Ghosts of Sicily: Navy-Mob Alliance vs. Nazis, w/ Leon Carroll, Jr.
Release Date: 07/31/2026
The Complicated History of the Pinkertons
History Shorts
Before the FBI or Secret Service became household names, there were the Pinkertons. Founded by Scottish immigrant Allan Pinkerton in 1850, the Pinkerton National Detective Agency hunted train robbers, infiltrated criminal gangs, protected Abraham Lincoln, and developed an enormous network of private investigators. Their famous logo—a watchful eye above the words “We Never Sleep”—helped give us the term “private eye.” But the Pinkertons had a darker role. Industrialists hired them to infiltrate unions, break strikes, and confront workers. At their height, the agency reportedly...
info_outline
The Truth Behind the War of the Worlds Broadcast
History Shorts
On October 30, 1938, Orson Welles interrupted America's radios with terrifying news: Martians had invaded New Jersey. Except they hadn't. Welles's War of the Worlds was a radio drama presented partly as breaking-news bulletins. Some listeners who tuned in late mistook fiction for reality, and stories of nationwide panic quickly followed. But did millions of Americans really flee their homes in terror? Not quite. Later research suggests the legendary mass hysteria was greatly exaggerated—ironically, by newspapers eager to portray radio as dangerous competition. In this episode of History...
info_outline
Anti-German Hysteria of World War I
History Shorts
Before World War I, German was everywhere in America. Millions of Americans spoke it. German-language newspapers flourished. Schools taught it. Churches worshipped in it. Entire communities conducted daily life in German. Then America entered the war. Suddenly, the language of millions of Americans became the language of the enemy. German books were removed from libraries. Schools dropped German classes. German-language newspapers disappeared. Some states restricted—or even prohibited—the teaching of foreign languages to children. The campaign extended beyond language. Sauerkraut became...
info_outline
WWII's Operation Fish
History Shorts
In 1940, with Nazi Germany sweeping across Europe and invasion seemingly possible, Britain faced an extraordinary question: What happens to the country's wealth if Hitler reaches London? The answer was Operation Fish. In one of the largest movements of wealth in history, Britain secretly shipped enormous quantities of gold and securities across the submarine-infested Atlantic to Canada for safekeeping. Royal Navy warships and civilian vessels carried fortunes worth billions of dollars today—sometimes with crews having little idea what was hidden beneath their feet. The stakes were enormous....
info_outline
Russia's Invisible Rocket Man
History Shorts
He launched Sputnik. He sent Yuri Gagarin into space. He helped turn the Soviet Union into the world's first space superpower. And almost no one knew his name. Sergei Korolev was the brilliant engineer behind the Soviet Union's greatest early triumphs in the Space Race. But before becoming the architect of its space program, Korolev had been arrested during Stalin's purges, tortured, sent to the Gulag, and nearly killed by the government he would later help make famous. Even at the height of his success, Soviet secrecy kept his identity hidden. Newspapers simply called him the mysterious...
info_outline
The Persian King who Punished the Ocean
History Shorts
In 480 BC, Persian King Xerxes I was preparing one of the largest invasions of ancient Greece ever attempted. To move his enormous army into Europe, his engineers constructed floating bridges across the Hellespont, linking Asia and Europe. Then a storm destroyed them. According to the Greek historian Herodotus, Xerxes responded by declaring war on the water itself. He ordered the Hellespont whipped 300 times, had shackles thrown into the sea, and commanded his men to brand the water with hot irons as punishment for defying him. The bridges were rebuilt. This time, the Persian army crossed. But...
info_outline
The WWI Sepoy Mutiny of Singapore
History Shorts
In February 1915, with the First World War raging, hundreds of Indian soldiers serving the British Empire in Singapore suddenly mutinied. Men of the 5th Light Infantry turned their weapons against their officers and seized control of parts of the colony. For nearly a week, British authority in one of its most important Asian strongholds teetered as fighting spread and colonial officials scrambled to respond. Why they rebelled remains complicated. Rumors circulated that the Muslim soldiers would be sent to fight the Ottoman Empire. Wartime propaganda, resentment of British rule, poor...
info_outline
CIA's Secret Weather Weapon in Vietnam
History Shorts
During the Vietnam War, the United States launched a secret operation with an extraordinary objective: use the weather as a weapon. Beginning in the 1960s, American aircraft flew missions over Southeast Asia seeding clouds with chemicals in an attempt to extend the monsoon season. The goal of Operation Popeye was simple—produce more rain over key sections of the Ho Chi Minh Trail, turning roads into mud, triggering landslides, and making it harder for North Vietnam to move troops and supplies south. The program remained secret for years before being exposed to the American public,...
info_outline
Was Benjamin Franklin a British Spy?
History Shorts
Benjamin Franklin was a printer, scientist, inventor, diplomat—and possibly one of the most effective intelligence operators of the American Revolution. While living in London, Franklin cultivated political contacts, acquired private correspondence, and secretly sent sensitive information back to the colonies. During the Revolution, his diplomatic mission in Paris became a center of intrigue, filled with spies, double agents, intercepted letters, secret codes, and British attempts to penetrate the American delegation. The remarkable part? One of Britain's most valuable spies was working...
info_outline
The 1835 Bat Men of the Moon
History Shorts
In August 1835, a New York newspaper announced an astonishing discovery: life had been found on the Moon. According to The Sun, famed astronomer Sir John Herschel had used a revolutionary new telescope to observe lunar forests, strange animals, crystal formations—and even intelligent, winged humanoids. The reports were detailed, scientific-sounding, and completely fabricated. Readers couldn't get enough. Circulation soared as the newspaper published installment after installment of what became known as the Great Moon Hoax. Even after doubts emerged, the story had demonstrated something...
info_outlineIn this full-length interview, I sit down with Leon Carroll Jr. — retired NCIS Special Agent, longtime technical advisor for the hit series NCIS, and co-author (with Mark Harmon) of the gripping new book 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.
We dive deep into Operation Underworld — the secret WWII alliance between the Office of Naval Intelligence and organized crime figures like Lucky Luciano and Meyer Lansky. From securing New York’s waterfront against German U-boats and spies to daring undercover missions supporting the Allied invasion of Sicily and Italy, this is one of the most unlikely and controversial operations in American history.
SUPPORT THE SHOW: https://www.patreon.com/c/HistoryShortsPodcast
ADVERTISE: https://www.historyshortspodcast.com/advertise
LEARN MORE: https://www.historyshortspodcast.com/
SPONSORED BY: www.thecollector.com