The eyes of the fascist regime over the United States: Umberto Caradossi and the Confidential Office in New York, 1926-1941

This article examines the activities of the undercover fascist agent who ran the Confidential Office at the Italian Consulate General in New York between 1926 and 1941. Umberto Caradossi, who held the formal title of vice-consul, spent sixteen years surveilling thousands of Italian American anti-fascists in the United States. He could rely on a vast network of informants, as well as on the support of the Italian Ministry of Interior and Italian diplomatic authorities operating in New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, Boston and Tampa. The article focuses on several operations that Caradossi carried out in several cities of the East Coast and the Midwest during his early years as chief of the Confidential Office. Through an extensive examination of documents kept in Italian archives, the article addresses the following research question: where, when and how did an undercover fascist agent operate in the United States?