It's May 1942 in New York State.

World War II is fully in swing and the Atlantic Ocean,

off the coast Long Island, has already been an under-the- the radar battleground even before Pearl Harbor.

In fact, before December 1941, the U.S. had already lost 243 mariners at sea.

German U-boats come close enough to New York Harbor to sink U.S. merchant ships

just by looking for their dark silhouettes against the lights of the city.

These ships are all taking part in FDR's profitable and depression-ending trade with our war-torn

allies in Europe. But soon American bodies start washing back to American shores

as if they had just gotten stuck in the riptide. The lucky ones are dead on impact.

But some of the U-boat surface collect the survivors and bring them below decks for

interrogation before being flung back to sea, shivering aboard a hopeless life raft.

The few U.S. survivors describe something odd about the ships.

They're loaded with American goods, stuff to the rafters like the backroom of, well, you know, a mafia hang out.

And the strangest mystery of all that, that sets this whole story in motion and perplexes

naval intelligence, the Nazi U-boats have freshly baked American sliced bread.

Meanwhile, top mob boss Lucky Luciano is six years into a 30-year sentence for running prostitution rings.

And he's at the upstate New York Donamora prison.

And even if he's somehow freed early, he'll be deported back to Italy where Mussolini is busy executing his mobster body.

One day, though, Lucky finds himself transferred to a different prison, closer to New York City.

And then, on May 15, 1942, just before 9 a.m.

Two guards approached Luciano cell and inform him that he has visitors.

They lead him to a room, unshackle him, and lock the door.

...