(Dan Tri) – Facing countless difficulties in the process of finding Nazi spies on American territory during World War II, the US Navy intelligence force had to rely on the mafia.
Joseph Lanza – one of the most powerful bosses in the Luciano gang in the US during World War II (Photo: warfarehistorynetwork.com).
Since 1942, America had to speed up the transport of weapons, soldiers, food, and medicine to support British troops on the front lines.
Effective operations of the German spy network
Already in the early months of 1942, German U-boats pushed Allied supply lines to a difficult situation.
The US Navy believes that the fishermen who assisted the German submarine could be US citizens with fascist sympathies or German spies operating on US territory.
At the time of Roscoe MacFall’s assignment, the U-boat force destroyed an average of 650,000 tons of cargo per month.
US Navy spies descended on the docks in New York City to investigate, but the port workers did not provide any valuable information because they were not sympathetic to the government.
Collaborative campaign with fishing mafia boss
Initially, no US Navy officials thought of asking the mafia to help find German spies.
The first meeting between US Navy intelligence officials and the mafia took place on March 25.
With just Joseph’s nod, dozens of ships were ready to dump seafood into the sea to push up the market price.
At that time, US Navy intelligence officials knew Joseph was facing trial for extortion charges.
The next day, Joseph sent his subordinates to the fishing boats and announced that the ship owners must immediately report to him any suspicious food and fuel transactions.
Joseph also helped the US Navy do something beyond their capabilities.
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