Deportations of Italians from Malta and espionage convictions in the 1930s

In 1922 the British Government closed down the Malta Special Intelligence Bureau, an intelligence-gathering counter-espionage agency, which operated under the leadership of Major R.M. Fox up to 1919. Captain A.E. Austin headed the agency, which had its premises at 28, Strada Britannica (now Melita Street), Valletta, until 1922.

An cask was placed opposite the consulate and a man inside would photograph suspects as they entered or left- Eddie Attard

The advent of fascism in Italy in 1922 did not bother the British authorities, and in fact, the British Foreign Office constantly prevented the Colonial Office from interfering in the peaceful penetration of Italian influence in Malta; the Italian consul in Malta was allowed a free hand in introducing and organising Italian Fascist movements, institutions and culture centres. However, this state of affairs lasted for only a decade until Benito Mussolini, the Italian dictator, started his policy of Mare Nostrum (Our Sea), aiming at Italian domination of the Mediterranean, and the Defence Security Office (DSO) was set up in Malta.

The DSO was headed by Major (later Colonel) Beltram Ede, who was part of Colonel Vernon Kell’s MI5 organisation. Ede arrived in 1930 as Garrison Intelligence Officer and was very popular socially. By 1934 he was appointed Defence Security Officer and set up a network of informers to keep watch on people who were likely to assist the enemy in war. He worked in close liaison with the Deputy Commissioner of Police, Joseph Axisa.

Members of the DSO managed to infiltrate all the then known front organisations from which small cells spied for Italy. Italian nationals forming these cells, as well as Maltese collaborators, were put under constant surveillance, and between 1934 and 1936 Italian establishments established in the 1920s were closed down and Italian nationals were rounded up and deported.

Members of the DSO and the Criminal Investigation Department kept the Italian consulate-general at 3, Old Mint Street, Valletta, under constant surveillance by an ingenious subterfuge. An empty cask was placed outside a wine shop located opposite the premises occupied by the consulate, and a CID man hidden inside would photograph suspects as they entered or left the consulate.

Interestingly, before being awarded a bursary to study art in Rome, Carmelo Borg Pisani, who was hanged for spying during the war, used to call often at the consulate and was photographed by the police. Eventually these photographs were used to establish beyond doubt his identity when in May 1942 he disembarked at Ras id-Daw­wara after volunteering for a reconnaissance/spying mission to Malta.

Documents locked in the consulate were also photographed while the consul-general, Marchese Agostino Ferrante, was attending a reception at Mdina. On that occasion Carmelo Cutajar, a convict serving a 17-year prison sentence, managed to open the locked safe for members of the DSO to photograph documents and the safe was locked again. For this service Cutajar was granted an eight-year remission from his sentence.

The DSO and members of the CID were also responsible for the arrest of Herbert Charles Pollok and Constantin Kahil. Forty-five-year-old Pollok was born in England and resided at the British Hotel, in Valletta. Kahil, a French national, was born in Cairo and resided in Tunis.

On March 8, 1934, Pollok and Kahil were arrested on board the s.s. Henri Estier when she called at Grand Harbour on its regular Nice-Malta crossing. It was reported that the head of the DSO and Deputy Commissioner Axisa were so sure of the success of this operation that the previous day Governor Sir David Campbell issued Ordinance IX which amended the Official Secrets Ordinance with retrospective effect. The new ordinance provided for trials for people accused of espionage to be tried by three judges selected by the Governor himself and without a jury.

The DSO and the police had gathered evidence that Pollok and Kahil had been communicating with the French authorities with secret information about British warships. They were charged with espionage and on June 16, 1934, Pollok was jailed for five years with hard labour and Kahil for four years.

On January 9, 1935, Pollok petitioned the Governor for a remission of his sentence pleading that he was framed by a pseudo-journalist, John Hayes, and betrayed to the DSO. Pollok alleged that Hayes wanted to prevent him from completing his mission on behalf of the French Government aimed at discovering and reporting on the activities of the Italian espionage ring working against French interests in North Africa, which was operating from Malta. After writing a second petition, on April 5, 1937, he was released on December 16, 1937, six months after the release of Kahil.

Meanwhile, on Christmas Day 1934, the police arrested Arnaldo Belardinelli, an Italian who settled in Malta in 1926 and married a Maltese woman. In 1927 he opened a shirt manufacturing establishment and at one time he employed 60 people.

Belardinelli was arraigned in court and charged with “having for the purposes prejudicial to the safety and interests of the State, approached prohibited places, namely Ħal Far Air Force Stations and Defence Works, inspected, obtained, collected and communicated to others information calculated to be or which might be or is intended to be useful to an enemy and this over the period March to December 1934”.

