9. Dasch betrayed the mission with a call to the FBI
On June 14, Dasch informed Burger that he had no intention of carrying out the mission, and threatened to throw Burger out of their upper-story hotel room window if he did not cooperate. “Only one of us will walk out the door,” he said, “the other will fly out this window”. Burger informed his colleague that he too was against carrying out the mission. The following day Dasch called the FBI in Washington from a payphone and asked the agent who answered the phone to inform J. Edgar Hoover of the plot. The agent didn’t believe the story, but the call was logged. Then Dasch’s story was compared to the call from the Amagansett Coast Guard office.
On June 19, Dasch left Burger in New York and took the train to Washington. From his room at the Mayflower Hotel, he called the FBI again, demanding an appointment with Hoover. Frustrated, he walked to FBI headquarters, carrying a satchel which contained nearly all of the cash which his team had brought to America. When he finally met with assistant director D. Milton Ladd he dumped the cash on the latter’s desk, convincing the FBI of his veracity. He was taken into custody for questioning. Though Burger knew of Dasch’s activities, none of the other six saboteurs were aware they had been compromised.