About the Book

The untold WWII story of a former NFL player turned White House insider who worked with Churchill’s undercover agents in New York City to conduct the biggest foreign spy operation ever within the US, and inspired Ian Fleming's James Bond, for fans of Ben Macintyre and Erik Larson.

As a tough but smart Italian American kid, Ernest Cuneo played Ivy League football at Columbia University and was in the old Brooklyn Dodgers NFL franchise before becoming a city hall lawyer and “Brain Trust'' aide to President Roosevelt. He was on the payroll of national radio columnist Walter Winchell and mingled with the famous and powerful. But his status as a spy remained a secret, hiding in plain sight.

During this time, Cuneo began a close friendship with British spy Ian Fleming and helped inspire Fleming's James Bond novels. He also began a love affair with one of Churchill's agents at Rockefeller Center—Margaret Watson, a beautiful Canadian woman with a photographic memory ideal for spycraft. In one nighttime attack, Watson was nearly smothered to death by a Nazi assassin inside her women’s dormitory near Rockefeller Center. Cuneo’s transformation from a gridiron athlete into a high-stakes intelligence go-between and political influencer is one of the great untold stories of American espionage. He has remained “invisible” in the public eye—until now, with this unveiled look into his life.

From the bestselling author and producer of two hit TV series, Mafia Spies and Masters of Sex, Thomas Maier delves into the little-known tales behind the Rockefeller Center spy operation and the origins of American intelligence. The Invisible Spy  weaves Cuneo’s remarkable personal story with vivid insights about many top twentieth-century figures, including Churchill, FDR and later JFK. Full of action and fascinating characters, this untold history reveals how Cuneo, as America's first WWII spy, helped the British launch a covert campaign against Nazi conspirators hidden in America, an espionage war unbeknownst to many. 

Critical Praise

"As gripping as a Bond novel—and every word of it true. The Invisible Spy is a great read on an important moment in history, backed by precise reportage and keen insight. I couldn’t put it down."— Jonathan Eig, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of King: A Life


“Thomas Maier's The Invisible Spy vividly brings to life the story of Ernest Cuneo, a fascinating yet little known personality from the days of America in the Second World War. Its cast of characters and their amazing, secret adventures are worthy of the best espionage novel. This book is sure to intrigue any reader interested in a pivotal time in the nation's history.”–Lee Pollock, Interim Executive Director, The International Churchill Society

“Having known Ernest Cuneo personally, I can say with authority that Thomas Maier has painted a beautifully rendered portrait of this highly intelligent, fascinating, and unsung hero of WW2 intelligence activities. This entertaining biography is especially of interest to Ian Fleming and James Bond fans, who will know that Cuneo played an integral part in the early history of 007.”–Raymond Benson, author of James Bond: The Raymond Benson Years, advisory board member of the Ian Fleming Foundation

“The Invisible Spy shines light on a little-known figure from World War II who played an outsized role in forging the wartime alliance between the United States and the United Kingdom. Maier's impeccable research and deft writing make this incredible story of espionage, sabotage, and influence a must-read."–Justin Black, author and podcaster on Spycraft101.com

"With his rough-and-tumble, New Jersey origins and bulky frame, Ernest Cuneo seemed like a bad fit for the aristocratic, “Oh So Social” set that dominated America’s nascent spy establishment in the 1940s and 1950s. Yet, as Thomas Maier shows in this sparkling, revelatory biography, his influence was peerless. Working in the shadows, Cuneo knit together a clandestine network of presidents and prime ministers, famous columnists and spy novelists, double agents and honeytraps in some of the most daring secret missions of the day."–Hugh Wilford, author of The CIA: An Imperial History and Professor of History at California State University, Long Beach

Praise for Thomas Maier
 
ABOUT WHEN LIONS ROAR: THE CHURCHILLS AND THE KENNEDYS:  “The sheer accumulation of colorful anecdotes in “When Lions Roar” makes for riveting reading from start to finish.” – Douglas Brinkley, The Washington Post
 
“What I like most in Maier’s giant work is the spine of this saga, the all-important record of influence the great soldier-statesman-historian’s life exerted on the future American president.” – Chris Matthews, former host of MSNBC’s Hardball
 
ABOUT MAFIA SPIES: “This is a standout in the field of spy nonfiction. Not only does Maier give beyond-solid evidence for the strange alliance of politicians, mobsters, movie stars, entertainers, and Cuban-exile commandos in Miami seeking to bring down Castro, he also makes the whole book crystal clear (a rarity in spy nonfiction) and enormously fun. Maier succeeds brilliantly here in bringing this outrageous, long-hidden (if rumored) bit of history to vivid and fact-supported life.” — Connie Fletcher, Booklist STARRED review
 
MAFIA SPIES, the Paramount+ series based on the Mafia Spies book: “There’s nothing dry about “Mafia Spies,” except perhaps the martinis slurped down by the C.I.A. honchos during one of the series’s piquant re-enactments. It may be grounded in fact, but “Mafia Spies” is also quite cheeky.” –  Chris Vognar, The New York Times -

Product Details

• ISBN: 9781335000606
• ISBN 10: 1335000607
• Imprint: Hanover Square Press
• On Sale: 03/25/2025
• Pages: 480
• List Price:41.00 CAD
• BISAC1 : HISTORY / Military / World War II
• BISAC2 : HISTORY / United States / 20th Century
• BISAC3 : BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Historical
• BISAC4 : TRUE CRIME / Espionage

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