Into the Lion's Mouth: The True Story of Dusko Popov: World War II Spy, Patriot, and the Real-Life Inspiration for James Bond

by Larry Loftis

  August 25 Lanman personally delivered Correspondence from Assistant Director E. J. Connelley to Director J. Edgar Hoover, August 25, 1941, Record Group No. 65, Box 6, Section 1, 65-HQ-36994-19, NARA; Lanman Report, 4.

  September 3, the lab released an eight-page report FBI Laboratory Report, September 3, 1941, Record Group No. 65, Box 6, Section 1, 65-HQ-36994-19, NARA.

  Hoover sent Assistant Director Connelley Correspondence from Director J. Edgar Hoover to Assistant Director E. J. Connelley, September 4, 1941, Record Group No. 65, Box 6, Section 1, 65-HQ-36994-19, NARA.

  “The American Embassy in London” Correspondence from Director J. Edgar Hoover to Assistant Director E. J. Connelley, August 21, 1941, Record Group No. 65, Box 6, Section 1, 65-HQ-36994-19, NARA.

  “Confidential Informant ND-63” Correspondence from Assistant Director E. J. Connelley to Director J. Edgar Hoover, August 21, 1941, Record Group No. 65, Box 6, Section 1, 65-HQ-36994-19, NARA.

  “Views on Preparations for War” Edwin T. Layton, And I Was There: Pearl Harbor and Midway—Breaking the Secrets, 72–73.

  “This will be of interest” Hyde, Secret Intelligence Agent: British Espionage in America and the Creation of the OSS, 124.

  the FBI’s second warning Ibid, 125–31. See also, William Stevenson, A Man Called Intrepid, 175–76.

  penthouse two blocks from Central Park Correspondence from E. J. Connelley to J. Edgar Hoover, September 5, 1941, Record Group No. 65, Box 6, Section 1, 65-HQ-36994, NARA, p. 1.

  couldn’t provide the landlord with references Correspondence from E. J. Connelley to J. Edgar Hoover, August 19, 1941, Record Group No. 65, Box 6, Section 1, 65-HQ-36994-19, NARA, p. 6.

  received a letter from home Correspondence from E. J. Connelley to J. Edgar Hoover, September 5, 1941, Record Group No. 65, Box 6, Section 1, 65-HQ-36994, NARA, p. 1.

  Bata—a world champion water polo player—was crucified Milorad (“Misha”) Popov, unpublished memoirs; author correspondence with Misha Popov, February 14–15, 2015.

  CHAPTER 13 COVER-UP

  fired off a letter to Major General Edwin Watson Official File 10 “Justice Department,” Box 14, Franklin D. Roosevelt Library.

  the President had a forty-five-minute meeting Franklin D. Roosevelt calendar for September 3, 1941, Franklin D. Roosevelt Library.

  “I thought you might be interested” Official File 10 “Justice Department,” Box 14, Franklin D. Roosevelt Library.

  Hoover had a meeting with the President Franklin D. Roosevelt schedule for September 4, 1941, Franklin D. Roosevelt Library.

  Chen-Yen Correspondence of FBI agent R. G. Fletcher to P. E. Foxworth, September 12, 1941, Record Group No. 65, Box 6, Section 1, 65-HQ-36994-19, NARA.

  flying lessons at Mitchel Field Ian Wilson memo, November 13, 1942, KV 2/850 (sub-file 1).

  Terry Richardson Popov refers to her as “Terry Brown” in his memoirs (Spy Counter-Spy, 164) and as “Laura” in his True magazine (October 1973, p. 107) account, likely because he offered to kill her.

  Dusko would have to take it up with Hoover Dusko Popov, “Pearl Harbor: Did J. Edgar Hoover Blunder?” True, October 1973, 107.

  “Sam: see Connelley in N.Y.” Correspondence of P. E. Foxworth to J. Edgar Hoover, September 8, 1941, Record Group No. 65, Box 6, Section 1, 65-HQ-36994-19, NARA.

