Ghosts of Sicily: The True Story of the Naval Intelligence Agents Who Courted the Mob to Fight Nazis in America and the Battlefields of Italy

In this meandering WWII saga, NCIS star Harmon and former real-life NCIS agent Carroll, authors of Ghosts of Honolulu, recap Operation Underworld, an effort by the Office of Naval Intelligence to use gangsters who ran New York City’s waterfront as intelligence assets. Hatched by ONI officers including Lt. Anthony Marsloe and Lt. Paul Alfieri, the initiative enlisted underworld kingpins like Lucky Luciano to appeal to dockworkers to watch for Axis spies or U-boats attempting to refuel. The operation was extensive, but didn’t achieve much; U-boats had their own resupply ships, and no spies were caught. Later, Operation Underworld’s gangster assets helped recruit Italian immigrants to provide maps and intelligence contacts for the 1943 Allied invasions of Sicily. This effort bore fruit when mobsters connected Alfieri, who deployed to Sicily, with a local man who led him to a trove of Italian military documents, including artillery positions. Later chapters recount further adventures of ONI men and mobsters in Italy, including American mafioso Vito Genovese’s black market dealings in military supplies, and Marsloe’s hunt for the Italian frogmen who were attaching mines to Allied ships. (He didn’t find them until the war ended.) Though the authors goose their account with dialogue that reads like an NCIS script, there’s not much suspense to many of these tales. Still, dedicated history buffs will find some amusing anecdotes. (Apr.)