Operation Underworld

Operation Underworld

Operation Underworld was the United States government's code name for the cooperation of organized crime figures from 1942 to 1945 to counter Axis spies and saboteurs along the U.S. northeastern seaboard ports, avoid wartime labor union strikes, and limit theft by black-marketeers of vital war supplies and equipment.

In the first three months after the Attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, the U.S. lost 120 merchant ships to German U-boats and surface raiders in the Battle of the North Atlantic and in February 1942 the cruise ship SS Normandie – a captured French ship that was being refitted as a troop ship in New York harbor – was allegedly sabotaged and sunk by arson in the Port of New York. The Mafia boss Albert Anastasia claimed responsibility for the sabotage.[1] After the war, Axis records showed no sabotage operation had existed and no evidence has ever been produced on the Allied side to indicate there had been underworld sabotage. The loss of the Normandie was almost certainly an accident.[2]

Nevertheless, fears about possible sabotage or disruption of the waterfront led Commander Charles R. Haffenden of the U.S. Navy Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI) Third Naval District in New York set up a special security unit and sought the help of Joseph Lanza, who ran the Fulton Fish Market, to get intelligence about the New York waterfront, control the labor unions and identify possible refuelling and resupply operations for German submarines with the help fishing industry along the Atlantic Coast. To cover Lanza’s activities, he suggested to approach Charles Luciano who was an important boss of the five New York Mafia crime families. Luciano agreed to cooperate with authorities in hopes of consideration for early release from prison.[3]

Luciano was in Dannemora at the time, serving a 30 to 50 year sentence for running a prostitution ring. For his cooperation he was moved to a more convenient and comfortable open prison in Great Meadows in May 1942.[4] How effective or crucial Luciano’s influence was in stopping sabotage remains unclear, but authorities did note that strikes on the docks stopped after Luciano’s attorney Moses Polakoff contacted underworld figures with influence over the longshoremen and their unions.[5] In 1946 Luciano's sentence was commuted – after serving 9½ years – and he was deported to his native Italy.[6]

References

  1. ^ Newark, Mafia Allies, pp. 83-98
  2. ^ Campbell, The Luciano Project, p. 29
  3. ^ Newark, Mafia Allies, pp. 99-111
  4. ^ Newark, Mafia Allies, p. 103
  5. ^ Campbell, The Luciano Project, pp. 111-127
  6. ^ Campbell, The Luciano Project, pp. 233 ff.
  • Campbell, Rodney (1977). The Luciano Project: The Secret Wartime Collaboration of the Mafia and the U.S. Navy, New York: McGraw-Hill, ISBN 0-07-009674-0
  • Newark, Tim (2007). Mafia Allies. The True Story of America’s Secret Alliance with the Mob in World War II, Saint Paul (MN): Zenith Press ISBN 0-7603-2457-3 (Review)

Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем написать реферат

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Underworld (Doctor Who) — ] [cite web url= http://www.shannonsullivan.com/drwho/serials/4y.html title= Underworld publisher = A Brief History of Time Travel last = Sullivan first = Shannon date = 2007 08 07 accessdate = 2008 08 30] In an attempt to save money on… …   Wikipedia

  • Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City — Developer(s) Slant Six Games[ …   Wikipedia

  • The Ribos Operation — ] [cite web url= http://www.shannonsullivan.com/drwho/serials/5a.html title= The Ribos Operation publisher = A Brief History of Time Travel last = Sullivan first = Shannon date = 2007 08 07 accessdate = 2008 08 30] *Working titles for this story… …   Wikipedia

  • Proteus in the Underworld — (1995) is a science fiction novel by Charles Sheffield. The book is set in the same universe as his previous works Proteus Unbound (1989) and Sight of Proteus (1978), although it stands on its own and can be enjoyed regardless of familiarity with …   Wikipedia

  • List of World War II topics (O) — # O I # OA vz.27 # Oak Ridge Associated Universities # Oak Ridge City Center # Oak Ridge High School (Oak Ridge, Tennessee) # Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education # Oak Ridge National Laboratory # Oak Ridge, Tennessee # Oakley Hall #… …   Wikipedia

  • Meyer Lansky — in 1958 Born Meyer Suchowljansky July 4, 1902(1902 07 04) Grodno, Russian Empire …   Wikipedia

  • 1943 in organized crime — | See also: 1942 in organized crime, other events of 1943, 1944 in organized crime and the list of years in Organized Crime .Events*January 11 Carlo Tresca, editor of the Socialist Italian language newspaper Il Martello , is murdered in Manhattan …   Wikipedia

  • Calogero Vizzini — Infobox Criminal subject name = Calogero Vizzini image size = 150px image caption = Calogero Vizzini, Mafia boss of Villalba date of birth = July 24, 1877 place of birth = Villalba, Italy date of death = July 10, 1954 place of death = Villalba,… …   Wikipedia

  • Виццини, Калоджеро — Калоджеро Виццини итал. Calogero Vizzini …   Википедия

  • Alexander Corvinus — Underworld character name = Alexander Corvinus caption = gender = Male race = Immortal occupation = Former Warlord family = Helena (wife) location = HUN children = Markus and William Corvinus (sons), unnamed Corvinus son(deceased) status =… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”