Killer Smile

their boats seized.

Italian-American residents of the East Coast registered en masse as enemy aliens. They were not permitted to travel without their registration booklet and were subject to inspection and search on demand. Many had their homes searched for flashlights and radios, and this property was confiscated on the belief that it could be used to signal enemy submarines and warships off the East Coast. As on the West Coast, the fishing business on East Coast port cities such as Philadelphia, Boston, and Gloucester were affected. Fishermen were not permitted to fish, even if it supported their families; in Boston alone, 200 fishermen were grounded.

The status of enemy alien was eventually lifted, but the suspicion, hard feelings, and monetary losses remained. To date, no reparations have been demanded or paid to any Italian-American interned and no reimbursement has ever been made to them for any property confiscated. In 1999, as a result of lobbying by the Italian-American community, the United States Congress addressed the treatment of Italian-Americans during World War II, which resulted in House Resolution 2442, acknowledging that the United States violated the civil rights of Italian-Americans during World War II. The bill was passed by the House of Representatives in 1999, in the Senate in 2000, and signed by President Clinton in the same year.

This chapter in American history represents a turbulent confluence of war, law, and family. It wasn’t the first time that civil liberties have been set aside in times of armed conflict, and it won’t be the last. You don’t need me to tell you that history is on a loop. More recently, the September 11 terrorist attacks and the war with Iraq have raised a number of legal issues regarding the suspension of civil liberties during wartime. This summer the Supreme Court will decide questions concerning the rights of “enemy aliens” and “enemy combatants,” including the right to sue in U.S. courts for unlawful detention in internment camps. As long as there is armed conflict – whether abroad or domestic – these legal, political, and emotional issues will recur, and will shape the contours of justice.

My own awareness of the historical context for this novel was heightened greatly by the good works of the National Italian American Foundation, and they get first and deepest thanks here. For those who would like to learn more about the internment, please refer to the following materials: Lawrence DiStasi, Una Storia Segreta: The Secret History of the Italian American Evacuation and Internment During World War II (2001); Stephen Fox, Uncivil Liberties: Italian Americans Under Siege During World War II (2000); Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, All the Laws but One: Civil Liberties in Wartime (1998); Carol Van Walkenburg, An Alien Place: The Fort Missoula, Montana, Detention Camp, 1941-1944 (1995); Gary Glynn, Montana’s Home Front During World War II (1994); Umberto Benedetti, Italian Boys at Fort Missoula, Montana, 1941- 1943 (1991); and Bella Vista: An Unseen View of WWII, a television program produced by Kathy Willows and Montanans for Quality Television.

In this regard, special thanks to Umberto Benedetti, a former internee at Fort Missoula whose many books have cast light on the subject, as well as to Alfredo Cipolato, another internee at the Fort, who has educated all of us. I would like to note that in my search for the graves of the Italian internees who died at Fort Missoula, which began at the National Archives and ended at the Catholic cemetery herein described, I discovered a secret: that the memorial markers of the three Italian internees who died at Fort Missoula were paid for not by the United States government, but personally by Mr. Benedetti and Mr. Cipolato. These two men have never been recognized or thanked for their previously anonymous act of generosity and grace. They should have been. Grazie mille.

Thanks to the staff at the National Archives in College Park, Maryland, who helped me find the original files of the internees at Fort Missoula, and a huge hug to my amazing assistant, Laura Leonard, who was by my side all the way, as always. Thanks so much to Director Robert M. Brown at the Fort Missoula Museum and his wife, Claudia, and to staff members Donna McClure, Jocelyn, and most of all, to archivist and gentleman Dale Johnson and his wife, the lovely Coby, librarian and great lady. Happy Birthday, Coby!

Thanks to Jim Edgar and his great staff at the Montana Bureau of Vital Statistics, and also to the gang at Fact amp; Fiction Bookstore and The Books Exchange for the excellent books on Missoula and Montana history. Thanks to the legendary Tattered Cover in Denver for my cowgirl books, Cowgirls, Women of the American West, by Teresa Jordan, University of Nebraska Press (1992), and Cowgirls, Candace Savage, Ten Speed Press (1996).

Thanks to the Recorder’s Office at City Hall, Philadelphia, especially Ward Childs, archivist, and Jarrance Nesbitt, Title Registration Supervisor, Department of Records, who were so kind. Thanks to the Otts at Clews Boats in Frazer, Lisa Baute, M.D., of Penn Medicine, and Paul Davis. Thanks for all things Italian to Sebastian Pistritto of www.gustobene.com.

Huge thanks to Theodore Nacarella, Esq., for excellent legal advice and all-around intelligence and good cheer; if I say more about what vital part he helped with, you’ll guess a PLOT TWIST. Thanks to my other genius lawyers, dear friend Jerome Hoffman, Esq., and now his amazing son, David Hoffman, Esq. For constitutional law assists, thanks to Professor Judy Brown, Esq., and Lisa Gleicher, Esq. Thanks to Glenn Gilman, Esq., and to Forever- Detective Art Mee, my go-to experts for everything wonderful and helpful.

Thanks to all of those generous people who donated to a worthy cause in return for their names in the novel, Bern Gibboni (American Red Cross), Marti Funnell (American Diabetes Association), Lisa Gemmill (Free Library of Philadelphia), Lorraine Pecora (Free Library of Philadelphia), Stephen Nicastro (Friends’ Select School), Gail Lasko (PAL), and Ernest and Leslie Eadeh (Pennsylvania Home of the Sparrow for abused women and children).

On the writing side, a huge and grateful hug to the best editor in New York, Carolyn Marino, with whom I have worked for eleven books. I am blessed in her and in everyone at HarperCollins: the great Jane Friedman, Cathy Hemming, Susan Weinberg, Michael Morrison, Carl Lennertz, Patti Kelly, Christine Boyd, Rockelle Henderson, Carrie Kania, Libby Jordan, Roberto De Vicq de Cumptich, Bob Spizer, and Jennifer Civiletto. And I also owe Carie Freimuth and Tara Brown. I love you all. Deepest thanks and love to everyone at the Aaron Priest Agency, mainly my terrific agent, Molly Friedrich, and the Amazing Paul Cirone, for improvements to this manuscript and guidance in all things.

Thank you to all of the hard-working booksellers who have forever supported me and my books, and to my pal Joe Drabyak of Chester County Books amp; Music, who nurtures me with all sorts of wonderful reading and even made comments on an early draft of this manuscript.

Love to my family, for their constant support and love.

And to a certain man, who taught my heart to talk.

About the Author

Lisa Scottoline is a New York Times bestselling author and former trial lawyer. She has won the highest prize in crime fiction, the Edgar Award, and has lectured at law schools and bar associations on issues of legal ethics. She is an honors graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and its law school, where she was an editor of the Law Review and won the Loughlin Prize for legal ethics. Her books are published in more than twenty languages, and she remains a life-long resident of the Philadelphia area. She welcomes reader email at www.scottoline.com.

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