- Operation Underworld: How the Mafia and U.S. Government Teamed Up to Win World War II

Description

Never has the saying “the enemy of my enemy is my friend” had more truth than when the US government and the criminal underground joined forces to defeat the Nazi menace. For the first time ever the full story of how Charles “Lucky” Luciano—the U.S. Mafia boss who put the “organized” into organized crime—was recruited by U.S. Naval Intelligence in 1942 to aid the Allied war effort in the U.S. invasion of Sicily, a turning point in WWII. In 1942, a rational fear was mounting that New York Harbor was vulnerable to sabotage. If the waterfront was infested with German and Italian agents then the U.S. Navy needed a recourse just as insidious to secure it. Naval intelligence officer, Commander Charles Radcliffe Haffenden had the solution: recruit as his own spies, members of La Cosa Nostra. Pier to pier, no one terrified the longshoremen, stevedores, shopkeepers, and boat captains along the harbor better than the Mafia gangs of New York, who controlled the docks in Manhattan and Brooklyn. Haffenden was prepared to make a deal with the devil–the man who put “organized” into organized crime. Even from his cell in Dannemora State Prison, former Public Enemy #1, Charles “Lucky” Luciano still had tremendous power. Luciano was willing to wield it for Haffenden. But he wanted something in return—Luciano’s contacts in Italy to track the Nazis’ movements. Operation Underworld is a tale of espionage and crime like no other, the unbelievable, first-ever account of the Allied war effort’s clandestine coalition between the Mafia and the U.S. Government to protect New York, vanquish the Nazis by taking the fight to the enemy in the 1943 U.S. invasion of Sicily. It was an ingenious strategy carried out by some of history’s most infamous, improbable, and unsung heroes on both sides of the law. It was a Faustian bargain that brought homefront enemies together but, as journalist and crime historian Matthew Black reveals, one that ultimately succeeded in helping the Allies win World War II. Review: Excellent & well researched: best work on this subject based on available, but limited resources - Being a LCN history buff, I wanted to learn the full and detailed story around Luciano's work with Office of Naval Intelligence during WWII. Before reading Mathew Black's book on the subject, most of what I had read was not much more than innuendo, over-hyped speculation and terse discussion, non of which offered any real references. Black did a great job of going into detail while offering many references to back up this history. Where the references were vague or conflicted, he calls this out in the footnotes and explains his rationale for why he chose a particular assertion or point of view in the main body of the book. Using such resources as a detailed after-action investigation conducted on behalf of Thomas Dewey, then Governor of New York, who gave Luciano a pardon (and also deported him) at the end of the war -- and who also originally put him away when he was NYC DA -- Black reveals names, dates and actions of who was involved and even text from wiretaps amongst some of the principals. Here we learn who Luciano met with in prison to help ONI protect the East Coast docks as well as to provide intelligence for the invasion of Sicily. One of the things I came away with after reading this book was how well connected Luciano was with the NY underworld and how, through trusted friends and associates, he was able to reach out to the right people, to include not only members of his own Borgata, but members of other families and related associates. From these resources, he was able to scour the region for people with the right information to be of value to ONI. At the same time, the NYC naval officers involved were able to exploit this intelligence (as well as the valuable training they got in the process of gathering it) when they went overseas and effectively operationalize it in the invasions of both Sicily and mainland Italy. The work fully discredits Book, TV and Movies about this episode showing Luciano living in a lap of luxury in prison while he was helping ONI; instead, other than getting to meet his contacts for a half hour or so in private now and then outside the warden's office, he was treated just like any other prisoner. But Black also makes it clear that non ONI business, i.e. Cosa Nostra business, was also discussed in those same meetings, probably including some 'hits'. Moreover, the Navy man in charge of Operation Underworld, in dealing with the devil seems to also have been too tempted by some of the 'gifts' and 'benefits' -- before and after his Navy Career -- that his LCN friends provided as a way of appreciation. Lastly, I think this book has a lot to say about such later Intelligence work with LCN, including the CIA assassination plots against Castro and perhaps even JFK assassination: to avoid embarrassment, ONI had all of their records on Operation Underworld burned and shredded. Those who think Oswald was a US Intelligence asset, but could never get any specific data to show it from FOIA requests can appreciate that any such documents alluding to such a relationship would have also been destroyed. Review: Good story - Good story, I found certain parts easier to read, but overall great book and story