All language subtitles for Secrets.Declassified.with.David.Duchovny.S02E11.1080p.WEB.h264-EDITH_track3_[eng]

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

[David] Tonight on
"Secrets Declassified"...

the ultimate masters
of deception

who pulled off schemes
so convincing,

they stayed hidden for decades.

From the FBI agent
posing for six years

as mobster Donnie Brasco...

- He's so deep undercover,
he's the best man

at a Mafia wedding.

[David] To one cop's
unbelievable mission

to become a Black Klansman.

- The idea of a Klan chapter
in his city?

He ain't having it.

[David] And the World War II
weapon that's

disguised as a treat
good enough to eat.

[Sami] All you'd
have to do is stick

a detonator into
a loaf of bread,

you've turned
a baguette into a bomb.

[David]
These are the astonishing

and sometimes terrible
deceptions carried out

by governments and the people
who work for them.

It's time
to bring them to light.

♪ ♪

Imagine taking
a job for six months

and ending up living
a double life for six years.

That's exactly what
one FBI undercover agent does

to bring down one of New York's
most feared crime families.

[tense music]

- In the mid 1970s,
five Mafia families

are locked
in a battle for control

of New York's underworld.

- This mob war creates
an explosion of crime

in the greater New York area.

Murder, prostitution,
drug dealing--

this has to be brought
under control.

[David] To take down
organized crime,

the FBI needs informants.

But when it comes
to the Mafia, nobody talks.

- A Mafia family
is an impenetrable fortress.

Its activities are shielded
by a sacred code

of silence known as omerta.

Informers and their families

face threats
of brutal retaliation.

[David] With no one
daring to rat,

the bureau takes
a different tack.

- The FBI decides to embed
one agent in the Mafia's world

for six months,
long enough, they hope,

to win the mobsters' trust
and gather the intelligence

needed to begin
breaking apart the mob.

[David] This is the FBI's
first long-term

undercover operation
targeting the Mafia.

To pull it off, the bureau
turns to Joe Pistone.

[Greg] Pistone is a young
but seasoned agent

with a unique set of qualities,

qualities that make him perfect
for infiltrating the Mafia.

[Dan]
He's of Sicilian descent.

He speaks fluent Italian,
and he grew up

in the blue collar
neighborhoods of New Jersey.

Those are Mafia heartland, so
he has an intimate

understanding of mob culture
and its rules.

[David] To enter
the Mafia's world,

Pistone first creates
a bulletproof cover story.

- Pistone is reborn
as Donnie Brasco,

a slick, small time jewel thief
with a yellow Cadillac

and a bling fashion sense.

The FBI forms
this new identity

with painstaking precision.

They give Pistone
a fake driver's license

and a fake
Social Security number.

[David]
Next, Pistone needs someone

who can get him an in
with New York's Mafia,

so he spends night after night
in the city's mob haunts

looking for an opening.

- After weeks of work,
he finally gets his break.

A contact introduces him
to Benjamin "Lefty" Ruggiero,

a respected foot soldier
in the Bonanno family.

[David] Lefty could
be Pistone's ticket

into the heart of this
notorious crime family.

But to win this mafioso over,
Pistone must convince him

he's the real deal.

[Greg] The only way
to gain Lefty's trust

is to help him
commit mob crimes.

This means that Pistone
has to hock stolen goods,

sell weapons,
and collect on loans.

- As an FBI agent,
it's a constant balancing act.

He's permitted
to get his hands dirty,

but they have two strict rules:

no violence, and he can never
be the one to initiate a crime.

[David] While the FBI
keeps tabs from afar,

Pistone plays the aspiring
mobster to perfection.

Finally, Lefty brings him into
the Bonannos' inner circle,

and Pistone is plunged
into New York's underworld.

- Soon, Pistone is gathering
a mountain of evidence

against dozens of
Bonanno mobsters.

And the operation's
going so well that,

when the six months are up,
his supervisors decide

to extend it indefinitely.

[David]
But Pistone faces a problem

he never saw coming
as the line between

his two identities
begins to blur.

- Pistone begins to develop
genuine friendships

with Lefty and his crew.

- He's so trusted by Lefty
that Lefty invites him to be

the best man at his wedding.

[Sami] That's one of
the highest honors

in Sicilian Mafia culture,
and here it is,

unknowingly being given
to a cop.

He's constantly
forced to confront

an impossible question.

Do his loyalties lie with his
new friends or with his badge?

- By 1981, Pistone has been
living his life for six years.

