POW #: P668
ARRESTED: June 10, 1940
RELEASED: June 05, 1941
NATURALIZED:
BORN: May 1884
DIED:

CAMP(S): Petawawa
TOWN/CITY: Toronto
MARITAL STATUS: Married
OCCUPATION: Co-owner, Florentine Lighting Company; Founder, Tuscan Manufacturing Company

Massimo Iacopo Magi was born in 1884 in Limano, Bagni di Lucca, Italy. To Canadian friends, he was known as “Max” (which would explain the variations in the spelling of his name).

According to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) file, “Maxime Jacopo Magi” was arrested because of his affiliation with the Fascio Principe Umberto, where he was the Secretary, and for overseeing the Toronto dopolavoro (after work) group. He was arrested while at work at the Florentine Lighting Company, where he was co-owner. A number of his employees, including Ruggero Bacci were arrested along with him. According to the police record, “The Organization and Activities of the Italian Fascist Party in Canada,” there were three fascist groups in the city: Fascio Principe Umberto held meetings at Casa d’Italia as did the Fascio Femminile, while the Dufferin St. fascio met at St. Mary of the Angels Church on Dufferin St. The Dufferin St. fascio was led by Raffaele Ciarfella, who was also interneed during World War II. 

While interned, Magi covered the $74.33 loan of Attilio Perilli to the Canadian Bank of Commerce. This had something to do with Il Bollettino. 

After Magi’s release, the following items were supposedly returned to him: three automatic pencils, one fountain pen, nail scissors and file. Magi later started another business, Tuscan Manufacturing Company, which imported artifacts from Italy.

The Magis had three children. Their daughters Rina and Iole were 19 and 24 years of age, and they lived at home. Their 22-year-old son Philip worked for the Florentine Lighting Company. Denise Magi and Janice Magi, daughters of Philip Magi and granddaughters of Massimo Iacopo Magi, are the surviving members of the Magi family in Toronto.

Biography by Louanne Aspillaga

Do you know…

Were there other internees or enemy aliens who worked at the Florentine Lighting Company during World War II?

SOURCES:

• Correspondence with Denise Magi, Granddaughter of Massimo Iacopo Magi. Project Staff at Columbus Centre of Toronto, March 2012.
• Library and Archives Canada, CSIS: “The Organization and Activities of the Italian Fascist Party in Canada,” Ottawa, Vol. 97, p. 12, 1937. File AH-1999/00227.
• Library and Archives Canada, Custodian of Enemy Property: RG 117, Vol. 647, Internee File 3166, “Massimo Iacopo Magi.”
• Library and Archives Canada, RCMP: RG 18, Vol. 3565, File C.11.19-2-3.
• Library and Archives Canada, RCMP: RG 146, Vol. 97, File AH-1999/00227.

POW #: P309
ARRESTED: June 10, 1940
RELEASED: September 03, 1942
NATURALIZED:
BORN:
DIED:

CAMP(S): Petawawa, Fredericton
TOWN/CITY: Niagara Region
MARITAL STATUS: Married
OCCUPATION: Blastman, Queenston Quarries Ltd.

Pietro (Peter) Maiuri (alias Dynamite Pete) was married to Madelina Maiuri (née Cervone). They had three sons: Tony was 30, Eddie was 23 and Angelo was 14. Maiuri worked as a blastman/powderman at Queenston Quarries Ltd. He and his family lived on the property of Queenston Quarries Ltd. Maiuri also owned a 54-acre fruit farm near St. Davids, Ontario, which had a $2000 mortgage. Maiuri did not have insurance or a safety deposit box. He had a savings account, with a balance of $4.35, at the Imperial Bank of Canada in the nearby village of St. Davids.

Maiuri was arrested on June 10, 1940. The bank manager at that branch said that Maiuri had a bad reputation in the district for “subversive activities.” During his internment, Maiuri’s employer withheld his pay cheques. His truck was repossessed by the Colonial Finance Corporation. His wife wrote, “My husband has been true to this country and is a good citizen. They just didn’t want to see us ahead, so they thought they would mark him down as enemy to this country which I know that he isn’t” (Letter by Madelina Maiuri, St. Davids, Ontario, September 27, 1940. RG 117, Vol. 1986, File 4135).

Maiuri’s order for release was signed on August 28, 1942. On September 3, 1942, he was released from Camp Fredericton. Maiuri was “released conditionally upon his first subscribing to the Undertaking set out in Regulation 24 of the Defence of Canada Regulations, and further, that he subscribe to a special Undertaking.” Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) records state that Maiuri had to remain on his farm at St. Davids within a radius of five miles, that he could not leave that area without consent except for the purpose of reporting monthly to the RCMP in Niagara Falls. Maiuri was also forbidden from engaging in fascist activities, and he had to support the war effort to the best of his ability.

Biography by Louanne Aspillaga
 

SOURCES:

• Library and Archives Canada, Custodian of Enemy Property: RG 117, Vol. 1986, Internee File 4135, “Pietro (Peter) Maiuri.”
• Library and Archives Canada, RCMP: RG 18, F-3, Vol. 3563, Part 6.
• Minister’s Orders, List V1 & V6.

POW #: P406
ARRESTED: June 10, 1940
RELEASED: March 08, 1941
NATURALIZED: Yes
BORN:
DIED:

CAMP(S): Petawawa
TOWN/CITY: Montreal
MARITAL STATUS: Married
OCCUPATION: Labourer, Art Tile & Ceramique Co.

RELEASE NOTES: Released unconditionally, as Malatesta did not become naturalized until 1923; he must report to RCMP Montreal immediately upon his arrival…where his registration and parole, in compliance with existing regulations, will receive attention.

Pardo Malatesta lived at 6794 Louis Hemon St. in Montreal, QC. He worked as a labourer at Art Tile & Ceramique Co. He was married and had two daughters, ages 16 and 7 years.

Malatesta held a bank account at the Canadian National Bank, which in December of 1940 had a balance of $292. During her husband’s internment, Mrs. Malatesta worked periodically to support her family and pay taxes on the family home.

Malatesta was interned for less than a year.

Biography by Louanne Aspillaga

Do you know…
Why Malatesta interned?

SOURCES:

• Library and Archives Canada, Custodian of Enemy Property: RG117, Vol. 2163, Internee File 9978, “Pardo Malatesta.”
• Minister’s Orders List V1 & V3.

POW #: P795
ARRESTED:
RELEASED: January 31, 1941
NATURALIZED:
BORN:
DIED:

CAMP(S): Petawawa
TOWN/CITY: Montreal
MARITAL STATUS: Single
OCCUPATION: Roman Catholic Priest

RELEASE NOTES: Released on the condition that he be transferred to the Servite Monastery at Saint-Majorique, Gaspé, Quebec, for the duration of the war

Benedetto (Benoit) M. Maltempi was Curate of Notre Dame du Mont-Carmel and Chaplain of the executive committee of the Montreal dopolavoro. After his release, Maltempi resided at the Convent of St. Majorique, Gaspé, Quebec, based on an order of the Minister of Justice. Afterwards, he was required to go to St. Anthony’s Church, in Ottawa, and obliged to report monthly to Inspector Saul – Room 705, Justice Building. Maltempi could “not leave the said City of Ottawa without first obtaining permission so to do [sic] from the said Inspector Saul.” (Letter from Minister of Justice Louis St. Laurent to S.T. Wood, RCMP Commissioner, December 2, 1942)

Biography by Melina De Guglielmo
 
SOURCES:

• Library and Archives Canada, Canadian Security Intelligence (CSIS):  RG146, “The Organization and Activities of the Italian Fascist Party in Canada,” Ottawa, 1937.
• Library and Archives Canada, Canadian Security Intelligence (CSIS):  RG146, Vol. 97, File AH-1999/00227.
• Library and Archives Canada, RCMP: RG18, F-3, Vol. 3563, Part 6, Louis St. Laurent, Minister of Justice, to S.T. Wood, RCMP Commissioner, 2 Dec. 1942.
• Library and Archives Canada, RCMP: RG18, Vol. 3565, File C.11.19-2-3.

POW #: P592
ARRESTED:
RELEASED: March 22, 1943
NATURALIZED:
BORN: February 27, 1905
DIED: October 25, 1984

CAMP(S): Petawawa, Fredericton
TOWN/CITY: Montreal
MARITAL STATUS: Married
OCCUPATION: Labourer

RELEASE NOTES: Conditional release upon undertaking Regulation 24 (Defence of Canada Regulations) and agreeing to a special undertaking

Erminio Mancini was born on February 27, 1905 in the village of Callabritto, township of Gallucio, province of Caserta in Italy. His parents (Joseph Mancini of Callabritto, b. July 20, 1879 and Marie-Michelle DeLuca of Vaglia, b. September 1879) owned and operated a wine and olive oil business. Erminio was the fourth eldest of 12 children, six of whom eventually came to Canada. His siblings included: Florent (1900-1919), Carmine (1902-1937), Antonio (1903 – ), Pasquale (1906 – ), Marie (1907 – ), Rose-Amalia (1909 – ), Ginetta (1913 – ), Alfredo (1915 – ), Ernest (1917 – 1953), Florent (1920 – 1979), and Arthur (1923 – ).

Erminio had a grade six education. In the early 1920s, he served with the Carabinieri, the national military police of Italy. His grandson, Carlo Mancini, states, “As the reconciliation between Vatican City and the Government of Italy was some years away, my grandfather’s responsibilities were to arrest the Pope should he cross the seventh step of the Vatican during his watch.  Oddly enough they had become good friends and he joked that they often played cards together in their spare time.” Erminio also apprenticed as a cobbler, both before and after his military service.

On April 11, 1930, Erminio was issued a visa from Nice, France. The following day, he and his brother Antonio boarded the SS Saturnia from the port of Cannes and headed towards New York. They arrived at Huntington, Quebec on April 23, 1930 via New York Central Railway before arriving at their final destination in Montreal. Erminio was 25 years old and Antonio was 27. The ship’s manifest lists Antonio as 32 years old, but the family is certain that the two travelled together. Other Mancinis are also noted on the manifest, however the family believes only Carmine (another brother) was related, based on the age listed.

In Montreal, Erminio worked as a labourer at the port, shoveling coal in the bunker of ships. Carlo remembers his grandfather reminiscing about the hourly rate of 10 cents ― then considered good pay at the height of the Great Depression.

In summer of 1933, while attending the annual Lachine Days harvest celebrations, Erminio met Canadian-born Marie Gargano of Lachine (b. May 18, 1904).  Marie’s parents were immigrants, Pietro Gargano and Cungetta De Cubelis of Caserta, Italy. Erminio and Marie were married on September 18, 1934. The couple lived on Adam Street in Montreal and Erminio continued to work at the port.

Erminio was interned on July 4, 1940. He was among the few Italian Canadian internees transferred to Fredericton. It is unclear what evidence supported his continuing internment. An appeal of his case was heard, but his release was denied on at least one occasion – on June 3, 1942. The reasons for his arrest and release are not available.  During Erminio’s internment, Marie and the two children (Micheline, b. June 18, 1935 and Robert Joseph, b. June 27, 1939) moved to Marie’s parents’ home in Lachine.

Like many of their time, Marie and Erminio were devout Roman Catholics.  Carlo recalls stories from his grandmother and father:

“My grandmother told us of the times when she would seek assistance from the parish priest to return her husband to her.  Furious with the delays she one day went to see the priest and removed her wedding band in his presence, handed it to him and demanded he bring him back…immediately!  The priest instructed her to perform a novena at the basilica on Mount Royal and to seek the assistance of Brother Andre.  As instructed, she prayed at the basilica and mysteriously, not long thereafter, Ermino was released on March 22, 1943 and unexpectedly appeared on the doorstep of their Lachine residence.  My father remembers that day: ‘I was playing bus in the hallway and a man appeared at the door with a long beard.  I was scared and screamed.  I thought he was a gangster.  I had no idea he was my father because I was only a baby when he was taken away.’  Stunned, all Marie could say was, ‘What the hell are you doing here?’”

Erminio said that he was well treated at the camp, that he was well fed, and that he was provided with tools for woodworking projects.  Erminio made picture frames and model ships in his free time from Owl Brand cigar boxes obtained from the guards.  He confided in Carlo that the most unpleasant aspect of his internment was wearing the denim coveralls with the large red target on the back.  The family says that Erminio was housed in the same barrack block with Camillien Houde, mayor of Montreal.

Post-internment, the Mancinis continued to stay at Marie’s parents’ house for financial reasons. Their growing family (Irene, b. June 19, 1944 and Ernest, b. November 17, 1945) shared a small bedroom for over three years until they were able to buy a house just a few blocks away.  Erminio worked at Dominion Engineering Works Limited in Lachine until he retired in 1970 at aged 65.  In his retirement, Erminio tended to his large garden, made wine every fall, and was doting grandpa to nine grandkids.

Erminio passed away on October 25, 1984 at his home in Lachine with his wife by his side.

Biography by Lucy Di Pietro and Louanne Aspillaga

Do you know…
Is Erminio the same Mancini who was involved with the organization of feste, such as the Saint Gabriel Feast held in St. Henri?
What was his relationship, if any, to the Tony Mancini who owned the White Owl Club and was involved with the Union Nationale Party?
 
SOURCE:

• Correspondence with Carlo Mancini, Grandson of Erminio Mancini. Project Staff at Columbus Centre of Toronto, February-June 2013.
• Library and Archives Canada, Custodian of Enemy Property: RG 117, Vol. 653, Internee File 3589, “Erminio Mancini.”

POW #: P295
ARRESTED: June 10, 1940
RELEASED: March 18, 1941
NATURALIZED:
BORN:
DIED:

CAMP(S): Petawawa
TOWN/CITY: Other Ontario
MARITAL STATUS: Married
OCCUPATION: Emery grinder

According to Libero Sauro, Giulio Mancini was an elderly father of ten children and was not a fascist. He was married to Angelina Mancini and the family lived in Brantford, Ontario at the time of his internment. One of his sons was serving in the Canadian Army during World War II while his father was interned.

Biography by Melina De Guglielmo
 
SOURCES:

• Libero Sauro, Letter to MJ Coldwell, Ottawa, 19 Mar 1941, Courtesy of the family of Libero and Clementina Sauro, Columbus Centre Collection.
• Library and Archives Canada, Custodian of Enemy Property: RG117, Vol. 643, Internee File 2963.
• Library and Archives Canada, RCMP: RG18, Vol. 3565, File C.11.19-2-3.

POW #: P555
ARRESTED: June 10, 1940
RELEASED: October 23, 1941
NATURALIZED:
BORN:
DIED:

CAMP(S): Petawawa
TOWN/CITY: Montreal
MARITAL STATUS: Single
OCCUPATION: Physician

RELEASE NOTES: Released conditionally

Dr. Ferdinando Mancuso graduated in Medicine from McGill University in 1927. He was arrested on June 10, 1940 and it was recommended that his internment continue until May 1941. Mancuso’s brother, Dr. Salvatore Mancuso, was also interned at Camp Petawawa. At the time of his internment Mancuso was engaged to his secretary Jeannette Dansereau. During his internment she was given power of attorney by Mancuso.

Biography by Stefanie Petrilli
 
SOURCES:

• Library and Archives Canada, Custodian of Enemy Property: RG117, Vol. 652, Internee File 3562.
• Library and Archives Canada, RCMP: RG18, Vol. 3565, File C.11.19-2-3.

POW #: P448
ARRESTED: June 10, 1940
RELEASED: December 22, 1941
NATURALIZED:
BORN: June 10, 1897
DIED:

CAMP(S): Petawawa
TOWN/CITY: Montreal
MARITAL STATUS: Married
OCCUPATION: Physician, Hygiene Service, City of Montreal

RELEASE NOTES: Conditional release upon undertaking Regulation 24 (Defence of Canada Regulations) and reporting monthly

Dr. Salvatore Mancuso was born on June 10, 1897; he arrived in Canada in 1926. He had served as a pilot for the Italian military during World War I. In Canada, he found work as an accountant for the wealthy businessman A.D. Sebastiani. His brother Ferdinando Mancuso, a doctor, encouraged him to pursue a medical degree. After graduating from the Université de Montréal, he began to work as a doctor.

Mancuso joined the Italian War Veterans Association and became its president. According to a copy of the October 27, 1934, issue of the newspaper L’Italia, referenced in the records compiled at the time by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP): “By a recent disposition of the superior authorities, Lieutenant Mancuso, President of the War Veterans’ Association, has been nominated a member of the Directorate of the Fascio of Montreal and has been assigned to the office of propaganda and assistance. We congratulate Lieutenant Mancuso who is a most active element of our community and is always ready to cooperate in all patriotic manifestations” (RCMP, “The Organization and Activities of the Italian Fascist Party in Canada,” Ottawa, 1937). 

In interviews, Mancuso does not mention any work with the fascio. However, in his role as president of the War Veterans Association, Mancuso seems to have taken a hard-line approach to non-fascist members:

It is reported that only those war veterans in Montreal who were Fascists or connected with the Fascist War Veterans’ Association were granted assistance from the Poppy Day relief fund which was under the control of Lieut. Mancuso. Accordingly, unemployed individuals with large families who did not belong to the Fascist War Veterans’ Association were unable to obtain relief notwithstanding the fact that the purpose of the funds was one of indiscriminate distribution to all war veterans (RCMP, Ottawa, 1937).

In protest, an affidavit was sworn and signed on May 25, 1935, by members of the Italian War Veterans Association:

We, the undersigned, declare the following: That on March 10th during the meeting at Hall No. 11 of the Monument Nationale, the President of the War Veterans’ Association, Lieutenant S. Mancuso, declared after opening the meeting that the new association of war veterans was composed of a group of anti-Fascist and anti-Nationalists; that if anyone of the new association should go back to Italy he should be condemned to an imprisonment of no less than five years and one day. He declared also that they no longer have the privilege to the Italian pension, to the decorations or to all the medals of war because he intended to draw up a list accusing us of what we have above declared.

We also declare that at the meeting of January 13th he had stated that the new association of the North End of the city is a new group and that we should take care for no application (for relief) will be accepted by the Poppy Day Committee, even if it be signed by King George Vth (RCMP, Ottawa, 1937).

Among the accounts in the government records, Rev. Augusto Bersani1 claimed that Mancuso threatened him with personal violence should he continue to encourage the dissident members of the War Veterans Association. Mancuso was ultimately forced to resign from the presidency of the War Veterans Association due to general criticism of his activities. At the time of the declaration of war with Italy, journalist Camillo Vetere2 was the president.

It is not surprising that authorities identified Mancuso for internment. On June 10, 1940, on his 43rd birthday, Mancuso was on his way home from work when he was approached by two people, presumably police, and taken to jail. A few days later, Mancuso was transferred to Petawawa Internment Camp. Months later, his wife Antonietta was arrested, detained for questioning and released. According to RCMP records, she was an important member of the women’s fascio and a teacher at an Italian School.

Justice J.D. Hyndman reviewed Mancuso’s case. He did not recommend release but noted, “later on I may re-examine Dr. Mancuso to have him corroborate or disprove the material on the file to the effect that he is and has been a prominent Fascist which has been forwarded since my hearing of him at Petawawa last July” (Justice J.D. Hyndman, Memorandum for Mr. Jackett, September 27, 1940).

Mancuso stated that he was not abused or ill-treated by the authorities, in jail and at Camp Petawawa. However, he was involved in a violent incident with fellow internee Gentile Dieni, who slashed Mancuso in the face with a razor blade. Afterwards, Dieni explained his actions:

We were depressed, the war was going badly… Unlike the Germans, who remained united and for that I admire them, some Italians started changing their minds, and they became ashamed of the ideas they had previously believed in. That is what caused my despair, and that can in part explain what I did. When things were going well, Mussolini was a great man, but then, when prisoners appeared before the judge, they renounced their allegiance to fascism, even when there were photos proving the opposite. I have never been able to accept turncoats (Interview with Gentile Dieni).

