Biography
Athos Terzani was an anti-fascist worker framed in 1933 for the shooting of Anthony Fierro at a rally of the fascist "Khaki Shirts" in Long Island City, New York — a killing the ILD showed was done by the Khaki Shirts' own men. He was defended by the ILD and eventually acquitted.
The Daily Worker of August 10, 1933, page 3, announced a Queens memorial for Anthony Fierro on August 14 and a planned demonstration after it for Athos Terzani's release. Its account says that after the July 14 shooting at the Khaki Shirts meeting, Terzani brought police into the hall, identified a Khaki Shirt as the shooter, and showed where an automatic pistol had been pushed under a piano; police instead charged Terzani. It identifies Michael Fierro, the dead man's father, as active in the defense. These allegations and the proposed demonstration are attributed to the newspaper; this report supplies no verdict or actual release day.
The Daily Worker of August 31, 1933, page 2, reports that Terzani was released on property bail the previous afternoon after 47 days in Queens County Jail, Long Island City, in the July 14 Fierro shooting prosecution. Friends supplied property through the united-front Terzani Defense Committee. His statement directed defense contributions to committee treasurer Herbert Mahler. This independently corroborates the existing August 30 release and 47-day interval; it describes bail release, not an acquittal on that date.
Labor Defender, August 1933, PDF page 11: Louis Colman identifies Terzani as an anti-fascist detained and accused of killing Anthony Fierro after the Khaki Shirts meeting in Long Island City. The article alleges that police released the uniformed Khaki Shirt identified as the shooter while retaining Terzani and Michael Palumbo. It describes the formation of a united-front defense committee, without reporting a verdict or physical release. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/labordefender/1933/v09n08-aug-1933-lab-def.pdf#page=11
The July 22 issue reports Terzani still held without bail for Antonio Fierro’s killing. The ILD had issued a mandamus demanding that police and court identify the actual assailant and accused police of withholding his identity. These are attributed defense allegations; the writ demand was not itself an acquittal or physical discharge. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1933/v10-n175-NY-jul-22-1933-DW-LOC.pdf#page=3
The October 1933 Labor Defender reports that Terzani was actually out of jail on a $10,000 bond arranged by the united-front defense committee and welcomed at a defense meeting. This corroborates the previously documented bail release in the July 14 Long Island City shooting prosecution and adds the bond amount; it is not an acquittal on the publication date. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/labordefender/1933/v09n09-oct-1933-lab-def.pdf#page=20
The reported July 19 hearing and refusal of bail
The July 20 issue reports that Athos Terzani was held for first-degree murder after a hearing yesterday before Magistrate August Dryer in the First District Magistrates Court in Long Island City. It says Dryer refused to dismiss the case and held him without bail. The hearing date is the newspaper’s contextual July 19, 1933 legal event, not a new arrest, physical admission or sentence day. It identifies Harry Sacher as International Labor Defense counsel and attributes the disputed shooting evidence and accusations against the Khaki Shirts to the report and witnesses. The assistant district attorney is printed inconsistently as Lascanza and Lescalzo within the same article, so no prosecutor spelling is installed. The adjacent caption names Terzani and Michael Palumbo being led to jail after the hearing, but does not identify their individual positions in the group photograph. Existing acquittal, release and stored duration are not changed or independently revalidated here.
Daily Worker, July 20, 1933, original pages 1. Accounts and allegations are attributed to the newspaper.
The review reports acquittal of the anti-fascist framed for the killing of Anthony Fierro at the Khaki Shirts rally, crediting the united-front defense. It supplies no new physical release day; the exact existing chronology is retained.
Fierro’s father publicly supports Terzani’s defense
A New York dispatch dated July 31 reproduces an appeal by Michele Fierro, identified as the murdered student’s father. He describes Terzani as a friend of both himself and his son, declares his belief in Terzani’s innocence and calls for support of the united-front Terzani Defense Committee. The report expects action by a Queens County special grand jury and prints the assistant district attorney’s name as James Loccisano. Those are this article’s defense statements, spelling and anticipated proceeding, not a completed indictment, verdict or physical release. The prosecutor spelling differs from variants in the separately preserved July 20 report and is not installed as a definitive case-column replacement. Existing custody endpoints and the later bail release are unchanged. This page bears a July 31 running date inside the PDF indexed as August 1, 1933.
Daily Worker, indexed August 1, 1933, original page 2. Contemporary claims remain attributed to the newspaper and identified speakers.
Page 2 reports an actual recent bail release and a planned September 8 welcome at Irving Plaza. Arthur Garfield Hays and four other attorneys were preparing the defense of the Anthony Fierro murder accusation. The planned welcome is not a release date; the independently established August 30 bail release remains unchanged.
Carl Reeve’s retrospective account says a jury freed Terzani after the Khaki Shirts shooting prosecution and discusses the subsequent perjury prosecution of their leader Smith. The article attributes obstruction to prosecutor Charles Colden and identifies a confession by Frank Moffer. These are the paper’s account and allegations; they supply no new individual custody endpoints.
The August 15 New York dispatch published August 16 reports a murder indictment pending against Athos Terzani in the Anthony Fierro prosecution and describes the united-front demand that it be dropped. This supplies a contemporary report of indictment status, without an indictment day, a finding of guilt, or a new custody endpoint. The report attributes the disputed shooting evidence to the defense speakers. Its prosecutor spelling differs from variants already retained here and is not installed as a definitive case-column replacement. The existing July 14 to August 30 custody chronology, 47 days, later acquittal and all other fields remain unchanged.
The Italian-language obituary reports Terzani died October 2, 1965 in a Bronx hospital, survived by his wife and three children. It recalls his arrest after the July 14, 1933 Astoria Khaki Shirts meeting in which his friend Antonio Fierro was killed, the attempt to convict Terzani and the jury’s acquittal at the December 13, 1933 trial. The account identifies later convictions of Art J. Smith for perjury and Frank Moffer for manslaughter; those perpetrators’ terms are not assigned to Terzani.