He's so trusted, his mob
associates want to make him

a fully initiated member
of their world, a made man,

but that means one final test,
committing cold-blooded murder.

♪ ♪

- The Bonanno family
eventually asks Brasco

to carry out a hit
as a means of proving

his loyalty to the family.

- Undercover agents are
granted some latitude

to break the law, but murder?

Firmly off limits.

[David]
The bureau has no option

but to pull Pistone out.

In July 1981, he boards
a plane leaving New York,

and Donnie Brasco
disappears forever.

♪ ♪

One year later,
a landmark trial begins.

The star witness? Pistone.

- His explosive testimony
helps dismantle

the Bonanno family
and their rivals,

sending more than 120 mobsters
to prison.

[David] Among them is Lefty,
who is sentenced

to 15 years for
racketeering and conspiracy.

With so many foot soldiers
behind bars,

the Bonanno family is
decimated and left reeling

for more than a decade.

- This is one of the most
devastating blows

the American Mafia
has ever suffered.

[David] Four years after the
trial, Pistone leaves the FBI

and finds himself needing
a new way to make a living.

So he cashes in
on his remarkable story

with a best selling book,
laying bare how one cop

fooled New York's Mafia

into accepting him
as one of their own.

Joe Pistone deceived the mob
with the right clothes,

the perfect accent,
and a watertight backstory.

Our next spy's
undercover mission

hinges on an altogether
more intimate detail--

not what's in his papers,
but what's in his pants.

♪ ♪

[Hakeem] In the late 1950s,
Egypt's President Nasser

is determined
to turn his nation

into an unshakeable power
in the Middle East.

One of the ways
he wants to do this

is to launch an Egyptian
ballistic missile program.

- The problem is that
he doesn't have the expertise

inside the country to be able
to launch this program,

so he turns to German
rocket engineers

who were actually part
of the missile program

during World War II.

[David] For Egypt's neighbor,
the state of Israel,

the rocket program
is a major red flag.

- Israel is alarmed by
the idea of the dictator

of an unfriendly country
having long-range missiles.

If Egypt perfects
these missiles,

they could strike Israel
with no warning.

[David] Israeli intelligence
decides to send in a spy,

but that means finding
a Jewish agent

who can befriend
former Nazi scientists.

One man fits the bill.

[Andrew] Wolfgang Lotz is
an Israeli spy who was born

in Germany to a Jewish mother.

He's blond-haired, blue-eyed,
and speaks fluent German,

which makes him the perfect fit
to go into Cairo

to cozy up to some
German rocket engineers.

[David]
In December of 1960,

Mossad deploys Lotz to Egypt

armed with
an extravagant cover.

- Lotz's cover story is that
he's a fabulously wealthy

ex-Nazi officer who has

an unquenchable thirst
for champagne.

[David] To find his marks,
Lotz begins wining and dining

Egypt's high society.

- Lotz is a fun guy.
He's really good at parties.

He's great
at cocktail conversations.

He quickly becomes
the drinking buddy

of a lot of high-ranking
Egyptian officers,

including, in particular,
General Osman.

[Greg] This is
the very general who

oversees security
for the rocket bases

that he's here to spy on.

[David]
Lotz's party is cut short

when Mossad sends
an urgent report.

- Israeli reconnaissance
identifies what it believes

to be a rocket base
in the desert east of Cairo

in a place called Shallufa.

- They want to send
Wolfgang Lotz in

to basically see whether
or not this is an active base.

If it turns out
to be the real deal,

Mossad will probably
recommend that

the Israeli Air Force
bomb the site.

♪ ♪

[David] Lotz heads into
the desert to investigate.

He brings his wife along
so they can pose as tourists

visiting a nearby lake.

- At a crossroads,
they identify a lone track

and a sentry box, no barriers,
and a single guard.

And that one guard steps away
for a bathroom break,

so the two of them
jump on the accelerator

and charge down the track
past the barrier.

[Paul]
This is a terrible idea.

They haven't thought through

the ramifications
of what they're doing.

Lotz and his wife are
intercepted by a Jeep load

of heavily armed
Egyptian military troops.

[David] Inside the base,
the commanding officer

interrogates them.

[Andrew] Lotz makes up a tale
about how they were trying

to find a place to picnic,
and they just got lost,

so he tells the base commander
to call his friend

General Osman
to prove his identity.

- A few minutes later,
Lotz is chatting with Osman,

who even unknowingly teases
him about his spy mission.

Osman has no idea how close
to the truth he really is,

and the pair is set free.

