Aldo Icardi: American Master Spy

New York, N.Y. University Books Inc., 1956. Presumed First Edition. Hardcover. viii, [2], 275, [3] pages. Endpaper maps. Illustrations. Book has some wear and soiling. DJ is worn, soiled, chipped and has front flap present but separated. Includes A Foreword by Felix Morrow, the Publisher and an Author's Note. Also includes Part 1: Major Holohan Disappears; Part 2: Espionage; and Part 3: After the War. Also includes Appendix: Legal Aspects of the Holohan Case; The Italian Trial; Why Icardi Didn't Sue for Libel; and A New Law. Aldo Icardi was America's first master spy. He spent eight months behind the German lines in Italy, the last five of them as master spy, operating in the area norhwest of Milano. This book is the true account of how he got into this exciting business, and of what happened to him while he was behind the lines. He tells how it feels to huddle in a hole in a wall while enemy soldiers search for him just three feet away. He tells about being trailed by German bloodhounds. He describes the wild frenzy, the uncontrolled violence, that gripped northern Italy during the last days of the war. He also relates everything that happened the night that Major William V. Holohan, his commanding officer, disappeared. Mr. Icardi has written this book because he has been accused falsely of murdering Major Holohan. This book is his defense--the only recourse available to him to clear his name. In presenting his case, he has been forced to make a few charges of his own: of irresponsibility, negligence, and blind stupidity on the part of American public officials. The Holohan murder case concerns the death of OSS Major William Holohan in Italy during the Second World War. In September 1944, the U.S. Army's Office of Strategic Services (OSS) dispatched teams of specially trained soldiers into enemy-occupied territory to organize resistance movements. In Europe, one team was dispatched to the Como, Italy area. Its mission was code-named "Chrysler". Many of the partisan groups in Europe and Asia were overtly communist. This greatly concerned some Allied planners, since the communists could be expected to use their military power to take control of post-war government. The uprising in Paris in August 1944 was fomented by pro-communist police who were then pushed aside by forces loyal to Charles de Gaulle. In Greece, a civil war erupted between communist and anti-communist partisan forces. The U.S. trial began on April 17, 1956. The prosecution had 18 Italian witnesses ready. Icardi's defense attorney, Edward Bennett Williams, argued that Holohan was killed on the orders of communist partisan leader Moscatelli because of Holohan's opposition to the communists. The attack that killed Holohan was actually staged by Moscatelli’s men. Williams got Congressman Cole to admit that he had discussed getting a perjury charge against Icardi before the interview. After Cole stepped down from the witness stand, Williams moved that the case be dismissed because there was no valid legislative purpose in the interrogations of Icardi. On April 19, 1956, Judge Richmond B. Keech handed down a directed verdict of acquittal on the perjury charges, citing the defense argument that there was no valid legislative purpose to Icardi's testimony before the subcommittee and the perjury charge could not stand. Keech had strong words for Congressman Cole's conduct. Icardi wept. General William "Wild Bill" Donovan who led OSS efforts in World War II commented following the outcome of the Committee's investigation, "If you ask me what kind of soldier Aldo Icardi was, I'd say he was gallant. If you asked me what kind of job he did for us, I'd say he did one of the best jobs of any operative we had". Aldo Icardi practiced law in Florida until his retirement. Condition: Good / Poor.

Keywords: William Holohan, Espionage, Office of Strategic Services, Partisans, Murder, Trial, Perjury, Entrapment, Richmond Keech, Sterling Cole

[Book #81883]

Price: $75.00

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