James Bond has nothing on Dusko Popov. A double agent for the Abwehr,
MI5 and MI6, and the FBI during World War II, Popov seduced numerous
women, spoke five languages, and was a crack shot, all while maintaining
his cover as a Yugoslavian diplomat....
On a cool August evening in 1941, a Serbian playboy created a stir at
Casino Estoril in Portugal by throwing down an outrageously large
baccarat bet to humiliate his opponent. The Serbian was a British double
agent, and the money - which he had just stolen from the Germans -
belonged to the British. From the sideline, watching with intent
interest, was none other than Ian Fleming.
The Serbian was Dusko Popov. As a youngster he had been expelled from
his London prep school. Years later he would be arrested and banished
from Germany for making derogatory statements about the Third Reich.
When World War II ensued, the playboy became a spy, eventually serving
three dangerous masters: the Abwehr, MI5 and MI6, and the FBI.
On August 10, 1941, the Germans sent Popov to the United States to
construct a spy network and gather information on Pearl Harbor. The FBI
ignored his German questionnaire, but J. Edgar Hoover succeeded in
blowing his cover. While MI5 desperately needed Popov to deceive the
Abwehr about the D-day invasion, they assured him that a return to the
German secret service headquarters in Lisbon would result in torture and
execution. He went anyway....
Into the Lion's Mouth is a globe-trotting account of a man's
entanglement with espionage, murder, assassins, and lovers - including
enemy spies and a Hollywood starlet. It is a story of subterfuge and
seduction, patriotism, and cold-blooded courage. It is the story of
Dusko Popov - the inspiration for James Bond.
