Michael Dobbs - Saboteurs

While Burger was in the bathroom shaving and taking a shower, he could see Heinck in the mirror rummaging through the drawer of his desk and finding a note from Dasch. Burger was alarmed to see Heinck read the letter, show it to Quirin, and then replace it in the drawer. Although the note made no mention of Dasch’s intention to betray Operation Pastorius, it did talk about going to Washington “to straighten everything out.” Afraid that Quirin and Heinck would do him some “bodily harm,” Burger quickly finished dressing and hustled them out of the hotel. 38Much to his relief, neither of them mentioned the note.

Instead, they piled into a taxicab and headed uptown to Eighty-sixth Street. Quirin and Heinck were still very suspicious of Dasch, and guessed he might have “run out” on them, but they were also looking forward to their night on the town. 39As promised, there were three girls waiting for them, supervised by a madam named Anna. They stayed until three o’clock in the morning.

IN WASHINGTON, meanwhile, Dasch was still talking to Traynor, pausing only for a light supper of clam chowder, ham salad, and milk. By now, he was almost on first-name terms with his interrogator. 40He demonstrated his familiarity with American popular culture by addressing Traynor as “Pie,” after the great third baseman for the Pittsburgh Pirates. The FBI man reciprocated by calling him “George.” He was confident he would eventually extract enough information from Dasch to track down his accomplices.

The agents poring over the typewritten transcripts from room 2248 were still frustrated by the gaping holes in Dasch’s statement. He had mentioned a second group of saboteurs who were meant to land in Florida around June 16, but did not provide a more precise location. He produced a handkerchief on which he had written a list of contacts in invisible ink, but he claimed to have forgotten the chemical needed to bring out the names. He talked about a rendezvous with the other saboteurs planned for July 4, but refused to say where it would take place.

Hoover suspected Dasch of trying to use his information as a bargaining chip, that he was hoping to be seen by the FBI as the indispensable go-between for the arrest of the other saboteurs. To some extent, the FBI director was prepared to play along. Talking with Connelley by phone that evening, he said he would like to use Dasch as “a decoy” for unraveling the entire plot. 41If the FBI could arrest the other saboteurs and hold them incommunicado, they might be able to grab further teams of agents sent over from Germany. They would also have a channel for feeding false information to Berlin.

On the other hand, Hoover also feared that the FBI would be robbed of much of the credit for rounding up the saboteurs if news of the landings leaked out prematurely. An Associated Press reporter had already called to check a rumor about the arrest of four German agents who had landed in Florida. At first, Hoover was inclined to dismiss the story: he knew very well that there had been no arrests, at least not by the FBI. But gradually his bureaucratic paranoia got the better of him. Perhaps the navy or some other government agency had made the arrests and were waiting for the right moment to “flamboyantly announce” the nabbing of Nazi agents. It would make the FBI look bad.

By 11:30 p.m. on Friday, after more than twelve hours of nonstop talking, Dasch was hoarse and exhausted. He asked Traynor to go back to the hotel. He had one final nugget of information to pass on before they broke off for the night: his friend Peter Burger was staying in room 1421 of the Governor Clinton Hotel in New York. 42While Dasch was unable to provide the exact whereabouts of the other two members of his group, he was confident that Burger would certainly know how to find them.

It was the break the FBI had been waiting for. With this information, they should be able to round up the remaining members of group number one, and focus their efforts on hunting down group number two. Instructions were issued to place Burger under surveillance, in the hope that he would lead FBI agents to Quirin and Heinck.

Soon after midnight, Traynor escorted Dasch back to the Mayflower, persuading him that it would be best if he spent the night with him in his room. Traynor would sleep in the spare bed. FBI agents had already commandeered the adjoining room, and had the entire hotel under observation. They had vetted anybody with the slightest connection with Dasch, including hotel guests who checked in around the same time. An FBI report noted that one of these guests acted “extremely nervously,” pacing up and down the lobby. 43The agents went through his luggage and listened to his conversations, losing interest only when it became clear he had come to Washington “for the purpose of obtaining a Federal position.”

Before retiring to bed, Dasch had one more thing to show his new friend “Pie.” He pulled his briefcase from under his bed, unlocked it, and took out three large envelopes, each crammed with more money than the agent had seen in his life.

Traynor did his best to feign surprise.

THE FBI HAD still not put a tail on Peter Burger when he stumbled back to his room at the Governor Clinton Hotel at three o’clock on Saturday morning after what he later described as a meeting with “some chance girl acquaintances.” 1But they arrived in force soon after breakfast, establishing a base of operations in the neighboring room. Since there was still no sound from Burger by 11:30 a.m., the agents made what was known in police jargon as “a mistake of identity call” to his room: when the subject answers, tell him you have dialed the wrong number. 2

Five minutes later, Assistant Director Connelley reported to Washington that Burger was just getting up, apparently as a result of the FBI call. Agents also intercepted the letter that Dasch wrote to Burger from Washington the previous day, telling him to look after “the boys.” They allowed Burger to receive the letter, calculating that it would encourage him to meet with Quirin and Heinck.

Burger finally emerged from his room at 2:40 p.m. Five FBI agents followed him as he turned right on Seventh Avenue, cutting across to Fifth Avenue along Thirty-third Street. He then walked north on Fifth Avenue for eight blocks until he reached the Rogers Peet clothing store, where he stood in the doorway, as if waiting for someone. Sure enough, he was soon joined by two other men: one slender with a long face and prominent nose, the other swarthy with a large scar running across his forehead. After picking up some packages from the clothing store, the three men entered a restaurant, where they ate a meal. As they emerged from the restaurant, FBI agents observed them shaking hands with each other and saying goodbye.

Burger walked back to his hotel, trailed by the agents. 3Quirin and Heinck took a bus back uptown toward their lodging house, getting off at Broadway and Seventy-second Street. They were killing time. Before meeting Burger at the clothing store, they had visited a cinema to watch the latest newsreels, including one about the big New York at War parade the previous Sunday. They had no immediate plans, but thought vaguely about going to a beach or an amusement area such as Palisades Park, across the river in New Jersey, over the weekend.

Heinck told Quirin he had a few purchases to make, but would be right along. He visited a drugstore, and then a delicatessen. Quirin continued walking up Amsterdam Avenue.

The agents arrested Quirin first, at 4:30 p.m., bundling him into an FBI car and driving away at top speed. They apprehended Heinck a few minutes later as he was coming out of the delicatessen. Both men were taken to the federal courthouse in Lower Manhattan, where the FBI had its New York headquarters. There they were “processed” for arrest by being photographed, fingerprinted, and issued a set of prison clothes. They were then escorted to detention cells on the thirtieth floor of the building.