In 1912 1 became a member of the Unione Italiana, a mutual aid association. In 1914 I was one of its directors.
One evening there was a general-membership meeting, and I had the experience of my life. While the meeting was going on, the president, evidently afraid that some of the members would leave the hall, ordered the exit doors closed. If it had been possible I would have left at once, but I was so disgusted with what had happened that I resigned as an officer and a member.
At the beginning of 1916, the Unione started another membership campaign. Vincenzo (Antinori) had just been chosen as secretary of the association, and being a very good friend of mine he asked me to join again. To please him I became once again a member.
In 1921, the Unione was in such financial distress that telephone service had been discontinued, and one day Simone Grimaldi came to see me. "Angelo, he said, "the Unione is in a very bad financial condition. We need twelve thousand dollars badly, and you are the only one who can take the association out of the hole. I leave with you the solution of the problem. Kindly take our request into consideration."
Without thinking twice, I told Simone to go back to the directors of the association and tell them that the money was ready and that it would be lent by me on a simple promissory note, without any mortgage of any sort. I gave the Unione the money, which was repaid to me little by little. I received the last payment five years later. I was not active in the Unione's affairs, for I knew well the element that ruled it, so I preferred to stay out and keep out. I paid my dues at the beginning of every year, but I did not want to have anything in common with the real rulers of the association, whose administrative methods I could not approve. They wanted me badly, but I could not accept any official position on their terms. One day, while I was in Havana with Mr. Ferlita, an election was held, and without our knowledge Mr. Ferlita and I were elected members of the board of directors. Back in Tampa we were informed of the election, and to tell the truth I did not like what they had done at all. As I said before, I knew the element that was dominating the situation, and I knew also that I could never get along with them. I said to myself: "They are not satisfied with the fact that I lent them twelve thousand dollars, now they want to use me, but they ignore the fact that I am not the man to be used the way they want, because it is not so easy to trifle with my dignity. I cannot be the same kind of administrator that they are, and play the role of a puppet in their hands."
Still and all, I could not very well refuse to serve, and I went to the Unione perfectly convinced that I would not be there very long. As a matter of fact, before the year was out I had resigned. However, during that year I had plenty to do. First of all, I tried to overhaul the administrative system, which made one cry, for there was no sense of responsibility among the administrators.
Nobody knew what he was or was not doing. Being an orderly businessman, I wanted to change the whole situation and create a system that could be easily controlled. Such an innovation was not welcomed by Vincenzo, who did not want any check on the board members. What he wanted was a board of directors whose members had no individual responsibility toward the association, so in case of an investigation, the real culprit could not be located and punished. On the other hand, Vincent was not a very good administrator. He did not understand much of what he was supposed to do. To begin with, I created a Finance Committee, of which I assumed the chairmanship, then I brought about a thorough change in the by-laws of the association. The president and the secretary should serve only two years, while in the past these two positions had been a long-term proposition. I created a secretary of finance, who had to assume full responsibility of the association's finances, and be in a position to check on the recording secretary. These changes did not please Vincenzo, and he found a way, through underhanded methods, to have the secretary appointed by the Board of Directors in order to insure his position for life. Without him, or without his approval, nothing could be done. As a matter of fact, he remained secretarv of the association until the very day of his death, being more or less a dictator who had in his hands all the portfolios. He was secretary, president, Board of Directors, General Assembly, treasurer, and chairman of all committees. In plain words he remained the real master of the Unione from 1912 to 1942, for with his refined and soft manner he dominated everything.
He had, for instance, the great ability to surround himself with decorative elements, mostly cigarmakers who could speak intelligently of socialism and anarchism, but understood little or nothing of business administration. Just plain puppets.
When some trouble confronted him, on account of his brother, and he saw that the element that had stood by him for thirty long years was getting ready to throw him to the dogs, he suffered a heart attack, while introducing to a crowd gathered at the Centro Asturiano the antifascist leader, Colonel Pacciardi, who later became Minister of National Defense in the Italian Republic. It was a glorious end, for he avoided the possibility of being forcefully dethroned by his own friends. Vincenzo had been an obstacle for the Unione Italiana and the Italian-American community in Tampa. Like Metternich, who for forty years ruled Austria and directed the policies of all Europe, Vincenzo ruled the Unione and its affiliates on a smaller scale. In our community he never approved what others were doing, and to do away with what was not agreeable to him he used the elements who were abetting him. Therefore it was only natural that he came to his death when he could clearly see that his staunch supporters and abettors were on the verge of unsaddling him.
