Five amazing secrets of Little Italy, NYC

Built between 1809 and 1815, Saint Patrick’s Old Cathedral was the seat of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York until the current Saint Patrick's Cathedral opened in 1879.

When it was built, it was the largest in the city and still has the original 1868 pipe organ that was originally operated without any electricity. In 2004, the Organ Historical Society designated it as an instrument of "exceptional historical merit, worthy of preservation," which is the organ equivalent of national landmark status. It's still in use today.

The church has also appeared in multiple films, including The Godfather and The Godfather Part III as well as Mean Streets.

It was declared a minor basilica by Pope Benedict XVI on Saint Patrick's Day, March 17, 2010.

240 Centre Street, a huge Beaux Arts-style building that now houses condos, used to be the New York City Police headquarters from 1909 to 1973.

The building, when it was used as the NYPD's HQ, included a gymnasium, a circular radio room, and two basement levels, one with more than 30 6-by-10-foot steel mesh cells with snap-up bunks attached to the walls, according to The New York Times.

There's also rumors of a secret tunnel that used to run underground to a tavern, which now Onieal's Grand Street Restaurant, but there's no physical evidence left.

Condos inside the building go for as much as $18 million nowadays.

Lombardi's is said to be the very first pizzeria in the U.S. and still boasts one of the best pies in NYC. 

Gennario Lombardi opened his grocery shop in 1905 and used techniques from Naples to create tomato pies that he wrapped in paper and tied up with a string. Workers would eat them for lunch at their factories.

It still offers the same beautiful, smoky-crusted coal oven-baked pizza to this day.

Organized crime in Little Italy was a reality in the 20th century with several big operators who used the neighborhood as their headquarters, including John Gotti, Ignazio "The Wolf" Lupo, Peter DeFeo and Matty the Horse Ianniello, among others.

A lot of the bars and restaurants where these crime bosses hung out are no longer around, but Umberto's Clam House is. Some dark tourists seek it out since it was the scene of one of the most infamous Mafia murders in NYC. Here, Joe Gallo was shot five times in the back of the restaurant and stumbled out to the street, where he died.

While there's nothing glamorous about its gritty history, Little Italy is the setting of the Corleone crime family The Godfather, the 1973 Martin Scorsese film Mean Streets, and the 1994 Luc Besson film Léon, The Professional.

Little Italy Street Art Project brings a diverse group of artists together to create incredibly vivid murals across the neighborhood (and the city). Spending some time around the neighborhood, especially on Mulberry Street, you'll spot a mosaic-like portrait of Audrey Hepburn among other eye-popping creations.