  Hoover with his partner Clyde Anthony Summers, Official and Confidential: The Secret Life of J. Edgar Hoover, 125.

  stay at any hotel the FBI wished Correspondence of Assistant Director E. J. Connelley to J. Edgar Hoover, September 9, 1941, Record Group No. 65, Box 6, Section 1, 65-HQ-36994-19, NARA.

  checked into separate rooms Correspondence of FBI agent R. G. Fletcher to P. E. Foxworth, September 18, 1941, Record Group No. 65, Box 6, Section 1, 65-HQ-36994-19, NARA.

  Dempsey Vanderbilt Hotel Author interview with Michael Johnson, Setai Project executive, on September 6, 2014. See also, “Jack Dempsey’s Restaurant in Miami Beach,” Miami Heritage, August 9, 2008. http://miamiheritage.org/2008/08/09/jack-dempseys-restaurant-in-miami-beach/.

  “was drawn to a man” Dusko Popov, True, 107.

  White-Slave Traffic Act 18 U.S.C. §2421-2424.

  Bureau records state Correspondence of E. J. Connelley to J. Edgar Hoover, September 9 and September 27, 1941, Record Group No. 65, Box 6, Section 1, 65-HQ-36994-19, NARA. Popov’s account of being accosted by FBI agents on the beach seems illogical since the FBI didn’t object to his leaving and sent agent Lanman to Miami to supervise. However, it also seems illogical that Terry Richardson, who had limited funds, would suddenly abandon an all-expenses-paid vacation to Miami Beach and fly alone to New York after a few days, and on a Saturday night (FBI records indicate that she was looking for a house, found nothing, and decided to return). In addition, Connelley’s September 9 letter includes a handwritten note that agent Thurston “will leave Monday, 9/15,” indicating that two FBI agents would be on the Miami scene, as Popov wrote.

  Hoover had blocked the Hawaii trip Anthony Cave Brown, Wild Bill Donovan: The Last Hero, 196.

  Behind Sam’s desk Foxworth became assistant director in charge of the New York Division in October and likely would have moved to Manhattan just days prior to this meeting.

  “looking like a sledgehammer” Dusko Popov, True, 110; Dusko Popov, “A Spy’s Spy Tells it All,” People, June 17, 1974, 20–21.

  “Hoover had no use for me” Dusko Popov, interview with Jonathan Braun, “Superspy Dusko Popov: The Real-Life James Bond,” Parade, 27.

  some challenge the veracity of Popov’s story Troy Thomas, a former CIA officer, claimed that the two never met, and that Popov warned no one about Pearl Harbor. Troy Thomas, “The British Assault on J. Edgar Hoover: The Tricycle Case,” Intelligence and Counter-intelligence 3, no. 3, 1989. But see Summers, 127. Popov and Hoover certainly had occasion to meet, Summers noted, as FBI records confirm that during this time Popov was in Washington four days in late August 1941 and Hoover was in New York.

  Popov and Hoover never met FBI Director Clarence M. Kelley correspondence to True magazine publisher, William Dunn, of Fawcett Publications, on October 1, 1973. Kelley stated: “Mr. Popov never personally met Mr. Hoover.” Record Group 65, Box 13, Part 19, 65-36994, NARA. Kelley admits, however, that Popov went to FBI headquarters on October 24, 1946, and appeared in Hoover’s reception room, but he contends that Dusko spoke only to two aides, not to the director himself.

  Hoover’s “Do Not File” system See Athan Theoharis, From the Secret Files of J. Edgar Hoover, 127, 339.

  “Edgar made an art form” Summers, 128.

  “He [Stephenson] said Popov had indeed met Hoover” Ibid., 128, 468.

  “He [Popov] was debriefed” Ibid., 128.