The DSO had evidence that Belardinelli used to communicate secret information to his mentor Commendatore G. Durante, who was based in Tripoli, Libya, then an Italian colony. The information consisted of photographs of hangars at Ħal Far, sketches of the dockyard and map position of fortifications, as well as plans and notes. His courier was a crew member of the s.s. Garibaldi, belonging to the Adria Shipping Line, which used to call at Malta every week on the Messina-Catania-Syracuse-Malta-Tripoli regular service.

On the day Belardinelli was arrested, Garibaldi was due to call at Grand Harbour and CID personnel were waiting to arrest the courier. However, it was alleged that the ship’s agent in Malta, Commendatore Luigi Mazzone, got to know about this operation and the agency’s tugboat sailed out to Garibaldi outside territorial waters. After signalling the ship’s master to skip Malta, Garibaldi proceeded to Italy and the operation was thwarted.

Belardinelli was found guilty of espionage, and on March 13, 1935, he was sentenced to three years’ imprisonment with hard labour. On the day following the judgment, Belardinelli wrote to Major Ede and pleaded for clemency. He asked him to intercede on his behalf with the Governor to commute the term of imprisonment into a deportation order.

Although Belardinelli was ready to answer all questions put to him, this petition as well as another petition dated December 9, 1935, were rejected. He was released on January 5, 1937, by a special remission by Campbell’s successor, Governor Sir Charles Bonham-Carter.

Following the Belardinelli trial the Governor was advised to apply the provisions of the Aliens Ordinance of 1933 in respect of a number of Italians who had settled or were employed in Malta and whose other activities were considered incompatible with their normal employment. Thus, instead of opting for criminal trials the British authorities simply issued deportation orders which were promptly carried out.

On September 30, 1935, orders were issued for the deportation of the Italian consul, Commendatore Mazzone, who had come to Malta in 1909 and opened a travel and shipping agency. He took a Maltese wife and brought up a family in Malta. His sons Luigi and Giuseppe were also deported. The other deportees were Mro Cardenio Botti, the bandmaster of La Valette Band, and Leonardo Fusco, who for many years was the secretary of the local branch of the Banco di Roma.

On October 9, 1935, a second group, made up of seven Italian nationals, were arrested and deported on the same day. Those arrested were Commendatore Nicola Barodi, a director of the local branch of Banco di Roma, Attilio Pagliacci, Riccardo Noselli, local manager of Ali Littoria airline, Mario Tamborino, Emilio Chilo, Salvatore Marsala, and Capitano Nicola Revello.

In the meantime, a search was carried out at the residence of Carmelo Mifsud, a Maltese citizen, who was taken into custody and died soon after.

A third group, deported on January 9, 1936, consisted of Matteo Mari, a local agent of Ali Littoria airline; Professore Ro­dolfo Rogora, secretary of the Casa del Fascio and a teacher at Umberto I School; Marco Antonio Miceli, a merchant; Paolo Corrado Tirolongo, a messenger at the Italian consulate; Luigi di Silvio, whose Maltese wife, Mary née Gabarretta, accompanied him to Italy; Manlio Liberto, an officer of the Milizia Fascista; Professore Giovanni Calabritto, a teacher at the Lyceum; and Giovanna Costa, a girls’ secondary school mistress. Moreover, Professore Umberto Moricca, holder of the chair of Latin at the University of Malta, had his employment terminated and was told to leave the island.

Meanwhile, from documents found in the consul’s safe, the police found evidence against Dr Nicolò Delia, Michele Casaletto and Giuseppe Flores. During the interrogation, Casaletto decided to turn King’s Evidence, and on May 15, 1936, Delia and Flores were arraigned in court charged with espionage.

In his evidence before Magistrate Lorenzo Ellul, Deputy Commissioner Axisa read and exhibited a statement written and signed by Dr Delia in which he alleged that Ferrante, the Italian consul-general, had instructed him to obtain information, plans and sketches concerning secret matters of the Malta dockyard and the Royal Navy. Delia also alleged that Ferrante had told him he was willing to pay for such services.

The trial of Delia and Flores started on June 25, 1936. Both were found guilty and jailed for three years with hard labour, this being the minimum punishment applicable in this case.

Soon after the trial Ferrante and his secretary, Emanuele Blais, were recalled to Italy to spare them the humiliation of being declared persona non grata by the Governor. Delia and Flores were released from prison on January 6, 1937, after serving only six and a half months.