[David] But just as Lotz's
operation is gaining momentum,

his plan falls apart.

- Lotz has been secretly
communicating with the Israelis

using a covert
radio transmitter,

and the Egyptians pick up
on his transmissions.

- In February of 1965,
Lotz and his wife

return home, and it's
filled with Egyptian agents.

They find
the radio transmitter.

Lotz knows at this point
the game is up.

- Lotz and his wife are accused
of being Israeli spies.

The punishment
for that is execution.

To save them both,
this smooth-talking spy

must spin his greatest lie
of all.

[Hakeem] Lotz insists that
he's a German patriot,

and he only agreed
to spy for Israel

because he needed the money,

and they threatened
to expose his SS background

if he refused.

[David] The problem is,

Lotz's interrogators
aren't convinced.

- They press him with the
same question over and over,

is he Jewish?

[David] Luckily for Lotz,
he has one ace left to play,

a bold move that could
put their doubts to rest.

- Lotz's father wasn't Jewish,
and his Jewish mother

wasn't particularly religious,
so he'd never been circumcised.

- Lotz decides that
his best form of evidence

is to pull down his pants.

♪ ♪

- Faced with this
incontrovertible

physical evidence,
his interrogators

finally buy his story.

[David] Lotz is imprisoned
for spying,

but he escapes execution.

Three years later,
he's returned to Israel

in a prisoner exchange,
yet the details of his mission

remain secret.

Then, in 1972,
Lotz breaks his silence

by publishing an explosive
memoir, "The Champagne Spy."

The book finally reveals
how this silver-tongued spy

fooled Egypt's military
by baring it all.

- Stealing secrets
is part of the spy game.

But what about stealing hearts?

When East German
intelligence needs

to reel in new informants,

they settle on
a ruthless solution:

building an entire army
of catfish.

[suspenseful music]

[Martin] It's the 1950s.
Germany is a divided nation.

Both sides
are desperate to learn

information about the other.

[Dan] Western intelligence
agencies

can afford all kinds
of sophisticated

electronic surveillance,

but East Germany's
secret police, the Stasi,

don't have
that kind of budget.

They rely on this vast
network of informants.

[David] The man tasked
with recruiting this network

is Markus Wolf,
the elusive head

of the Stasi's
foreign intelligence unit.

Looking into Western Germany,
he spots a potential goldmine.

- He comes up with an idea
to take advantage

of a situation
that develops naturally

in both the East and
the West after World War II--

there are more women than men.

[Dan] Young women
outnumber men about 2 to 1.

A whole bunch of women now hold
jobs in government, parliament,

and intelligence services,
and they have access

to tons of classified documents
and confidential chatter,

just the kind of intelligence
the Stasi is looking for.

[David] Many of these women
find themselves alone.

Sensing an opportunity,
Wolf devises a plan

to target lonely hearts.

- Markus Wolf decides to create
an army of eligible men

who in reality are Stasi agents
sent to court these women

and steal the government
secrets they hold.

- To ensure these women
fall head over heels,

Wolf handpicks a special
cadre of suitors.

He calls them his Romeos.

[Kavitha]
Wolf recruits men who aren't

stereotypical womanizers.

Instead, they're educated,
well-mannered men

who can listen, empathize, and
create genuine emotional bonds.

[Greg] Only one in a hundred
candidates make the cut.

Those who make it through
are sent to what

is effectively a dating
school for spies.

[Kavitha] The Romeos are
given meticulous instructions

on everything from
how to wine and dine a partner

to the finer points
of female anatomy.

[David] Across three decades,
Wolf molds around 80 Romeos.

one of them is a blond,
blue-eyed physicist

named Rudolf Reck.

- While Reck is
undergoing training,

Stasi agents are
building detailed profiles

of women who have access
to high-value intelligence,

who could also be susceptible
to Reck's charms.

[David] Wolf's matchmakers
soon set their sights

on a young West German woman
named Gabriele Kliem.

- Kliem is the ideal target
because her job as a translator

with the U.S. embassy in Bonn
puts her in a position

to get her hands
on information

that is classified.

- She's also 32, single,
and she's told her friends

that she had this love affair
with a blonde hair,

blue-eyed math teacher.

So the Stasi knows
that Reck is her type.

[David] Now Reck's entire
mission rests on one question:

will she say yes to a date?

♪ ♪

- In July 1977,
Kliem is sitting

on the banks of the Rhine
when Reck approaches her.

