Prologue -- Cerberus at the gates -- An unholy alliance -- Operation Underworld -- "The devil himself" -- A deal with the devil -- The enemy arrives -- Surreptitious entry -- Thick as thieves -- Spying on spies -- When you dance with the devil... -- Black January -- The devil's in the details -- Desperate measures -- Unfinished business -- Banished from heaven -- The hopeless sinners -- Afterword -- Epilogue

An improbable tale of espionage and crime recounts the Allied war effort's clandestine coalition between the Mafia and the U.S. government to protect New York Harbor against sabotage and assist in the 1943 U.S. invasion of Sicily

In 1942, New York Harbor was vulnerable to sabotage. The U.S. Navy needs a recourse to secure it. Naval intelligence officer Commander Charles Radcliffe Haffenden had the solution: recruit members of La Cosa Nostra. The Mafia gangs of New York controlled the docks in Manhattan and Brooklyn. Even from his cell in Dannemora State Prison, Charles "Lucky" Luciano still had tremendous power. Luciano wanted a pardon-- and Haffenden wanted Lucian's contacts in Italy, to track the Nazis' movements. Black follows the strategy of a Faustian bargain that brought homefront enemies together-- and ultimately succeeded in helping the Allies win World War II. -- adapted from jacket