Here at the Fulton Fish Market, the United States Navy orchestrated one of the most unusual alliances of WWII that remained a secret until 1977, when author Rodney Campbell uncovered the classified Herland’s Investigative Report, a 101-page summary of the Navy’s involvement in Operation UNDERWORLD. Nazi agents had infiltrated the Port of New York, and only the mob had the power to hunt them down. Then on February 9, the troop transport Normandie spontaneously combusted on the West Side of Manhattan. Observers spotted U-boat wolf packs roving up and down the cost of Long Island. By 1942, Nazi submarines pushed the Allies to the breaking point, sinking 650,000 tons of cargo a month.
Location: Fulton Fish Market and the Meyer Hotel, 119 South StreetĬlosed lipped and insular, the longshoremen of the Fulton Fish Market proved impossible to infiltrate, but the Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI) knew there was no other option. Project Underworld: The Incredible alliance between the Navy and the Mafia during the Second World War.