He introduces himself
as Frank Dietzel,

a Munich-based physicist
who works

at a peace research institute.

[Greg] Reck puts all of his
newly acquired skills

to action and quickly sweeps
Kliem right off her feet.

The plan works beautifully.

After three months of dating,
he asks her to marry him.

And of course, she says yes.

[David] Reck has
wooed his target.

His next move is
to build a relationship

where he holds all the power.

- Reck claims to be away
on business for long stretches

and insists that they only
meet in hotels every few weeks.

The arrangement keeps
her isolated and removed

from his real life.

- He talks about their future
life as a married couple,

having children.

But through all of this,
he manages to keep

delaying the actual wedding.

- Reck has been trained
in psychological manipulation,

and he uses it
to control Kliem.

She's terrified of losing him,
so she feels obligated

to do whatever he asks for.

[David] With Kliem firmly
under Reck's thumb,

he moves to the final phase
of his mission--

convincing her
to bring him intelligence

he can take back
behind the Iron Curtain.

- Reck begins to insist that
she prove her love for him

by photographing
top secret documents

all for his supposed
peace research.

- She finally caves in,

and for years, she smuggles
out top secret documents

from the U.S. embassy,
including training programs

and plans
for advanced weapons.

- Unknown to her, Reck is
funneling all this information

straight to East Berlin.

[David] But Kliem can
only take so much.

In August 1984,
she breaks off the engagement.

Even then,
her ordeal isn't over.

- In 1991, Kliem is
arrested for espionage.

It emerges that
a Stasi defector has exposed

the Romeo operations, revealing
Kliem's name and her role

in stealing documents
from the embassy.

[David] Kliem receives
a suspended two-year sentence

and a heavy fine
for espionage.

But she's not alone.

Over 40 victims
of the Stasi's Romeo program

are prosecuted,
with some jailed for years,

but the man behind it all
evades justice.

- For decades, Markus Wolf
keeps his secrets

hidden from the West.

But in 1997,
he publishes his memoir.

And in that,
he pulls back the curtain

on the disturbing realities
of his Romeo operations

for the very first time.

[David]
Wolf offers no apology.

He was running
an intelligence service,

not a lonely hearts club.

In fact, he writes, "As long
as there is espionage,

"there will be Romeos
seducing unsuspecting Juliets

with access to secrets."

- When one Jewish
prisoner is forced

to help save the lives
of Nazi troops,

he conspires to do
the exact opposite

and spins a lie
that will kill hundreds,

all from inside
a concentration camp.

[tense music]

- By 1942, German forces
on the Eastern front

are being decimated
by the Red Army,

by the brutal Russian winter,
and also by an invisible enemy,

typhus.

- Typhus is
a bacterial infection

that is caused by lice.

And if it is left untreated,
it will produce

a neurological decline
and eventually death.

- Under the grueling conditions
of the Eastern front,

it is spreading like wildfire.

[David] More than 40,000
German soldiers

have been struck down,
and 4,000 have died

in just 12 months.

Hitler's generals
need to find a way

to protect their troops fast.

- Effective typhus vaccines
already exist.

The problem is scale.

- They can only produce
6,500 doses per month.

And yet, they have millions
of people in uniform

who could be
potentially exposed.

This is a major problem
for their ability

to continue to wage war.

- The SS decides to establish
a large scale

vaccine production facility

inside the Buchenwald
concentration camp,

where they can use
forced labor to make

vast quantities of vaccine.

[David]
But untrained inmates

don't make
great microbiologists.

They fail to produce even
a single working dose

of typhus vaccine,
let alone enough

to inoculate
the entire German army,

so the Nazis seek out
an expert they think

will solve the problem.

[Hakeem] Dr. Ludwik Fleck
is a renowned

Polish-Jewish microbiologist
and immunologist.

- He has developed
typhus vaccines previously.

And convenient for the Germans,

he's already being held in
the concentration camp

at Auschwitz.

- Fleck is transferred
to Buchenwald

and ordered to produce
a working vaccine.

But this scientist
has no intention

of helping Hitler's army.

Instead, he gambles his life
on a truly audacious deception.

[Hakeem]
Fleck sees the opportunity

to convince the Nazis
that he's producing

a working typhus vaccine,

but then mass produced
a useless version

and send it out to thousands of
Nazi troops on the front line.

- German command is gonna
believe their soldiers

have been vaccinated
when, in reality,

they're just sitting ducks,

totally vulnerable
to this disease.

[David] This is no easy
deception to pull off.

