The History of Operation Big City and the Biological Weapons Tests "February 1956. Operation Big City was launched in central New York. A specially equipped Ford Mercury with a hidden exhaust pipe sprayed poison on the streets of Manhattan. Agents secretly entered the subway. Their suitcases were equipped with small engines that secretly sprayed poisons. The experiments had fatal consequences. 11 people contracted a strange infection, and a few days later Edward Nevin died of a disease caused by the same bacteria. In 1953, CIA biologist Frank Olson [who worked for the CIA] jumped from his bedroom window. The government admitted involvement in his death only 22 years later."