.
The comparison to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles — the fictional human-turtle hybrids famously depicted as living in the sewers — has become a recurring theme in coverage of these bizarre incidents.
A Longstanding, Dangerous Trend
While incidents appear to have spiked this year, this is nothing new. In 2015, a trainee at the New York Department of Environmental Protection was arrested after being caught in the sewers.
"God knows what they were looking for. I know for damn sure I wouldn't be crawling through the sewers of New York," then-police commissioner Bill Bratton said at the time.
The UN Connection That Wasn't
Reveron and Rodriguez's September sojourn drew extra police attention because it coincided with world leaders gathering at the UN, some of them staying at swanky hotels near where the men went underground. But Reveron's attorney, Brian Kennedy, dismissed any sinister angle.
"There's no connection to the UN or the appearance of Netanyahu or any other kind of nefarious scheme," Kennedy told NBC News.
Officials Sound the Alarm
Rob Wolejsza, a spokesperson for New York's Department of Environmental Protection, called the practice "both illegal and extremely dangerous."
"Sewers can contain numerous hazards, including noxious and potentially deadly gases, unstable surfaces, flooding risks and confined spaces," Wolejsza warned. "For these reasons, members of the public should never enter a pipe, drain, catch basin, manhole or outfall."
Whether people will listen remains to be seen: on the very same day Reveron and Rodriguez were arrested, three more men were spotted climbing out of a sewer at 4:30am in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn. Police found a shovel in the sewer — but the men got away.
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