Ernest Cuneo Ernest L . Cuneo ( 1905 - 1988 ) was a lawyer , newspaperman , author , and intelligence liaison . He was also a professional football player in the National Football League . Athletics . Cuneo was also a star athlete in high school and later played football at Columbia and Penn State University . Afterwards , he played two seasons in the NFL for the Orange Tornadoes and the Brooklyn Dodgers . Newspapers . Cuneo ' s first newspaper experience was as editor of the school newspaper at East Rutherford High School . During his college vacations , Cuneo worked for the " New York Daily News " . He later served as president of the North American Newspaper Alliance and was later editor - at - large of the " Saturday Evening Post " . For a number of years he wrote a syndicated column , " Take It or Leave It , " which appeared three times a week . The success of the column led to an offer to take over the " National Whirligig , " the original " news behind the news " column which appeared five days a week . Cuneo also wrote several books . His writings also appeared in several articles posted by the Professional Football Researchers Association . These writing reflected on Cuneo ' s own experiences in the NFL , as well as his friendship with Pro Football Hall of Fame r , Benny Friedman . According to Neal Gabler , from the mid - 1930s on , Cuneo not only acted as a liaison between Franklin Roosevelt and Walter Winchell , but he frequently wrote long political items for the Winchell column . Law and politics . After acquiring his law degree , Cuneo became law secretary to Fiorello LaGuardia , who was then a congressman representing New York . During this time , he would brief LaGuardia on the investigations of judicial malpractice and fraudulent bankruptcies . His 1955 memoir " Life With Fiorello " would serve in large part for the basis of the Tony Award - winning musical " Fiorello ! " In 1936 , James Farley appointed Cuneo associate general counsel of the Democratic National Committee . He would later represent Walter Winchell . World War II . When World War II began , General William Donovan , who was head of the Office of Strategic Services ( OSS ) , appointed Cuneo a liaison officer between the OSS , British Security Coordination ( a part of MI - 6 ) , the Federal Bureau of Investigation , the United States Department of State , and U . S . President Franklin Roosevelt . A friend of the muckraking newspaper columnist and broadcaster Drew Pearson , Cuneo used his position at the OSS to leak stories on U . S . commanders and their behavior . Pearson , whose reputation had been severely damaged after President Roosvelt had publicly called him a liar , wanted to strike back at the administration and its conduct of the war . Cuneo suggested to Pearson that a sensational , exclusive news story would make people forget Roosevelt ' s criticism , and offered Pearson details of General George S . Patton ' s slapping of a private soldier he had learned from others in the War Department . Pearson ' s resulting broadcasts and news articles sufficiently concerned Secretary of War Henry L . Stimson that he requested Army General Joseph T . McNarney to " . . put an inspector on the War Department to see who has been leaking out information . Pearson ' s articles are about three - quarters false but there ' s just a germ of truth in them that someone must have given him . " While working with Donovan and British Intelligence , Cuneo became acquainted with such notable people as Sir William Stephenson , Roald Dahl , Noël Coward , Ivar Bryce and James Bond creator , Ian Fleming . A particularly close friendship developed between Fleming and Cuneo , and Fleming named a taxi driver in his James Bond novel " Diamonds Are Forever " " Ernie Cureo " " ( sic ) . " Fleming later credited Cuneo with more than half the plot for " Goldfinger " and all of the basic plot for " Thunderball " ; the dedication of the former novel reads , " To Ernest Cuneo , Muse . " For his service during the war , Cuneo was decorated by Italy , Great Britain , and the City of Genoa .