A childhood belief about criminals

When I was little I thought all criminals wore black & white striped suits and when they escaped from prison, they went "underground". To reach the "underground" they had to open up a utility access panel (the PC name for manhole cover) or storm drain cover and drop down into the large underground passageways located under every city street.

These dimly-light passage ways were filled with crooks in black & white striped suits who spent their days lurking around the dark corridors of the underground hiding from the law.

The cops looking for the escaped crooks dressed in blue suits similar to the cop on the Monopoly Community Chess card who's hauling the guy to jail. The cops would rarely go into the "underground". I knew this because I never saw them opening manhole covers.

Occasionally, the cops would go "underground" to bust someone only when they did, they used disguises. The cops dressed up like phone company workers and set up teepees over the top of the manhole. Then, the police, wearing hardhats and tool belts would go into the underground and arrest crooks. The teepee was to keep people from seeing into the "underground" because if you did, the crooks down there would come out at night and kill you because you'd seen them.

The cops would sometimes try to electrocute the crooks living in the “underground” because you could see them working on green boxes filled with all kinds of wires.