Mancuso denied that he, or any of the other internees who had been fascist sympathizers, had any intention of betraying the country. He noted that not one of the Italian Canadian internees was ever arrested for treason or tried for an act of violence against the state. He also denied the accusations that he was a member of O.V.R.A. (Opera Vigilanza Repressione Antifascismo). When asked why people were fascists, Mancuso replied, “Because we were stupid.”

Although Mancuso and his wife seemed to have had prominent roles in the Italian Canadian community of Montreal, they had few real assets. The family suffered financially during Mancuso’s internment. According to the file held by the Custodian of Enemy Property, the family applied for and received government relief. Mancuso noted: “My wife worked, sewing uniforms for the army. For them it was hard, but not for us. For us it was a vacation in the camp, sun and fresh air, we even had the same rations as Canadian army soldiers” (The Gazette, May 18, 1983).

Mancuso is one of the few internees who spoke publically about his internment, but he did so decades after his release.

1 Travis Tomchuk has researched the role of the informant Augusto Bersani. See “Special Agent 203: The Motivations of Augusto Bersani” in Beyond Barbed Wire: Essays on the Internment of Italian Canadians. Edited by Licia Canton et al. Guernica: Toronto, 2012.
2 Vetere was a former school teacher and journalist based in Montreal. Some suspect he acted as a paid police informant. In fact, in his interviews, Mancuso claims that both Vetere and Bersani were informants.

Biography by Lucy Di Pietro
 
SOURCES:

• Interview with Dieni Gentile. In Filippo Salvatore’s Fascism and the Italians of Montreal: An Oral History, 1922-1945. Toronto: Guernica, 1998, p. 105-116.
• Interview with Piero Bracci. In Filippo Salvatore’s Fascism and the Italians of Montreal: An Oral History, 1922-1945. Toronto: Guernica, 1998, p. 86-92.
• Interview with Salvatore Mancuso. In Filippo Salvatore’s Fascism and the Italians of Montreal: An Oral History, 1922-1945. Toronto: Guernica, 1998, p 117-123.
• Interview with Sam Capozzi. In Filippo Salvatore’s Fascism and the Italians of Montreal: An Oral History, 1922-1945. Toronto: Guernica, 1998, p. 93-104.
• Kilbertus, Paul. “Italian-Montrealers recall how they went to ‘camp.’” The Gazette. May 18, 1983, I-4.
• Library and Archives Canada, Custodian of Enemy Property: RG 117, Vol. 653, Internee File 3620, “Salvatore Mancuso.”
• Library and Archives Canada, J.D. Hyndman Fonds: MG 30, E 182, Vol. 14. “Memorandum for Mr. Jackett. Re: Dr. Salvatore Mancuso,” September 27, 1940.
• Library and Archives Canada, RCMP: RG 18, C11-19-2-3-pt 1 & 4.
• Library and Archives Canada, RCMP: RG 18, F-3, Vol. 3563, Part 1 & 5.
• Library and Archives Canada, RCMP: RG 146, Vol. 97, File AH-1999/00227. “The Organization and Activities of the Italian Fascist Party in Canada,” Ottawa, 1937.

POW #: P556
ARRESTED: June 10, 1940
RELEASED: November 09, 1940
NATURALIZED:
BORN: October 24, 1872
DIED:

CAMP(S):
TOWN/CITY: Montreal
MARITAL STATUS: Married
OCCUPATION: Tailor

Raffaele Mandato was 68 when he was interned. At the time he was interned, he had lived in Canada for over 40 years and was a citizen (a naturalized British subject). He ran his own tailor shop located at 1449 St. Alexander St. in Montreal, until May 1, 1939. From that date until his internment, Mandato worked for Alexander Langlois, at 53 St. Catherine St. East in Montreal, where he designed men’s suits. Before his internment, Mandato earned $75 per week. He also collected rent from two tenants living in a building he owned. The total rent was $720 per year. Letters written by Mandato’s daughter reveal that her husband was also interned and that she struggled to support a fourteen-year-old son, with no financial assistance from her father or husband. This woman was compelled to pay her father’s “water tax.” It seems that Mandato’s daughter, noted as Mrs. Denis Perras, supported the Mandato household in addition to her own.

While in the camp, Mandato requested the following items from his daughter Pearl Perras: a pair of towels, a suit of woollen underwear, a pair of slippers, one tube of atofan (possibly to treat gout), twelve oranges, 100 cheap cigars, two bottles of Nyal Corn Remedy.

Biography by Melina De Guglielmo
 
SOURCES:

• LaRue & Trudel, Letter to TL Laidlaw, Counsel for the Custodian, 1 Aug 1940.
• Library and Archives Canada, Custodian of Enemy Property, RG117, Vol 662, Internee File 4472, “Mandato, Raffaele (Perras, Ralph).”
• Minister’s Orders Version 1 and Version 2.
• Raffaele Paone, Letters to Pearl Perras, Montreal, 26 June 1940; 10 July 1940; 25 July 1940; 1 Aug 1940; 19 Sep 1940.

POW #:
ARRESTED:
RELEASED:
NATURALIZED:
BORN:
DIED:

CAMP(S):
TOWN/CITY:
MARITAL STATUS: Unknown
OCCUPATION:

No biography available for this internee.

POW #: P433
ARRESTED: June 10, 1940
RELEASED: October 29, 1940
NATURALIZED:
BORN:
DIED:

CAMP(S): Petawawa
TOWN/CITY: Montreal
MARITAL STATUS: Unknown
OCCUPATION:

RELEASE NOTES: Conditional release upon undertaking Regulation 24 (Defence of Canada Regulations)

There is little information known about Carmine Manocchio. His name appears on a spring 1940 government list of “Italian members of the fascio, not naturalized, whose internment is recommended.” The reasons for his release are not available.
 
SOURCES:

• Library and Archives Canada, Canadian Armed Forces: RG 24, Vol. 6586, File 5-1-1.
• Library and Archives Canada, RCMP: RG 18, C11-19-2-3-pt 4.
• Ministers Orders List Version 1 and Version 2.

POW #: P585
ARRESTED:
RELEASED: February 06, 1943
NATURALIZED:
BORN:
DIED:

CAMP(S): Petawawa, Fredericton
TOWN/CITY: Montreal
MARITAL STATUS: Married
OCCUPATION: Car inspector, CPR

RELEASE NOTES: Released conditionally upon his subscribing to a special undertaking (see below for more details).

Michele Manzo lived on Waverly St. in Montreal, QC.  At the time of his arrest, he was working for the Canadian Pacific Railroad (CPR) as a car inspector at Angus Shops.  His salary was about $100/month.  He was married and had four adult children (ages 24, 25, 27, and 29).

Manzo was sent to Petawawa Internment Camp on July 4, 1940. Government records note that in 1941, Manzo’s family was “not suffering from any discomfort” as three of the children were working with a combined income of about $160/month.

It wasn’t until February 6, 1943 when Manzo was released, with the conditions that he had to report monthly to the RCMP and that he was not allowed to change his address without first contacting the RCMP.  Other stipulations included:

That he will not journey from Montreal without first reporting details of his proposed trip to your Force at Montreal, and if so required by your Force, he will report at his destination or destinations, to such police officer or officers as may be designated by your Force;
That he obey all laws and regulations, and do everything reasonably possible to assist in Canada’s war effort, and that he do or say nothing that might in any way detract from the war effort of Canada or its Allies, or that might in any way assist or encourage any enemy of Canada or its Allies’;
That he have nothing to do with Fascism or any Fascist or other forbidden club or organization; and
That he sign an undertaking to abide by all of the above conditions.

Biography by Louanne Aspillaga
 
SOURCES:

• Library and Archives Canada, Custodian of Enemy Property: RG 117, Vol. 691, Internee File 7789 “Michele Manzo.”
• Minister’s Orders List, V1 & V6.

POW #:
ARRESTED: June 10, 1940
RELEASED:
NATURALIZED: Yes
BORN:
DIED:

CAMP(S): Petawawa, Fredericton
TOWN/CITY: Montreal
MARITAL STATUS: Unknown
OCCUPATION: Caretaker, Casa d’Italia

There is very little information known about Luigi Maravalle. His name appears on a government list dating to Spring 1940 of “Important members of the fascio who are naturalized and whose internment is recommended”.  The nature of his involvement with the fascio or related activities is not clear. He was employed as a caretaker at the Casa d’Italia, in which the fascio was housed.

He does appear in a letter written by fellow internee Vincent Poggi, in which he is called a “chief stooge” of one of the fascist leaders in Camp Fredericton – Nello Trasciatti. Maravalle was accused by Poggi of reporting to Trasciatti “all Italians who did or said anything against the AXIS powers”. In the same letter, Poggi notes that Maravalle was among the Italians who attacked him in a camp incident on February 6, 1943.

The reasons for Maravalle’s release are not available. Biographical information is also lacking.

Biography by Lucy Di Pietro

Do you know:
What was Maravalle’s involvement with fascism prior to his internment?
What did Maravalle do for work?
 
SOURCES:

• Library and Archives Canada, RCMP: RG 18, Vol 3563 C11-19-2-3, Part 4.
• Letter by Vincenzo Poggi. CWM 20020203-020, Canadian War Museum.

POW #: P762
ARRESTED:
RELEASED: June 19, 1943
NATURALIZED:
BORN:
DIED:

CAMP(S): Petawawa, Fredericton
TOWN/CITY: Other Quebec
MARITAL STATUS: Unknown
OCCUPATION:

RELEASE NOTES: Conditional release (see below)

Very little is known about Vincenzo Marchiondi. At the time of his arrest he lived at 35 Birkshaw St. in the city of Rouyn in northwestern Quebec.

Marchiondi’s release conditions were as follows: he had to subscribe to the Undertaking set out in Regulation 24 of the Defence of Canada Regulations and accept employment supplied by National Selective Service Officials in Ontario. Due to these conditions, Marchiondi moved to Ottawa upon his release.

Biography by Stefanie Petrilli
 

Do you know…
Why was Marchiondi keep in the internment camp for so long? Was he involved in the fascio?
What did Marchiondi do after the war? Why was he required to take employment from the National Selective Service Officials?

SOURCE:

• Library and Archives Canada, Custodian of Enemy Property: RG117, Vol. 701, Internee File 16512 “Vincenzo Marchiondi.”

POW #: P864
ARRESTED: September 23, 1940
RELEASED: March 07, 1942
NATURALIZED:
BORN: 1891
DIED:

CAMP(S): Petawawa
TOWN/CITY: Montreal
MARITAL STATUS: Married
OCCUPATION:

RELEASE NOTES: Conditional release upon undertaking Regulation 24(4) (Defence of Canada Regulations)

Giuseppe Marcogliese was 49 years old at the time of his internment. He had three children with his wife Concetta Battisa – Nicola (16), Vincent (15) and Lina (9).

Marcogliese migrated to Canada in 1910 but returned to Italy to serve in the Italian army from 1915 to 1919. He returned to Canada again in 1921 and became a citizen (a naturalized British subject) in 1939. He did not have a formal education. Marcogliese was charged with having close ties to the fascio, and therefore he was a “menace to the liberty of the state.” According to his Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) file, in the course of his examination, he stated that the law in Canada was more oppressive than in Italy and that he paid fewer taxes in Italy than in Canada. He would have preferred returning to Italy but intended to remain in Canada since his family did not share his view.

Marcogliese was a member of the Casa Calenda Club for two years, Ex Combattenti for two years beginning in either 1934 or 1935, and the Montcalm Section of the dopolavoro. A.S. Biffi had asked him to join the fascio but Marcogliese was not sure if he was a member or not, at the time he was detained. In 1937, he received a medal from the Italian government in recognition of his service during World War I.

Biography by Melina De Guglielmo
 
SOURCES:

• Library and Archives Canada, Canadian Armed Forces, RG 24, Vol. 6586, File 5-1-1.
• Library and Archives Canada, Custodian of Enemy Property File: RG117, Vol. 663, File 4656.
• Library and Archives Canada, RCMP File: RG118, F-3, Vol. 3563, Part 1.
• Library and Archives Canada, RCMP File: RG18, Vol. 3565, File C.11.19-2-3.

POW #: P864
ARRESTED: August 16, 1940
RELEASED:
NATURALIZED: Canadian born
BORN: May 24, 1903
DIED:

CAMP(S): Petawawa
TOWN/CITY: Montreal
MARITAL STATUS: Married
OCCUPATION: Labourer, Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR)

Pasquale Marcogliese was married and had a 12-year-old son named Maurice. The Marcoglieses lived at 6882 St. Dominique St. in Montreal. Marcogliese had worked as a labourer for the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) since 1926, but he resigned on August 13, 1940.

On June 16, 1940, Marcogliese presented himself at the Montreal detachment of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and handed over a fascist shirt and a Casa d’Italia membership card. He stated that he had been a member of the dopolavoro and the fascio since 1936. He then declared: “I want to give myself up because I refuse to register under the Canadian Registration Law. I refuse also to fight for Canada against Italy. I would rather die than bear arms for Canada against Italy. The present war has been instigated by the Free Masons, the Jews, the Communists and I don’t see why I should kill my own brothers for these people. I have been loyal to this country, but there is too much liberty here now. I prefer a country with more discipline.”

Biography by Travis Tomchuk
 
SOURCE:

• Library and Archives Canada, RCMP: RG 18, Vol. 3563, File C-11-19-2-3, Part 1, Memorandum from the RCMP to Inter-Departmental Committee, no date.

POW #: P339
ARRESTED: June 10, 1940
RELEASED: November 20, 1940
NATURALIZED: January 21, 1927
BORN: December 25, 1895
DIED:

CAMP(S): Petawawa
TOWN/CITY: Windsor
MARITAL STATUS: Married
OCCUPATION: Labourer, Strong Construction Company

RELEASE NOTES: Released unconditionally

Natale Marcuzzi was married to Luigia. The couple lived at 467 Elliot St. East in Windsor. Luigia kept boarders at their home. Little else is known about Natale Marcuzzi.

Biography by Travis Tomchuk
 
SOURCE:

• Library and Archives Canada, Custodian of Enemy Property: RG 117, Vol. 660, Internee File 4213, “Natale Marcuzzi.”

POW #: P197
ARRESTED: June 10, 1940
RELEASED: September 09, 1943
NATURALIZED:
BORN:
DIED:

CAMP(S): Petawawa, Fredericton
TOWN/CITY: Cape Breton
MARITAL STATUS: Unknown
OCCUPATION:

RELEASE NOTES: Released conditionally upon his subscribing to the Undertaking set out in Regulation 24 of the DOCR and further that he subscribe to Special Undertaking.

Matteo Marinacci lived on Railroad St. in Sydney, NS.  On June 10, 1940, he was arrested and sent to camps at Petawawa and Fredericton for a period of about three years. 

When Crowell, Balcom & Co. of Halifax arrived at Marinacci’s home to investigate into the handling of his affairs, they found that Marinacci lived in an upstairs room of the house, and that his only possessions were a few old dirty clothes, paper, and boxes.  Crowell, Balcom & Co.’s charge to Marinacci as an administration fee for the “handling of his affairs” was $25 – to compensate for their numerous travels to his home in Sydney.

Biography by Louanne Aspillaga
 
SOURCE:

• Library and Archives Canada, Custodian of Enemy Property: RG117, Vol. 696, Internee File 12034, “Matteo Marinacci.”
• Minister’s Orders List.

POW #: P769
ARRESTED: June 10, 1940
RELEASED: May 08, 1941
NATURALIZED: March 31, 1933
BORN:
DIED:

CAMP(S): Petawawa
TOWN/CITY: Montreal
MARITAL STATUS: Married
OCCUPATION: Labourer, Scotch Anthracite Coal Co.

RELEASE NOTES: See below

Basille Marini lived on St. Zotique St. in Montreal. He was arrested on June 10, 1940 and interned at Petawawa on August 14, 1940 for about a year.  He was apparently involved in fascist activities.

Marini was born in Italy and arrived to Canada in 1912. He was naturalized on March 31, 1933. In 1940, he was married and had a daughter (Helen). He worked as a labourer for Scotch Anthracite Coal Co. while his wife ran a grocery store also located on St. Zotique St. His wife was noted in government files as “ill.”

Marini himself was not in good health; he suffered two heart attacks and quite possibly while he was interned. The Camp Medical Officer described Marini as “seriously ill.” Judge Henderson (another judge assigned to reviewing internee cases) believed that Marini had “no subversive ideas or intentions” and recommended that Marini be released on compassionate grounds.

Marini was released on May 8, 1941 at 12:28 a.m. however he had to report to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) in Montreal immediately upon his arrival. 

Biography by Louanne Aspillaga

SOURCES:

• Library and Archives Canada, Custodian of Enemy Property: RG117, Vol. 655, Internee File 3797 “Basile Marini.”
• Library and Archives Canada, Custodian of Enemy Property: RG117, Vol. 6586, File 5-1-1.
• Library and Archives Canada, RCMP: RG18, F-3, Vol. 3563, Part 1.
• Library and Archives Canada, RCMP: RG18, Vol. 3563, Part 3.
• Minister’s Orders List V1 & V3.

POW #: P1109
ARRESTED: July 29, 1940
RELEASED: November 19, 1941
NATURALIZED: Yes
BORN: 1891
DIED:

CAMP(S): Kananaskis, Petawawa
TOWN/CITY: Vancouver
MARITAL STATUS: Unknown
OCCUPATION:

RELEASE NOTES: Conditional release upon undertaking Regulation 24 (Defence of Canada Regulations) and required to report monthly to the authorities

Giorgio Marino (aka George or Giacinto) was a member of the fascist organization Circolo Giulio Giordani in Vancouver. Nothing else is known about Marino.

Biography by Travis Tomchuk

SOURCES:

• Library and Archives Canada, RCMP: RG 18, Vol. 3563, File C-11-19-2-3 Part 1, Memorandum from the RCMP to the Inter-Departmental Committee, 25 July 1940.

POW #: P1049
ARRESTED:
RELEASED: January 21, 1942
NATURALIZED:
BORN: November 06, 1917
DIED:

CAMP(S): Kananaskis, Petawawa
TOWN/CITY: Vancouver
MARITAL STATUS: Unknown
OCCUPATION: Sawmill worker

RELEASE NOTES: Released conditionally upon his first subscribing to the Undertaking set out in Regulation 24 of the DOCR (Defence of Canada Regulations) and further that he report once a month to the Officer Commanding, RCMP, Vancouver, BC

Olivero Marino was born on November 6, 1914 in Ofena, L’Aquila in Italy. At some point he moved to Canada.  At the time of his arrest he lived on East 3rd Ave. in Vancouver, BC and was employed as a sawmill worker.  He was not naturalized and he was a member of Circolo Giulio Giordani.  He was interned on July 29, 1940 and released on January 21, 1942. 

Captain H. N. Streight, Commissioner of Internment Operations, writes to Commandant, Petawawa Internment Camp, on March 3, 1942:

Prior to their internment, these men [including Antonio Granieri and Olivo Marini [sic]] were included within a protected area, within which it is now prohibited that enemy aliens should reside. It will, therefore, be necessary for these men to elect another place of residence to which they may be sent upon release … it is suggested that Montreal would be a suitable place in view of the fact that both Marini[sic] and Vincenzo Ricci are shoemakers by trade and that the centre of the shoemaking industry is in Montreal. There is, further, a considerable Italian colony in Montreal which would, no doubt, help these men to re-establish themselves in civil occupations.

Do you know…
What happened to Ricci after he moved to Montreal?

Biography by Louanne Aspillaga
 
SOURCES:

• Library and Archives Canada, Canadian Armed Forces: RG 24, Vol. 6586, File 5-1-1.
• Library and Archives Canada, Custodian of Enemy Property: RG 117, Vol. 702, Internee File 18039 “Olivero Marino.”
• Library and Archives Canada, RCMP: RG 18, Vol. 3569, File D.
• Library and Archives Canada, RCMP: RG 18, F-3, Vol. 3569, Part 1.
• Minister’s Orders List, V1 & V5.