For Fleck's plan to work,
he must produce two vaccines,

one real and one fake.

His first task,
make the real one.

[Amy] The inmates
have been trying

to produce a vaccine by growing
typhus bacteria in rabbits.

But Fleck realizes that
what they're extracting

from the rabbits isn't typhus.

It's the animal's own
white blood cells.

- Fleck arranges for a fresh
sample of typhus bacteria

to be sent from Krakow,
one far better suited

to growing inside rabbits.

- Using this,
he infects the animals

and harvests their tissue,
allowing him to cultivate

small batches of genuine,
effective typhus vaccine.

[David] When the Nazis
test Fleck's jabs,

they pass with flying colors.

Now Fleck starts the second
phase of his plan, sabotage.

- He begins mass producing

a fake typhus vaccine
destined for the front lines.

This is basically just water,
blood, and preservatives.

It's completely useless.

[David] Tens of thousands
of doses of Fleck's fakes

are created and sent east.

Then he adds one final twist
to his deception.

- He returns to a secret
stockpile of genuine serum

that he's put aside,
and he marked it

with a little red dot.

[Dan]
In a truly heroic act,

he uses those vials
to secretly vaccinate

the most vulnerable prisoners
of the concentration camp,

likely saving countless lives.

[David] But after months
of pulling the wool

over the Germans' eyes,
Fleck's plan

comes under
dangerous scrutiny.

[Don] Reports begin filtering
back from the front

that vaccinated troops
are still falling ill.

Nazi command grows suspicious
and demand proof

that Fleck's vaccine
is effective.

- Fleck argues that
no vaccine can be foolproof,

and he submits small samples of
the real vaccine for testing.

[Don] Appeased by
these lab results,

the Nazi officials
are satisfied,

and shipments of Fleck's
fake vaccine resume.

[David] Fleck's extraordinary
deception only ends in 1945

when U.S. forces
liberate Buchenwald.

A year later,
at the Nuremberg trials,

Fleck and fellow inmates
are called to testify

about the Nazis' medical
experiments at the camp.

Here they make
a shocking admission.

- They reveal for the first
time that they secretly sent

200,000 doses
of fake typhus vaccine

to the German front line.

[David] But the details of
exactly how Fleck achieved

this incredible feat remain
a mystery for nearly 70 years,

until author Arthur Allen
publishes a book on Fleck

in 2015.

Drawing on survivor testimony
and Fleck's own writings,

it's the first ever
detailed account

of his heroic deception,

finally sharing Fleck's story
with the world.

- When one of America's
most notorious organizations

moves into town, one detective
wants to go undercover

to find out what they're up to.

There's just one problem:

they're the KKK,

and he's Black.

[tense music]

♪ ♪

- In October 1978,
Detective Ron Stallworth

of the Colorado Springs
Police Department

is combing through
the newspaper

when a small classified ad
catches his eye.

- "Call this number to
receive more information

"about joining the
Colorado Springs chapter

of the Ku Klux Klan."

[Hakeem] Stallworth is
the only Black detective

on the Colorado Springs force.

And the idea of a Klan chapter
getting a foothold in his city,

he ain't having it.

[David] Stallworth
knows exactly

what the Klan is capable of.

A decade earlier, the KKK
murdered three civil rights

activists in Mississippi.

Determined to find out
what they're up to

in Colorado Springs,

he takes a chance
and pens a reply.

[Paul] The letter
that Stallworth writes

is a work of fiction.

He's filling it
with all kinds of references

to wanting to further
the cause of the white race.

But when he
finishes the letter,

he actually signs
his own real name

and provides a phone number.

- He assumes that he's just
gonna receive some pamphlets

in the mail or something.

[David] A week later,
the phone rings.

- The man on the
other end of the line

is Ken O'Dell, the local
chapter organizer for the KKK.

O'Dell explains
that he's looking

to recruit new members.

[Don]
He says to Stallworth,

hey, you sound like
a great guy,

but before we can admit you,

we have to meet you
face to face.

[David]
Secretly joining the KKK

would be the perfect way to
uncover any criminal activity.

But while Ron can play
a convincing white supremacist

over the phone,
he can't in real life.

- Stallworth's solution
is to recruit

a white colleague to
impersonate him at the meeting.

He turns to a friend
named Chuck,

an undercover
Narcotics officer,

and explains the situation
he's got himself into.

[David] Once Chuck stops
laughing, he agrees to help.

A new undercover operation
begins to take shape,

one unlike any other
in the FBI's history.

