D.C. author Eric Dezenhall’s sixth novel, “The Devil Himself,” delves into the alliance between the U.S. Navy and organized crime to secure the New York waterfront during World War II. How did you start writing novels?
I started by writing about the colorful characters I grew up around [in southern New Jersey] and formed a disproportionate obsession with them that continues to this day. When you’re young, you confuse having thoughts with having a good story to tell. Figuring out how to turn those thoughts into stories takes some life experience.
How did you get interested in organized crime?
The region where I grew up was mob-a-palooza. Who whacked who was a spectator sport.
Did you actually get to go through Meyer Lansky’s private diaries?
One of the more surreal experiences of my life was sitting among Meyer’s books and personal records. He was big on self-improvement and made notes in the margins of books on economics and philosophy. … His diaries discuss what motivated him to get involved in the war effort. He was motivated mostly by patriotism and his concern for his fellow Eastern European Jews.
How effective was the mob in helping in the war effort?
Mobsters will tell you they saved America. Serious scholars find the collaboration between the Navy and the mob inconvenient. Where history is clearer is on the role that Lansky and Lucky Luciano played in finding Mafia contacts to guide the Allied invaders of Sicily to key Nazi strongholds. There is no doubt that this aspect of the program really happened.
Did you find any evidence that the gangsters helped catch Nazi saboteurs or prevent submarine attacks?
Meyer’s boys made life for Nazi sympathizers in New York a living hell. It’s no fun having Bugsy Siegel chasing you. The mob-controlled hotel workers union also dropped a dime on German saboteurs that had come ashore in New York.
– Scott McCabe