He was a very quiet person, soft-spoken, apparently gentle with everybody, obviously prudish, pleasing in a Machiavellian manner, but it was too bad for those who tried to antagonize him, for he had ways and means, using his silent and faithful supporters, of eliminating antagonism and antagonists. From my point of view, I considered him the most incoherent person that I have ever met in my life. He was an anarchist and a socialist, an antipatriot and a patriot, an atheist and a believer, a politician and a foe of politics, an antimilitarist and a warmonger, whichever role was convenient to him at the time. Being against politics, he should have stayed out of the political arena, but in order to be of some help to those who were helping him to keep his machine alive, he was going strong in all political campaigns. He was the denier of every belief, but he could never deny the fact that he was very far from being a constructive genius. He was hated by many, but nobody was able to say this to him, for he could placate everybody with his gentle and smooth ways, and make himself a victim of vicious mongers. I remember, for instance, sitting one day at a table in the cantina of the Unione with Domenico Tagliarini, while Vincenzo was playing cards at another table, and Domenico said to me, "There goes the most hated man in Ybor City. Probably you and I are his only true friends." And I really cared for him.
At that time the average mentality of the largest portion of our community was not very high; as a consequence many people could not unravel the darkness that enfolded them. I believe I was one of the few who could read his actions clearly, and he had, apparently, the greatest respect for me. I was, of course, playing the same role with him. As a matter of fact, I never tried to buck him openly, and I never put my nose into what he was doing. I did him many favors, and I did my best to please him when the favor that he requested was aboveboard and could not hurt my integrity and my dignity. In our conversations, in spite of his cold-blooded nature, he felt at times embarrassed. Most probably he felt that he was not honest with me while I was sincere with him. He did, in short, what an honest man should never do. He pretended to be what he was not, but he could cover himself up in a brilliant manner. In a general way he spoke briefly, and only when it was necessary, but his most impressive work was behind the scenes. In this he was a real master. He beguiled everybody with his wheedling and insinuating ways, and most likely he must have thought at times that he had succeeded in selling me brass for gold, but in this he was quite wrong, for I am a born psychologist and I could always read his innermost thoughts very well. I never boasted with him, and I treated him with the kindly feelings of a friend who is aware of the fact that he is dealing with a person who has more schooling than he. On the other hand, when I compared our minds, in spite of his higher school education, I considered myself his superior in many ways, but I never made a display of my superiority. As a matter of fact, modesty has always been one of my greatest assets, and I have never boasted about myself. All in all, I can frankly state that Vincenzo had the greatest consideration for my capacity. This fact I cannot deny.
He was not constructive in politics, and at times he used our voting power in a very unethical manner in order to reach his end. To use the votes in a fraudulent manner and in defiance of the electoral law was not at all necessary. I remember the day when a Finance Commission examined his books, and found a shortage of seventy-five hundred dollars. He used the influence of his silent abettors, and the whole thing remained in the family. He promised at the time that he would return the money he had used, but such a thing never happened. When he died, the shortage amounted to twelve thousand five hundred dollars. Who knows what happened in thirty long years of dictatorship. I repeat once again that if for thirty years he had handled the Italian-American community of Tampa the way he wanted, it was not due to his personality or his intelligence, but to the power of his abettors, who could use convincing methods at will. He undoubtedly was affiliated with this group of behind the scenes supporters who could change people's minds without effort; and, strange as it may seem, it was this group that liquidated him. He had no initiative and he was a lazy individual, but because of his high schooling, he was bound, on most occasions, to prevail with the Italians. I have compared Vincenzo and Metternich, for he juggled with local politics the same way that the great Austrian juggled with European politics. Their ends were about the same.
When the year 1848 came along, loaded with revolutions, Metternich had to leave Vienna at night in a rented carriage, to save his very skin. When he entered Germany, the place of his birth, the mayor and the bishop ordered him to leave at once. He found asylum in London, where he passed to a better life. Seventy-five years later, his splendid mansion in Vienna was occupied by the Italian embassy, representing the Italy that he had defined as "a simple geographical expression." If Vincenzo had lived three months more he would have ended the same way as Metternich did. By dying in time, he saved himself the affront of being thrown out of the position he had occupied for so many years. Looking back a little, I must say that when I was chairman of the Finance Committee, I asked the president of the association what credit the Unione had with the Bank of Yhor City. He informed me that the bank did not extend any credit to the association, whose checks were bouncing back quite often for lack of funds. The president of the Unione was a vice president of the bank, but he did not hold power in the institution, and I told him that this was an injustice, and that the bank should have extended a line of credit to the Unione. Therefore, as chairman of the Finance Committee, I proposed to have the entire committee call on the Bank of Ybor City and ask for credit.