- Chuck will become
Ron's physical stand-in

attending
the in-person meetings.

- Stallworth takes the lead
on all things communication

and administrative,
so he's the one

handling the phone calls.

He's the one sending
the correspondence.

- And two cops playing
a single alter ego

will require impeccable
coordination to pull off.

Their stories, their opinions,
their emotions

all need to be consistent
to make sure

that nobody suspects that Ron
is really two different people.

[David] On November 9, 1978,

they face their first
big test,

their debut meet with
local Klan boss Ken O'Dell.

- Stallworth acts
as surveillance outside

while Chuck goes
into a local dive bar

to carry out the meeting.

[Hakeem] Chuck anxiously
studies O'Dell

for any signs
that he's been had.

But it becomes clear,
O'Dell and his buddies

don't suspect a thing.

[Andrew] Chuck does so well
that O'Dell actually

starts to volunteer that
local military personnel

are also signing up secretly
for the KKK.

[David]
By the end of the night,

Ron and Chuck get
what they came for.

- O'Dell hands Chuck
a membership application

along with instructions
for paying the $10 entry fee.

- Stallworth becomes
the first known Black man

to apply to the KKK.

He and Chuck have infiltrated
one of America's most

secretive
extremist organizations,

but their incredible double act
doesn't stop there.

[Sami] Over several months,
Stallworth and Chuck

both play Ron and gather
detailed intel

on the Klan's activities
and its members.

Their intelligence helps to
prevent multiple cross burnings

and even foils
a neo-Nazi bomb plot.

[David]
Their biggest coup uncovers

just how far the Klan's
secretive reach extends.

[Andrew] One morning,
two officers

from the Air Force Office
of Special Investigation,

the FBI equivalent
for the Air Force,

show up unannounced
at Stallworth's desk.

They've heard about
the investigation,

and they wanna know whether
any U.S. military officers

have joined the KKK.

[Sami] Ron's immediately
escorted to a secure base

for a briefing with a colonel.

[David] The colonel asks Ron
for a list of every KKK member

he's managed to unmask
over the course

of his investigation.

- The colonel reviews
Stallworth's list

and makes a chilling discovery.

Two of the Klan members
are high-ranking officers

with top secret clearance.

[Andrew]
These two men had secrets

to American
air defense systems

that protect
all of North America.

There's no telling
how much information

they've given the KKK.

[David] The colonel
takes immediate action.

[Sami]
Within minutes,

the colonel is on the phone
to the Pentagon,

and the men are
quietly reassigned

to the military equivalent
of Siberia.

[David] Stallworth and Chuck's
undercover investigation

continues into April 1979,
when their own success

becomes their downfall.

- Stallworth and Chuck have
impersonated a local KKK member

so well that
a fellow Klansman has

actually nominated Ron
to be the new leader

of their chapter.

- Now, Stallworth wants to
continue the investigation,

but his bosses are terrified
of the potential scandal

that could erupt
if word got out

that a Black cop
was leading the local KKK,

so they pull the plug.

[David] For decades,
the details of their operation

stay hidden.

Then, in 2006,
after retiring from the force,

Stallworth speaks to a local
reporter about his career,

giving "Deseret News"
an unexpected scoop.

His extraordinary story
eventually

catches Hollywood's attention
and inspires

the film "BlacKkKlansman."

- Not all masters of deception
disguise themselves.

Sometimes it's a weapon
that goes undercover.

When America wants
to secretly arm

resistance fighters
battling Japan,

it creates an edible explosive.

[tense music]

[Sami] In early 1941,
even though the United States

has not yet entered
World War II,

it's already working secretly
to undermine

Japan's war effort in China.

- The United States is
sending a large quantity

of high explosive that
the Chinese desperately

need to continue fighting.

[David] But in December,
the covert supply route

being used by American agents
is cut off.

- Japan seizes both
Hong Kong and Burma,

two critical corridors
through which the American

supply network operates.

- The U.S. has to come up
with another way

to slip explosives
to the Chinese resistance.

[David] That means
smuggling the explosives

through Chinese ports
now under Japanese control.

So the Office
of Strategic Services,

America's first
intelligence agency,

decides it needs a disguise.

And they find inspiration
in an unlikely place.

- Chinese ports handle
hundreds of tons

of ordinary flour every day.

And a lot of explosives
are odorless and tasteless

and pretty much
look like flour.

- The OSS comes up
with this idea of,

why don't we create
something that

is both flour that you
can actually cook with,

but it is also an explosive.

