The Mysterious Death of Major William Holohan, continued ...
by Peter Kross
Striking a Fair Deal
Before leaving Algiers, Holohan was given gold coins totaling 2,100 Marengos.
Holohan and Icardi also carried $16,000 U.S. and $10,000 in Italian Lira.
Later, the disposition of the money would play a part in the tragic events that followed.
Holohan used some of the cash to pay the expenses of Giorgio’s men, but as time went on it was decided that the men would not be able to carry the heavy gold coins with them.
Giorgio offered to sell the gold at market price and return the cash to Holohan.
Instead of taking the funds, a business deal was worked out between Giorgio, Icardi, and a few local Catholic priests in the Lake Orta area.
The money, about $15,000, would be used to finance the purchase of buildings, machinery, and land to be used after the war.
The Chrysler team lived in a large villa located south of Langa on the shore of Lake Orta.
Two partisans, Pupo (Gualtiero Tozzini) and Manin (Guiseppi Manini), guarded the house.
Only they, the caretaker of the estate, and a man named Don Carlo, vice-director of the San Guilio Seminary, knew of the refuge of the Americans and handled liaison activities with the resistance and the Northern Italy General Command.
The mission members were rightly concerned about their safety, especially when it was learned that mop-up operations against the Germans were being carried out in the nearby Mottarone area.
After hurried consultations, it was decided to move the Chrysler people to another location.
TO BE CONTINUED ...
UNITED STATES V. ICARDI
Re: UNITED STATES V. ICARDI
The Mysterious Death of Major William Holohan, continued ...
by Peter Kross
Traitor in the Midst?
Their move was made all the more important due to a major operational setback the team suffered.
A large air drop of guns, ammunition, and supplies, code-named Pineapple 1, which was headed for the Di Dio Christian Partisan Brigade, was intercepted.
The supplies were taken by a Communist group called the Sixth Nello Brigade.
After all the equipment was divvied up, the Di Dio group got one-third of the supplies while the Communists claimed two-thirds.
The question was, how did the Communists know of the air drop?
Was there a traitor among the Chrysler group or among its allies?
Major Holohan met with Vincenzo Moscatelli, the Communist leader, to clear the air.
He told Moscatelli that there would be no further air drops unless or until his men agreed to work directly under American supervision and stop their internal fighting.
On the evening of December 7, Holohan gave the order to leave the villa.
Pupo and Manin helped load the supplies into a boat, which was then dragged across the road to the nearby quay.
As they were doing this, Pupo said that he heard some footsteps near his position, and when he asked who was there, the answer was a round of shots fired in his direction.
Pupo returned to the villa and notified Giorgio, who in turn located Sergeant Lo Dolce.
The rest of the team scattered, deciding to reunite at a later time.
In the ensuing battle (if there was one), and under circumstances that are still not clear, Major Holohan was found dead.
His body was discovered floating in the cold waters of Lake Orta, wrapped in a sleeping bag, with two 9mm bullets in his head.
When Bill Donovan learned of Holohan’s death, he ordered Captain Landi to mount an investigation.
While rumors abounded that the Communists or the Germans killed the major to get control of the supplies, Landi startled Donovan by saying that one of Operation Chrysler’s men was the actual killer.
Intercepted German radio traffic in the area of the Villa Castelnuovo reported no mention of the capture or death of Major Holohan.
OSS radio officers did, however, learn from their intercepts that the Germans made mention of the disappearance of an “officer,” not an “agent.”
TO BE CONTINUED ...
by Peter Kross
Traitor in the Midst?
Their move was made all the more important due to a major operational setback the team suffered.
A large air drop of guns, ammunition, and supplies, code-named Pineapple 1, which was headed for the Di Dio Christian Partisan Brigade, was intercepted.
The supplies were taken by a Communist group called the Sixth Nello Brigade.
After all the equipment was divvied up, the Di Dio group got one-third of the supplies while the Communists claimed two-thirds.
The question was, how did the Communists know of the air drop?
Was there a traitor among the Chrysler group or among its allies?
Major Holohan met with Vincenzo Moscatelli, the Communist leader, to clear the air.
He told Moscatelli that there would be no further air drops unless or until his men agreed to work directly under American supervision and stop their internal fighting.
On the evening of December 7, Holohan gave the order to leave the villa.
Pupo and Manin helped load the supplies into a boat, which was then dragged across the road to the nearby quay.
As they were doing this, Pupo said that he heard some footsteps near his position, and when he asked who was there, the answer was a round of shots fired in his direction.