The president of the association said that such a step would mean only a loss of time, but my motion was seconded and carried. The next day, all members of the committee had to meet at the bank. They were as follows: A. Massari, S. Grimaldi, G. Ferlita, G. Gullo, and F. Licata. I slept very little that night, and early in the morning I was at the Bank of Ybor City, in order to prepare the ground. I was sure that we were going to get some financial help, and as soon as I saw Mr. Henderson, who was the cashier, I informed him that at 1 P.M. the Finance Committee of the Unione would call on him and ask for a line of credit. I told him also that I had come in advance to clear up matters for him. Mr. Henderson, who had very little respect for the association and its leaders, whom he considered as very poor administrators, asked me what I thought of the situation. I knew Mr. Henderson well. He was a very conservative banker, and I wanted him to come out with figures and a definite offer, before I would name the amount that the Unione and I wanted.
"Do you think," he said, "that a credit from five hundred to a thousand dollars would be all right?" I answered, "No, if it was for such a small amount I would not have come to see you.
Then he asked me if the association wanted two or three thousand dollars. Evidently he was trying to please me and not the association. I again answered no; I told him straight from the shoulder that the Unione wanted a credit for ten thousand dollars. When I mentioned this large amount, Mr. Henderson got the shock of his life. He stood up, passed his shaking hands through the few hairs that he had left on his head, and said, "But, Angelo, you are crazy. Their account is not worth a penny. They have no system. They do not know how to run things. They issue checks on insufficient funds. Such a large loan would be too risky."
I had expected that reaction from Mr. Henderson, and I knew that he was right. I made him sit down, and I calmed him by saying, "Yes, Mr. Henderson, you are right, but you know that all the members of the Unione Italiana are depositors in your bank, and you also know that eighty per cent of the savings accounts in your institution are owned by the Italian community. I have already loaned the Unione on a mere promissory note twelve thousand dollars, and I could very well give them ten thousand dollars more, for I have in your bank sixty-eight thousand dollars in savings and thirty-eight thousand dollars in my commercial account. But this is not a personal affair. It is a banking transaction. And then if I knew that the bank's money would be in jeopardy, I would not have come here secretly to ask for credit. Admitting, dear Mr. Henderson, that the Unione could not pay this amount back, the Italian community would do it to save its honor, for after all a collection among the Italians in Tampa, would raise it in no time. I do not want you to entertain any doubts. Neither the Unione, the Italian community, nor A. Massari will ever lose face. Our honor and reputation in Tampa is worth much more than ten thousand dollars, and we do not intend to mar or blemish our record. I am morally involved in this deal." I told Mr. Henderson many other things and he said yes, for he could not act differently with me. To blow about what I had done was not my wish, therefore I said to Mr. Henderson, "I must ask one more favor of you. I do not want you to tell anybody that I have come to see you, to convince you about the granting of a line of credit to the Unione. At 1 P.M. I will be here with the rest of the committee, and they must not know that we have seen each other this morning." Mr. Henderson agreed.
When we all met at 1 P.M. with Mr. Henderson, my friends were feeling out of sorts. None came to the point. Licata started to speak, and I was afraid that he was going to ruin my work by asking for a thousand or two thousand dollars, so before he had come to a conclusion, I took the floor. "Mr. Henderson,' I said, "we are all members of the Finance Committee of the Unione Italiana, and I have assumed the chairmanship of this committee. Now, we have come here to ask you for a line of credit up to ten thousand dollars." When I was through speaking, I noticed that my fellow committee members were scared stiff, not on account of what I had said, but because of the amount that I had mentioned. They knew that they had never received a loan of one hundred dollars from the Bank of Ybor city, and they must have thought that it was fantastic to ask for ten thousand dollars. Mr. Henderson played his role well, asked a few questions that I answered, and, to make a long story short, the loan was granted.
