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Paul Guzzo - General Assignment/Vintage Tampa Bay Reporter
Paul Guzzo

General Assignment/Vintage Tampa Bay Reporter

I am a general assignment reporter with specific and varying niches – the local film industry, U.S.-Cuba relations, Tampa history, professional wrestling and the odd and unique people who make up this area. I have been a journalist in Tampa since 1999. In my younger years, I was also an independent filmmaker best known for an award-winning documentary on Charlie Wall, Tampa’s first crime lord. At home, I am married to a woman who is way out of my league and a father of four kids who have diverse career goals – engineer, veterinarian, ballerina, and a “fighting ninja.” As opposed to a pacifist ninja.

  1. Rocky Johnson, wrestler and father of ‘The Rock,’ died from blood clot, friend says
    Yesterday• Hillsborough
    Rocky Johnson, a member of the WWE Hall of Fame and a resident of Lutz, died Wednesday.
    Johnson thought he had flu. He went to the doctor the day before he died.
  2. Advocates want Tampa leaders to do what predecessors wouldn’t: Protect Zion.
    Yesterday• Hillsborough
    A digital overlay shows the modern structures that sit on top the early 1900s-era Zion Cemetery.
    On at least three occasions from 1929 to 1962, the forgotten cemetery came to the attention of the city of Tampa. No action was taken.
  3. Rocky Johnson, father of ‘The Rock,’ dies at age 75
    Jan. 15• News
    Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson's father former WWE and ECW champion Rocky Johnson has moved back to the Tampa Bay area where in the 1970s he achieved his own professional wrestling stardom in Tampa. Rocky is releasing his autobiography title "Soulman" The Rocky Johnson Story this week.
    Superstar Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson followed in the footsteps of his father, Rocky Johnson, who carved out his own place in wrestling history in Tampa.
  4. Tampa man was railroaded in girl’s killing. Film spurs Georgia to reopen case.
    Jan. 14• Hillsborough
    The little girl highlighted in the front row is Yvonne Holmes, who was raped and murdered at 8 years old. A Tampa native was falsely convicted and later exonerated of the crime. Now, 60 years later, the case has been reopened.
    James Fair Jr. was convicted without a jury or attorney. A legal team won him freedom, but there was never justice for the African American victim.
  5. Tampa charter has 60 days to end flights to all Cuba cities but Havana
    Jan. 13• Business
    An Xael Travel flight prepares to take off from Tampa for Cuba in September 2011. It was the first direct flight between the two cities since the United States imposed the Cuba travel and trade embargo in the early 1960s.
    Trump ban designed to squeeze regime affects Havana Air flights from Tampa to Holguin and Santa Clara. Critics say it only hurts Cuban people.
  6. Family hopes to rescue ancestor from oblivion of forgotten pauper’s cemetery
    Jan. 13• Hillsborough
    Steve Tuten, 69, left, and his brother Dave Tuten, 71, came across an image from the 1940s of their father James Tuten while they were looking through family photos Thursday at Steve Tuten's home in Clearwater. Their family tree includes James Tuten Bell, born to a wealthy plantation life but buried a pauper in 1949 at a forgotten cemetery in Tampa.
    Born to a wealthy plantation life, James Tuten Bell was buried at Ridgewood Cemetery before King High was built there.
  7. 115 caskets found on Zion Cemetery land owned by Richard Gonzmart
    Jan. 7• Hillsborough
    This image created by the Tampa Bay Times overlays today's landscape onto a map of Zion Cemetery from 1901. The cemetery property with the warehouse and storefront today belongs to Richard Gonzmart.
    To date, 314 caskets have been discovered. There are likely hundreds more.
  8. Battling cancer, Mark Gibbons found peace through social media
    Jan. 7• Hillsborough
    Mark Gibbons greets well-wishers following memorial services for his father, Congressman Sam Gibbons, in 2012. Mark Gibbons died on January 3.
    The former state representative and son of political icon Sam Gibbons dies at 67.
  9. Archaeologists to begin search for possible lost African-American graves in Clearwater
    Jan. 7• Pinellas
    Muhammad Abdur-Rahim points out the location of what is believed to be a former African-American cemetery next to the parking lot of Frank Crum Staffing located at 100 S Missouri Ave. in Clearwater.
    The cemetery was moved in the 1950s, but there is concern that unmarked graves were left behind.
  10. A judge’s ancestor was buried in cemetery that may be at MacDill Air Force Base
    Jan. 6• Hillsborough
    Hillsborough County Judge Lisa Campbell looks over a copy of a death certificate for a relative that was buried in the lost Port Tampa Cemetery. If MacDill Air Force Base finds the cemetery on their property, she would like the remains to be returned so they can be buried with other family members.
    The Air Force will begin the search for graves next month. If remains are found, she’d like to move her ancestor to a family burial plot.