POW #:
ARRESTED: June 10, 1940
RELEASED:
NATURALIZED:
BORN:
DIED:

CAMP(S):
TOWN/CITY: Vancouver
MARITAL STATUS: Unknown
OCCUPATION:

Aristodemo Marino lived in Vancouver, BC.  On June 10, 1940, he was arrested and sent to the Immigration Building in Vancouver.  It is unclear when Marino was released but it appears that he was still detained on September 19, 1940. Nothing else is known about Marino.
 

Biography by Louanne Aspillaga
 

SOURCES:

• Minister’s Orders List.

POW #: P483
ARRESTED: June 10, 1940
RELEASED: April 30, 1941
NATURALIZED:
BORN:
DIED:

CAMP(S): Petawawa
TOWN/CITY: Montreal
MARITAL STATUS: Married
OCCUPATION:

RELEASE NOTES: Conditional release

Gino Martellani was married to Annie. The couple and their children lived at 623 Regina Ave. in Montreal. During Martellani’s internment, his father (Giovanni) passed away – on August 30, 1940.

Little else is known about Gino Martellani.

Biography by Travis Tomchuk
 

SOURCE:

• Library and Archives Canada, Custodian of Enemy Property: RG 117, Vol. 672, Internee File 5114, “Gino Martellani.”

POW #: P199
ARRESTED: June 10, 1940
RELEASED: September 21, 1942
NATURALIZED: Yes
BORN:
DIED:

CAMP(S): Petawawa, Fredericton
TOWN/CITY: Cape Breton
MARITAL STATUS: Married
OCCUPATION:

RELEASE NOTES: Conditional release upon undertaking Regulation 24 (Defence of Canada Regulations), agreeing to a Special Undertaking, and monthly reporting to the authorities

Michele (Michael) Martinello was born in Avellino, Campania, Italy. He came from a large family, with five brothers and three sisters. At the turn of the twentieth century, he immigrated with his brother Alessandro (Alex) to Boston, Massachusetts. Hearing of the growth in the local steel industry, they moved to Sydney, Cape Breton. Eventually four brothers, Michael, Alex, John and Frank, settled in Sydney. 

In Sydney, Michael Martinello worked at the Dominion Steel Company and would later help his brother John with his Italian food and import business – G. Martinello & Co. Importers and Wholesalers.

Martinello’s name does appear on the government list dating to spring 1940 of “Important members of the fascio naturalized whose interrogation is recommended”. His brother Nunziante (Frank) Martinello and cousin Felice (Felix) Martiniello also appear on this government list. The names of the other two brothers are not listed and they were not interned. The exact nature of Martinello’s involvement with the fascio is not known.

At the time of his arrest, Martinello was married to Annie and the couple had grown children. He was taken to the city jail, where a fight broke out between the Italian detainees and other prisoners. He was transferred to Petawawa Internment Camp and later transferred to Camp Fredericton.

During his internment, Martinello signed over a Power of Attorney to his wife. She later became ill. His son Eddy was serving in the Canadian army and came home on a weekend pass to visit his mother. He decided to stay a few extra days given her poor health and was considered AWOL. On his return he was charged before a military court, but seems to have been allowed to return to active service.

The reasons for Martinello’s release are not known. Among the conditions of his release, he could not change his place of residence or leave Sydney without first reporting to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP). He was not allowed to do or say anything that would detract from the Canadian war effort or that of her allies, or to assist Canada’s enemies.

After the war, he was purchased a car and operated a taxi service.

Biography by Lucy Di Pietro
 

SOURCES:

• Library and Archives Canada, Custodian of Enemy Property: RG117, Vol 698, File 13571.
• Library and Archives Canada, RCMP: RG18, F-3, Vol 3563, Part 6.
• Migliore, Sam & A. Evo Di Pierro. Italian Lives, Cape Breton Memories. Sydney: University College of Cape Breton Press, 1999.

POW #: P200
ARRESTED: June 10, 1940
RELEASED: June 02, 1942
NATURALIZED:
BORN: 1890
DIED:

CAMP(S): Petawawa
TOWN/CITY: Cape Breton
MARITAL STATUS: Married
OCCUPATION: Storekeeper, Bootlegger

RELEASE NOTES: Conditional release upon undertaking Regulation 24 (Defence of Canada Regulations) and required to report monthly to the authorities

Nunziante (Frank) Martinello arrived in Canada between 1904 and 1906. At the time of his arrest, he had $250 on him. Martinello was married to Beatrice, and they had six children. At 50 years old, he was a citizen (a naturalized British subject), having gotten his papers in either 1910 or 1924 (date varies according to government source).

According to the records of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), he was an active fascist supporter, and a bootlegger and smuggler. Martinello was considered by the RCMP to be a member of the fascio, the dopolavoro and “one of the most trusted agents of the former Italian Vice-Consul” in Sydney, NS. He was believed to have “considerable influence” within the Italian community of Cape Breton, NS, and contributed money to fascist “enterprises” (RCMP: RG 18, F-3, Vol. 3563, Part 1).

From the Sydney Jail, he was eventually transferred to Petawawa Internment Camp on August 12, 1940. His family was not told why he was taken away or where he was going.

He objected to his internment, and a review of his case was heard by Justice J.D. Hyndman. At his hearing, he denied any involvement with the fascio or dopolavoro. He claimed he never sent money or gold to Italy. Justice Hyndman also noted his pre-existing poor health and his confinement to the Petawawa infirmary due to rheumatism. Justice Hyndman wrote: “Regarding the case as a whole, I am of the opinion that this man might very properly be released from internment without danger to the State, and in this regard the police authorities at Sydney agree with me” (J.D Hyndman, October 28, 1940). He recommended a conditional release which required Martinello to report to the police at least once a month. It is unclear why Martinello was held for another 19 months.

While in camp, Martinello made many requests to the Custodian of Enemy Property (CEP) for money to be sent to his camp account, to purchase medicine and food for a special diet: “I am in poor health and require moneys for medicine. The sum of $5.00 as was suggested in your letter is thus not sufficient to take care of my medical requirements and would ask you to send me the sum of at least $10.00” (F.N. Martinello, POW Letter to CEP, August 17, 1941).

During Martinello’s internment, CEP agents visited his family and noted that the home was fairly well-furnished and well-kept. There was a mortgage to be paid. It was noted that “This family seems to have some ability to keep together and to get along in spite of the fact that they have no apparent source of income” (Crowell, Balcom & Co., Letter to CEP, November 7, 1940). Family sources indicate that Martinello had two sons serving in the Canadian military. One daughter was also working to support the Allied war cause.

After his release, he objected to the $50.00 CEP administration fee, and noted he was unwell and in need of an operation.

His cousin Felice Martiniello and his brother Michael Martinello were also interned.

Biography by Lucy Di Pietro
 

SOURCES:

• Library and Archives Canada, Custodian of Enemy Property: RG 117, Vol. 653, Internee File 3609, “Nunziante Martinello.”
• Library and Archives Canada, J.D. Hyndman Fonds: MG 30, E 182, Vol. 14. J.D. Hyndman to Minister of Justice, in the Matter of the Defence of Canada Regulations and in the Matter of Nunziante “Frank” Martinello, Oct. 28, 1940.
• Library and Archives Canada, RCMP: RG 18, F-3, Vol. 3563, Part 1.
• Migliore, Sam & A. Evo DiPierro. Italian Lives, Cape Breton Memories. Sydney: University College of Cape Breton Press, 1999.

POW #: P723
ARRESTED: July 20, 1940
RELEASED: March 04, 1941
NATURALIZED:
BORN: December 27, 1878
DIED:

CAMP(S): Petawawa
TOWN/CITY: Hamilton
MARITAL STATUS: Married
OCCUPATION: Labourer, Steel Company of Canada

RELEASE NOTES: Released unconditionally

Benito Martini came to Canada in 1906. He was married to Palmira. The couple lived at 925 Burlington St. in Hamilton. The Martinis had three daughters and three sons ranging in age from 24 to 35. Their son Quinto was also interned during World War II.

In addition to the house he shared with his wife, Martini owned three more on the same street. Quinto rented a home at 923 Burlington St. East.

Prior to his internment, Martini had worked 31 years in the “blast-furnace, casting department” at the Steel Company of Canada. 

Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) alleged that Martini was a member of the fascio and that he had given money to fascist organizations. During an interview with J.D. Hyndman, a judge appointed to review his case, Martini denied these accusations and stated that the only organization he belonged to was a Hamilton church. 

Regarding the evidence against Martini, Hyndman commented, “As the only material – which can hardly be called evidence – against him was an unsigned statement by parties unknown to me, I came to the conclusion that he was entirely innocent of any wrongdoing or intentions of wrongdoing.”

The RCMP was unable to provide more compelling evidence, as requested by Hyndman, and therefore the judge recommended Martini’s release.

Biography by Travis Tomchuk
 

SOURCES:

• Library and Archives Canada, Custodian of Enemy Property: RG 117, Vol. 671, Internee File 5060, “Benito Martini.”
• Library and Archives Canada, J.D. Hyndman Fonds: MG 30, E 182, Vol. 14, Letter to Ernest Lapointe, Minister of Justice, Jan. 31, 1941.

POW #: P730
ARRESTED: July 20, 1940
RELEASED: January 26, 1941
NATURALIZED: Canadian born
BORN: August 15, 1908
DIED: 1975

CAMP(S): Petawawa
TOWN/CITY: Hamilton
MARITAL STATUS: Married
OCCUPATION: Business agent, Amalgamated Clothing Workers Union

RELEASE NOTES: Unconditional

At the time of his arrest, Quinto Antonio Martini was a textile-union organizer. Martini was married to Lucy; the couple had two young children, a daughter who was 2 years old, and a son who was 7 years old. They were expecting their third child, born on October 1st, while Martini was interned in Camp Petawawa.

In September 1939, Martini presented a resolution at a meeting of about 200 people held at the Casa d’Italia, in which the Italian Canadian community pledged: “Our unreserved loyalty and patriotism to Great Britain and our wholehearted support and aid to the Dominion of Canada in its support of England, France and Poland in their united effort to uphold the principles of democracy and the preservation of peace throughout the world” (Hamilton Spectator, “Local Italians Affirm Loyalty to British Flag”, September 8, 1939). Martini had signed the resolution along with Alphonse Bianco, chairman of the gathering, which was attended by the mayor of Hamilton, William Morrison.

The reasons for Martini’s arrest and internment are not known. His involvement, if any, with the local fascio is unclear. Historian Cumbo claims Martini was interned as much for his union activism as for any alleged pro-fascist sympathies.

During his internment, Martini’s family suffered financially. They did not have any significant assets. Martini had cash totaling $57.20 and two life insurance policies with Metropolitan Life Insurance Company. The inspectors for the Custodian of Enemy Property (CEP) noted that his family had no means of support or income. Lucy Martini wrote the CEP that since her husband’s internment, the union in Hamilton (presumably her husband’s former employers) had paid her $25.00 per week “under the circumstances that I was an expectant mother”. The union stopped paying her as of October 24, a few weeks after the baby’s birth. She applied for government relief in late 1940 and was approved.

Martini objected to the $7.20 administration fee charged to him by the CEP after his release. On his behalf, his lawyers Wash & Evans wrote to the CEP on August 30, 1943. They had represented Martini in his objection to his internment. They note that “the authorities admitted that they had made a mistake in apprehending him”. They continue:

During the time that Mr. Martini was incarcerated, we endeavoured to obtain information as to the charges against him and the alleged evidence in support thereof, but we were given no satisfaction and he continued in confinement for a total of approximately six months and, as a result, Mr. Martini had not only had his reputation seriously damaged, but he was also deprived of his earnings during his internment and for some considerable time after his release. Therefore, since Mr. Martini was eventually found to be innocent, we would think that the Government is the party that should be compensating Mr. Martini rather than Mr. Martini being requested to pay the Government. We fully appreciate that the apprehension of Mr. Martini may have been an excusable mistake, but his detention for a period of six months without a trial in accordance with the democratic ideology that we boast so much about is, in our opinion, unjustifiable. (Wash & Evans, letter to G.G. Beckett, August 30, 1943, RG 117 Vol. 671 File 5051, LAC)

Martini did not pay the fee requested.

After his release, Martini worked as a real estate broker. He remained active with the Italian Canadian community, notably the Order Sons of Italy. Nicolas Zaffiro, the son of internee Francesco Zaffiro recalls the following episode involving his father (a loyal Liberal supporter) and Martini:

—there was a Sons of Italy convention up in the Sault, this is post-war convention… And in the car, there was myself and my father… we were both supporting Liberal politics, and three Conservatives. And one of the Conservatives was Quinto Martini, who was also interned. And he said, “Mr. Zaffiro, how come, why is it that you’re still a Liberal, when the Liberals interned us during the war?” And my father said, “Quinto, listen, Quinto, lucky it was the Liberals. If it was the Conservatives, they would have shot us all.”

Although he had a background with the unions, Martini had become involved with the Progressive Conservative Party. He ran as the party’s candidate for Hamilton East in the 1953 election. He lost, but ran again in 1957, this time winning the seat and becoming the first Italian Canadian elected to Parliament. He served until 1962, when he was defeated by the Liberal candidate.

Biography by Lucy Di Pietro
 

Do you know…
When did Martini pass away?
 

SOURCES:

• Cumbo, Enrico Carlson. “Uneasy Neighbours: Internment and Hamilton’s Italians”. In Enemies Within: Italian and Other Internees in Canada and Abroad. Edited by Franca Iacovetta et al. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2000.
• Hamilton Spectator, “Local Italians Affirm Loyalty to British Flag”, September 8, 1939.
• Interview with Nicholas Zaffiro. May 10, 2011.  ICEA2011.0019.0001, Columbus Centre Collection.
• Library and Archives Canada, Custodian of Enemy Property (CEP): RG 117, Vol. 671, File 5051.
• Parliament of Canada. “Martini, Quinto Antonio”. See: http://www.parl.gc.ca/parlinfo/Files/Parliamentarian.aspx?Item=dd1e1cdf-0dae-432c-981a-488c0e291d91&Language=E

POW #: P198
ARRESTED: June 10, 1940
RELEASED: January 23, 1943
NATURALIZED:
BORN: January 28, 1897
DIED: January 31, 1964

CAMP(S): Petawawa, Fredericton
TOWN/CITY: Cape Breton
MARITAL STATUS: Married
OCCUPATION: Labourer, Dominion Steel and Coal Company

RELEASE NOTES: Conditional release upon undertaking Regulation 24 (Defence of Canada Regulations) and agreeing to a Special Undertaking

Felice (Felix) Martiniello was born in Mirabella Eclano, Avellino, Campania. He had four brothers and a sister. Married to Rosina Di Pasquale and while living in Italy, the couple had a child who passed away in infancy and one daughter Florence. Martiniello served in the Italian military during World War I. He was injured by shrapnel which remained lodged in his foot and leg.

Martiniello travelled to Canada for work in the mid-1920s. At immigration, Canadian officials changed his last name to Martinello, losing one of the “i”s.

In 1926, he was joined by his wife and daughter. At the time, Martiniello had suffered a work-related injury to his back and was unable to work temporarily at the steel plant. When his family arrived, he was both convalescing as well as acting as the caretaker for a monastery outside Antigonish.

The family then moved to Sydney, Nova Scotia, settling in the Whitney Pier area. Martiniello resumed his position at the Dominion Steel and Coal Company. The family also grew to include another seven children born in Canada; one of which did not survive infancy.

Although not well-off, Martiniello was able to support his family. Living in the area known as Whitney Pier, the family was exposed to neighbours from diverse ethnic backgrounds. They used a vacant lot for a vegetable garden. They also kept a cow and chickens, and killed their own pigs to make sausages.

Martiniello was a devout member of the congregation at St. Nicholas Church. He had helped organize the effort to build a church hall for the community. In fact, he was an active member of the larger Italian-Canadian community. In 1935, Martiniello travelled to Montreal with other community members and the parish priest to attend a banquet honouring the creation of a monument sculpted by Guido Casini and dedicated to explorer Giovanni Caboto.

Martiniello also seems to have been a supporter of Italian fascism. He was the secretary of the local fascio. His son Frank Martinello remembers owning a black shirt and attending Italian school. He visited Italy in 1937 or 1938 on a trip that seems to have been sponsored by the Italian government and included Bortolo (Bernie) Gatto, Peter Favretto and other community members. While there, he managed to obtain a signed photograph of Benito Mussolini.

Of his arrest, his son Frank remembers:

…my father had come home from work and we had a huge yard, a big garden … my father wanted to put pipes in to irrigate it all so it would be efficient. And we were working on that when the Mountie and a detective came to the house, actually to the field, and the Mountie, we didn’t know him, but the detective was real friendly with my father. I went to school with his son. So he took my father in the house and that, and after about half hour they came out. They were carrying my father’s double barrel shotgun, a rifle, a revolver and a picture of Mussolini. (Frank Martinello. Personal interview. June 13, 2011. ICEA2011.0034.0001, Columbus Centre Collection)

Martiniello’s daughters were on their way home from school. Ann Dolson notes:

…there was this black car in front of our house and the RCMP and my father with his hands behind his back. Frank says he wasn’t handcuffed but I remember the hands behind his back. He looked at us. He never said a word. He just looked like he was going to cry. And they put him in the car, and we couldn’t say anything to him. I remember that very vividly … Then like later … Another day, I came home from school, and we had such a huge garden … I couldn’t find mother. And I’m screaming “Ma. Ma. Where are you? Where are you?” And I was horrified to think that my mother was taken away. And then she came out from the garden. She says “Anni, che success’?” And I says “Oh Ma. I thought you were taken away”. You know. That was kind of hard to live with for awhile. (Ann Dolson. Personal interview. June 13, 2011. ICEA2011.0035.0001, Columbus Centre Collection)

Martiniello was taken to the city jail, where a fight broke out between the Italian detainees and other prisoners. He was transferred to Petawawa Internment Camp and later transferred to Camp Fredericton. At the latter camp, his daughter Florence was able to visit him.

According to his children, Martiniello did not speak openly about his internment experience except with other internees. From overheard conversations, they know that Martiniello bunked with his cousins Nunziante (Frank) Martinello and Michael Martinello. He took on the cooking chores for his barrack and received a quick course from fellow internee Carlo (Charles) Scarabelli, the executive chef at the Chateau Laurier Hotel in Ottawa. He also spent his time carving wood, and brought home a suitcase full of wooden souvenirs and toys.

Frank wonders if an informant played a role in his father’s internment. Although his father was active in the fascio, he notes that the president was never interned. His father also expressed some concern with the role of the parish priest Father McLean. So much so, that he wrote asking his son to quit serving as an altar boy. Unfortunately for Frank, the result was a sermon in which Frank featured personally and prominently. Embarrassed, he apologized to the parish priest and resumed his role as an altar boy.

While interned, his family struggled to make ends meet. Martiniello’s wife was denied government assistance until she used up all the family’s assets, including the sale of the family home. She refused. Instead, the children helped out as best they could. The older boys snared rabbits and caught fish. They delivered newspapers and shone shoes. Florence became the live-in housekeeper of a well-to-do relative. The younger girls looked after neighbourhood babies and toddlers.

The reasons for his release are not known. However, Martiniello was not allowed to return to Nova Scotia. According to his family, he decided to settle in Hamilton, Ontario, as he had made many friends in camp from that city. He was able to find work in a meat packing house and sent for his family. His children recall the long train trip and being greeted by their father and driven to their new home in a large limousine owned by former internee Gaetano Romanelli.