Pupo returned to the villa and notified Giorgio, who in turn located Sergeant Lo Dolce.
The rest of the team scattered, deciding to reunite at a later time.
In the ensuing battle (if there was one), and under circumstances that are still not clear, Major Holohan was found dead.
His body was discovered floating in the cold waters of Lake Orta, wrapped in a sleeping bag, with two 9mm bullets in his head.
When Bill Donovan learned of Holohan’s death, he ordered Captain Landi to mount an investigation.
While rumors abounded that the Communists or the Germans killed the major to get control of the supplies, Landi startled Donovan by saying that one of Operation Chrysler’s men was the actual killer.
Intercepted German radio traffic in the area of the Villa Castelnuovo reported no mention of the capture or death of Major Holohan.
OSS radio officers did, however, learn from their intercepts that the Germans made mention of the disappearance of an “officer,” not an “agent.”
TO BE CONTINUED ...
Re: UNITED STATES V. ICARDI
The Mysterious Death of Major William Holohan, continued ...
by Peter Kross
Digging Deeper Into The Mystery
Lieutenant Icardi took over command of the Chrysler team and was later awarded the Legion of Merit.
In February 1945, Lo Dolce suffered a nervous breakdown and was sent to Switzerland to recover.
But the case was still not closed.
After the war an investigation was formed to look into the death of Major Holohan.
The Army’s Criminal Investigation Division was given the job of ferreting out all the facts.
The lead investigator was Agent Frederick Gardella.
After a long and difficult process, Gardella came up with the following findings: “Icardi was going about interesting himself in business deals for the future and not letting his superiors know about it”; the disappearance of Major Holohan was a political move started by the Communists, headed by Moscatelli, and “that both Icardi and Lo Dolce did not cooperate with Major Holohan."
"Icardi was more interested in personal affairs and in elevating his position with the mission than carrying out his required duties.”
In 1950, the investigation was turned over to the Italian police.
They chose Lieutenant Elio Albieri to look into the matter.
Among the people Albieri interviewed were Giuseppe Manini (Manin) and Gualtiero Tozzini (Pupo).
During the war, they served as Major Holohan’s bodyguards.
Both men confessed that they, along with Icardi and Lo Dolce, murdered Holohan on the night of December 6, 1944, by poisoning him with cyanide, which was put in his soup.
Lo Dolce then shot the major and his body was put in the lake.
Under orders from Army Chief of Staff General George Marshall, now ex-Sergeant Lo Dolce was taken in for questioning at a Rochester, NY, police station.
He confessed and wrote an eight-page report on what happened that fateful night.
He backed up the Manini-Tozzini story, saying that Manini poisoned Holohan and that he, Lo Dolce, then shot Holohan with his Beretta pistol.
Aldo Icardi was called before a congressional committee looking into the Holohan affair.
Icardi said that upon hearing shots coming from the villa and the surrounding area he fired back, not seeing if he hit anyone.
Icardi would write about his part in the Holohan case after the war in a book called American Master Spy.
Another question remains as to whether there was indeed a false firefight to cover up the murder of Major Holohan.
TO BE CONTINUED ...
by Peter Kross
Digging Deeper Into The Mystery
Lieutenant Icardi took over command of the Chrysler team and was later awarded the Legion of Merit.
In February 1945, Lo Dolce suffered a nervous breakdown and was sent to Switzerland to recover.
But the case was still not closed.
After the war an investigation was formed to look into the death of Major Holohan.
The Army’s Criminal Investigation Division was given the job of ferreting out all the facts.
The lead investigator was Agent Frederick Gardella.
After a long and difficult process, Gardella came up with the following findings: “Icardi was going about interesting himself in business deals for the future and not letting his superiors know about it”; the disappearance of Major Holohan was a political move started by the Communists, headed by Moscatelli, and “that both Icardi and Lo Dolce did not cooperate with Major Holohan."
"Icardi was more interested in personal affairs and in elevating his position with the mission than carrying out his required duties.”
In 1950, the investigation was turned over to the Italian police.
They chose Lieutenant Elio Albieri to look into the matter.
Among the people Albieri interviewed were Giuseppe Manini (Manin) and Gualtiero Tozzini (Pupo).
During the war, they served as Major Holohan’s bodyguards.
Both men confessed that they, along with Icardi and Lo Dolce, murdered Holohan on the night of December 6, 1944, by poisoning him with cyanide, which was put in his soup.
Lo Dolce then shot the major and his body was put in the lake.