  “had no doubt” Ibid, 441, fn. 9. Two other principal sources confirmed in 1990 Summers’s statement that Popov and Hoover had met. Chloe MacMillan, who worked for MI6 in Portugal, stated that she met with Dusko upon his return to Lisbon in 1942. “He did see Hoover, I’m sure,” she told Summers, “and he did give them his warning about Pearl Harbor before it happened. When I saw him months later, he was still so depressed about what happened.” Yugoslav author Branko Bokun, a friend of Popov’s who recalled their discussion in 1946, remembered a similar encounter: “He [Popov] told me then, and many times afterwards, there are some things in life that shock us so much that they never leave you. It marked him the rest of his life.” Ibid., 128.

  “As a matter of fact” J. Edgar Hoover letter to Major General Edwin M. Watson, October 1, 1941, Franklin D. Roosevelt Library.

  “Tricycle was furnished with” FBI memo to MI5, “Activities of Tricycle in the United States,” October 5, 1943, KV 2/855 (p. 662B).

  eight investigations Edwin T. Layton, And I Was There: Pearl Harbor and Midway—Breaking the Secrets, 511–17.

  None of them mention C
urt Gentry, J. Edgar Hoover: The Man and the Secrets, 296.

  “There have been official inquiries” Popov, True, 113.

  none of the “Magic” intercepts Husband E. Kimmel, Admiral Kimmel’s Story, 83–86. Kimmel explained: “On September 24, 1941, the Japanese government instructed its consul general in Honolulu as to the type of report it desired from him concerning vessels in Pearl Harbor. . . . The dispatch stated:

  With regard to warships and aircraft carriers, we would like to have you report on those at anchor . . . tied up at wharves, buoys, and in docks. (Designate types and classes briefly. If possible we would like to have you make mention of the fact when there are two or more vessels alongside the same wharf.)

  The dispatch was decoded and translated on October 9, 1941. This information was withheld from me. . . . On September 29, 1941, Kita, the Japanese consul general in Honolulu, replied to his government’s dispatch of September 24. . . . This dispatch of the consul general was decoded and translated on October 10, 1941. This information was never supplied to me. . . . On November 15, 1941, Togo sent the following dispatch:

  As relations between Japan and the United States are most critical, make your “ships in the harbor report” irregular but at the rate of twice a week. Although you are no doubt aware, please take extra care to maintain secrecy.

  This dispatch was decoded and translated by the Navy in Washington on December 3, 1941. This information was never supplied to me. . . . On November 18, 1941, Togo sent the following dispatch to Honolulu:

  Please report on the following areas as to vessels anchored therein: Area N, Pearl Harbor, Mamala Bay (Honolulu), and the Areas Adjacent thereto. (Make your investigation with great secrecy.)

  This dispatch was decoded and translated on December 5, 1951. This information was never supplied to me. . . . On November 18, 1941, the Japanese consul general in Honolulu reported to Tokyo . . . that in Area A there was a battleship of the ‘Oklahoma’ class; that in Area O there were three heavy cruisers at anchor, as well as the carrier ‘Enterprise’ or some other vessel; that two heavy cruisers of the ‘Chicago’ class were tied up at docks KS. . . . This dispatch was decoded and translated in Washington on December 6, 1941. This information was never supplied to me.”

  “As far as the FBI’s role” Gentry, 296.

  revealed by countless sources J. C. Masterman, The Double-Cross System in the War of 1939 to 1945, 79–81, 196–98; Ewen Montague, Beyond Top Secret Ultra, 75–77; William Stevenson, A Man Called Intrepid: The Secret War, 257–60; H. Montgomery Hyde, Secret Intelligence Agent: British Espionage in America and the Creation of the OSS, 204–210; Curt Gentry, J. Edgar Hoover: The Man and the Secrets, 269–73, 296–97; Anthony Summers, Official and Confidential: The Secret Life of J. Edgar Hoover, 122–30; Anthony Cave Brown, Wild Bill Donovan: The Last Hero, 195–96; Anthony Cave Brown, C: The Secret Life of Sir Stewart Graham Menzies, Spymaster to Winston Churchill, 371–73; John F. Bratzel and Leslie B. Rout, Jr. “Pearl Harbor, Microdots, and J. Edgar Hoover,” American Historical Review 87, no. 5 (December 1982), 1342–51; Roger S. Young, John F. Bratzel, Leslie B. Rout, Jr., Otto Pflanze, and John Toland. “Once More: Pearl Harbor, Microdots, and J. Edgar Hoover: Letters and Replies,” American Historical Review 88, no. 4 (October 1983), 953–60.

