FBI Atlanta report (file Atlanta 58-62), autumn 1947: Warden Sanford on the prisoners and their 1945 transfer to Leavenworth (Vault, John Roselli Part 02)

Scans 1 to 3 of Part 02 of the FBI Vault’s John Roselli file are pages of an Atlanta field-office report, file Atlanta 58-62, written for the Bureau’s 1947 inquiry into the paroles. Scan 1, the page stored here, is numbered 3 on the page. The research for this archive read scans 1 to 3 through the viewer’s OCR; the stored page was read directly. The report’s own date line is not on these pages.

“Warden SANFORD advised that he had no information whatsoever regarding the granting of paroles to the subjects, and the prison authorities merely state the facts in their reports without making any recommendations.” He “recalled that CAMPAGNA, D’ANDREA, and DE LUCIA were very talkative and were continually bragging about their exploits to the other prisoners,” and said that through an inmate informant “he learned that CAMPAGNA, DE LUCIA, and D’ANDREA had stated they had $10,000 to arrange their transfer to Leavenworth.” He made no notes and did not recall the informant’s name, and said there was no indication the money would go to government officials rather than attorneys.

He recalled a letter he wrote on July 21, 1945 in answer to a Bureau of Prisons teletype of July 18, 1945, which the report quotes: “No doubt Mr. BENNETT has discussed with you the advisability of transferring DE LUCIA and CAMPAGNA to Leavenworth. Warden HUNTER states NICK CIRCELLA says no ill feeling exists between him and these men. Also a request has been made for the transfer of PHILIP D’ANDREA to Leavenworth to be near home. Please advise is transfer recommended.” Sanford advised against it “because of the rumors floating about that they were spending money to effect a transfer,” and asked that any transfer be by bus, not train. The Bureau authorized the transfer of D’Andrea, De Lucia, Campagna and Gioe, and scan 2 records that it was “done by bus on July 28, 1945.” That is the date stamped on the Atlanta index cards.

Scan 3 adds that the local Immigration and Naturalization Service investigator said D’Andrea, Roselli, Campagna and De Lucia had been interviewed at Atlanta to verify their citizenship, and that “only DE LUCIA was foreign born.” What the inmates said and what the informant reported are the warden’s recollection, not findings. The report also describes visits by an attorney whom this page does not name.