In 1949, Martiniello was able to visit Cape Breton with his children Frank, Ann, Marty and Junior. He also travelled to Italy with his wife to visit family in 1956. He worked up until the age of 65, when he was forced to retire, with no pension.

He died at 67 years of age. His funeral was attended by former internees from the Hamilton community, including Luigi Mascia, who he befriended and with whom he had first stayed when he was released from camp and had moved to Hamilton.

Biography by Lucy Di Pietro
 

SOURCES:

• Interview with Ann Dolson. June 13, 2011. ICEA2011.0035.0001, Columbus Centre Collection.
• Interview with Frank Martinello. June 13, 2011. ICEA2011.0034.0001, Columbus Centre Collection.
• Library and Archives Canada, Custodian of Enemy Propert: RG 117, Vol 697, File 12073.
• Library and Archives Canada, RCMP: RG 18, Vol 3569, File D.
• Migliore, Sam & A. Evo Di Pierro. Italian Lives, Cape Breton Memories. Sydney: University College of Cape Breton Press, 1999.

POW #: P764
ARRESTED: June 10, 1940
RELEASED: December 03, 1940
NATURALIZED: 1921
BORN: February 14, 1876
DIED:

CAMP(S): Petawawa
TOWN/CITY: Montreal
MARITAL STATUS: Married
OCCUPATION: Secretary, Italian Chamber of Commerce

RELEASE NOTES: Conditional release upon undertaking Regulation 24 (Defence of Canada Regulations)

Francesco Emanuele Martirano was an Italian baron and a descendant of one of Italy’s oldest families. His father was a millionaire and Martirano inherited a fortune. However, for unknown reasons, Martirano lost the inheritance at the age of 35. He then travelled to New York City where he lived for four years before moving to Montreal in 1914. Martirano suffered a stroke in 1927 which paralyzed his left arm and caused mobility issues with his left leg. During his internment camp hearing with J.D. Hyndman, a judge appointed to review his case, Martirano was brought to the judge on a stretcher.

In 1931, Martirano was appointed as secretary of the Italian Chamber of Commerce in Montreal. Martirano told Justice Hyndman that he was given this job out of compassion due to his physical condition. As secretary he was paid $20 per week and only worked a few hours a day.

After Martirano was arrested in June 1940, he spent 55 days at the Bourdeaux Jail in Montreal before being transferred to Petawawa.

Hyndman interviewed Dr. Williams, the medical officer at Petawawa, regarding Martirano’s condition. Williams testified that, in addition to the paralysis, the internee’s mental health was deteriorating and that Martirano “could be looked after in his home quite satisfactorily.”

In a letter to Minister of Justice Ernest Lapointe, Hyndman concluded, “I believe that it would be an act of common humanity to allow this man to return to his home and to his family where he might be properly looked after as the conditions and atmosphere of this internment camp are entirely inappropriate for a man in his condition.”      

Biography by Travis Tomchuk
 

SOURCES:

• Library and Archives Canada, Canadian Armed Forces: RG 24, Vol. 6586, File 5-1-1.
• Library and Archives Canada, Custodian of Enemy Property: RG 117, Vol. 666, Internee File 4768, “Francesco Emanuele Martirano.”
• Library and Archives Canada, J.D. Hyndman Fonds: MG 30, E 182, Vol. 14, Letter to Ernest Lapointe, Minister of Justice, Nov. 8, 1940.

POW #: P744
ARRESTED: June 10, 1940
RELEASED: March 07, 1942
NATURALIZED:
BORN: January 11, 1899
DIED:

CAMP(S): Petawawa
TOWN/CITY: Montreal
MARITAL STATUS: Married
OCCUPATION:

RELEASE NOTES: Conditional release upon undertaking Regulation 24 (Defence of Canada Regulations)

Oreste Martucci was married to Isabella. The couple and their two children lived at 6559 Clarke St. in Montreal. Little else is known about Oreste Martucci.

Biography by Travis Tomchuk
 

SOURCES:

• Library and Archives Canada, Canadian Armed Forces, RG 24, Vol. 6586, File 5-1-1.
• Library and Archives Canada, Custodian of Enemy Property: RG 117, Vol. 660, Internee File 4221, “Oreste Martucci.”

POW #: P286
ARRESTED: June 10, 1940
RELEASED: March 25, 1942
NATURALIZED: February 10, 1926
BORN:
DIED:

CAMP(S): Petawawa
TOWN/CITY: Hamilton
MARITAL STATUS: Married
OCCUPATION: Owner, grocery store

RELEASE NOTES: Conditional release upon undertaking Regulation 24 (Defence of Canada Regulations), monthly reporting, and agreeing to a Special Undertaking

Luigi Mascia arrived in Canada in 1908 at 14 years of age. He first stayed in a boarding house in Oshawa, ON. He eventually met and married Rosina; the couple had two daughters, Phyllis and Josephine. He did try working for Stelco Steel Company but only lasted a week. Instead, with a Grade 3 education, he became a successful businessman, owning a grocery store. He also worked as a sales promotion representative for the Cosgrove’s Dominion Brewery and owned (along with three other partners) a racing stable of eight horses. One of the partners may have been Charles Bordonaro, a known mobster affiliated with Rocco Perri.

Mascia was a prominent member of the Italian Canadian community in Hamilton. He appears as one of seven Italian Canadians featured in the August 8, 1935 issue of the Hamilton Herald, which notes his “track activities” from Mexico to Canada. Two of the other men profiled (Aurelio del Piero and Alfredo Cuomo) were also interned.

According to his nephew, Emilio Mascia, his uncle was a member of the local Order Sons of Italy and at one time had served as its president. According to government documents dating to spring 1940, Mascia was also an “Important member of the Fascio”. His name appears on the list of those who are naturalized, but whose internment is recommended. His nephew believes that his uncle had a naïve understanding of fascism:

…a quel tempo c’era il fascismo per cui eravamo po’tutti un po‘condizionati da questo fatto cio’è ci faceva pensare all’Italia e quasi ci faveva sentie orgogliosi. Non avevamo nient’altro che quest’orgoglio dell’Italia che aveva conquistato l’Africa, aveva vinto i campionati del mondo di calcio anche allora che poi si e ripetuto nel 82 e così via e quindi io ho avuto semprel’impressione che erano tutti un po’confusi delle ragioni della situazione del perchè del come e del quando era successo. (Emilio Mascia. Video Interview, May 10, 2011, ICEA2011.0018.0001, Columbus Centre Collection)

According to his daughter, Phyllis Morreale, Mascia paid the teachers of Italian language classes based in Casa d’Italia out of his own pocket. However, we do know Mascia’s involvement with the fascio was also based on business interests. In a letter to the Custodian of Enemy Property (CEP), dated July 21, 1941, he notes that the $500 given to the building costs of the Casa d’Italia was a loan. He claims that Aurelio Del Piero, who had been recently released from internment himself, had the relevant paperwork. In other correspondence, he notes that the two refrigerators he provided to the Casa d’Italia and the Italian Club on Bay St. were to hold beer which he provided as the representative for Cosgrove’s Dominion Brewery.

On June 10, 1940, Mascia was arrested at home. At the time of his arrest, he had been a citizen (a naturalized British subject) for 14 years. According to his daughter, three plainclothes officers of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) entered the house: “Well, they practically pushed the door, and we heard this big bang. And they came in, ransacked the desk, took all the papers out of the desk, whatever there was there, and they took my father, dragged him in the car, and took him away”(Phyllis Morreale, August 9, 2011, Video Interview, ICEA2011.0032.0002, Columbus Centre Collection).

Along with the others arrested in Hamilton, Mascia was first detained in Toronto at the Canadian National Exhibition (CNE) grounds. At first, he did not understand what was happening. According to his nephew, the internees were not told why they were arrested, where they were going, or how long they would be held. After a few days, his family did find out he was being held in Toronto and was able to travel to the CNE grounds to see him. His wife was told that he was being detained due to the outbreak of war with Italy. His daughter Phyllis, 20 years old at the time, remembers this visit as a particularly traumatic experience – seeing her father parading about the grounds with the other detainees. He was later transferred to Petawawa Internment Camp.

As a community leader Mascia believed he was a visible target for the authorities. His nephew also notes the role of community informants in the Hamilton community. To some they were traitors, whose motivations are unclear but varied from political conviction to personal gain. Mascia’s daughter Phyllis also noted the role of an informer, from the Sicilian group of settlers in the city, who was running one of the first Italian clubs.

At Petawawa, Mascia adapted to life in camp. He played checkers, participated in the organization of the theatre group and performed in plays. He also became great friends with other musicians from Hamilton: Berlino Colangelo, Giovanni Parente, and the brothers Benny Ferri and Francesco Ferri. They would compose songs in the camp, which his nephew describes as: “si e musica che in parole insomma direi veratemente triste – pero nel complesso insomma piacevole c’era sempre un tonno di allegria anche se ripeto si può trapelava la malinconie del posto dove si trovavano.” (Emilio Mascia. Video Interview, November 10, 2011, ICEA2011.0018.0002, Columbus Centre Collection)

Mascia and his friends told his nephew that they were not ill-treated in camp. They could work, but by their own choosing. Many did so to pass the time and earn some money. They also gardened, planting their beloved tomatoes and other crops. We know from letters written by George Capponi (another internee from Hamilton) that Mascia worked in the kitchen preparing meals for the internees and guards.

During his internment, Mascia’s family was able to make do with existing assets (the CEP file notes that his wife owned seven properties in her own name) and the help of others. Of note, Rosina relied on her sister’s family. Her brother-in-law had a good position with Stelco Steel Company.

The reasons for Mascia’s release are not known. His daughter Phyllis believes it resulted from a payout, which she describes as extortion. Along with her mother, she travelled to Ottawa and stayed in the Chateau Laurier at the instigation of an unnamed gentleman from Toronto. This individual requested and received about $5,000 to facilitate the release of Mascia. Within the week, the family were approached by the gentleman at the hotel, and informed that Mascia would be home in a week. According to Phyllis, “And sure enough, my father was home in a week. But we paid money. And we weren’t the only ones. ‘Cause then we got my uncle out.” Her great-uncle on her mother’s side, Sabatino (Sam) Bartolini, was also interned. Phyllis claims they were first made aware of “bought” releases with the early return of Antonio Olivieri, a leading member of the Italian-Canadian community and well-connected with those in powerful positions.

Soon after Mascia’s return home, his daughter Phyllis, having postponed her wedding due to her father’s internment, was able to marry. His other daughter Josephine’s father-in-law, Antonio D’Alessandro, was also interned. 

He resisted speaking about his internment experience with his wife and children. He also preferred that they speak English at home and in public. However, in time, he did speak of his experience with his nephew. He also spoke openly when in the company of his friends from camp (Colangelo, Parente and the Ferri brothers). Emilio notes that the impact of the experience on the lives of the internees is difficult to describe. Along with undertones of resentment, the men also seemed proud of that event in their life:

È stato, e cosa strana, mai che ne ha parlato con odio, con rammarico sì. Ma mai che ha parlato di questa esperienza con l’odio, col, il senso della vendetta. Sì erano un po’quasi rassegnati. In alcuni perchè come dicevo ho avuto modo di parlare con molti che erano stati a “Petawawa”, in alcuni quasi un senso di orgoglio, di essere stati in un campo di concentramento per quello che loro credevano fosse giusto. Quindi una diversità di reazioni asseconda poi della persona, e degli eventi collegati ad essi. (Emilio Mascia. Video Interview, November 10, 2011, ICEA2011.0018.0002, Columbus Centre Collection)

After his release, Mascia was able to rebuild and expand his grocery store business and return to the horse-racing circle he loved so much. In the 1950s, Mascia would sponsor the immigration to Canada of his three brothers and their families. Along with his wife, he spent six months a year in Cuba.

Do you know…
The lyrics for the songs the men composed in camp?

Biography by Lucy Di Pietro

SOURCES:

• Interview with Emilio Mascia. November 10, 2011, ICEA2011.0018.0002, Columbus Centre Collection.
• Interview with Emilio Mascia. May 10, 2011, ICEA2011.0018.0001, Columbus Centre Collection.
• Interview with Phyllis Morreale and Rita Morreale. August 9, 2011, ICEA2011.0032.0002, Columbus Centre Collection.
• Interview with Phyllis Morreale and Rita Morreale. May 2, 2011, ICEA2011.0032.0001, Columbus Centre Collection.
• Library and Archives Canada, Canadian Armed Services: RG24, Vol 6586, File 5-1-1.
• Library and Archives Canada, Custodian of Enemy Property (CEP): RG117, Vol 2019, File 5102.
• Library and Archives Canada, RCMP: RG117-a-3, Vol. 670, File no.5025.
• Library and Archives Canada, RCMP: RG18, F-3, Vol 3563, Part 5.
• Library and Archives Canada, RCMP: RG18, C11-19-2-3-pt 4.
• Nicaso, Antonio. Rocco Perri: The Story of Canada’s Most Notorious Bootlegger. Mississauga: John Wiley & Sons Canada Ltd, 2004.

POW #: P315
ARRESTED: June 10, 1940
RELEASED: October 08, 1941
NATURALIZED: May 03, 1937
BORN: 1899
DIED: November 08, 1971

CAMP(S): Petawawa
TOWN/CITY: Timmins
MARITAL STATUS: Married
OCCUPATION: Businessman

Antonio (Tony) Mascioli arrived in Canada at the age of 17 and worked as a miner in Cobalt, Ontario, before working in the same industry in Timmins. He returned to Italy to perform his obligatory military service and was stationed in Libya which had been under Italian occupation since 1911. Mascioli returned to Canada prior to the outbreak of World War I and once the conflict began found work at a munitions factory in Montreal. After the war he returned to Timmins and went into business with his older brother Leopoldo (Leo) Mascioli. At the time of his arrest, he was the Secretary-Treasurer of Northern Empire Theatres Limited, Timmins Garage Company, and Mascioli Construction Company; and Supervisor of Timmins Garage. He was married to Anna (known as Ninetta); the couple was married by proxy as Ninetta was still living in Italy. Ninetta came to Canada after the war ended. The couple had a son named Norman (b.1924) who was 16 years old in 1940. A first-born son, Dario, passed away in 1928 at the age of seven. The Masciolis lived on Balsam Street in Timmins’ multiethnic neighbourhood known as Moneta.

Norman Mascioli described his father Antonio as “a people person” who was always willing to help those in need. Mascioli was active within the Timmins Italian community. He helped many write letters to the Italian Consular agent in Sudbury – G.C. Colombo who was also interned – and provided assistance in personal and business matters. 

In 1938, Mascioli, along with this brother Leo, returned to Italy to visit his ailing mother. 

In the 1920s, Mascioli was a member of the Count Cavour Society in Timmins but it eventually became inactive. In 1939, a lodge of the Order Sons of Italy was established in Timmins by Tomasso Mari, a member of Toronto’s Fascio Principe Umberto.  

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) considered Mascioli to be the main organizer and fiduciary of the Timmins fascio. He was believed to have joined the organization in the early 1930s and was known to provide financial support to fascist organizations and to have close relationships with Italian consular officials in Toronto and Ottawa. When Mascioli was arrested in June 1940, he had 15 membership cards for the North Bay Section of the Italian Fascio Abroad, Partito Nazionale Fascista (PNF, National Fascist Party) as well as five letters that demonstrated his support for the Italian government and its foreign policies.

In a statement given to the RCMP, Giovanni Battista Moretti alleged that:

About one year after I arrived in Timmins, I received a letter from Italo Gioia, organizer for the Fascist Party at North Bay, asking me to see Antonio Mascioli concerning joining the Fascist party. I did not go immediately on receiving this letter and about one month later received a second letter, again notifying me to see Mascioli. Shortly afterwards I called on Mascioli at his home which was then on Balsam St. W., Timmins.  He said that all Italians should join the Fascist Party. As I shortly before arrived in Canada from Italy where my present wife was then living, I was somewhat afraid of possible consequences of a refusal to join the Party as Mascioli desired. He took down my particulars on a form and in two or three month’s time I received a membership card from North Bay, I think it was signed by Italo Gioia. The dues were $3.00 or $4.00 yearly but I never paid anything because I was unemployed at the time. Later in 1934 or 1936 Tony Mascioli started a drive for members to the Fascist Party and got more than one hundred.

On the night of June 9, 1940, Mascioli and others were involved in organizing a meeting to demonstrate that Timmins’ Italian community was loyal to Canada. All those present swore allegiance to the Canadian government and the British Crown. Both Antonio and Leo Mascioli were arrested the next day. 

During his trial at the Petawawa internment camp on July 22, 1940, Mascioli admitted to giving $100 to the Italian Red Cross during the Ethiopian campaign. Ninetta had also donated a ring. He was candid about his involvement in the North Bay fascio but stated his involvement with the organization ended in 1935 or 1936 once the relationship between Italy and England had soured. Mascioli explained his reasons for joining the fascio: “I thought it was anti-communist – I favoured anti-communism. Then we were told that nobody except those of the very best reputation could join it so we fell for it and thought it was a good thing to belong to.”

Antonio Mascioli did not see his involvement in the North Bay fascio as disloyalty to Canada. In fact, he demonstrated his patriotism on a number of occasions. For example, both he and Leo financed the building of floats at their own expense during parades in Timmins celebrating the Jubilee of King George V in 1935 and during a royal visit by King George VI and Queen Elizabeth in 1939.

Mascioli was released on February 18, 1941 but re-arrested and interned on September 8, 1941. Until his release in October, he was held at the Provincial Jail, Haileybury, Ontario. His son Norman recalled that his father’s second internment was even harder on Ninetta than the first. Yet the reasons for Mascioli’s re-internment are vague. After being released for the second time, Mascioli resumed his role as his brother’s business partner.

Biography by Travis Tomchuk
 

SOURCES:

• Interview with Norman Mascioli, May 10, 2011. Columbus Centre Collection.
• Library and Archives Canada, RCMP: RG 18, Vol. 3563, File C-11-19-2-3 Part 3, Letter from S.T. Wood, RCMP Commissioner, to Louis St. Laurent, Minister of Justice, to 20 Apr. 1941.
• Library and Archives Canada, Custodian of Enemy Property: RG 117, Vol. 642, Internee File 2835 “Leo and Antonio Mascioli.”

POW #: P321
ARRESTED: June 10, 1940
RELEASED: February 18, 1941
NATURALIZED: Yes
BORN: 1876
DIED: April 24, 1951

CAMP(S): Petawawa
TOWN/CITY: Timmins
MARITAL STATUS: Widowed
OCCUPATION: Businessman

Leopoldo (Leo) Mascioli traveled to the United States at the age of ten. He was accompanied by a distant relative and landed in Boston where he worked as a shoeshine and a newsboy before finding employment in local restaurants. At the age of 19, Mascioli overheard an employment agent extolling the opportunities and adventures one could have in Canada. The agent’s words piqued his interest and he and a few friends signed a six-month contract for a steel company located in Sydney, Nova Scotia, the following year. By 1898 he was working as a foreman erecting towers to carry transoceanic wireless equipment. It was through this work that he met Italian inventor Guglielmo Marconi.

Mascioli returned to Italy in 1904 to marry his childhood sweetheart, Raffaella Di Dominicis and the couple would have four children: Maria (died at age 20), Daniel (died within a year of being born), Loretta and Daniel. His wife and eldest daughter Maria joined him in Canada in 1908. In the meantime, Mascioli had resumed working at various mines, slowly making his way to Timmins, Ontario. In 1911, he opened a general store in that town. Raffaella travelled to Italy in 1912 in the hope that the milder climate would help ease an illness from which she suffered. She returned to Canada, where their son was born in 1913. The couple would also return to Italy sometime in 1914. Raffaella would die there in November of that year. Upon his return to Timmins, Mascioli began building hotels and movie theatres in various towns in northern Ontario. Some of his business endeavors were shared with his younger brother, Antonio Mascioli. In 1938 he incorporated the Mascioli Construction Company and revisited Italy for his mother’s funeral.

