Book Summary
A MASTER SPY is an organizer, coordinator, supervisor of a network of espionage cells - he relies on natives in his operating area to feed information to him. Aldo Icardi was America's first master spy. He spent eight months behind the German lines in Italy, the last five of them as master spy, operating in the area northwest of Milano.
This book is the true account of how he got into this exciting business, and of what happened to him while he was behind the lines. He tells how it feels to huddle in a hole in a wall while enemy soldiers search for him just three feet away. He tells about being trailed by German bloodhounds. He describes the wild frenzy, the uncontrolled violence, that gripped northern Italy during the last days of the war. He also relates everything that happened the night that Major William V. Holohan, his commanding officer, disappeared.
Mr. Icardi has written this book because he has been accused falsely of murdering Major Holohan. This book is his defense - the only recourse available to him to clear his name. In presenting his case, he has been forced to make a few charges of his own: of irresponsibility, negligence, and blind stupidity on the part of American public officials. When Aldo Icardi leans forward and says quietly, "I am innocent of the charges. I had nothing to do with the murder of Major Holohan," he looks straight at you with steady, intent brown eyes. As he goes on to explain every detail of the mad series of events that have disrupted his life, he occasionally wipes his hand slowly over his bald pate ... adjusts his spectacles ... clears his throat. Sometimes those intent eyes sparkle excitedly. Sometimes he gestures broadly. When finished, he relaxes in his chair, and asks you, deliberately, "How could this happen in America?"
Today, Mr. Icardi is a respected leader in his community-active in Catholic lay activities, little League baseball, and other civic affairs. He was born and raised in this same community-a typical middle closs suburb of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. When he graduated from high school, he entered the University of Pittsburgh to study political science. In his spare time at college he led the cheerleading team and his shiny bold head become a bouncing trade mark at all the Pitt games. He joined the ROTC and soon become a leader there too. When he graduated in 1943, he was commissioned a second lieutenant in the United States Army. That is where his book begins.