[David]
This mission to cook up

this remarkable
edible disguise

is codenamed "Aunt Jemima".

But to perfect the recipe,

the OSS needs a real wiz
in the kitchen.

Enter George Bogdan
Kistiakowsky.

[Dan] Kistiakowsky is
a Ukrainian-born

Harvard chemistry professor
and the chief explosives

expert for America's
wartime science agency.

Now, his first task is
to find an explosive compound

that can convincingly pass
as flour.

[Sami] He starts with RDX,
a white crystalline powder

about one and half times
more powerful than TNT,

and closely resembles flour,

though slightly coarser
in texture.

[David]
This explosive can visually

pass for flour at the border.

The problem is,
its cover will be blown

the moment any suspicious
guard puts it in an oven.

- Any baker knows that
the best bread is cooked at

around 430 degrees Fahrenheit,
but RDX ignites

at around 390 degrees
Fahrenheit.

Meaning that
if you attempt to turn it

into a muffin or a loaf,
it could end

in a very explosive
kitchen nightmare.

- Kistiakowsky pivots
to a different explosive.

This one's called HMX.

- Crucially,
its ignition temperature

is a far safer
530 degrees Fahrenheit.

[David] In the kitchen,
Kistiakowsky experiments

with this new explosive,
working out how to mix it

with flour to cook up
authentic baked goods.

- He settles on a blend
made of 80% explosive

and 20% real flour.

- When you mix this with
ordinary baking ingredients

like eggs and milk,
a dough can be made

and baked into muffins,
cookies, or loaves

that look completely real.

[David] After baking,
Kistiakowsky's treats

will still pack a punch.

- All you'd have to do
is stick a detonator

into a loaf of bread,
and no joke,

you've turned
a baguette into a bomb.

[David]
Now the OSS must make sure

whatever it cooks up
tastes as good as it looks.

- If, hypothetically,
a smuggler gets stopped

and questioned,
they may have to eat

whatever they bake to prove
that it is what they say it is.

- The problem is that
Kistiakowsky's HMX mixture

in anything more than
small quantities is toxic.

Any smuggler forced
to eat an entire muffin

would fall violently ill,
an immediate giveaway

that this is
no ordinary flour.

Kistiakowsky bakes batch
after batch of explosives

until he finally cracks it:
a mixture that's safe to eat,

powerfully explosive,
and convincingly delicious.

To prove it, he stages an
unforgettable demonstration.

[Don]
Kistiakowsky goes to

a high-level war
department meeting

and brings with him a batch
of his very own

home baked "Aunt Jemima"
cookies.

Right in front of
the military's top brass,

he decides to put
his own life in his hands.

- He takes a cookie,
and he eats it.

Then he reaches
for another one.

And he goes through
the whole tray,

finishing every last crumb.

[Don] It's the ultimate
demonstration

that this delicious
covert weapon

is finally ready to be served.

[David] The U.S. packs
the explosive

into replica
Chinese flour sacks

then sends them on their way.

[Don] They are delivered into
the hands of the resistance.

And although many
of its uses remain cloaked

in classified information,
it is known that Aunt Jemima

is used to knock out
a critically important bridge

being used by
the Japanese military.

[David] For decades,
the tale of Aunt Jemima

is whispered about only
in intelligence circles.

Then, in 1963, Stanley Lovell,

the former head of OSS
Research and Development,

shares the secret
with the world

when he publishes the first
insider account

of the OSS's technical branch,

laying out
the astonishing story

of World War II's most
explosive kitchen staple.

- Desperate times
demand daring deceptions.

In 1941, when one
American singer

wants to save her husband
from the horrors

of a Japanese internment camp,

she deceives hundreds
of enemy troops

and puts on the performance
of a lifetime.

[suspenseful music]

[Martin]
On December 8, 1941,

the Japanese begin
an amphibious landing operation

on the island of Luzon
in the Philippines.

- These islands host
key U.S. military bases,

and Tokyo is determined
to stop them

from becoming a launchpad for
future American counterattacks

in the Pacific.

[David] U.S. forces
beat a hasty retreat

out of the capital, Manila.

Fleeing with them is a young
American couple in love,

Claire and John Phillips.

- Claire is a singer
from Michigan

who's been performing
in the Philippines

for the last two years.

John is a young
and handsome sergeant

that she met
while working there.

[David] Despite the war,
Claire and John marry,

tying the knot
in a makeshift chapel.

But these newlyweds
are torn apart

when John is sent
to the front line.