On 10 June 1940, Leo Mascioli and his brother Antonio were arrested by the RCMP and accused of involvement in fascist organizations in both Timmins and Italy. Mascioli was 64 years old at the time and had been a citizen (a naturalized British subject) since 1921. He had many roles and titles including: President, Timmins Theatres Limited, Northern Empire Theatres, Empire Hotel Company of Timmins, Timmins Garage Company, and Mascioli Construction Company; Vice-President, Lady Laurier Hotel; and Managing Director, Timmins Theatres Limited.

While interned at Petawawa, Leo’s and Antonio’s families would send them care packages with food so they could make meals for themselves and fellow campmates. According to court documents from Mascioli’s hearing at Camp Petawawa, he denied that he had ever joined the fascio in either country, and had not signed any application for membership or attended any meetings. However, Mascioli did admit to carrying a Partito Nazionale Fascista (PNF, National Fascist Party) membership card when he returned to Italy for his mother’s funeral in 1938. He had been advised by the Italian consul general that having the card would make travel in the country easier. On his return to Canada, Mascioli threw away the card immediately. As a man of prominence in Timmins, he also felt obligated to attend a few social gatherings held in honour of visiting Italian dignitaries.  RCMP did find a PNF membership card dated 1935 with Mascioli’s name on it in Antonio’s house. However, Mascioli had never signed the card and appears to have had no knowledge of its existence. 

While interned, Mascioli feared that all of the assets and companies that he had worked a lifetime to build might be handed to the Custodian of Enemy Property. His son Dan was able to persuade the Dominion government to allow him to oversee and manage his father’s business concerns. Due to strong support from the local community and numerous testimonies on his behalf, Mascioli was released after 8 months. Yet, the stigma of being labeled an “enemy” meant people treated Mascioli differently. Longtime business associates would cross the street to avoid talking to him. As a result, Mascioli never felt completely comfortable living in Timmins and spent his time in various northern Ontario cities where his construction company was under contract.  It was not until years later that he remarried and settled permanently in Toronto, Ontario. Mascioli died in 1951.

Biography by Travis Tomchuk
 
SOURCES:

• Interview with Norman Mascioli, May 10, 2011. Columbus Centre Collection.
• Interview with Paula Mascioli, June 16, 2011. Columbus Centre Collection.
• Interview with Sandy O’Grady, August 10, 2011. Columbus Centre Collection.
• Interview with Joan Stirling-McKinnon, April 14, 2011. Columbus Centre Collection.
• Library and Archives Canada, Custodian of Enemy Property: RG 117, Vol. 642, Internee File 2835 “Leo and Antonio Mascioli.”
• Paula Mascioli, granddaughter of Leo Mascioli. Correspondence with project staff at Columbus Centre of Toronto, April-June 2012.
• “Memorandum Re: Leo and Antonio Mascioli,” n.d., Mascioli Collection, Columbus Centre.
• The Timmins Daily Press, 27 March 27 1939: 6.

POW #:
ARRESTED:
RELEASED:
NATURALIZED:
BORN:
DIED:

CAMP(S):
TOWN/CITY:
MARITAL STATUS: Unknown
OCCUPATION:

No biography available for this internee.

POW #: P733
ARRESTED: June 10, 1940
RELEASED: January 30, 1942
NATURALIZED: February 18, 1931
BORN: March 31, 1882
DIED:

CAMP(S): Petawawa
TOWN/CITY: Hamilton
MARITAL STATUS: Married
OCCUPATION: Steamship agent, Consular agent; Landscaper, Hamilton Sodding & Landscape Co.

RELEASE NOTES: Conditional release upon undertaking Regulation 24 (Defence of Canada Regulations) and monthly reporting

In 1940, Nicola Masi was a travel agent living in Hamilton, ON – he operated a steamship agency office. He also carried out landscape work, on occasion, for Hamilton Sodding Landscape Co. Married to Mary Josephine, the couple had three children:  two sons (10, 3) and a daughter (9).

Masi was a member of the Trieste Lodge of the Order Sons of Italy (OSI), founded in 1920. The OSI was a very important cultural and social organization for the local Italian Canadian community. Along with Aurelio Del Piero (also interned), Masi helped form a Grand Lodge comprised of the seven lodges in Ontario in 1924-1925. Masi was elected the first Grand Venerable of the Ontario Grand Lodge of the Sons of Italy (OSIO) in 1926 and held the position for eight years. Del Piero was elected the first treasurer.

As there was no Vice Consulate in Hamilton, Masi also carried out consular duties for the Italian government on a honourary basis. As a result, it is not surprising that he was a member of the local fascio. However, he seems to have been purposefully targeted by other fascists in their attempts to gain control of the OSI. Meant to be apolitical, according to Libero Sauro (also interned), fascists began to influence the OSI as early as 1934. He writes:

In 1934 a Grand Convention was held in Sault Ste. Marie to elect a new Grand Council of the Order. At that time and since, I believe, Italian consuls attempted to put key men in all the Italian organizations in order to sway the opinions of their members in favour of the fascist regime; the Sons of Italy was not spared.  Among the Grand Delegates present at Sault Ste. Marie was a certain Tommaso Mari. As I now understand he had a mandate from Consul General Petrucci of Ottawa to make sure that Dr. Vittorio Sabetta should be elected Grand Venerable of the Order, because the then Grand Venerable, Nicola Masi, or any other in the ranks, did not suit him. The Grand Delegates, not being aware of Mari’s scheme elected Dr. Sabetta Gran [sic] Venerable and Tommaso Mari himself Grand Orator; these are the two most important offices in the Grand Council.  Since then, I believe, Dr. Sabetta has always been obliging towards the Italian Consuls, and Tommaso Mari has lost no opportunity to publish in his paper “Il Bollettino” any declaration made by Dr. Sabetta that appeared to be pro Fascist. (Rev. Libero Sauro, document, Facts About The Order Of Sons of Italy of Ontario Mutual Benefit Society, Columbus Centre Collection)

Dr. Vittorio Sabetta was interned at Camp Petawawa. Mari asked for deportation in place of internment and was sent to Italy; he later returned to Canada. Masi was arrested on June 10, 1940 and interned on June 20, 1940.

According to his Custodian of Enemy Property file, Masi appears to have not had significant assets. His family suffered during his internment:

…My family of course require assistance and I would ask that the creditors wait until my release. I do not desire to obtain the cash surrender value of the policy, because if the policy is surrendered my family will be left without any funds whatsoever. I think that the Dominion Government should take care of my family until I am released. (Nicola Masi to Custodian of Enemy Property, November 21, 1940, RG117 Vol 670 File 5034, LAC)

The family did apply for government relief. Masi himself seems to have been in a military hospital at some point during his internment, the reasons for which are not known.

He was ordered released on January 26, 1942. It is unclear if this resulted from an objection to internment by Masi himself, and a resulting hearing. After the war, it appears Masi continued his involvement with the OSI and OSIO.

Some sources place the same Nicola Masi in Vancouver, along with his brother Flavio Masi (convicted to two years in Kingston Penitentiary for counterfeit immigration permits). In 1915, he seems to be serving as Italian Vice Consul in Vancouver, having assisted in providing aid to wounded veterans of the Italo-Turkish War. However, sources also indicate his primary role in the establishment of an Italian language school in Vancouver in 1929, by which point a Nicola Masi was serving at Grand Venerable of the OSIO. It is unclear how to reconcile the claim and dates.

Biography by Lucy Di Pietro

Do you know…
What happened to Masi after the war?
Is there any relationship between this Nicola Masi and a Nicola Masi who appears as Vice Consul in Vancouver from 1915-1930?

SOURCES:

• Culos, Ray. Vancouver’s Society of Italians. Vancouver: Harbour Publishing, 1998.
• Cumbo, Enrico Carlson. The Italian Presence in Hamilton: A Social History 1870-2000. Toronto: [the author], 2000.
• Hamilton Spectator. “Local Italians Affirm Loyalty to British Flag”. September 8, 1939.
• Library and Archives Canada, Canadian Armed Forces: RG24, Vol 6586, File 5-1-1.
• Library and Archives Canada, Custodian of Enemy Property (CEP): RG117, Vol 670, File 5034.
• Library and Archives Canada, RCMP: RG18, F-3, Vol 3563, Part 5.
• Library and Archives Canada, RCMP: RG146, Vol 97, File AH-1999/00227, “The Organization and Activities of the Italian Fascist Party in Canada,” Ottawa, 1937, p12.
• Nicaso, Antonio. Rocco Perri: The Story of Canada’s Most Notorious Bootlegger. Mississauga: John Wiley & Sons Canada Ltd, 2004.

POW #:
ARRESTED: June 20, 1940
RELEASED: June 12, 1940
NATURALIZED:
BORN:
DIED:

CAMP(S):
TOWN/CITY: Vancouver
MARITAL STATUS: Unknown
OCCUPATION:

Mario Masi lived in Vancouver, BC. On June 20, 1940, he was arrested and detained at the Immigration Building in Vancouver until July 12, 1940.  Nicolo Silverstone, also of Vancouver, was arrested and released on the same dates; it is likely that Silverstone and Masi knew each other.  Nothing else is known about Masi.

Biography by Louanne Aspillaga
 

SOURCE:

• Minister’s Orders List.

POW #: P774
ARRESTED: August 09, 1940
RELEASED: December 22, 1940
NATURALIZED:
BORN: August 01, 1895
DIED:

CAMP(S): Petawawa, Fredericton
TOWN/CITY: Montreal
MARITAL STATUS: Married
OCCUPATION: Owner, Park Avenue Shoe Repair

RELEASE NOTES: Conditional release (see below)

Vincenzo Massone was married to Josephine. The couple lived with their son at 8281 St. Denis St. in Montreal. Park Avenue Shoe Repair was located at 5400A Park Ave.

Massone was the treasurer of the Unione Abruzzese Gabriele D’Annunzio which may have been a mutual aid society. The group’s president, Enrico Pasquale, was also interned.

During Massone’s internment, Josephine may have taken in boarders to supplement the income she received from the shoe repair business.

Massone’s release conditions were as follows: he had to report to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) once a month, could not change his place of residence or leave Montreal without the consent of RCMP, and was forbidden to be involved in fascist activities or organizations.

Biography by Travis Tomchuk
 

SOURCE:

• Library and Archives Canada, Custodian of Enemy Property: RG 117, Vol. 672, Internee File 5119, “Vincenzo Massone.”

POW #: P780
ARRESTED:
RELEASED: March 04, 1942
NATURALIZED:
BORN:
DIED:

CAMP(S): Petawawa
TOWN/CITY: Montreal
MARITAL STATUS: Married
OCCUPATION: Gardener/Janitor

RELEASE NOTES: Conditional release upon undertaking Regulation 24 (4) (Defence of Canada Regulations)

Giovanni (John) Mastromonaco was born in Provvidenti, Campobasso, Italy. As a young man, Mastromonaco and his two brothers followed their father to Cleveland, Ohio, where the latter had immigrated in search of work. After four years, his father returned to Italy, and Mastromonaco and his two brothers moved to Montreal’s Saint-Henri neighbourhood, where other paesani lived. Along with his brothers, he continued to support his parents, both living in Italy. In Montreal, he started working as a gardener/janitor, known in Italian as fornacià. His son Joseph Mastromonaco noted:

In those days . . . the landscape gardener was called a fornacià that means someone who takes care of the furnace. Now they had the key to go into the private homes of all the very elite Anglo-Saxons. So they would go in the morning at 6:00 to put coal, and they would go back at night at 6:00 to put coal… And this is why most of those coming from Provvidenti never went through a depression. Because they had to shovel snow in the middle of the winter and, you know do the landscaping, cut the grass, take care of the flowers… (Joseph Mastromonaco, June 16, 2011).

According to his son, Mastromonaco enjoyed his work and had a good relationship with his English and Jewish clients.

Mastromonaco got married and had two sons. His Canadian-born wife (of Italian ancestry) was pregnant with their third child in late spring of 1940. Although Mastromonaco did not make much money, and did not have any savings, he managed to support his family. They lived in a home owned by his mother-in-law and got along well with their Italian and French Canadian neighbours.

Joseph noted that his father was active in the local Italian community. He was a member of the Saint-Henri fascio and the Order Sons of Italy: “But my direct recollection of the Fascist Party and the Sons of Italy in those days was … the only thing they ever did was help the church, the French Church and the English Church in our district” (Joseph Mastromonaco, June 16, 2011). In fact, he stated that his two uncles Michael and Dominic Mastromonaco were also members of the fascio, but neither was interned. Michael served as the director of the Saint-Henri fascio.

Joseph was four years old when the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) showed up at his home one evening: “And the night that the RCMP came into the house I remember because it was very noisy and I did not know what was going on. And way back then there was no Gyprock. There was plaster and they would break the walls to see if they could find arms. And this is when they took away my father” (Joseph Mastromonaco, June 16, 2011). His pregnant mother quickly ushered her very young sons into another room and told them not to come out. The oldest son heard his mother yelling and, despite his fear, opened the door to peek. He remembered that his father calmly asked, “But what’s the problem? What’s the problem?” His father was told he was a fascist, had to lie down on the floor and was handcuffed. Then, Mastromonaco was taken from his home.

The family was left with rummaged belongings, holes in the walls, and no answers. They only learned of Mastromonaco’s whereabouts six months later. By then he had been transferred from Bordeaux Jail to Petawawa Internment Camp. He missed not only the birth of his youngest child but also the baby’s first birthday. His family suffered during his internment, as noted during a visit of the inspectors for the Custodian of Enemy Property (CEP): “His earnings apparently did not exceed $15.00 to $20.00 per week, and his family are [sic] in very poor circumstances… His mother-in-law is contributing to the support of the family, but this help barely provides enough for the family to live. We would recommend that this case be placed before the Relief authorities” (Price Waterhouse & Co., Letter to Edgar T. Read, Stamped Received June 21, 1941).

Despite her strained financial situation, Mastromonaco’s wife worked to free her husband. She approached a Liberal aide who requested money in order to assist the family. They did not have any resources to spare for this “fee.” Instead,

…she went [to] see this Tony Mancini, because Tony Mancini was involved in politics and being involved in politics he had the connections for the other party, the blue, the Union Nationale, Mr. Maurice Duplessis. And in our area at the time was a gentleman who represented Mr. Duplessis… And my mother went [to] see him. And he says “I don’t promise you anything, but I will go to Ottawa and see what I could find out.” He did. He came back, he told my mother—in fact, he set up for that my mother to go see my father in Petawawa. And he did not ask for a cent (Joseph Mastromonaco, June 16, 2011).

With his mother-in-law’s financial assistance, Mastromonaco’s wife was able to visit her husband in camp on a few occasions.

The reasons for his release are not known. After his internment, Mastromonaco had to rebuild. Although he later became successful – his sons helped to grow the family landscaping business and eventually took over – Mastromonaco’s internment had a lasting impact:

And I always remember finding it hard to approach him, you know, when he came home. That I found, maybe that caused my stuttering. I don’t know, but I would find it hard. Because at the beginning, I would say, but how come at school when the parents go… I kept asking my mother all the time, “But where’s my father? How come everybody else has a father?” And I did my First Communion, and he wasn’t there and I remember that. That I remember; my father wasn’t there  (Joseph Mastromonaco, June 16, 2011).

Mastromonaco passed away at 51 years of age.

Biography by Lucy Di Pietro

SOURCES:

• Interview with Joseph Mastromonaco. June 16, 2011. Columbus Centre Collection.
• Library and Archives Canada, Custodian of Enemy Property: RG 117, Vol. 565, Internee File 3860, “Giovanni Mastromonaco.”

POW #: P857
ARRESTED: September 21, 1940
RELEASED: March 22, 1943
NATURALIZED:
BORN: March 17, 1897
DIED:

CAMP(S): Kananaskis, Petawawa, Fredericton
TOWN/CITY: Thunder Bay
MARITAL STATUS: Unknown
OCCUPATION:

There is hardly any information on Adolfo (Adolph) Mauro.

Biography by Travis Tomchuk

SOURCE:

• Library and Archives Canada, RCMP: RG 18, Vol. 3563, File C-11-19-2-3, Part 1, “Minister’s Orders – Italian,” no date.

POW #: P722
ARRESTED: July 18, 1940
RELEASED: May 22, 1942
NATURALIZED:
BORN: November 15, 1902
DIED:

CAMP(S): Petawawa
TOWN/CITY: Niagara Region
MARITAL STATUS: Married
OCCUPATION: Labourer, Dufferin Construction Company

RELEASE NOTES: Conditional release upon undertaking Regulation 24 (Defence of Canada Regulations) and reporting monthly

There is very little information known about Raffaele Mauro. He was born in 1902 in Mangoni, Cosenza, Italy.

At the time of his arrest, he was married to Agata and they had two children: Jeannie was 15 and Armando was 13. Although he owned his home, carrying a mortgage to Pasquale Salfi, who was also interned, his family suffered as a result of his internment. They applied for government relief.

The reasons for Mauro’s arrest are not known. However, he carried a policy from the Order Sons of Italy in Niagara Falls. He worked for a company owned by James Franceschini, one of the most prominent Italian Canadian internees.

Biography by Lucy Di Pietro

Do you know…
Why was Mauro interned?

SOURCES:

• Library and Archives Canada, Custodian of Enemy Property: RG 117, Vol. 667, Internee File 4872, “Raffaele Mauro.”
• Library and Archives Canada, RCMP: RG 18, F-3, Vol. 3563, Part 5.
• Library and Archives Canada, RCMP: RG 18, Vol. 3569, File D.

POW #: P352
ARRESTED: June 10, 1940
RELEASED: September 25, 1943
NATURALIZED:
BORN: March 28, 1893
DIED: June 15, 1969

CAMP(S): Petawawa, Fredericton
TOWN/CITY: Windsor
MARITAL STATUS: Married
OCCUPATION: Postmaster, Court Interpreter, Notary Public, Travel Agent, Winemaker and Grocery Store Operator

RELEASE NOTES: Conditional release (see below)

Luigi Meconi arrived in Canada in 1909 at the age of 16. During World War I, he enlisted with the Canadian Expeditionary Force.

Meconi was married to Emilia. The couple lived at 475 Windsor St., in Windsor, with four of their five children. Henry was 17, Frank 14 and Norando 10. Claire was born on November 4, 1921. Their oldest son – 29-year-old Domenic – lived in Ethiopia. Meconi owned two properties on Wyandotte St. East.

Mrs. Meconi sent her husband an Underwood typewriter after having obtained permission from the camp commandant. During her husband’s internment, she was forced to cash in her life insurance to support her family. She also opened the Rose Garden Restaurant in the family home.

According to J.D. Hyndman, a judge appointed to review the cases of internees, Meconi was an admitted fascist.

Biography by Travis Tomchuk
 

SOURCES:

• Interview with Andrea Grimes. July 19, 2011. Columbus Centre Collection.
• Library and Archives Canada, Custodian of Enemy Property: RG 117, Vol. 649, Internee File 3303, “Luigi Meconi.”
• Library and Archives Canada, J.D. Hyndman Fonds: MG 30, E 182, Vol. 14, Letter to Ernest Lapointe, Minister of Justice, Jan. 29, 1941.

POW #: P408
ARRESTED: June 10, 1940
RELEASED: September 05, 1942
NATURALIZED:
BORN:
DIED:

CAMP(S): Petawawa, Fredericton
TOWN/CITY: Montreal
MARITAL STATUS: Single
OCCUPATION: Physician

RELEASE NOTES: Conditional release

Dr. Carlo Melillo lived at 1045 St. Denis St. in Montreal. His office was located at the same address.

Melillo’s release conditions were as follows: he had to report to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) once a month, could not change his place of residence or leave Montreal without the consent of RCMP, and was forbidden to be involved in fascist activities or organizations.

