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

During World War II, the U.S. government and organized crime formed an unlikely alliance to protect the nation and defeat Nazi Germany. In 1942, concerned about sabotage at New York Harbor, Naval Intelligence officer Commander Charles Radcliffe Haffenden recruited members of the Mafia to serve as informants and security assets. The Mafia controlled the docks in Manhattan and Brooklyn, and no one wielded more influence over longshoremen, stevedores, shopkeepers, and boat captains than the organized crime gangs. Haffenden approached Charles "Lucky" Luciano, the imprisoned Mafia boss incarcerated at Dannemora State Prison, to leverage his power and connections. Luciano agreed to help secure the waterfront and provide intelligence on German and Italian agents in exchange for assistance. He also offered his contacts in Italy to track Nazi movements. Operation Underworld details this covert partnership between the Mafia and U.S. Naval Intelligence, which extended to supporting the 1943 Allied invasion of Sicily. Matthew Black's account reveals how this arrangement between unlikely allies—some infamous, some unsung—ultimately contributed to the Allies' victory in World War II.