Biography:Andrea Salsedo
Andrea Salsedo | |
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| Born | Andrea Salsedo 24 September 1881 Pantelleria, Italy |
| Died | 3 May 1920 (aged 38) New York City, United States |
| Known for | Galleanist who died under mysterious circumstances |
Andrea Salsedo (21 September 1881 – 3 May 1920) was an Italian anarchist whose death caused controversy as it was caused by a suspicious fall from the Justice Department's Bureau of Investigation (BOI) offices on 15 Park Row in New York City. Depending on the source, his death was either a suicide[1] or a homicide committed by detaining officers.[2] The case was widely debated both for its unclear nature and for its consequences on the Bureau, and was one of the premises of the Sacco and Vanzetti case.[3][4]
Biography
Andrea Salsedo was born in Pantelleria, in the Italian region of Sicily. A committed anarchist since his youth, he soon became involved in local politics, and was part of the anarchist club Circolo Sociale founded by Luigi Galleani, who was in Pantelleria as he had been exiled there. In those years, Salsedo became a personal friend of Galleani. On November 11, 1900, he was tried because of subversive views he had expressed in a letter published in L'Avvenire Sociale, a newspaper published in Messina. The trial did not lead to any conviction.[5]
All anarchists who were part of Galleani's acquaintances, who were also called Galleanists, were put under surveillance, as they were considered dangerous and possible terrorists. On 25 February 1920, Salsedo, who was working in the Canzani Printshop as a typesetter at the time, was arrested and brought to the BOI offices on Park Row during or immediately after the Palmer Raids.[6]
How Salsedo died is still unclear. Some sources say that he got up at night, silently walked across the room and jumped out the window, killing himself.[7] According to Roberto Elia, Salsedo could have been killed for fear of betraying other fellow anarchists.[1] The Boston Herald reported that before dying, Salsedo gave names of other anarchists.[8]
Other sources say that Salsedo was severely beaten numerous times during his interrogations,[9] and was ultimately killed by officers,[10] who hurled him out the window.[2] Salsedo's death happened just two days prior to Sacco and Vanzetti's arrest.
See also
- Anarchism in Italy
- Anarchism in the United States
- Giuseppe Pinelli
- Pietro Valpreda
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 David Felix, Protest: Sacco-Vanzetti and the Intellectuals (1965), 75-76, 80
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 McCormick, Charles H., Hopeless Cases, The Hunt For The Red Scare Terrorist Bombers (2005), Lanham Maryland: University Press of America, p. 60
- ↑ The Sacco-Vanzetti Case, University of Pennsylvania
- ↑ Sacco e Vanzetti uccisi con la «sedia elettrica»., La Stampa, April 15, 1981, p. 5.
- ↑ Kurt Vonnegut, Jailbird, Random House, 2011, pp. 175-176.
- ↑ Philip Dray, There is Power in a Union, Random House, 2010, p. 408.
- ↑ Ackerman, Kenneth: Young J. Edgar: Hoover and the Red Scare 1919-1920, 2011, Chapter 40.
- ↑ Stevan Chermak; Frankie Bailey, Crimes and Trials of the Century, 2007, p. 23.
- ↑ Michael Newton, The Encyclopedia of Unsolved Crimes, Infobase, 2009, p. 9.
- ↑ Cook, Fred J. (1964). The FBI Nobody Knows. The Macmillan Company. pp. 113.
External links
- Andrea Salsedo of Pantelleria, libcom
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