I was given a NetGalley widget for this one a year ago, and I just got around to reading it, and dangit, it was so good. I am so thankful for the opportunity to have consumed this wildly relevant fictional tale, which felt not at all fictional, more like historical fiction, due to the times. The cover initially drew me in, but I'm thankful to have stuck with it because the outcome was magical. I always love listening to audiobooks, and I'm utterly captivated when they sweep me off my feet!

3.5 stars

A very interesting account of how the Naval Intelligence officer in charge of protecting NYC city harbors from German U-boats and saboteurs enlisted the help of the local mafia, and the positive & negative outcomes of that choice.

[What I liked:]

•This book is written in a narrative style that keeps the facts from becoming dry and boring. There are some truly interesting characters, particularly Haffenden & Luciano who the book focus on.

•The political and strategic maneuvering involved in this operation were complex, but the writer does a good job of laying things out clearly and giving insight into the motivations of the various players (motivations which were also complex).

•I learned a lot from this book! For example, I didn’t know that the Navy was the only US military branch to maintain intelligence capabilities between the wars, or how tightly the various mafia organizations in NYC controlled multiple aspects of the local shipping industry, or how challenging it was to defend the h harbor from German infiltrators.

•The writer has clearly done a lot of good research, and he specifies where there are gaps in the historical record (usually due to the destruction of military records). When there is speculation about areas where there are gaps in the research, the writer is clear that he is only speculating, which I appreciate.


[What I didn’t like as much:]

•I get that the mafia are basically the heroes of this story, and I don’t want to undermine the support that people like Luciano provided to protect the US & help the war effort. However, the writer kind of glosses over some of the negative outcomes of this collaboration between organized crime and the federal government & is hesitant to criticize the mafia for taking advantage of their position.

For example, the mafia used the high stakes of the war to take advantage of dock workers and basically not pay them. If the workers had gone on strike it would have harmed the war effort, so Haffenden helped the bosses crush the strike. The writer seems to cheer him on for this, but what about the mistreated workers? Wouldn’t it have been better if Haffenden leaned on the bosses to restore adequate working conditions to prevent a strike?

CW: murder, war

[I received an ARC ebook copy from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. Thank you for the book!]

Thank you Netgalley for a copy of this title for review.

An interesting topic from World War II that I had heard very little about. I would definitely recommend and at the topic for further search in the future. Unfortunately, when you listen to a nonfiction book in audiobook format you tend to lose the bibliography.

Operation underworld by Matthew Black is a whopper of a history book. This book teaches us so much we learn about how the mafia boss Luciano saved Christmas how he contributed to the American war effort in World War II we haven’t learned about jealousies between top leaders in the navy this book was so interesting and it has such detailed well research chapters I found myself going back and listening to some of the chapters more than once to make certain I didn’t miss anything. I didn’t know that the mafia Health the war effort in any capacity much less spying and subterfuge this book is so well done we even learn about little scandals that happened in the New York political arena most of all and more importantly we learn about the great links the military went to beat the Germans. To think this all started from a loaf of sliced bread. This is one of the most interesting books I have read in a long time when it comes to nonfiction. I thoroughly enjoyed this book as with any history lover and if you like nonfiction because you would love to be a fly on the wall turn operation on the ground is definitely the type of book you want to read it tells you in great detail not only about what happened but about who made it happen. I loved this book and will add it to my great lessons I listen to the audiobook and thought the narrator did a stellar job now reading this book had the right voice for it and set the tone nicely and made it a pleasure to listen to. I received this book from NetGalley and the publisher but I am leaving this review voluntarily please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review.

Mafia Spies

This book sounded interesting as I had never known that the Mafia helped our government during WWII. It was something new I learned and I like learning new historical facts.

The new captain had to figure out how to counteract the information being fed to the Italian's by spies in the U.S. He knew that many of the dockworkers were Italians. He set about finding those that could help during the war as they not only spoke Italian but knew others in Italy that they conversed with.

Even the main Mafia boss Lucky Luciano got in on the action although he wanted his own men to be sent to Italy to be spies.

It is the only time I have ever heard that the crime syndicate and the Government worked together for the best of the nation and to squash the Nazi's.

I enjoy historical books and this audio book was interesting. The narrator did a good job on the narration was very pleasant to listen to and very easy to understand.

Thanks to Matthew Black for writing the history of these events, to Jonathan Todd Ross for his great narration , to HIghBridge Audio for publishing it and to NetGalley for allowing me to listen to a copy for review.