When we left the bank, Licata was out of his wits. He could not understand how Mr. Henderson had consented to extend such a large credit, for in the past he had rejected a loan for only five hundred dollars. Licata and the others ignored the fact that credit had been extended due to my influence with the institution, for I was one of their best accounts. After a brief discussion we separated. The members of the committee were happy over the victory that had crowned their efforts, but I could not help laughing. Later, a report was made to the Board of Directors with all the trimmings, and everybody was in his glory What I had done remained a secret for quite some time, for only Simone Grimaldi knew of my intervention. It was after I resigned that the thing blew up, but I was not the one who told the tale. Now that the Unione Italiana was enjoying a credit standing of ten thousand dollars, it was up to me to protect my personal investment of twelve thousand dollars and the bank's loan I wanted to see what went on at the Unione, and eliminate what could damage me and the association. The Unione owned a drug store that was used for some illicit traffic by the group that was running the association, and an employee, a certain Pietrino, was accused of disposing of drugs that were not allowed, and had plenty of trouble with the law. On the other hand, it was a matter of public knowledge that the drugstore brought no profit to the association. Such a situation made me ask for an inventory of the place and a financial statement.
The first month passed, then the second, and the third went, by, but no inventory was forthcoming. I was told that the make-up for the inventory required tedious and long hours, and I should wait until the end of the semester. Reluctantly and against my judgment, I agreed to wait until the end of June. The group that kept Vicenzo at the helm of the association, and was highly interested in keeping the drugstore alive, was afraid that it was my intention to close the place for good. This was not true, for I had no such intention, and I did not have the authority to do it.
What I had in mind, instead, was to find out if the drugstore represented an asset or a liability for the association, and report my findings to the Board of Directors, who would have decided what to do.
On the first week of July I asked again for the inventory, but there was no inventory to be had. I was thoroughly disgusted with the situation, but there was nothing I could do.
It was about the end of December that I was told that the famous inventory had been taken, but I did not believe it, and, as a matter of fact, it was a false alarm.
One evening the Board of Directors had a meeting at which I was not present, and an inventory of the drugstore was submitted and approved. Informed of what had happened I decided what to do. At the next meeting of the Board of Directors I resigned from the chairmanship of the Finance Committee.
The president of the association wanted to know the reason for my resignation, and I answered, "I am sorry that you are the one who is asking this question. As chairman of the Board of Directors you know quite well that the Board has approved, without being invested with such authority, the inventory of the drugstore, which for a full year I had expected to receive, in order to make a study of it and submit my findings to the Board of Directors. You, going over the head of the Finance Committee, have approved this inventory; therefore you have eliminated the usefulness of the Finance Committee, which now has no reason to exist. The Committee of which I was chairman should have presented you and the Board of Directors the inventory with our recommendations. Then the Board of Directors could have approved or disapproved."
The president had nothing to say, and I left the meeting hall.
What had happened did not surprise me a bit. As a matter of fact, I expected it.
I knew that I could not last long, for I was not a man who could adapt himself, and accept brass for gold.
My dignity has always been a sacred thing to me, and on many occasions I had told those people that my time was of very great value, and that I was willing to use it only for the good of the members of the association, and if I could not be of some benefit to them I had no reason to give my time and my energy.
They, with Vincenzo, who was the entire show, had enjoyed my loan of twelve thousand dollars, and had appreciated what had been done by the Bank of Ybor City, but they also pretended that I did whatever they wanted without batting an eyelash. Then and there I would have been the greatest man in the community. On the other hand, they could not have any use for a rebellious Angel or a Lucifer arising against the divine authority.
They were used to rebellions of a sort, and with them there was no alternative but to obey, be silent, and forget what had happened. This was their maxim, but what Vincenzo did not understand was that I was not a cafone looking for cheap honors that I never appreciated.
After my withdrawal I was accused of trying to impose myself in a czaristic manner, making capital of what I had said one evening at a meeting: "I say so, and that is enough."
After this incident I lost all interest in the association. The money that was due me was paid over a five-year period, while the credit extended by the bank lasted for some time. In 1924, something of a very lurid nature happened. A small group of members of the Unione Italiana wanted Val Antuono to run for president. Such a move could not please Vincenzo, for Antuono was not a very congenial person. On the other hand, Antuono was not, according to my views in the matter, a qualified person for the position.
Barcellona came to see me, and asked me to see Antuono and induce him to accept the presidency of the Unione. I told Barcellona, with my usual frankness, that Antuono was a person hard to please and a very dangerous element. I said, "How can you expect to dethrone Licata, who has been president of the association for the last twenty years?" Barcellona assured me that he would take care of the situation.
I spoke with Antuono, who in the beginning was hostile; then he accepted when I assured him that Barcellona was in perfect agreement with the leaders of the Unione, and that on the first of the year Antuono, on Barcellona's assurance, would be the new president of the Unione without any election.