Biography by Travis Tomchuk

SOURCE:

• Library and Archives Canada, Custodian of Enemy Property: RG 117, Vol. 660, Internee File 4259, “Carlo Melillo.”

POW #: P1163
ARRESTED: June 10, 1940
RELEASED: September 06, 1941
NATURALIZED: 1915
BORN: 1907
DIED:

CAMP(S): Kananaskis, Petawawa
TOWN/CITY: Northern Alberta
MARITAL STATUS: Married
OCCUPATION: Farmer

RELEASE NOTES: Conditional release upon undertaking Regulation 24 (Defence of Canada Regulations)

Rodolfo (Rudolph) Michetti was born in the small town of Corropoli, Abruzzi, Italy in 1907. He came to Canada as a child on April 4, 1917 with his mother and brother, to be reunited with his father. Another seven siblings would be born in Canada. Rudolph’s father, Giuseppe Michetti, was a member of the founding group that established the Italian farming community of Venice, Alberta. Michetti had worked in the United States before settling in Alberta.

At 18, Rudolph Michetti was sent to Calgary to study to become a mechanic and steam engineer. In Calgary, he met Antonio Rebaudengo, the Italian consular agent and fascist promoter. It is unclear what became of Michetti’s studies. He seems to have settled in nearby Hylo, Alberta. At the time of his arrest, he was a farmer, married, and had five children ranging in age from 2 to 9 years old. According to his Custodian of Enemy Property (CEP) file, he owned a substantial amount of land, some of which he rented to others – perhaps on a sharecropping basis.

Michetti seems to have played a primary role in the formation and organization of the fascio in Venice in 1925, along with Antonio Rebaudengo, Efisio Manca, and Benedetto Colli. They were aided by the Italian consular agent Pietro Colbertaldo, who would later have a similar role in the Italian Canadian communities of Vancouver and Winnipeg. The fascio had about 40 members, including Oliver John Biollo (also interned). Michetti seems to have been a fervent member, and was elected president in 1926. According to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP):

It was learned that Michetti on several occasions approached different citizens in Hylo and Venice with a view of obtaining membership in the Fascio. In one instance he approached one Salvadore Giocobbo, a farmer of the Venice district, and he stated that anyone who refused to join the party would be dealt with as they did in Italy with those who refused, namely the castor oil treatment. This threat against Giocobbo caused him to leave the district until such time as the Fascist Party in that area was organized. It was reported that on several occasions he used force and intimidation in obtaining members for the Fascio and did not hesitate to express the opinion that ‘some time they would wish they had joined. (RG18 F-3 Vol 3563 part 2)

The RCMP files further note that on the occasion of his sister’s wedding, Michetti placed an Italian flag in the church and said, “This is the only flag” and that “Someday the people of this country will have to respect it.” The report also claims that he wore a black shirt at all community functions prior to the outbreak of war.

In 1926, Michetti attended a convention in Calgary of all fasci in Alberta. The convention resulted in the formation of a Provincial Federation of the fasci of Calgary, Edmonton, Lethbridge and Venice. In 1927, he served as the Provincial Regent – the nature of the role and its responsibilities is not detailed. The police file also notes that Michetti had expressed anti-British sentiments in the past, and was considered by the RCMP to be a “potential saboteur”.

Michetti was arrested along with his father, Giuseppe, and taken to Edmonton. After a hearing, his sick father was released and returned home a short time later. Rudolph was interned at Camp Kananaskis and later transferred to Camp Petawawa.

Little is recorded of his internment experience. At Petawawa, he was placed on work duty cutting down trees. The reasons for his release are not known. Details of his life after his return home are not available.

Biography by Lucy Di Pietro

Do you know…
What happened to Michetti after the war?

SOURCES:

• Bonifacio, Tony. Venice Alberta 1914: The Pioneers and Others that Lived There. Undated. Unpublished.
• Davies, Adriana. ICEA Research Report. 2012. Unpublished.
• Davies, Adriana. “The Black-Shirted Fascisti are Coming to Alberta”. In Beyond Barbed Wire: Essays on the Internment of Italian Canadians. Edited by Licia Canton et al. Toronto: Guernica, 2012.
• Library and Archives Canada, Custodian of Enemy Property: RG 117m Vol 690m File 7337.
• Library and Archives Canada, RCMP: RG18, F-3, Vol 3563, part 2.

POW #: P436
ARRESTED: June 10, 1940
RELEASED: June 24, 1941
NATURALIZED: 1914
BORN: February 24, 1885
DIED:

CAMP(S): Petawawa
TOWN/CITY: Montreal
MARITAL STATUS: Married
OCCUPATION: Foreman, Canadian Import Company

RELEASE NOTES: Unconditional release

Adolfo Miele came to Canada in 1898 and never returned to Italy. He was married to Domenica. The couple had nine children (six sons and three daughters) ranging in age from 16 to 31. Domenica had given birth to 12 children in total, but three had died prior to 1940. The family residence was located at 1314 Britannia St. in Montreal.

Miele had worked for the Canadian Import Company since 1921 and often put in 10 to 15-hour days. He had previously been a foreman for the Canadian Pacific Railway and the Grand Trunk Railway.

From 1930 to 1937, Miele was the treasurer of the Caserta Society – a benevolent association. He had also been a member of the dopolavoro for a few months in the early 1930s. Miele admitted to J.D. Hyndman, a judge appointed to review his case, that he had been to the Casa d’Italia but only to attend Caserta Society meetings.

Miele’s son Pasquale provided the following information to Hyndman:

[A]bout five or six months ago a person, who he is unable to name, approached him offering to get his father out of internment on payment of $3,000. He refused to entertain the offer largely for the reason that it was impossible to raise any such amount of money. He also stated that his father “had a row with one, Bersani,” over his father’s refusal to co-operate with the International Union; that the witness had belonged to the International Union but left because “he was not satisfied with the way things were going” and he gives [sic] an account of a meeting at which Bersani threatened to have all foremen deported if they refused to co-operate with his union. He himself protested that this statement was irregular and Bersani threatened to “have him thrown out of the meeting.”

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) may also have mistaken Adolfo Miele for another gentleman who lived in New York City and made frequent trips to Montreal. As Hyndman elaborated, the “fact that this man has been a resident of Canada since 1898 and has never been back to Italy since, … it is unfair, and I might also say ridiculous that he is disloyal to this country and would commit criminal acts against it. … I am inclined to think that a mistake has been made in this case by confusing this man with a gentleman of the same name from the United States who apparently was a prominent man among the Italians and who, it would appear, was entertained very generously on his visits to Montreal.” Hyndman recommended Miele’s release.

Biography by Travis Tomchuk

SOURCES:

• Library and Archives Canada, Custodian of Enemy Property: RG 117, Vol. 672, Internee File 5115, “Adolfo Miele.”
• Library and Archives Canada, J.D. Hyndman Fonds: MG 30, E 182, Vol. 14, Letter to Ernest Lapointe, Minister of Justice, Mar. 19, 1941.

POW #: P627
ARRESTED: June 25, 1940
RELEASED: April 03, 1941
NATURALIZED: July 24, 1924
BORN:
DIED:

CAMP(S): Petawawa
TOWN/CITY: Windsor
MARITAL STATUS: Married
OCCUPATION: Stationary engineer, Maintenance Department, City of Windsor

RELEASE NOTES: Unconditional

Not much is known about Eugenio Milito. He had been in Canada since at least 1914, and was a citizen (a naturalized British subject). At the time of his arrest, he was 50 years old and worked for five years, part-time, in the maintenance department for the City of Windsor. Married to Josephine Briglio, the couple had six children. His name does appear on the government list dating to spring 1940 of “Important members of the fascio who are naturalized and whose internment is recommended”. The Windsor Police Register notes the “Offence Charged” as the Defence of Canada Act. Milito was released into the custody of Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) Bridges on June 26, 1940, presumably for transfer to Petawawa Internment Camp.

The Custodian of Enemy Property (CEP) maintained a file on this individual, which notes that his family faced financial hardship. They applied for and received government relief. His daughter worked for the Guaranty Trust Company of Canada. This same company was CEP’s agent for the Windsor internee files. As a result, they oversaw her father’s affairs. Her employers wrote to CEP on Milito’s behalf:

His oldest daughter has been employed by the writer for about a year. We have found her very trustworthy and in view of the fact that a number of Internee’s have been released recently we would like to know if anything can be done on behalf of Mr. Milito particularly in view of the fact that he has such a large family. The mother is on relief and requires every bit of assistance that she can get. (Edward T. Berry, Manager, letter to CEP, January 20, 1941, RG117 Vol 653 File 3642, LAC)

The reasons for his release are not available. Other biographical information is lacking.

Biography by Lucy Di Pietro

Do you know…
What was the nature of Milito’s activities with the fascio?
What happened to Milito after the war?

SOURCES:

• Library and Archives Canada, Custodian of Enemy Property (CEP): RG117, Vol 653, File 3642.
• Library and Archives Canada, RCMP: RG 18, C11-19-2-3-pt 4.
• Windsor Police Services Board and Windsor Police Service, RG8, D records of operational divisions 1915-1959, II. Administratibve Division 1920-1957 1. Criminal Records Branch – Prisoners Registers 1920-1950, Unit 11 [1940].

POW #:
ARRESTED: July 04, 1940
RELEASED: June 17, 1942
NATURALIZED: Yes
BORN:
DIED:

CAMP(S): Petawawa
TOWN/CITY: Cape Breton
MARITAL STATUS: Unknown
OCCUPATION: Miner

RELEASE NOTES: Had to report monthly to RCMP

Leo Minello was interned at the same time as Giacomo Venzon, Bortolo Gatto, Giovanni Pozzebon, Rodolfo Razzolini and Paul Veracalli. All of these men worked in the mines with Minello. 

A Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) report explained the reasons for Minello’s internment: Minello’s fascist “tendencies prompted him to commit an assault which created some disturbance at New Waterford. Public feeling, with respect to persons of Italian origin, is extremely high in the coalmining area of Cape Breton at the present time and an outbreak might seriously disrupt the operation of the mines there. This man was the constant companion of known Fascists, and has indulged in anti-British expressions.”

Biography by Travis Tomchuk
 

SOURCE:

• Library and Archives Canada, RCMP: RG 18, Vol. 3563, File C-11-19-2-3, Part 1, Memorandum from RCMP to the Inter-Departmental Committee, July 4, 1940.

POW #: P909
ARRESTED: November 25, 1940
RELEASED: July 14, 1941
NATURALIZED: Yes
BORN: September 10, 1894
DIED:

CAMP(S): Petawawa, Fredericton
TOWN/CITY: Hamilton
MARITAL STATUS: Married
OCCUPATION: Blacksmith, Donald Ropes and Wire Cloth Company

RELEASE NOTES: Conditional release (see below for full details)

Fortunato Mirabile was born in Castroreale, Messina in Italy on September 10, 1894. He was Roman Catholic.  He attended elementary school before doing an apprenticeship in blacksmithing (1908-1914).  He served in the Italian Army during the First World War before working as a blacksmith in his hometown. In 1921, he married Anna Maria.

On April 2, 1923, Fortunato arrived in Canada via New York aboard the S.S. Colombo.  His wife followed him shortly after on August 13, 1925. Mirabile became naturalized on November 2, 1929. He was registered under the National Registration Act on August 19, 1940. The couple lived on Robert St. in Hamilton, ON and they were childless.

On November 25, 1940 at 9:30 a.m. Mirabile was arrested at Donald Ropes and Wire Cloth Company on King William Street, where he worked as a blacksmith.  He was sent to Toronto the following day, where he was likely held at the Canadian National Exhibition (CNE).  Shortly after, he arrived at Camp Petawawa on November 29th, 1940.

Aside from having served in the Italian Army, other reasons for Mirabile’s internment may have been due to the following:

1) His application for membership into the Giuseppe Tudisco Lodge of Hamilton;
2) a photo of him with the Fascio Giuseppe Tidusco, dated April 21, 1929;
3) his contribution to the Italian Red Cross during the Ethopian War;
4) his membership and post (Secretary) at the Italian War Veterans National Association; and
5) his knowledge of explosives gained from doing Army service but also from a previous employment at a quarry.

Mirabile was interned for about eight months.  His wife worked for Copply, Noyes & Randall, Tailors, where she earned $14-$18 per week.  Anna Maria stated that she able to provide for herself during her husband’s absence.

When Mirabile was released on July 14, 1941 at 7:25 a.m. it was noted that “As Mirabile did not acquire naturalization until November 2, 1929, he must report to the RCMP, Hamilton, ON, immediately upon his arrival at that point when the matter of his registration and parole, in compliance with existing regulations, will receive attention.”

Biography by Louanne Aspillaga
 

SOURCES:

• Hamilton Ontario List
• Library and Archives Canada, Custodian of Enemy Property: RG 117, Vol. 687, Internee File 6859 “Fortunato Mirabile.”
• Minister’s Orders List, V2 & V4.

POW #: P705
ARRESTED: June 10, 1940
RELEASED: February 11, 1943
NATURALIZED:
BORN: September 02, 1890
DIED: November 18, 1970

CAMP(S): Petawawa, Fredericton
TOWN/CITY: Toronto
MARITAL STATUS: Widowed
OCCUPATION: Owner, M. Missori & Co. (Steamship and Insurance Agent)

RELEASE NOTES: Conditional release upon agreeing to a special undertaking

Marco Missori was born on September 2, 1890 in Montecompatri, Lazio, Italy.

At the time of his arrest, Missori was a widower; his wife Maria Busseri had passed away in 1937. The couple had three children: Rolando was 13, Tina was 14 and Kathleen was 16 years old. Kathleen was living in Italy with family.

A steamship agent for Italian lines and an insurance agent, Missori’s business suffered after the outbreak of war. His contract with Occidental Life Insurance Co. was cancelled on November 1, 1939. Therefore, to make ends meet, he sold coal, shoe polish, books, tobacco and other items. He may also have provided notary services, assisting with the business affairs of other Italian Canadians. He shared office space with Frances David Ungaro, a lawyer, who helped Missori and others during their internments.

Missori was active in the Italian Canadian community of Toronto. He served as president of the Circolo Colombo, which was founded in 1916. Operating out of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish, the club offered recreational and cultural activities and published a monthly bulletin in English. The club had some influence, which it used to promote fascist endeavours in the 1930s, including the publication of the fascist newspaper Corriere italiano and fundraising to send children on summer trips to Italy. 

Missori served as a director of the Fascio Principe Umberto, located within the Casa d’Italia, along with others such as Eliseo Orlando, Teodoro Zambri and Massimo Iacopo Magi who were also interned. Missori was the administrative secretary of the fascio for four years. He resigned as a director in 1937, citing personal reasons. He read, and was also featured in, the newspaper Il Bollettino italo-canadese, which became overtly fascist in the 1930s. Among his friends, he counted Tommaso Mari, the editor of Il Bollettino and employee of the Italian consulate. Mari gave the eulogy at Maria Missori’s funeral.

Missori was also a member of the Supreme Lodge of the Ontario Order Sons of Italy, acting as the Grand Recording Secretary. The offices of the Supreme Lodge were located within the Casa d’Italia. At various times, the membership of the Supreme Lodge included Dr. Vittorio Sabetta, Aurelio Del Piero, Nicola Masi, F. Zambri, Rev. Libero Sauro and Tomasso Mari. They were all interned except for Mari, who chose to be repatriated to Italy.

On June 10, 1940, Missori had been in Canada for over 20 years, having arrived in 1913. He was not a citizen (a naturalized British subject). He was arrested at home, and he was led away in handcuffs while two of his children watched. He was taken to the Don Jail. The children were left parentless and had to move in with their aunt Caroline Scorsone. His brother-in-law, the musician Frank Busseri, was also arrested and interned.

Although he was well-connected in the Italian Canadian community, Missori struggled financially just before his arrest. In October 1940, the Custodian of Enemy Property (CEP) had decided to withdraw from his case, and “let creditors take whatever steps they deemed advisable to protect their interests.” Missori responded:

The only assets that I possess is [sic] the above property on which there are a first and second mortgage. The only payment claimed and due is the interest on the first mortgage amounting to $62.30. The Attorney for this mortgagee … threatens to take foreclosure proceedings unless the above amount is paid.
I have no one outside who could look after my interests and for this reason urgently request that the Custodian continue to act on my behalf and protect my interests. He could rent the said property… I am certain that if no legal proceedings are allowed for a little while, that I will be able to find means to pay the interest due on the first mortgage, and save my property (Marco Missori, Letter to Custodian of Enemy Property, December 3, 1940).

Missori objected to his internment, but his detention was ordered continued on June 15, 1942. On his release in 1943, Missori worked for the Scorsone Fruit Market. Soon afterwards, he worked as an elevator operator for the King Edward Hotel. In response to the CEP’s request for payment of the administration fees due to his account, he wrote:

I have been interned for over thirty-two months – I have lost all my property and business and I have two children to support… At the present time I am working as on elevator operator during the night at the King Edward Hotel. My salary is $22.60 a week. With the salary I receive I have so many taxes to pay: Insurance, unemployment, union and my family to support. As you can see I am in no condition to make this payment – However, if you can make a generous reduction to permit and put me in a position to pay I would do it willingly (Marco Missori to G.G. Beckett, Assistant Deputy Custodian, July 16, 1943).

In a 1978 interview, Ruggero Bacci, also interned, stated that Missori used his connections to resell liquor, specifically whisky, while he was employed at the King Edward Hotel. He was able to make enough money to eventually buy a home and reopen his agency. According to his son-in-law, Lawrence Lamentia, Missori went into real estate and insurance. He later became a travel agent. His daughter Kathleen was able to rejoin the family in 1946.

After the war, Missori continued his involvement with the Order Sons of Italy. He was also involved in founding the Italian Immigrant Aid Society, which is today known as COSTI. He regained his status as an active and prominent member of the Italian Canadian community in Toronto.

Marco Missori passed away on November 18, 1970 in Pantano Borghese, Lazio, Italy.

Biography by Lucy Di Pietro

SOURCES:

• Interview with Lawrence Lamentia. September 27, 2011. Columbus Centre Collection.
• Interview with Ruggero Bacci. 1978. Courtesy of the Bacci Family. Columbus Centre Collection.
• Library and Archives Canada, Custodian of Enemy Property: RG 117, Vol. 657, Internee File 3940, “Marco
• Missori.”
• Library and Archives Canada, Marco Missori Fonds: MG 30, C 99.
• Library and Archives Canada, RCMP: RG 18, Vol. 3569, File D.
• Library and Archives Canada, RCMP: RG 146, “The Organization and Activities of the Italian Fascist Party in Canada,” Ottawa, Vol. 97, p. 12, 1937. File AH-1999/00227.
• Principe, Angelo. The Darkest Side of the Fascist Years: The Italian-Canadian Press, 1920-1942. Toronto: Guernica, 1999.

POW #: P268
ARRESTED: June 10, 1940
RELEASED: November 03, 1940
NATURALIZED:
BORN: March 26, 1912
DIED:

CAMP(S): Petawawa
TOWN/CITY: Toronto
MARITAL STATUS: Single
OCCUPATION: Law Student, Roebuck and Bagwell

RELEASE NOTES: Conditional release upon undertaking Regulation 24 (Defence of Canada Regulations) and required to report monthly to the authorities

Francesco (Frank) Molinaro lived with his family at 19 Gore St. in Toronto. His father, Pasquale Molinaro, and his brother, Giulio Molinaro, were interned. At the time of his arrest, Francesco was a law student working for Roebuck and Bagwell located at 372 Bay St.

Little else is known about Francesco Molinaro.

Biography by Travis Tomchuk

SOURCES:

• Library and Archives Canada, Canadian Armed Forces: RG 24, Vol. 6586, File 5-1-1.
• Library and Archives Canada, Custodian of Enemy Property: RG 117, Vol. 668, Internee File 4944, “Francesco Molinaro.”

