As the Sacco-Vanzetti campaign reached a fever pitch in 1927, the war between fascists and antifascists that wracked U.S. Italian communities, with direct intervention by Mussolini’s regime, also intensified. Leading antifascists Carlo Tresca and Ena Sormenti were particularly targeted, with their Anti-Fascist Alliance meeting in Port Chester, just north of New York City, attacked by carloads of blackshirts. Below are several articles dealing with the event and its aftermath. The enemy would finally catch up with Tresca, their inveterate foe, when he was was felled by a fascist bullet in New York City 15 years after this confrontation.

‘Beat Off Black Shirt Attack in Port Chester’ from The Daily Worker. Vol. 4 No. 58. March 22, 1927.

Target Sormenti; Fifty Injured; Many Jailed After Port Chester Meeting

PORT CHESTER, N.Y., March 21. Fifty fascists, leaders of the New York organization of the fascist league of America are today nursing bruises and wounds that they received here yesterday when attempting to break up a mass meeting called by the Anti-Fascist League of North America.

The fascists came here in automobiles and by trains from New York with the intention of beating up the speakers, Ena Sormenti and Carlo Tresca, and stopping the meeting. A month ago when the fascists held a meeting here and their speakers were asked questions, they answered that “if the anti-fascists held a meeting they would break it up.” Yesterday they attempted to fulfill their promise, but failed miserably.

Sormenti Speaks.

The meeting was called for 3:30 p.m. at Aviglionse Hall. When Sormenti and Tresca arrived there they were met at the door by the local police and the New York fascisti.

The meeting was opened by Niccla Napoli, chairman, who introduced Sormenti as the first speaker. Sormenti in his speech exposed the fascists’ plots both in Italy and in the United States.

The fascists tried to interrupt Sormenti when he was speaking, but when they saw that their tactics angered the assembled workers, they ceased.

Search Workers.

Police stopped Sormenti in the middle of his speech and all the workers present were searched for weapons by order of the chief of police. One of the anti-fascists was arrested at that period, at the demand of one of Mussolini’s henchmen.

The next move by the fascists was to try and throw a bomb into the hall. Again they were foiled, one of the spectators discovering the weapon in time.

When the meeting ended the fascists assembled outside of the hall and waited for Sormenti and Tresca, their plan being to assault them. Sormenti and Tresca got into an automobile to go to Yonkers where another anti-fascist meeting was in session.

Attacked With Clubs.

Not being able to reach the automobile, the enraged fascists started to attack the Italian workers who were then leaving the hall. They struck the workers with blackjacks, canes and clubs, also using knives. Nine fascists and two anti-fascists were arrested. Two were stabbed, one anti-fascist being stabbed by the blackshirts and one policeman being stabbed by a fascist.

This is not the first time that the fascists have attempted to break up meetings. They used the same methods in the Bronx and elsewhere recently.

Very few fascists are found here, the local Mussolinites having to depend upon the New York organization. The local leader of the fascists is a Dr. Gaetano Ameronaco, who was arrested here a month ago on the charge of forgery.

The local branch of the Anti-Fascist Alliance was organized two months ago by Ena Sormenti.

ANTI-FASCISTI TO MEET AGAIN IN PORT CHESTER. March 24, 1927.

Also Will Demonstrate Against De Pinedo

PORT CHESTER, N Y., March 23. Another anti-fascist mass meeting will be held here soon, according to the leaders of the local branch of the Anti-Fascist League of North America who held a successful meeting here last Sunday after attempts to disturb it were made by the local Mussolinites.

The next meeting will again be addressed by Enea Sormenti, Carlo Tresca and other leading anti-fascists.

Anti-Fascists Still In Jail.

The two anti-fascists who were arrested here after Sunday’s meeting are still in jail under $10,000 and $5,000 bail respectively.

Most of the nine fascists who were arrested at the same time have been released on bail. Many of them are leaders of the local fascist organization.

Prepare For De Pinedo.

Preparations for the visit of De Pinedo, fascist aviator who will be in this city within a week are being carried on by the fascist league of America. Preparations are also being made by the anti-fascist elements of this city, who will have numerous demonstrations against the fascist jingo.

FASCISTS ARE HELD IN HIGH BAIL BY COURT. March 25, 1927.

Seven Blackshirts Assaulted Workers

WHITE PLAINS, March 24. The seven members of the New York branch of the Fascist League of America, who were arrested following an attempt to break up a mass meeting called by the Anti-Fascist League of North America in Portchester Sunday, were held today in $10,000 bail each.

The prisoners are charged with using knives, sticks, stones and hand-grenades in assaulting the Anti-Fascists.

About 50 Fascists came to Portchester by auto and by train last Sunday with the intention of beating up the speakers, Enea Sormenti and Carlo Tresca, and stopping the meeting. This was preceded by numerous threats that they would “break up any meeting arranged by the anti- Fascists.”

There are few Fascists in Portchester and the immediate vicinity, and the local blackshirts depend for assistance on the New York organization.

Enea Sormenti and Carlo Tresca are leading the fight against the cohorts of Mussolini through the Anti-Fascist Alliance.

Oliviso Sentenced to Penitentiary for “Possessing” Bomb. June 2, 1927.

Michael Oliviso, 24, anti-Fascist, was sentenced to one year in Sing Sing Prison by County Judge William F. Bleakley at White Plains yesterday following his conviction two weeks ago by a jury on charges of carrying and possessing a bomb during a Fascist riot in Portchester.

In his defense, Oliviso had claimed that the bomb had been handed to him by Dante Bertini during a meeting at Portchester some time ago which resulted in a riot.

At the time it convicted Oliviso, the jury recommended leniency for him. Judge Bleakley then announced he was in possession of evidence which had not been introduced at the trial and would investigate before passing sentence on Oliviso.

In sentencing Oliviso the judge declared he believed the case should be reopened with Bertini as a defendant.

Bertini was recently fined $50 by the same court.

The Daily Worker began in 1924 and was published in New York City by the Communist Party US and its predecessor organizations. Among the most long-lasting and important left publications in US history, it had a circulation of 35,000 at its peak. The Daily Worker came from The Ohio Socialist, published by the Left Wing-dominated Socialist Party of Ohio in Cleveland from 1917 to November 1919, when it became became The Toiler, paper of the Communist Labor Party. In December 1921 the above-ground Workers Party of America merged the Toiler with the paper Workers Council to found The Worker, which became The Daily Worker beginning January 13, 1924.

PDF of full issue: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1927/1927-ny/v04-n058-NY-mar-22-1927-DW-LOC.pdf

PDF of issue 2: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1927/1927-ny/v04-n060-NY-mar-24-1927-DW-LOC.pdf

PDF of issue 3: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1927/1927-ny/v04-n061-NY-mar-25-1927-DW-LOC.pdf

PDF of issue 4: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1927/1927-ny/v04-n119-NY-jun-02-1927-DW-LOC.pdf