  “The Enemy’s Masterpiece of Espionage” J. Edgar Hoover, “The Enemy’s Masterpiece of Espionage,” Reader’s Digest, April 1946.

  “Arrangements have been made” Liddell diaries, March 15, 1941, KV 4/187.

  “It would be of value” Correspondence of J. Edgar Hoover to Adolf A. Berle, Jr., June 5, 1941, Record Group No. 65, Box 6, Section 1, 65-HQ-36994-19, NARA.

  “honesty, his reliability, and his loyalty” Correspondence of J. Edgar Hoover to E. J. Connelley, August 21, 1941, Record Group No. 65, Box 6, Section 1, 65-HQ-36994-19, NARA.

  “Since the names of all German instructors” William White, The Microdot: History and Application, 65.

  Walter Zapp, White points out Ibid., 65–75, 128–47 (Zapp letter).

  “innocent telephone messages” Hoover, “The Enemy’s Masterpiece”; FBI image indicating two microdots: Record Group 65, Box 6, 65-HQ-36994, NARA.

  Sousa did see it Popov, True, 113.

  he called Hoover’s office Ibid., 114.

  “Truth to tell” Ibid.

  September 6, 1946, Popov sent a letter to J. Edgar Hoover Record Group No. 65, Box 13, Part 19, 65-HQ-36994, NARA.

  Director Clarence Kelley in 1973 In a letter to True magazine publisher William Dunn of Fawcett Publications on October 1, 1973, Kelley stated: “Mr. Popov never personally met Mr. Hoover.” Acknowledging Popov’s September 6 letter, Kelley went on: “On October 24, 1946, Mr. Popov appeared at FBI Headquarters and went to Mr. Hoover’s reception room. He did not see Mr. Hoover personally but did speak briefly to two of Mr. Hoover’s aides. That meeting is recorded.” Record Group 65, Box 13, Part 19, 65-36994, NARA.

  “that he, Popov” Memorandum of FBI agent C. H. Carson to D. M. Ladd, October 24, 1946. Record Group 65, Box 13, Part 19, 65-36994, NARA.

  “Popov was affable” Ibid.

  “Just who is this?” Hoover’s handwritten note appearing on Popov’s letter of September 6, 1946. Record Group 65, Box 13, Part 19, 65-36994, NARA.

  CHAPTER 14 I’LL KILL HER

  Stefan Otto Feldmann “Dusan M. Popov, Confidential Informant” memo of FBI agent R. G. Fletcher to D. M. Ladd, October 13, 1941, Box 6, Section 1, 65-HQ-36994, NARA (“Fletcher memo”). Popov told Charles Lanman the man’s full name was Stefan Otto Feldmann von Bortham, but the FBI found no records of a Bortham. See also “Activities of Tricycle in the United States,” October 5, 1943, KV 2/855 (p. 662B).

  microphone in his study Correspondence from E. J. Connelley to J. Edgar Hoover, September 5, 1941, Record Group 65, Box 6, Section 1, 65-HQ-36994, NARA; Dusko Popov, interview with Frederick Bear, “Dusko [007] Popov: Exclusive Interview,” Genesis, 68.

  “The informant has frequently” Connelley, September 5, 1941 letter.

  The switch was a dummy Popov, Genesis, 68.

  “Hoover is very jealous” Popov, Spy Counter-Spy, 175.

  October 13 Popov met again with Lanman Fletcher memo.

  Feldmann appeared to have been “planted” “Activities of Tricycle in the United States,” KV 2/855 (p. 662B).

  he’d kill her Fletcher memo.