POW #: P272
ARRESTED: June 10, 1940
RELEASED: October 29, 1940
NATURALIZED: Canadian born
BORN: June 13, 1918
DIED:

CAMP(S): Petawawa
TOWN/CITY: Toronto
MARITAL STATUS: Single
OCCUPATION: Law Student, University of Toronto

RELEASE NOTES: Conditional release upon undertaking Regulation 24 (Defence of Canada Regulations)

On the afternoon of June 10, 1940, Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) officers went to Giulio (Julius) Molinaro’s family residence located at 19 Gore St. in Toronto. They held Molinaro at home until the arrival of his older brother Francesco Molinaro and his father Pasquale Molinaro, who worked for the Toronto Transportation Commission (TTC). Then, the three men were taken to the Claremont Street police station where they were fingerprinted and photographed. They were transferred to the Automotive Building at the Canadian National Exhibition grounds, which acted as a marshalling area of Italian Canadian internees prior to being sent to the Petawawa Internment Camp.

Molinaro felt that he was interned because he took Italian language courses, he went to Toronto’s Casa d’Italia, and he was the president of an Italian Canadian youth club.

Years later, Molinaro became a professor at the University of Toronto.   

Biography by Travis Tomchuk
 

SOURCES:

• Dutton, Don. “Italian Internees Seek Apology,” The Toronto Star, Jan. 12, 1990: A22.
• Library and Archives Canada, Canadian Armed Forces: RG 24, Vol. 6586, File 5-1-1.
• Library and Archives Canada, Custodian of Enemy Property: RG 117, Vol. 668, Internee File 4943, “Giulio Molinaro.”
• Molinaro, Julius. “Interned Italian Canadians Owed an Apology,” The Toronto Star, Jan. 15, 1990.

POW #: P266
ARRESTED: June 10, 1940
RELEASED: April 11, 1941
NATURALIZED:
BORN: March 30, 1893
DIED:

CAMP(S): Petawawa
TOWN/CITY: Toronto
MARITAL STATUS: Married
OCCUPATION: Street car operator, Toronto Transportation Commission (TTC)

RELEASE NOTES: Released conditionally upon his first subscribing to the Undertaking set out in Regulation 24 of the Defence of Canada Regulations.

Pasquale Molinaro was born in Italy on March 30, 1893. He lived on Gore Ave. in Toronto. He worked as a street car operator for Toronto Transportation Commission (TTC). His wife’s name was Maria.

When World War II broke out, Molinaro was interned together with two of his sons: Francesco (Frank) Molinaro, age 26, and Guilio (Julius) Molinaro, age 22. On June 10, 1940, Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) officers arrived at the family home to arrest all three. Molinaro and his sons were taken to the police station on Claremont St. where they were fingerprinted and photographed. They were held at the Automotive Building at the Canadian National Exhibition (CNE), before being shipped to Petawawa.

While her husband was away, Maria was left to take care of their other kids: Beatrice (20), Robert (19), and Alfred (16).

Pasquale Molinaro was released in April of 194, half a year longer than his two sons who were both released in the fall of 1940.

Biography by Louanne Aspillaga
 

SOURCES:

• Dutton, Don. “Italian Internees Seek Apology,” The Toronto Star, Jan. 12, 1990: A22.
• Library and Archives Canada, Canadian Armed Forces: RG 24, Vol. 6586, File 5-1-1.
• Library and Archives Canada, Custodian of Enemy Property: RG 117, Vol. 668, Internee File 4943, “Giulio Molinaro.”
• Library and Archives Canada, Custodian of Enemy Property: RG117-A-3, Vol. 668, Internee File 4971, “Pasquale Molinaro.”
• Library and Archives Canada, RCMP: RG18, Vol. 3569, File D.
• Minister’s Orders List V1 & V3.
• Molinaro, Julius. “Interned Italian Canadians Owed an Apology,” The Toronto Star, Jan. 15, 1990.

POW #: P589
ARRESTED: June 17, 1940
RELEASED: August 30, 1941
NATURALIZED: 1937
BORN: April 21, 1897
DIED:

CAMP(S): Petawawa
TOWN/CITY: Montreal
MARITAL STATUS: Married
OCCUPATION: Serviceman, Bell Telephone Co.

RELEASE NOTES: Conditional release upon undertaking Regulation 24 (Defence of Canada Regulations), reporting monthly to RCMP, and refraining from employment in connection with any essential services or war industries or in the vicinity of Montreal harbour.

Giuseppe Mollo came to Canada in 1912. He became a citizen (a naturalized British subject) in 1937. Mollo worked for Bell Telephone Co. as a residential serviceman at the time of his internment.

Mollo was married to Rose Colangelo, and they had two sons: 17-year-old Pasquale and 13-year-old Giovanni. Mollo’s internment greatly impacted his family. Pasquale was working as a tailor’s apprentice for no wages. The family had to apply for relief. The authorities noted that Mollo possessed few assets and rented his home at $19.00 a month. An inspection of the premises revealed that the family had “barely sufficient food or shelter.” They were given $6.20 a month.

On arriving home, Mollo found out that his eldest son had passed away at 19 years of age – one day before his father’s release from Petawawa.

In April 1943, Mollo was working for L.G. Ogilvie Co. Ltd. In 1944, Mollo suffered from rheumatic fever.

Biography by Lucy Di Pietro

Do you know…
The Custodian of Enemy Property file on Mollo notes he worked for Defense Industries Ltd. During what time period would this have been?
 

SOURCES:

• Library and Archives Canada, Custodian of Enemy Property: RG 117, Series A-3, Vol. 652, Internee File 3553, “Giuseppe Mollo”
• Library and Archives Canada, Custodian of Enemy Property: RG 117, Series A-3, Vol. 654, Internee File 3737, “Giuseppe Mollo and Louis Soccio”
• Library and Archives Canada, RCMP: RG 18, F-3, Vol. 3563, Part 4.
• Library and Archives Canada, RCMP: RG 18, Vol. 3565, File C.11.19-2-3.

POW #: P480
ARRESTED: June 10, 1940
RELEASED: February 04, 1943
NATURALIZED:
BORN: 1893
DIED:

CAMP(S): Petawawa, Fredericton
TOWN/CITY: Montreal
MARITAL STATUS: Married
OCCUPATION: Labourer; Employee, Corona Bakery

RELEASE NOTES: Conditional release; Justice J.D. Hyndman recommended Monaco’s release in the matter of the Defence of Canada Regulations

Antonio Monaco came to Canada in 1920 and was naturalized in 1933. In 1940, Monaco was living in Montreal with his wife and four children. He was a labourer on relief at the time of his arrest and internment. His brothers, Vincenzo Monaco and Donato Monaco, were also interned.

According to his nephew, Michael Monaco, Antonio was very involved in the family business, Corona Bakery, and didn’t have much time for social activities. However, he may have been involved with fascist groups but only insofar as he was looking for a place to spend his free time: “I think my uncle Tony was a member of the fascist group, or whatever they called it. But like I say, he was illiterate; he didn’t read or write. So it was a place for him to go every once and a while… These men didn’t have activities ’cause they worked. You know… I mean I’m talking about my uncles. I’m not talking about … the fascists” (Michael Monaco, June 23, 2011).

Michael Monaco explained that Vincenzo and Donato Monaco were arrested on June 10, 1940, whereas Antonio Monaco was arrested at his home three days later. However, government record indicate he was detained on June 10, 1940. Antonio was interned for a longer period of time than his brothers. He was released more than three years after Justice Hyndman examined his case under the Defence of Canada Regulations.

According to Justice Hyndman, Monaco was a member of certain organizations but never belonged to the fascio:

He testified under oath that he never belonged to the Fascio or Dopolavoro – that he never held any position in the Fascist school and knows nothing about schools; he is unable to read or write—that he never attended Fascist meetings—never sent money or gold to Italy. The only Society to which he belonged was the Italo-Canadian Mutual Aid Society, later changed to the War Veterans Association, Italian Branch . . . that he was a member of the Council of the Army and Navy for two years; that his children go to Sunday-school, but not to Italian night-schools—that he never carried on propaganda—that he helped the War Veterans when the King and Queen were in Canada, and that he has no knowledge or idea as to why he should be interned (J.D. Hyndman, Nov. 25, 1940).

Hyndman further explained that the Italo-Canadian Mutual Aid Society, later known as the War Veterans Association, Italian Branch, made a division to the ranks of membership about five years prior to the outbreak of war. The organization asked its members to join either the side of the Canadian War Veterans, and democracy, or the side of the fascists. Monaco joined the first. 

On November 25, 1940, Hyndman ordered Monaco’s release from internment, as he was neither a fascist nor a danger to the country. Hyndman wrote: “I formed a good opinion of this man who appeared to be frank and honest and simple, and I am satisfied that he is not a Fascist and not in any way a danger to the State, and, in my opinion, should be released from internment” (J.D. Hyndman, Nov. 25, 1940).

However, Monaco was not released until February 4, 1943, and with specific conditions. According to the Minster of Justice, Louis St. Laurent, Monaco was required to report monthly to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), was not permitted to change his place of residence without reporting to the local RCMP. Other conditions included the following:

That he will not journey from Montreal without first reporting details of his proposed trip to your Force at Montreal, and if so required by your Force, he will report at his destination or destinations, to such police officer or officers as may be designated by your Force; that he obey all laws and regulations, and do everything reasonably possible to assist in Canada’s war effort, and that he do or say nothing that might in any way detract from the war effort of Canada or its Allies, or that might in any way assist or encourage any enemy of Canada or its Allies; that he have nothing to do with Fascism or any Fascist or other forbidden club or organization (Louis St. Laurent, Feb. 4, 1943).

Prior to his release, Monaco was required to agree to the conditions by signing the document. According to his nephew, Monaco’s personality had changed in some ways. He was more agitated: “…and my uncle Tony was very fussy when he worked because he was the helper and he worked with this fellow Malatesta. He was his helper. And he’d say to him, ‘Now don’t touch my rags. I’ll wash my own rags. And no one can touch Uncle Tony’s rags or his pail.’ That was the biggest thing you can do, because he worked for my friend, you know. And, ‘You don’t touch your Uncle Tony’s rags’” (Michael Monaco, June 23, 2011).

Biography by Krystle Copeland
 

Do you know…
Why was there a delay between Hyndman’s recommendation for Monaco’s release and his actual release from camp?

SOURCES:

• Interview with Michael Monaco. June 23, 2011. Columbus Centre Collection.
• Library and Archives Canada, J.D. Hyndman Fonds: MG 30, E 182, Vol. 14. J.D. Hyndman to Minister of Justice, in the Matter of the Defence of Canada Regulations and in the Matter of Antonio Monaco, 40D-269-4-D-173, Nov. 25, 1940.
• Library and Archives Canada, RCMP: RG 18, F-3, Vol. 3563, Part 5. Louis St. Laurent, Minister of Justice, to S.T. Wood, RCMP Commissioner, Feb. 4, 1943.

POW #: P557
ARRESTED: June 10, 1940
RELEASED:
NATURALIZED:
BORN:
DIED:

CAMP(S): Petawawa
TOWN/CITY: Montreal
MARITAL STATUS: Married
OCCUPATION: Baker & Owner, Corona Bakery

Donato Monaco was a married man with six children at the time of his arrest and internment. He was a baker and co-owner of the family business, Corona Bakery in Montreal. He worked closely with his brothers Vincenzo Monaco and Antonio Monaco. The brothers attended the Italian United Church of the Redeemer. According to family members, Donato was not as involved as Vincenzo in the church and its activities.

On June 10, 1940, Donato Monaco was arrested at the Corona Bakery after his brother Vincenzo had already been picked up by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP). His nephew, Michael Monaco, explained that he and his mother watched two plain-clothed RCMP officers arrest Donato and remove him from the bakery:

So when we got there, there was my uncle talking to a flour salesman and just then two big tall fellas came in and they said, “Mr. Monaco?” So the flour salesman says, “Yes, I’m Mr. Monaco.” So they showed him their badge: RCMP. “We want to talk to you downtown.” So the flour salesman says, “No, this is Mr. Monaco.” So my uncle was gone. He still had his cap of the flour company on his head. They wouldn’t even let him put his fedora on because my uncle was bald. (Michael Monaco, June 23, 2011).

Monaco’s eldest daughter, Mary, was the bookkeeper for the Corona Bakery. She was also an organist at the Italian United Church of the Redeemer. According to Justice Hyndman, Mary Monaco was present at the meeting where members of the congregation were asked to raise their hand in a vote between two ministers, Reverend Augusto Bersani and Reverend Domenico Scalera. As she explained to Justice Hyndman, the vote led to Bersani’s removal from the church and eventually to her father’s internment: “She stated … that after her father’s internment Bersani passed by her house and wanted to have news of her father as to when he might come out – he made the remark, ‘It is your turn to cry now. All who raised their hands were interned,’ meaning that all those in the congregation who voted against him are interned” (J.D. Hyndman, Dec. 3, 1940). Mary Monaco told Justice Hyndman that her family had never given money to the fascio. In fact, she “loathed fascism.”

Anne Girolamo, the wife of internee Nicola Girolamo, said that her husband and Donato Monaco were good friends and that they were both arrested due to their involvement in the church and specifically because they voted against Bersani. Bersani expressed a great deal of interest in Girolamo’s arrest and internment:

She stated that Bersani came to her house the Sunday following the arrest of her husband and asked her “if her husband was arrested.” He told her he was trying to get her husband released as soon as he found out where he was. He came on several other nights, and on one occasion said “he and God were trying to get him out.” She filed with me a letter from Bersani, dated at Ottawa, June 19th, 1940, which is attached hereto, and states that she has not heard from him since… She said that her husband favoured Salera [sic] and that Bersani was “sore” (J.D. Hyndman, Dec. 3, 1940).

As Mary Monaco told Justice Hyndman, she was the bookkeeper at the bakery for five years. She had many opportunities to overhear conversations between her father and uncle: she was “…consistently in the office with a full opportunity to hear all conversations which usually go on in a place of that sort, and testified most emphatically that her father and uncle never discussed Fascism; that they were not Fascists; and had nothing whatsoever to do with the Fascist cause” (J.D. Hyndman, Dec. 3, 1940).

Biography by Krystle Copeland

Do you know…
How long was Donato Monaco interned for?

SOURCES:

• Interview with Michael Monaco. June 23, 2011. Columbus Centre Collection.
• Library and Archives Canada, J.D. Hyndman Fonds: MG 30, E 182, Vol. 14. J.D. Hyndman to Minister of Justice, in the Matter of the Defence of Canada Regulations and in the Matter of Antonio Monaco, 40D-269-4-D-173, Nov. 25, 1940.
• Library and Archives Canada, J.D. Hyndman Fonds: MG 30, E 182, Vol. 14. In the Matter of the Defence of Canada Regulations and in the Matter of Vincenzo Monaco, 40D-269-1-D-751, Dec. 3, 1940.

POW #: P427
ARRESTED: June 10, 1940
RELEASED: December 27, 1940
NATURALIZED:
BORN: July 16, 1900
DIED:

CAMP(S): Petawawa
TOWN/CITY: Montreal
MARITAL STATUS: Married
OCCUPATION: Baker & Owner, Corona Bakery; Construction worker

RELEASE NOTES: Conditional release; Justice J.D. Hyndman recommended Monaco’s release in the matter of the Defence of Canada Regulations

Vincenzo Monaco arrived in Canada in 1923 and became a citizen (a naturalized British subject) in 1931. He worked at the Margherita Bakery on Clark St. in Montreal. Monaco lived above the bakery with his wife and daughter Mary. After his only son, Michael, was born, the family moved to Bordeaux St. in 1932. Monaco worked in construction for a period. Then he started a family business, the Corona Bakery, with his brothers Donato Monaco and Antonio Monaco.

The three brothers worked long hours because the bakery was open seven days a week. Michael Monaco said that his father was very involved with the bakery. He spent all of his spare time at the Italian United Church of the Redeemer because he was a very religious man: “Well, really, you know, it’s not like today you see the fathers bring their kids to baseball. I didn’t have a father like that. My father was [at the] bakery. It was the garden and church. Those were his three places” (Michael Monaco, June 23, 2011).

Michael Monaco explained that his father was interned as a result of a vote held at his church, where the congregation was asked to choose between two ministers, Reverend Augusto Bersani and Reverend Domenico Scalera, by raising their hands. Monaco voted for Scalera, a man with fascist views. Bersani, an anti-fascist, lost his place at the church.

Monaco was arrested on June 10, 1940, while delivering bread with his horse and buggy. His wife was at home wondering why he had not returned. One of the neighbours asked her: “Mrs. Monaco, did you hearing the news that they’re arresting a lot of Italian men? They think they’re fascists, they’re traitors to the country.” And that’s when my mother says, “Well, I’m gonna go to the bakery and see my brother-in-law and see what he’s talking about” (Michael Monaco, June 23, 2011).

When Mrs. Monaco and her son arrived at the bakery, two plain-clothed Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) officers entered and asked to speak with Donato Monaco. They immediately arrested him and took him downtown. The family then realized what must have happened to Vincenzo Monaco. Mrs. Monaco went home to bury her husband’s World War I Italian uniform and rifle. She feared that the police would search their home.

Monaco was 40 years old and had five children when he was interned. His internment lasted just over six months. His case was heard before Justice Hyndman on October 30, 1940. Monaco was accompanied by C.A. Sylvestre, a Montreal advocate. Hyndman also heard witnesses testify on Monaco’s behalf on November 21 and 22 of that year. In his report to Ernest Lapointe, Hyndman explains that he had a good impression of Monaco:

He gave his evidence in a simple straightforward manner. He impressed me as being a decent, honest law-abiding man incapable of committing subversive acts with which he has been charged. The evidence which I took in Montreal confirmed my good impression of him, and he was corroborated on all material points by witnesses in whom I have the greatest confidence … it is my absolute conviction that this man is entirely innocent of any subversive act or intentions, and that justice can only be done by ordering his immediate release from internment (J.D. Hyndman, Nov. 25, 1940 and Dec. 3, 1940).

During his hearing with Hyndman, Monaco was asked why he believed he had been falsely interned since he had no links to fascist or subversive activities. He responded that Reverend Bersani had given false information about him as an act of revenge. Hyndman noted in his report that many members of Bersani’s church who were at odds with him ended up being arrested and interned along with Monaco. According to Mrs. Monaco’s testimony, the family’s good relations with Bersani ceased after the voting incident in 1938:

…following Monaco’s internment, [Bersani], on several occasions, called at her home to enquire about her husband, posing as a friend, and led her to believe he was doing his best to bring about his release as he was “very innocent.” He offered to take clothing to him, and Mrs. Monaco gave him certain articles to take to her husband at the jail, but they never were received by her husband. On one occasion he made the remark to her, “Remember when I was put out of the church I suffered. Now your husbands are suffering” (J.D. Hyndman, Dec. 3, 1940).

According to his son, Monaco viewed his time away as a vacation from work, since he had never been able to take time off. However, his internment was more difficult on the family and the business. The family was not able to visit Monaco in Petawawa. The Corona Bakery was almost lost. Even after his release on December 27, 1940, Monaco, his wife and eldest daughter were required to report to the RCMP, despite the fact that they were Canadian citizens.

Biography by Krystle Copeland

SOURCES:

• Interview with Michael Monaco. June 23, 2011. Columbus Centre Collection.
• Library and Archives Canada, J.D. Hyndman Fonds: MG 30, E 182, Vol. 14. J.D. Hyndman to Ernest Lapointe, Nov. 25, 1940, Defence of Canada Regulations in the Matter of Vincenzo Monaco, 40D-269-1-D-751, Dec. 3 1940.