Five months later, Claire gets
the news she's been dreading.

[Greg] Claire learns that
John has been captured

by Japanese forces
and sent to a prison camp

called Cabanatuan, roughly
60 miles North of Manila.

- This is one of the most
infamous prisoner-of-war camps

in the Philippine Islands.

[Greg] Meals are mainly
basic rations of rice.

Sanitation is all
but nonexistent,

and dysentery and malaria
are everywhere.

[David] The thought
of her husband suffering

is unbearable, so Claire
dreams up an audacious scheme

to help him survive, one that
will call on all her skills

as a performer.

- Claire's idea
is to open a high-end nightclub

in the heart of Manila
that she'll run and star in.

She'll pack it with
paying Japanese officers

and use the profits to help
her husband and other POWs

by smuggling money and medical
supplies into the camps.

- Claire's grand plan
has just one problem.

She's an all-American girl.

To run the hottest
nightspot in Manila,

she needs an entirely
new identity.

So Claire Phillips disappears

and Dorothy Fuentes,
a Filipino-Italian showstopper,

steps into the spotlight.

♪ ♪

[Sami] Dorothy's persona
is perfect for Claire.

Claire is already
an accomplished performer,

and although she
doesn't speak Italian,

she knows most
Japanese troops won't either.

[Martin] She persuades someone
who used to work

in the Italian embassy
to cook up some fake documents

to support the Dorothy Fuentes
cover story.

[David] Now Claire
gets to work opening

the best cabaret in town.

- She pawns her jewelry,
including her wedding ring,

and pours every dollar
she has into leasing

a modest dance studio.

Then, she painstakingly
transforms it

into one of the city's
most glamorous nightspots.

- To appeal to
Japanese clientele,

she names it Club Tsubaki,

named after a delicate
Japanese flower.

[David] On October 15, 1942,
Club Tsubaki

finally opens its doors.

- Japanese officers are treated
to dazzling dance routines

and very overpriced drinks.

The liquor's flowing.

The music is hot.

And at 10:00 p.m.
on opening night,

they're already
turning away customers.

[David] Her grand opening
is the talk of the town.

But before Claire can funnel
any profits to help John,

her world is
turned upside down.

- Claire receives word
that John caught malaria

and has died at Cabanatuan.

[Kavitha] Claire is
devastated by the news,

but she realizes that
while she couldn't save John,

she can press on
to help other prisoners.

[David]
Driven by Claire's grief,

Club Tsubaki is soon raking in
thousands of dollars a week.

Now Claire needs to get this
money and the aid it can buy

to the prisoners
inside Cabanatuan.

- She links up with a Filipino
allied guerrilla network,

and they quickly
devise an ingenious way

to slip goods past the guards.

[Kavitha] They have
sweet-faced young women

pose as street vendors,
and they sell bags of fruit

to prisoners on work detail
for just a few centavos.

[Sami] The bags look
completely innocent,

but inside are hollowed-out
bananas stuffed with medicine

or secret messages, while some
bags have false bottoms

that hide hundreds of pesos.

[David] Soon, Claire is
funneling the equivalent

of $20,000 U.S. a week
into the camps,

money that's used
to buy vital rations

at the camp's commissary.

Thanks to Club Tsubaki,
countless lives are saved.

But after almost two years,
the curtain finally

comes down
on Claire's daring act.

- In early 1944, incriminating
resistance letters

are discovered
inside Cabanatuan

that point directly to Claire.

- Soon after, armed policemen
storm the club

and Claire is arrested.

Japanese military
police subject Claire

to weeks of brutal
interrogation and torture.

- She displays
incredible resolve,

refusing to reveal the names
of co-conspirators

who could be targeted
and keeps the details

of her operation
completely hidden.

[David]
In November 1944,

Claire is tried
in a military court

and sentenced
to 12 years in prison.

- Clare endures
brutal conditions.

She's starved and forced
to do hard labor.

Her weight drops
to a mere 85 pounds,

leaving her
on the brink of death.

♪ ♪

[David] Her rescue comes
in the nick of time

when, in February 1945,
U.S. troops retake Manila.

Two years later, she shares
her story with the world

in a sensational memoir.

Shortly after,
the United States government

awards the singer-turned-spy
the Medal of Freedom

for her truly heroic
wartime deception.

From a fake mafioso to a
Black cop posing as a Klansman,

true masters of deception
can pull the wool

over anyone's eyes.

But no lie lasts forever,

and even the greatest impostors
get unmasked in the end.