Double agent : the first hero of world war ii and how the fbi outwitted and destroyed a nazi spy ... ring

The never-before-told tale of the German-American who spearheaded a covert mission to infiltrate New York’s Nazi underground in the days leading up to World War II—the most successful counterespionage operation in US history.From the time Adolf Hitler came into power in 1933, German spies were active in New York. In 1937, a German national living in Queens stole the blueprints for the country’s most precious secret, the Norden Bombsight, delivering them to the German military two years before World War II started in Europe and four years before the US joined the fight. When the FBI uncovered a ring of Nazi spies in the city, President Franklin Roosevelt formally declared J. Edgar Hoover as America’s spymaster with responsibility for overseeing all investigations. As war began in Europe in 1939, a naturalized German-American was recruited by the Nazis to set up a radio transmitter and collect messages from spies active in the city to send back to Nazi spymasters in Hamburg. This German-American, William G. Sebold, approached the FBI and became the first double agent in the Bureau’s history, the center of a sixteen-month investigation that led to the arrest of a colorful cast of thirty-three enemy agents, among them a South African adventurer with an exotic accent and a monocle and a Jewish femme fatale, Lilly Stein, who escaped Nazi Vienna by offering to seduce US military men into whispering secrets into her ear. A riveting, meticulously researched, and fast-moving story, __Double Agent__ details the largest and most important espionage bust in American history. The never-before-told tale of the German-American who infiltrated New York's Nazi underground in the days leading up to World War II: "Thrilling, well-researched, well-told, fascinating" ( Minneapolis Star Tribune ). He was the first hero of World War II and yet the American public has never seen his face. William G. Sebold, a naturalized American of German birth, risked his life to become the first double agent in the history of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. He spent sixteen months in the Nazi underground of New York City, consorting with a colorful cast of spies. Sebold was at the center of the most sophisticated investigation yet devised by the FBI, which established a short-wave radio station on Long Island to communicate with Hamburg spymasters and set up a "research office" in Times Square that allowed agents hidden behind a two-way mirror to film meetings conducted between Sebold and the spy suspects. The result was the arrest and conviction of thirty-three spies, still the largest espionage case in American history. The guilty verdicts were announced in Brooklyn federal court just hours after Adolf Hitler declared war on the United States on December 11, 1941, which meant that the Führer could not call upon a small army of embedded spies and saboteurs during the most trying days of the coming struggle. "As you know," an FBI official later told J. Edgar Hoover, "Sebold gave us the most outstanding case in Bureau history." In Double Agent , Peter Duffy tells this full account. Here is a story "rich with eccentric characters, suspense, and details of spycraft in the war's early days....The result is a compelling cultural history with all the intricacy and intrigue of a good spy novel" ( The Boston Globe ). The never-before-told tale of the German-American who spearheaded a covert mission to infiltrate New York’s Nazi underground in the days leading up to World War II—the most successful counterespionage operation in US history. From the time Adolf Hitler came into power in 1933, German spies were active in New York. In 1937, a German national living in Queens stole the blueprints for the country’s most precious secret, the Norden Bombsight, delivering them to the German military two years before World War II started in Europe and four years before the US joined the fight. When the FBI uncovered a ring of Nazi spies in the city, President Franklin Roosevelt formally declared J. Edgar Hoover as America’s spymaster with responsibility for overseeing all investigations. As war began in Europe in 1939, a naturalized German-American was recruited by the Nazis to set up a radio transmitter and collect messages from spies active in the city to send back to Nazi spymasters in Hamburg. This German-American, William G. Sebold, approached the FBI and became the first double agent in the Bureau’s history, the center of a sixteen-month investigation that led to the arrest of a colorful cast of thirty-three enemy agents, among them a South African adventurer with an exotic accent and a monocle and a Jewish femme fatale, Lilly Stein, who escaped Nazi Vienna by offering to seduce US military men into whispering secrets into her ear. A riveting, meticulously researched, and fast-moving story, Double Agent details the largest and most important espionage bust in American history. An Account Of A Virtually Unknown Pre-world War Ii Counterespionage Operation Describes How Naturalized German-american Agent William G. Sebold Became The Fbi's First Double Agent And Was A Pivotal Figure In The Arrests Of 33 Enemy Agents For The Nazis. The Object Of The Bombardment -- The Highest Humanity -- Almost Single-handed -- -- True Faith And Allegiance -- With The Resources We Have On Hand -- To Lead An Organization There -- In This Solemn Hour -- You Are Harry Sawyer -- A Vile Race Of Quislings -- And You Be Careful -- Room 627 -- The Trusted Man. Peter Duffy. Includes Bibliographical References (pages 285-321) And Index. Presents The Story Of A German-american Double Agent Who Worked Undercover In New York City In A Nazi Spy Ring That Resulted In The Fbi's Arrest Of Thirty-three Nazi Spies On December 11, 1941.