Aldo Icardi: American Master Spy; A True Story

by Lt. Aldo Icardi

Overview

Aldo Icardi (1921-2011) was a U.S. Army second lieutenant during World War II who was sent as a specially-trained soldier by the U.S. Army’s Office of Strategic Services (OSS) on a special mission into enemy-occupied territory in Italy to organize resistance movements. During this mission, which was code-named “Chrysler,” its commander Major John William V. Holohan disappeared, and Lt. Icardi, along with radio operator Carl G. LoDolce and three Italians, was charged with his murder. The Italians, who spent three years in jail, were later acquitted, and Icardi and LoDolce were convicted in absentia of murder and sentenced to life and 17 years respectively, but neither man could be extradited back to Italy, so did not serve time. In 1955, Icardi was indicted by a federal grand jury for perjury, but was acquitted in 1956. The Italian Communist commander Vincenzo Moscatelli later admitted that he was responsible for Major Holohan’s death and that Icardi had nothing to do with it.

With this book, which was first published in 1954, Aldo Icardi seeks to set the record straight on all the newspaper stories that circulated in the wake of the killing, and ever since.

A gripping true-life story.

“This book is the true story, as well as I know it, of what actually happened to Major Holohan. It is my defense against the charges of murder. And it is the story of the most dangerous and exciting eight months I have ever lived.”—Aldo Icardi

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781787208049
Publisher:	Arcole Publishing
Publication date:	07/31/2017
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	259
File size:	29 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Aldo Lorenzo Icardi (March 1, 1921 - November 9, 2011) was a former U.S. Army second lieutenant during World War II and later practicing Florida lawyer.

Born in 1921, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to Giovane and Agnese Icardi, he grew up in the Mt. Washington neighborhood of Pittsburgh. He attended South Hills High School and graduated from the University of Pittsburgh with a B.A. and Pitt’s Law School. He married his childhood sweetheart, Eleanor Thompson, in 1943.

During WWII, Aldo served in the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), and parachuted behind enemy lines in Northern Italy in September 1944 where he provided intelligence and support to the Italian Partisans until the liberation of Europe in 1945. He wrote of his experiences in the book, American Master Spy (1954). He was awarded the Legion of Merit by the U.S. government and the Silver Medal, the second highest military honor, by the Italian government.

After the war, the Icardis moved to Lima, Peru where Aldo studied and received a second law degree in International law. In 1954, they moved to McMurray, PA where they raised their five children. He worked at the Italian Sons & Daughters of America (ISDA) for many years and was active in the Washington County Democratic Party. In 1969, he moved his family to Maitland, Florida.

He was admitted to the Florida Bar in 1972 and he practiced law until his retirement at 80 years old.

He passed away in Birmingham, Alabama in 2011, aged 90.