What happened amounted almost to disaster. In January, 1925, the local papers carried the news that Licata had been reelected to the presidency of the Unione Italiana. When Antuono read the news he jumped up in the air, and came to see me with the paper in his hands. He had, of course, every reason in the world for upbraiding me, for he had been the victim of a jest, which I could not justify, for I did not know anything about the situation.
I told him that I had spoken to him at Barcellona's request, and that I would find out what had caused the change in plans.
I complained to Barcellona, for he had been responsible for the ridiculous situation in which I had found myself, and he tried to justify himself, but from that day on I lost all faith in him. I do not know what happened afterwards. I ignored what wickedness had been worked out, but the fact remains that Licata resigned and Antuono was asked to accept the presidency.
Antuono refused the high honor flatly, and in Ybor City they spread the rumor that I had been the one to induce Antuono to persist in his refusal. This was far from being true. Thereafter, they elected Antuono in a regular manner, but he still refused to accept the election, for he had a head as hard as a rock and he was not one to please anybody.
To relate what happened afterward would require fifty pages. Both Vincenzo and Barcellona pitched into me, for they needed a victim, and I was the chosen one. As a matter of fact, they told the membership that I had convinced Antuono not to have any truck with the Unione because I wanted to be president.
Barcellona became president of the association, and on May 28 I sent in my resignation as a member, in spite of the fact that I bad paid my dues for the full year.
I ceased to be a member in order to put a stop to those lurid mouths who thrived on fibs and slander. Not being a member of the association, I could not be its president.
What made me feel bad was the fact that, in 1922, Vincenzo and one of his abettors had offered me the presidency of the association and I had twice refused. The first time I told them that my business activities took all of my time, and I could not accept their kindly and friendly offer. The second time I was more explicit. I told them that I was not the man who could fit into the pattern they wanted. I preferred to remain a member in good standing, never asking for benefits, and willing at all times to pay my dues in advance and contribute to picnics, celebrations, and assessments.
I told them: "What do you want me to do more than what I am doing? Leave me in peace.'
And Vincenzo knew about my refusal.
Still and all, he used his backers to slander me, Jetting the mad dogs pitch into me from behind, without uttering a single word in my defense.
I felt very badly about it, and for four years I did not speak to him.
When it became known that I had resigned from the membership, a committee of two - Giulio Cacciatore and Castrenzo Greco - came to my office, and told me that the members of the Association wanted to know why I had resigned. I gave them my reason in these words: "You know well that I have been the object of your false accusations. You have attacked me behind my back, and have made me responsible for Antuono's refusal, that I was the one who wanted to be president and that
wanted the office for myself. Nobody came to my defense, and went to Antuono to find out why he had not accepted the presidency. On the other hand, in order to show that I never cared for the office, I had no other alternative but to resign as a member. Not being a member, how can I be president?"
I do not know what the investigating committee reported to the assembly, but the fact remains that I was sincere in my attitude.
If I had thought differently I would have asked my brothers to send in their own resignations.
It was four years later that they were convinced that I was in the clear, for it seems that Vincenzo had broken away from Barcellona.
One day Vincenzo met me in the street, and he stopped me. "Angelo," he said, "we have wronged you, and I ask your forgiveness."
I told him that I had always known how to forget and how to forgive.
Afterward I paid ninety-six dollars for the four years I had been out of the association, and I was reinstated.
From that day on, until the day of his death, we remained friends, and not a single word was uttered, for he knew that I was not the man who could be so easily handled.
In 1929, when the Bank of Ybor City closed its doors, the Unione owed the bank twenty-five hundred dollars. I lent this amount to the association, and the liquidator of the bank that had failed was paid in full.
In 1934, I took Vincenzo to Havana at my expense for a two-week vacation, and in 1939 I took him and Barcellona to the Bankers' Convention, also at my expense.
Still and all, for the last ten years, while professing the greatest friendship for me, Vincenzo hid his innermost feelings toward me. I noticed in him an almost morbid dislike for me, due to the fact that he was an avowed antifascist, while on account of my position in the bank I was keeping a neutral attitude.
He wanted me to come into the open and declare myself an antifascist, no matter if I had to sacrifice my own interests. As a matter of fact, he had asked Professor P. M., who was writing the time for a daily antifascist paper, to prick me with one of his thrusts, but the professor had answered, "Why do you not do it yourself? After all, Massari is a paesano of yours."
When Vincenzo suffered the heart attack that carried him away, he had already known he was doomed.