Allee’s 1997 photographic series, “A Man a Mile,” documents the New York City “Sandhog.” Sandhogs are builder/miners responsible for the Panama Canal, and much of New York City's infrastructure.
Born Frank Fowler, he went through an assortment of jobs, including driving for gangster Frankie Yale and working as a sandhog on the construction of New York's Holland Tunnel, before turning to writing, first short stories and novels, and later, screenplays.
The CSI: NY episode "A Man a Mile" deals with the death of a sandhog during construction of Water Tunnel No. 3.