Murder in the Dimout

Abstract

Tresca awakened on Monday, January 11, 1943, fully expecting to spend the day commuting back and forth between the two disparate worlds he inhabited: the upper middle class and cosmopolitan elite of American writers, artists, intellectuals, and political activists; and the Italian anti-Fascist subculture, where old-guard fighters like himself had been relegated to secondary roles by the fuoruscit? who dominated the Mazzini Society. That afternoon Tresca enjoyed a leisurely lunch with Margaret De Silver, her son Harrison, and John Dos Passos at John’s Restaurant at 612 Eight Avenue near 40th Street. The proprietor and several other diners observed that Tresca was in a good mood, even joking with the chef about the spaghetti. After lunch, Tresca went to his Il Martell? office at Fifth Avenue and 15th Street, where he planned to meet that evening with several members of the Mazzini Society to form a committee that would undertake cultural, educational, and propaganda activities among Italian Americans. His expected guests included Vanni Montana, Antonini’s factotum and the educational and publicity director of Local 89; Giovanni Sala, an ACWU official; Giovanni Profenna; Gian Mario Lanzilotti; and Giuseppe Calabi, a Jewish lawyer and refugee from Milan.1