411.65 Palumbo, Rosolino/10

The Italian Chargé (Diana) to the Secretary of State

The Chargé d’Affaires of Italy presents his compliments to His Excellency the Secretary of State and has the honor to acknowledge the receipt of the Department’s note-verbale of December 1st concerning the death of the Italian subject Ross (Rosolino) Palumbo, following to a “third degree” proceeding.

While thanking for the kind communication contained therein, the Chargé d’Affaires feels that he must call attention to the fact that the letter addressed by the District Attorney of the New Orleans Parish dated June 27, 1932, enclosed to the said note verbale, had already been communicated by the District Attorney himself to the Italian Consul at New Orleans who had transmitted it to the Embassy before Ambassador de Martino directed to the Secretary of State his note of July 14, 1932.

The Chargé d’Affaires, therefore, has been unable to gather from it any new element in regard to the question about which the situation appears to him to be at the same point as at the time when His Excellency de Martino’s note was sent. This note was in fact addressed to His Excellency the Secretary of State precisely in view of the reply given by the District Attorney to the Governor of the State of Louisiana in the particular case of Ross Palumbo. The Chargé d’Affaires deems it his duty to inform the Department of State that it is not possible for him to agree in any way with the conclusions contained in the letter by the said District Attorney, according to which the Ross Palumbo case ought to be considered closed as far as the State of Louisiana is concerned. The Embassy has no way to ascertain whether the opinion of the Governor coincides with that expressed by the District Attorney; but it believes this cannot be the case as the point of view of the District Attorney, namely that, after the verdict of the Grand Jury, any action of the State concerning Palumbo’s death is precluded, does not appear juridically tenable.

In fact, in respect to the State, once Palumbo was arrested and jailed, the Superintendent of the jail (in this case Warden George Miller) and the Criminal Sheriff (in this case Mr. George E. Williams) became legally accountable for the prisoner. Palumbo who entered the jail [Page 595] healthy in body and mind, was later found dead in his cell, from a cause due to violence and the autopsy has excluded the theory of suicide.

The contacts held with the authorities of the State of Louisiana by the Italian Consul at New Orleans have so far been only of an informative nature, as the Embassy did not instruct the Consul as to his action with the State Authorities, since the Embassy had already officially laid the matter before the United States Government.

The Chargé d’Affaires has therefore the honor to call the State Department’s attention on the gravity of the facts which led to the death of the Italian subject Ross Palumbo while under the third degree and in the hands of the local police, and has the honor to ask to be kindly informed of the action the Department has judged it appropriate to take in order that a result conformable to justice may be obtained, as indicated in Ambassador de Martino’s note of July 14, 1932, both for what concerns the responsibilities of the deed, and for what regards the just indemnity to which the widow and son of the murdered man are entitled.

The Chargé d’Affaires therefore trusts to receive information the Department of State will courteously communicate to him on the case in question.