Under orders from Army Chief of Staff General George Marshall, now ex-Sergeant Lo Dolce was taken in for questioning at a Rochester, NY, police station.
He confessed and wrote an eight-page report on what happened that fateful night.
He backed up the Manini-Tozzini story, saying that Manini poisoned Holohan and that he, Lo Dolce, then shot Holohan with his Beretta pistol.
Aldo Icardi was called before a congressional committee looking into the Holohan affair.
Icardi said that upon hearing shots coming from the villa and the surrounding area he fired back, not seeing if he hit anyone.
Icardi would write about his part in the Holohan case after the war in a book called American Master Spy.
Another question remains as to whether there was indeed a false firefight to cover up the murder of Major Holohan.
TO BE CONTINUED ...
Re: UNITED STATES V. ICARDI
The Mysterious Death of Major William Holohan, concluded ...
by Peter Kross
Holohan’s Fate to Remain a Government Secret?
Witnesses at the congressional inquiry told of official stonewalling at critical junctures during the Holohan investigation.
One witness before the committee, an investigator named Stern, said that the Pentagon refused to supply him with the names of Holohan’s next of kin or a copy of his service record, saying that the case was “top secret.”
When asked why the American Justice Department refused to request the extradition of Manini and Tozzini to the United States, Stern summed up the case rather remarkably: “There was no desire on the part of any United States governmental agency so far as I could find, that any particular action be taken."
"In fact, all indications were quite the reverse."
"All efforts were made to keep the matter of the Holohan case secret….”
Stern further stated that the Pentagon reluctantly admitted that Holohan was involved with the OSS.
Stern went on to say that when he asked for any information regarding Lo Dolce or Icardi or their present whereabouts, the Army refused to supply that information.
From the moment Icardi and Lo Dolce were arrested on August 3, 1950, and confessed to the crime, no further work was done by government bureaus on the case, which was marked “top secret.”
Investigator Stern also made a rather interesting statement regarding further action by the Italian government.
Stern said that he accompanied Italian Prime Minister Alcide De Gasperi on a plane bound for the United States for a meeting with President Harry Truman.
The prime minister and the president talked about the Holohan case, and the Italian leader said that he asked that the extradition of the two men be sped up.
However, nothing came of the order, whether because of interference by the U.S. State Department or by some other governmental entity.
In the end, no action was taken by the U.S. government against either Icardi or Lo Dolce.
Since the Italians could not get jurisdiction over the two Americans, they were both convicted for murder in absentia.
Manini and Tozzini were acquitted.
To this day, there is still no final answer to the puzzling events at Lake Orta on December 6, 1944.
https://warfarehistorynetwork.com/2015/ ... m-holohan/
by Peter Kross
Holohan’s Fate to Remain a Government Secret?
Witnesses at the congressional inquiry told of official stonewalling at critical junctures during the Holohan investigation.
One witness before the committee, an investigator named Stern, said that the Pentagon refused to supply him with the names of Holohan’s next of kin or a copy of his service record, saying that the case was “top secret.”
When asked why the American Justice Department refused to request the extradition of Manini and Tozzini to the United States, Stern summed up the case rather remarkably: “There was no desire on the part of any United States governmental agency so far as I could find, that any particular action be taken."
"In fact, all indications were quite the reverse."
"All efforts were made to keep the matter of the Holohan case secret….”
Stern further stated that the Pentagon reluctantly admitted that Holohan was involved with the OSS.
Stern went on to say that when he asked for any information regarding Lo Dolce or Icardi or their present whereabouts, the Army refused to supply that information.
From the moment Icardi and Lo Dolce were arrested on August 3, 1950, and confessed to the crime, no further work was done by government bureaus on the case, which was marked “top secret.”
Investigator Stern also made a rather interesting statement regarding further action by the Italian government.
Stern said that he accompanied Italian Prime Minister Alcide De Gasperi on a plane bound for the United States for a meeting with President Harry Truman.
The prime minister and the president talked about the Holohan case, and the Italian leader said that he asked that the extradition of the two men be sped up.
However, nothing came of the order, whether because of interference by the U.S. State Department or by some other governmental entity.
In the end, no action was taken by the U.S. government against either Icardi or Lo Dolce.
Since the Italians could not get jurisdiction over the two Americans, they were both convicted for murder in absentia.
Manini and Tozzini were acquitted.
To this day, there is still no final answer to the puzzling events at Lake Orta on December 6, 1944.
https://warfarehistorynetwork.com/2015/ ... m-holohan/