POW #: P731
ARRESTED:
RELEASED: February 14, 1941
NATURALIZED: Yes
BORN: 1891
DIED:

CAMP(S): Petawawa
TOWN/CITY: Hamilton
MARITAL STATUS: Married
OCCUPATION: Business man, Owner of Peter F. Monte Real Estate and Insurance

RELEASE NOTES: Unconditionally released, but must report to RCMP upon arrival at Hamilton, ON, as he did not acquire Canadian citizenship through naturalization until 1924. His registration and parole will receive attention when he reports.

Pietro (Peter) Frederick Monte was born in Rhode Island in 1891. His parents had immigrated to the United States in 1882. Monte’s father died in 1899. In 1911, Monte and his mother moved to Canada where they settled in Hamilton. By 1924, Monte was naturalized. His mother passed away in 1932.

Monte married a Canadian-born Irish woman and they had two sons (age 23, Fred; age 21, name unknown). He was the owner of Peter F. Monte Real Estate and Insurance, located at 183 ½ Sherman Ave. North. The family lived at 164 Sanford Ave. South in Hamilton. 

Monte had never been to Italy but during World War I, he collected donations for the Red Cross. In 1940, he was a captain of the Red Cross Italian campaign. Monte’s company covered insurance for the dopolavoro building, and as part of good business rapport he accepted membership after being asked to join. Such activities perhaps led to Monte’s arrest and internment on June 20, 1940. However, seven months later on February 14, 1941 at 7:25 a.m., he was released on the advice of J.D. Hyndman.

After Monte’s release, he went right back to work. A letter from his company dated June 7, 1941, and signed by Monte himself, was written to Price, Waterhouse & Co. in Toronto regarding fellow internee, Domenico Bruni, who he likely met at Camp Petawawa. While Bruni was interned, Monte corresponded with Mrs. Bruni, regarding the possible sale of their second property. Monte informs Price, Waterhouse & Co. that Mrs. Bruni has decided against selling the house, but that he has since rented it out for them. Further, Monte advices that since the house needs considerable repair, he believes that Mrs. Bruni will be set back financially for a period of three months.

Biography by Louanne Aspillaga

Do you know…
What happened to Pietro (Peter) Frederick Monte after his release from camp?
Did his business continue to thrive post-war?
 
SOURCES:

• Hamilton Ontario List.
• Library and Archives Canada, JD Hyndman: MG30, E182, Vol. 14.
• Library and Archives Canada, Custodian of Enemy Property: RG117, Vol. 2018, Internee File 5052, “Pietro (Peter) Frederick Monte.”
• Minister’s Orders List V1 & V2.

POW #: P558
ARRESTED: June 10, 1940
RELEASED: July 09, 1941
NATURALIZED:
BORN:
DIED:

CAMP(S): Petawawa
TOWN/CITY: Montreal
MARITAL STATUS: Married
OCCUPATION:

RELEASE NOTES: Unconditional release

Silvio Monti was married to Letizia Zacaria and the couple lived at 257 Belanger St. in Montreal. Their two youngest children, Liliane (19) and Ettore (12), lived with them. The oldest son, Attilio (23), worked for the Department of Highways in Quebec City. While Silvio was interned, Letizia received $6.20 per week in relief payments.

Biography by Travis Tomchuk

SOURCE:

• Library and Archives Canada, Custodian of Enemy Property: RG 117, Vol. 661, Internee File 4385 “Silvio Monti.”

POW #: P588
ARRESTED:
RELEASED: May 08, 1941
NATURALIZED: Yes
BORN: 1881
DIED:

CAMP(S): Petawawa
TOWN/CITY: Montreal
MARITAL STATUS: Married
OCCUPATION: Unemployed

RELEASE NOTES: Released Unconditionally. As the date of Morielli’s naturalization has not been established, he must report to the RCMP at Montreal, QC, immediately upon his arrival at that point, where the matter of his registration and parole, in compliance with existing regulations will receive attention.

Nicola Morielli was born in 1881 in Italy. He came to Canada in 1902 and was naturalized. Two years later, on July 4, 1940, he was interned at Petawawa Internment Camp. At the time of his arrest he was married with three children and they were living on Clarke St. in Montreal. He was unemployed and had been on relief (welfare) since 1932 because he had rheumatic disorder.

There was a report that Morielli was a member of the fascio and the dopolavoro; and further, that he had given gold to Italy and the Italian Red Cross to support Mussolini. He was also known to be anti-British. Morielli had argued that he had not been back to Italy since he left and that the claims against him were untrue. The agent who gave such evidence against Morielli was SA 204 ― an agent who was unsworn and one who JD Hyndman had never heard of.

He was released on May 8, 1941 at 12:12 a.m.

Biography by Louanne Aspillaga

SOURCES:

• Library and Archives Canada, Custodian of Enemy Property: RG117, Vol. 6586, File 5-1-1.
• Library and Archives Canada, Custodian of Enemy Property: RG117, Vol. 695, Internee File 11080, “Nicola Morielli.”
• Library and Archives Canada, JD Hyndman Fonds: MG30, E182, Vol. 14.

POW #: P202
ARRESTED:
RELEASED: September 21, 1942
NATURALIZED:
BORN:
DIED:

CAMP(S): Petawawa, Fredericton
TOWN/CITY: Cape Breton
MARITAL STATUS: Married
OCCUPATION: Miner

RELEASE NOTES: Released conditionally upon his first subscribing to the Undertaking set out in Regulation 24 of the DOCR and further that he subscribe to a special Undertaking. See below for further details.

Siro Moro lived in New Waterford, NS with his wife, Eminia, and their four children. He worked as a miner. 

When WWII broke out, Moro was arrested along with 22 others from Nova Scotia.  According to Dominic (Buddy) Nardocchio Jr., his father, Dominic Nardocchio, Moro, and others were taken to Sydney Jail.  That night, a ruckus broke out when the non-Italian prisoners began harassing the group; Moro apparently spoke up and told the guards that if they didn’t take care of the rowdy bullies, then he would. Buddy says that Moro was “the kind of a fellow that can lift a truck.”

On June 20, 1940, Moro was interned at Camp Petawawa. Evidence against him indicated that he was a member of the dopolavoro and he applied for membership in the fascio in 1938.  He apparently attended meetings where the Italian consul was present. Further, he had sent gold to Italy responding to Mussolini’s request for donation. 

During his internment, his family seemed to have suffered financially.  The youngest daughter was noted as needing medical attention, although there are no records indicating what kind of illness she had.  A letter indicates that a certain Reverend John A. Abbo, Secretary to the Apostolic Delegation in Ottawa, may have sent funds to Eminia to help her out. Eminia’s income was $6/week which was given to her by the local public assistance.

Moro appealed his case to JD Hyndman however the latter recommended continued internment based on evidence heard which led him to believe that Moro was pro-fascist. 

Moro was released on September 21, 1942 from Camp Fredericton.  Although a free man, Moro still had to report monthly to the RCMP. He also could not change his place of residence or leave New Waterford without first reporting to the RCMP.  Further, Moro was not allowed to do or say anything that would detract from the Canadian war effort or her allies, or assist Canada’s enemies.

Biography by Louanne Aspillaga
 

SOURCES:

• Interview with Dominic (Buddy) Nardocchio Jr.  June 21, 2011.  Columbus Centre Collection.
• Library and Archives Canada, Custodian of Enemy Property: RG117, Vol. 698, Internee File 13612 “Siro Moro.”
• Library and Archives Canada, JD Hyndman fonds: MG30, E182, Vol. 14.
• Library and Archives Canada, RCMP: RG18 F-3 Vol 3563 Part 6.
• Minister’s Orders List V1 & V6.

POW #: P726
ARRESTED: June 20, 1940
RELEASED: January 15, 1915
NATURALIZED:
BORN: July 26, 1898
DIED:

CAMP(S): Petawawa
TOWN/CITY: Hamilton
MARITAL STATUS: Married
OCCUPATION: Labourer, United Gas and Fuel Company

RELEASE NOTES: Unconditional release

Carmelo Morreale was married to Paolina. The couple lived with their two children – a 15-year-old son and a 14-year-old daughter – at 27 Sheaffe St. in Hamilton. Fellow internee, Giovanni Vizzini, also lived at this address which indicates that Vizzini may have been a boarder in the Morreale home.  

During a camp interview with J.D. Hyndman, a judge appointed to review his internment, Morreale stated that he had no idea why he had been interned because he had never been in any trouble previously. He was not a member of any Italian organizations, but he had visited the Casa d’Italia to have drinks with a friend on occasion. Morreale had worked for the United Gas and Fuel Company for 15 years prior to his internment. He believed that he would be rehired after his release from camp.

Paolina found work to supplement the family’s income during her husband’s internment.

Biography by Travis Tomchuk
 

SOURCES:

• Library and Archives Canada, Custodian of Enemy Property: RG 117, Vol. 671, Internee File 5053, “Carmelo Morreale.”
• Library and Archives Canada, J.D. Hyndman Fonds: MG 30, E 182, Vol. 14, Letter from J.D. Hyndman to W.R. Jackett, Nov. 8, 1940.

POW #: P779
ARRESTED: August 09, 1940
RELEASED: December 27, 1940
NATURALIZED: 1931
BORN:
DIED:

CAMP(S): Petawawa
TOWN/CITY: Montreal
MARITAL STATUS: Married
OCCUPATION: Operated Tailoring Business

RELEASE NOTES: Had to register with and obtain parole certificate from RCMP in Montreal

Donato Mosca was married to Cecile Caporicci. The couple had three children ranging in age from four to nine years old. The Moscas lived at 5155 Park Ave. in Montreal. Mosca’s tailoring business was at the same address. Mosca also provided a rental service for men’s and women’s evening and formal attire. During Mosca’s internment, Cecile and her brother Vincent managed the tailoring business.

Biography by Travis Tomchuk

SOURCES:

• Library and Archives Canada, Canadian Armed Forces: RG 24, Vol. 6586, File 5-1-1.
• Library and Archives Canada, Custodian of Enemy Property: RG 117, Vol. 655, Internee File 3768, “Donato Mosca.”

POW #: P250
ARRESTED: June 10, 1940
RELEASED: December 04, 1940
NATURALIZED: Yes
BORN: March 09, 1905
DIED: August 18, 1963

CAMP(S): Petawawa
TOWN/CITY: Toronto
MARITAL STATUS: Married
OCCUPATION: Music Teacher and Organist, Walmer Road Baptist Church in Toronto

RELEASE NOTES: Conditional release upon undertaking Regulation 24 (Defence of Canada Regulations)

Giuseppe Moschetti was an accomplished musician, who specialized in the pipe organ. As a child, Moschetti was drawn to the priesthood and entered the Franciscan order on August 18, 1920. He was ordained on December 24, 1920.

As a priest in the Roman Catholic Church, Moschetti served as the official organist at the wedding of King Boris III of Bulgaria and Giovanna, daughter of Victor Emmanuel III of Italy, in the Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi, in October 1930. Benito Mussolini attended the wedding.

Moschetti preferred his role as an organist over his duties as a priest. According to Canadian government documents, he left the church in 1932 and joined the Wesleyan Church in Rome – a Protestant church that had separated from the Methodist Episcopal Church. 

Sources indicate that Moschetti travelled extensively and performed throughout Italy and in Switzerland, Belgium and France. He played at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London and later at Carnegie Hall in New York City. He also claimed to have been the private chaplain to Empress Zita (the last Empress of Austria, Queen of Hungary and Queen of Bohemia) for two years and to have taught music to her children.

He moved to London, England, in 1935 to pursue a career as a musician/music teacher. There, he met  a few Canadians who convinced him that musicians were needed in Toronto. He arrived in Toronto in March 1937 and found work as a teacher and organist. He was the piano teacher to Silvio and Sylvia Sauro, whose father Libero Sauro was also interned: “For some reason, probably because he couldn’t pay his rent, the Moschettis came to live with us. This meant that we could continue to have lessons after the money ran out, in exchange for room and board. I believe the lessons were over by the time I was 8 or 9 years old” (Sylvia Lowry, 2006).

Moschetti was arrested on June 10, 1940, while playing the organ at the Walmer Road Baptist Church. In the review of his case, Moschetti claimed that fascism was among the reasons he had left Italy. The primary evidence against Moschetti seemed to be an article on one of his lectures which appeared in Il Bollettino. On February 3, 1938, he was quoted as saying: “I conclude with the words already quoted of Giuseppe Mazzini: ‘… Music is the faith of a nation … and all the great epochs begin with faith ….’ And is not Mussolini’s creed of ‘Believe, Obey, Fight’ the synthesis of faith?” (J.D. Hyndman, Report to Minister of Justice, Nov. 15, 1940).

Justice Hyndman recommended that Moschetti be released from internment. He noted:

Assuming that this is a correct quotation, it would rather show that Moschetti had a great admiration for Mussolini, but at that particular time there was no great issue between this country and Italy, and to my own knowledge many good Canadians had much to say in praise of Mussolini for the improvements of one kind or another which he brought about in Italy, and I do not think it is a fair inference that the utterance of these expressions should, without more, be regarded as evidence that he is a Fascist and consequently dangerous to the State, especially considering his audiences and the topic upon which he was lecturing, namely MUSIC (J.D. Hyndman, Report to Minister of Justice, Nov. 15, 1940).

After his release, Moschetti performed a number of successful concerts. A review of one such performance on February 1, 1945, at the First Baptist Church in Ottawa, described Moschetti as a “virtuoso of the organ,” providing a “demonstration of technical mastery, musicianship and resourcefulness” (Isabel C. Armstrong, Feb. 2, 1945).

The Moschettis had one son, Edward, born in 1942. They moved to the United States in 1948. By a special act of Congress in 1950, they were allowed to stay in the United States and apply for citizenship. Moschetti’s internment seems not to have affected his application. In fact, it was not mentioned.

Until his death in 1963, Moschetti served as the organist, composer and choral director for St. John’s Lutheran Church in Allentown, Pennsylvania. In the United States, he divorced his wife and later married Leona Heydt.

Moschetti’s music programs at St. John’s were remembered long after his passing. Among the most celebrated, the Spring Festival of Music and Flowers held every May, was derived from his memories of similar celebrations in Florence.

Biography by Lucy Di Pietro

SOURCES:

• A Directory of Composers for Organ. http://www.rscm.u-net.com/addenda.html
• Armstrong, Isabel C. “Giuseppe Moschetti Plays for First Baptist Audience.” Ottawa Citizen. February 2, 1945, p. 6.
• Library and Archives Canada, Custodian of Enemy Property: RG 117, Vol. 657, Internee File 3897, “Giuseppe Moschetti.”
• Library and Archives Canada, J.D. Hyndman Fonds: MG 30, E 182, Vol. 14, Report to Minister of Justice, in the Matter of the Defence of Canada Regulations and in the Matter of Giuseppe Moschetti, 40D-269-4E-25, Nov. 15, 1940.
• Lowry, Sylvia. “The Sauro Dynasty.” 2006. http://www.sauro.com/Dynasty/Millwood.htm
• U.S. Senate Reports. 81st Congress, 2d session. (January 3, 1950 – January 2, 1951.) Miscellaneous. Vol. 5. Report No. 2023.
• Whelan, Frank. “Forces Martialed in Memory of the Maestro.” The Morning Call. April 23, 2000. http://articles.mcall.com/2000-04-23/entertainment/3310861_1_organist-and-composer-maestro-virgin-mary

POW #: P831
ARRESTED: July 08, 1940
RELEASED: September 09, 1941
NATURALIZED: Canadian born
BORN: September 19, 1915
DIED: 1982

CAMP(S): Petawawa
TOWN/CITY: Hamilton
MARITAL STATUS: Single
OCCUPATION: Clerk/Stenographer

Samuele (Samuel) Anselmo Mostacci was born and raised in Hamilton, ON. In 1940, he worked at the family store – Mostacci Grocery Store.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) alleged that Samuel Mostacci was a member of the Hamilton fascio and the dopolavoro, and that he had given money to the Hamilton Casa d’Italia, the Italian Red Cross, and the local Italian school. An unsigned informant report described Mostacci as a “most zealous and most active Fascist [sic] youth and is known as such by all.” Mostacci was also accused of speaking against the English king and making anti-British comments.

During an interview with J.D. Hyndman, a judge appointed to review the cases of internees, Mostacci admitted to having been a member of the dopolavoro for the previous two years because of the sports activities it offered. He told Hyndman that lots of English-language speakers were members of the dopolavoro including local politicians, members of parliament and other public figures from Hamilton.

On June 19, 1940, Mostacci joined the Canadian army and was a secretary to a medical officer. His enlistment was resented by some of his fellow Italian Canadians. Mostacci was known as “the Cock of Sherman Avenue North” because of his uniform.

Hyndman interviewed witnesses regarding Mostacci’s alleged unpatriotic statements. Thomas Foley, a returned soldier, told the judge that he reported Mostacci to the police “because of certain statements made by Mostacci in a tobacco store which he regarded as disrespectful to the King.” This, however, “was in the heat of an argument,” and the witness admitted to Hyndman that “he did not consider Mostacci disloyal.” Hyndman believed that this incident led to Mostacci’s internment, and he did not feel that it was enough to justify Mostacci’s continued incarceration.

Mostacci’s brother-in-laws Girolamo (George) Capponi and Donato Olivieri were also interned.

It is unclear if the authorities also confused Mostacci with his brother John, who was known to them, as he appears in the government records as Samuel John Mostacci.

Biography by Travis Tomchuk
 
SOURCES:

• Library and Archives Canada, J.D. Hyndman Fonds: MG 30, E 182, Vol. 14, Letter from J.D. Hyndman to Ernest Lapointe, Minister of Justice, Apr. 30, 1941.
• Mary-Anne Mullock, niece of Samuele Mostacci. Correspondence with project staff at Columbus Centre of Toronto, June 2012.
• Nicaso, Antonio. Rocco Perri: The Story of Canada’s Most Notorious Bootlegger. Mississauga: John Wiley & Sons Canada Ltd., 2004.
• Vittorina Cecchetto, Researcher and Interviewer. Correspondence with project staff at Columbus Centre of Toronto, February 2012.

POW #: P310
ARRESTED: June 10, 1940
RELEASED: March 25, 1942
NATURALIZED:
BORN:
DIED:

CAMP(S): Petawawa
TOWN/CITY: Niagara Region
MARITAL STATUS: Unknown
OCCUPATION:

RELEASE NOTES: Had to report monthly to RCMP

There is little information known about Giovanni Muratori. He was from Thorold, ON.

Biography by Travis Tomchuk.

SOURCES:

• Library and Archives Canada, Canadian Armed Forces, RG 24, Vol. 6586, File 5-1-1.
• Library and Archives Canada, RCMP: RG 18, Vol. 3563, File C-11-19-2-3 Part 5, Letter from Louis St. Laurent, Minister of Justice, to S.T. Wood, RCMP Commissioner, 20 Mar. 1942.

POW #: K540 / P1122
ARRESTED: July 27, 1940
RELEASED: November 19, 1941
NATURALIZED: March 14, 1934
BORN: September 07, 1905
DIED:

CAMP(S): Kananaskis, Petawawa
TOWN/CITY: Vancouver
MARITAL STATUS: Unknown
OCCUPATION: Labourer, Industrial Timber Company

RELEASE NOTES: Conditional release (see below)

Emilio Muzzatti was a member of Vancouver’s Circolo Giulio Giordani – a local fascist group. His Vancouver address was 2423 Parker St. However, Muzzatti was arrested in Youbou, BC, where he was working for the Industrial Timber Company.

Muzzatti’s release conditions were as follows: he had to report to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) once a month, could not change his place of residence or leave Vancouver without the consent of RCMP, and was forbidden to be involved in fascist activities or organizations.

Biography by Travis Tomchuk
 
SOURCES:

• Library and Archives Canada, Canadian Armed Forces, RG 24, Vol. 6586, File 5-1-1.
• Library and Archives Canada, Custodian of Enemy Property: RG 117, Vol. 664, Internee File 4699, “Emilio Muzzatti.”