In the dark hours of June 13, 1942, a German U-boat surfaced off the coast of Long Island.
4 saboteurs, led by George Dasch, buried explosives under the sands of Amagansett as a part of an elaborate plan to blow up the Hell Gate Bridge in Astoria, along with chemical plants utilized in the American war effort.
Naval Intelligence Lt. Gen. Charles Radcliffe Haffenden received word that 4 men had been spotted and dispatched to the East End of Long Island.
But his investigation didn’t follow standard military protocols. Haffenden stopped at Millie’s Inn on Napeague Beach for dinner with several known organized crime associates. They were essential to the top-secret surveillance network he had created with the help of the Mafia.
![Fearful of German submarine plans off the coast of America, the Navy secretly collaborated with the Mafia to protect American ports.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/12/u-boat-1.jpg?w=1024)
The Mafia played a key covert role during World War II, using its power and control over Recent York’s dockyards, dockworkers, and fishermen to regulate submarines and other shady figures. The Mafia even used their influence to get the Navy into an inaccessible foreign consulate that was supposed to have key details about the Nazis.
“The navy realized they did not have full security control over the port of Recent York… They couldn’t get to the unions, they couldn’t get close to the shopkeepers, the longshoremen. No person talked to them.” Matthew Black, writer of “Operation Underworld: How the Mafia and US Government Teamed Up to Win World War II,” told The Post on Tuesday. “The Navy was surprised to learn that not only would the Mafia be ready to help, but they might be blissful. Lots of them were loyal. They loved the United States of America.”
In early 1942, months before the submarine landed on Long Island, Haffenden devised a top-secret plan to unofficially delegate a known enemy of the state to protect Recent York from the Nazis.
![Meyer Lansky was one of the command bosses during military-sanctioned meetings behind bars.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/12/brooklyn-navy-yard-3.jpg?w=682)
![New York City was one of the most important waterways used during World War II.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/12/brooklyn-navy-yard-2.jpg?w=1024)
Through a series of lawyers, Haffenden organized a nightly “cloak and dagger” meeting in Riverside Park between Frank “Socks” Lanza – also often called the Tsar of the Fulton Fish Market, who was responsible to the infamous Lucky Luciano – and the district attorney.
Socks was a bona fide “patriot” who hated each Hitler and Benito Mussolini, so he was easily persuaded to sign. Together with his help, deep-sea captains who had previously pretended not to know a word of English began singing to Navy officials.
![](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/12/fulton-fish-market-ww2-1.jpg?w=1024)
“In a short time, the American fishing fleet became the first line of defense in the seek for German submarines,” said Black. “As the relationship develops [the Navy] managed to gain access to increasingly places on the waterfront. Contacts ran all the way to Long Island and throughout the East Coast, especially Recent England.”
While the Socks were helpful in the war effort, there have been still many ports and piers over which the mafioso had no influence. It was time for Operation Underworld to leapfrog payroll as Socks recruited Luciano himself. There was just one problem: he was serving 30 to 50 years behind bars, and it was complicated to arrange a meeting with him.
“[The Navy] they didn’t want the FBI to know what they were doing. In order that they had to come up with various means to move him to one other prison and make it appear like it wasn’t a part of any major deal. Luciano was kept in the dark most of the time,” explained Black.
![Charles](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/12/lucky-luciano-mugshot.jpeg?w=1024)
Unlike Lanza, Luciano didn’t exactly act as a staunch patriot. He used military strategy to run his canned empire, ordering his top bosses – Meyer Lansky, Frank Costello and Willie Moretti – during military-sanctioned meetings behind bars.
“He had twenty-odd years of visits to his bosses,” said Black. “So, in a way, he’s using the operative underworld to further his criminal goals.”
Underground in motion
![Operation Underworld proved pivotal in the Allied invasion of Sicily.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/12/invasion-sicily-ww2-2-1.jpg?w=1024)
One 12 months after the Dasch Affair, Operation Underworld has evolved from port security and espionage to helping allied forces invade and occupy Sicily, Luciano’s former homeland. It was a campaign code-named Operation Husky.
“America was in a bad position to wage war in Europe. All the maps, all the charts, all the data, all the intelligence collected during World War I used to be destroyed,” Black said.
“So the goal shifted to finding details about Sicily. The Mafia was really helpful in making contacts, individuals who had been to Sicily recently, who worked in the ports there, and were able to pass it on to Naval Intelligence.
![The Mafia used its connections to Sicily to help allied troops during Operation Husky.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/12/invasion-sicily-ww2-1-.jpg?w=1024)
![The mob used its influence on the people of Sicily after the US invasion.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/12/invasion-sicily-ww2-4.jpg?w=1024)
Mafia contacts played a key role in the first wave of the invasion of Sicily in 1943. Recent York gangsters acted as ambassadors of the armed forces to the natives – including the local mafia – trying to show that the Americans were a friendly force during the occupation.
“The large goal was to get the Italians to turn against the Germans, and that is exactly what happened,” Black said. “The Mafia was a true ally of the Allies during World War II.”