http://tbo.com/news/business/crime-history-might-be-new-tampa-tourist-draw-20141123/

By Paul Guzzo | Tribune Staff
Published: November 23, 2014 | Updated: November 23, 2014 at 10:55 AM
TAMPA — The “Dolphin Tale” movie franchise branded Clearwater worldwide as a family-friendly destination.

Now, the film industry is poised to deliver Tampa an identity of its own — as a hotbed of organized crime.

First, “The Infiltrator,” the true story of a federal agent who investigated Tampa businessmen laundering money for the Medellin Cartel in the 1980s and starring Emmy winner Bryan Cranston, will begin production in February. Some scenes will be filmed in Tampa.

Then, filming of the fictional “Live By Night,” about Prohibition-era rum running in Ybor City, is set to begin, in late 2015. Tampa may lose out as a filming site for the Ben Affleck production but remains the story’s backdrop, according to recent reports out of Hollywood.

Cuddly dolphins they’re not, but those in the business of promoting Tampa still are ready to tout the new brand.

“We will definitely have a different type of story to market to tourists,” said Santiago Corrada, CEO of the tourism agency Visit Tampa Bay.

“Films provide exposure for a city. Especially those with plots driven by a city.”

History is a valuable vehicle for spreading the word about the community, said Vince Pardo, manager of the city of Tampa’s Ybor City Development Corp.

Pardo would prefer featuring other aspects of Tampa’s past, he said, in part because of the pain that crimes of another era still can cause.

But he understands the tourism value.

“It gives Ybor City in particular an edge that other communities do not have,” Pardo said.

“It distinguishes us. My only concern would be that if we mention names we do so respectfully. Just because someone was allegedly linked to crime does not make him a criminal, and if someone was killed, we need to remember he may still have family here who cares for him.”

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Lisa Figueredo and Scott Deitche, who show paying customers where the gambling, prostitution and murder happened with their Ybor Mafia City Tour, say promoting the darker side of history is a natural for Tampa.

They aim to expand on their own franchise beginning today with the launch of the quarterly Tampa Mafia Magazine. Figueredo is the publisher. Deitche, an author in the true crime genre whose books include “Cigar City Mafia,” is the senior writer.

The unveiling will take place at La Verbena Festival, celebrating the Latin District’s history, noon to 5 p.m. in Ybor City’s Centennial Park.

The Tampa Bay History Center is sponsoring a children’s area at the festival that will include games of bolita — an illegal prelude to the modern-day lottery that helped turn Tampa into a crime zone from 1920 through 1960. Some two dozen people were slain over control of illegal gambling during this so-called “era of blood.”

Many elected leaders of the time were connected to organized crime, said Rodney Kite-Powell, curator of the Tampa Bay History Center. Their elections were either funded or rigged by gangsters seeking favors in return.

“Organized crime shaped this city for decades,” publisher Figueredo said. “It defined us as a city.”

This history has appeal, said Corrada with Visit Tampa Bay. Promoting it through film can make Tampa more attractive to tourists.

A report commissioned by the Motion Picture Association of America said 23 percent of leisure visitors to Florida consider that viewing a movie or television series filmed in the state was very important or extremely important in their decision to come here.

The “Dolphin Tale” franchise supports those numbers.

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In August 2012, the USF St. Petersburg College of Business released a study that estimated 73 percent of all visitors to the Clearwater Marine Aquarium — the backdrop of the film — do so because of the first movie, released in 2011.

The Clearwater Marine Aquarium has made the movie’s star Winter the dolphin the center of its marketing.

Its website is at www.seewinter.com and the dolphin’s image is splashed on brochures and ads distributed throughout the country.

The movie features the relationship between a boy and a dolphin that lost its tail to a crab trap. The sequel centers on the search for a companion for Winter.

“The Infiltrator,” on the other hand, and “Live By Night” follow darker themes.

“We’ll have to tackle our marketing efforts a little differently than Clearwater,” Corrada said.

Corrada was an educator in Miami in the 1980s when the television series “Miami Vice” burst onto the pop culture scene with its fictional chronicling of the city’s deadly cocaine economy.

Tourism exploded, Corrada said, and it was no accident.

Miami’s leaders built a marketing campaign around the positive attributes of the city displayed in “Miami Vice” — its beaches, nightlife, fashion, and of course, pink flamingos.

“They didn’t even have to mention the show,” Corrada said. “But because of it, if you saw a flamingo on a travel brochure you would stop and look and pick it up and then learn about travel deals to Miami. Everyone learned about Miami’s beauty because of that show and the city sold it.”

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Once “The Infiltrator” and “Live By Night” are released, Visit Tampa Bay aims to leverage them.

“I can see us taking a certain historic building in Ybor City made famous in one the movies and putting it on our website as a way to promote coming to see our history,” Corrada said. “That history is mostly positive. And when they come to the Tampa, they’ll discover what a wonderful place it is.”

In this way, said publisher Figueredo, mafia folklore is a great way to “trick” people into learning about Tampa’s broader history.

Since 2005, Figueredo has published “Cigar City Magazine” which focuses on all of Tampa’s history.

Ybor City was introduced as a major player in the national landscape of organized crime during Season 4 of “Boardwalk Empire,” the HBO series based the Prohibition Era in Atlantic City.

Figueredo said her online traffic for “Cigar City Magazine” would “skyrocket” whenever the show mentioned the city.

Visitors from around the country would find her website while searching for Ybor City online.

After reading articles on organized crime, she said, people would often linger to read about, say, cigars.

“They didn’t start off wanting to learn about the cigar industry,” she said, “but they did.”

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