  When he next met with Foxworth Popov, Spy Counter-Spy, 176–80.

  messages to Buenos Aires, Mexico City, Quito FBI confidential report, “Totalitarian Activities—Brazil Today,” December 1942, NA, RG 59, 800.20232/44, cited in Stanley E. Hilton, Hitler’s Secret War in South America, 1939–1945, 28.

  For Engels’s background, see Hilton, 28–31, 33, 50.

  tables of organization Record Group 65, 65-HQ-36994, Box 6, NARA.

  “It would be impossible” “Activities of Tricycle in the United States,” KV 2/855 (p. 662B).

  “Elizabeth departed for Rio” Ibid.; cables sent and received by TRICYCLE, KV 2/863 (sub-file 3).

  numbers supplied by the War Department and the navy For the tables of organization and production numbers supplied to Popov, see Record Group 65, 65-HQ-36994, Box 6, NARA.

  “Elizabeth will visit” December 24, 1941, report of FBI agent C. F. Lanman (p. 4) summarizing Popov’s Rio trip, Record Group 65, 65-HQ-36994, Box 6, NARA (“Lanman Report”); “Activities of Tricycle in the United States,” KV 2/855 (p. 662B); FBI memo given to Ian Wilson in New York on November 16, 1942, KV 2/850 (p. 356 ma) (“FBI/Wilson memo”); cables sent and received by TRICYCLE, KV 2/863 (sub-file 3).

  “Having to leave” . . . “Everything possible” Ibid.

  naval and military attaché Lanman Report, p. 4.

  austere man with heavy, puffy eyes Hermann Bohny photograph, courtesy of Arquivo Nacional, Hilton, photo
graphs, image 2; Lanman Report, 10.

  “Elizabeth” . . . $10,000 Ibid., p. 5; “Activities of Tricycle,” KV 2/855 (p. 62B). The “Elizabeth” password and authorized payment of $10,000 were confirmed by Germany to Rio in wireless intercepts on November 17, 1941; delivery of the $10,000 to Popov was confirmed by Rio to Germany in wireless intercepts on November 25, 1941. “Top Secret ‘U’” catalogue at KV 2/860, sub-file 2 (unpaginated).

  room where a number of Germans were secretly working Lanman Report, 1–3; Ian Wilson “TRICYCLE” memo for Tar Robertson (undated), point 34, KV 2/850 (p. 354A).

  he stopped by the apartment on Atlanticia “Activities of Tricycle in the United States,” KV 2/855 (p. 662B); FBI/Wilson memo, KV 2/850 (p. 356 ma); Lanman Report, 5–6.

  blond hair, blue eyes, fair complexion Lanman Report, 5, 11.

  “Mrs. Dubois” “Activities of Tricycle in the United States,” KV 2/855 (p. 662B); FBI/Wilson memo, KV 2/850 (p. 356 ma); Lanman Report, 6.

  Albrecht appeared to be an accomplished athlete Albrecht Engels photograph, courtesy of Arquivo Nacional, at Hilton, photographs, image 1; Lanman Report, 10–11.

  For Popov’s discussion with Engels, see “Activities of Tricycle in the United States,” KV 2/855 (p. 662B); FBI/Wilson memo, KV 2/850 (p. 356 ma); correspondence from W. H. Blyth to Tar Robertson, December 31, 1941, KV 2/849, p. 229A.

  Portuguese captain Dusko told the FBI nothing about the attempted acquisition of a microdot apparatus, only telling them that a sea captain would be a source for sending secure mail and microdots. Following MI6’s instructions, Popov was careful to protect the captain’s identity, telling the FBI that the captain ran from Rio to New York, rather than Quebec. See also, “Activities of Tricycle in the United States”; FBI/Wilson memo, KV 2/850 (p. 356 ma).

  bald-headed doctor, Château Frontenac Popov, Spy Counter-Spy, 184–85.

  On December 1 Dusko met again “Activities of Tricycle in the United States,” KV 2/855 (p. 662B); FBI/Wilson memo; Lanman Report, 9 (Charles Lanman describes the hotel slip as a “scrap of paper”).