Gregorio Mannina A-file Part 3: INS and FBI Investigation

If you have not yet read the last two posts I would suggest reading those first.  This is the last post in the series about the A-file. In post one, I discussed the Alien Registration Form, a World War II era program to register all immigrants. In post two, I discussed the Application for Certificate of Identification, both of which were used by Gregorio to register.

In this post, you will see a glimpse into the investigations that were done on immigrants who registered. The timeline in the file is as follows:

Nov 7 1940: Alien Registration Form filed
Feb 11, 1942: Application for Certificate of Identification
December 16, 1942: Request for Copy of Alien Registration Record (Form CA-140)
December 30, 1932 FBI Record furnished (Form T2)
July 20, 1943 Letter requesting re-check of FBI Records
Aug 3, 1943 FBI Record Furnished
Aug 14 1943 Criminal Record Received by INS Field Office

Not included in the A-file, but relevant is the US Naturalization Record issued on Feb 26, 1945 on which date, Gregorio ultimately became a Naturalized Citizen.

On the first letter below you will see stamped ENEMY ALIEN. This is a WWII designation on all immigrants who were from enemy nations. Read about it at this link.

 Immediately after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, President Roosevelt issued Presidential Proclamations 2525, 2526, and 2527 to authorize the United States to detain allegedly potentially dangerous enemy aliens. The FBI and other law enforcement agencies arrested thousands of suspected enemy aliens, mostly individuals of German, Italian, or Japanese ancestry, living throughout the United States.

Above you see there are two names associated with the same fingerprint. This established as fact, that our ancestor was using both Viola and Gregorio as first names.

Something must have made the field office second guess the file. They requested an additional search into his background.  On the Alien Registration Form someone also circled the statement made by Gregorio that he entered the United States under the same name and has not been known by any other names. I wonder if he was questioned in person about it. I imagine so. I would love to locate a copy of his actual arrest record.

Another copy of the fingerprint records - identical to the one above which was perhaps originally misplaced?

This is the index showing that ultimately he was granted citizenship. At the time the INS kept these in separate files at field offices. In the 1950's all naturalization documentation was centralized into the A-file system.

Gregorio Mannina A-file: Part 2 Application for Certificate of Identification

Also included in Gregorio's A-file (see last post for information on the A file) is an Application for Certificate of Identification (Aliens of Enemy Nationalities). The Application is form AR-AE-22. It was submitted on Feb 11, 1942 to the United States Department of Justice Brooklyn, NY location. The Alien Registration receipt number is 3552191 - this is the number associated with all of Gregorio Mannina's A-file documents.  On the application his name is listed as Gregorio Mannina. His address: 37 Starr St Brooklyn, NY. His employment is listed as "unemployed for a number of years". His date of Birth is 12-19-1894 and he is a citizen of Italy.  Relatives living in the United States are Jennie Mannina, Wife, Address 37 Starr St. Anthony Mannina, son, James Mannina, son, Angelo Mannina, son,  Michael Mannina, son, and Joseph Mannina, son.   Relatives living outside the United States, Mary Mannina, sister address: Italy. This is a new name. I have not before heard of a sister, so I was excited to see this.  He has not applied for or recieved citizenship papers since August 27, 1940 and has never been refused naturalization.  He has never taken an oath or allegiance to a country, state or nation other than the United States.  He has never read a summary of the provisions of Presidential Proclamations and Regulations concerning the conduct of aliens of enemy nationalities.  He is not affiliated with any clubs, organizations or societies.

He is 5 feet 2 inches, weighs 152 lbs, has brown eyes, mixed gray hair, and a dark complexion.  Distinctive Marks: beauty mark on right cheek.

One copy of this Application was sent to the Alien Registration Division, and a duplicate sent to the Federal Bureau of Investigation office in NY, NY. His photo, fingerprint and signature are included.

Gregorio Mannina A-file: Part 1 Alien Registration Form

Several weeks ago, a hint popped up on Gregorio Mannino on my FamilySearch online tree. I use both FamilySearch.org and Ancestry.com because both have unique algorithms for searching and produce varying results.  The particular hint that popped up was for a record in the "United States Index to Alien Case Files, 1940-2003." The hint lead me to the website of the National Archives, where I submitted a request for a copy of the file, mailed a check for $20, and a week later had a 9 page document in my possession that are the contents of my great grandfathers A-file.

An A-file, or Alien File, is a file containing a unique A-number which identifies non-citizens of the United States and was put into use by the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) in 1940. You can learn more about it by clicking on the above hyperlink.

Included in Gregrio's A File are the following documents:

1. Alien Registration Form dated Nov 7, 1940,
2.  An Application for Certificate of Identification dated Feb 11, 1942
3.  A request for a copy of Alien Registration Record to the US Department of Justice from INS dated December 16 1942 and returned Dec 30, 1942 with FBI records for Viola Mannina and Gregorio Mannina
4.  Letter to US Department of Justice requesting a criminal check of FBI records dated July 20, 1943 and returned with FBI fingerprint records on Aug 14, 1943

#1. Alien Registration Form was submitted to the United States Department of Justice Immigration and Naturalization Service and was assigned the number 3552191. This is Gregorio's A-number. According to the USCIS (United States Citizenship and Immigration Services) website:

Alien Registration Forms ("AR-2s") document the presence of non-citizens in the United States during the Second World War. The Immigration and Naturalization Service ("INS") used the Form AR-2 to make a record of all aliens residing in or entering the country between August 1940 and March 31, 1944. Although stamped with an Alien Registration Number ("A-number"), AR-2s are a distinct records series and are not Alien Files ("A-Files").

 From this document I was able to confirm that Gregorio did arrive on the S.S. Principe di Piemonte on October 30, 1913. If you read my last post, I detailed the record I located for "Gregorio Mandino".  He states on the form that his name is Gregorio Mannina, he entered the United States under the same name and has not been known by any other name. I emphasize the last part because this comes into play later in the file.
His address is 37 Starr St in Brooklyn, and his birthdate is listed as December 19, 1892 (Note - there is variation in the records I have seen from 1892-1894). He was born in Salaparuta, Trapani, Italy and is a citizen of Italy. He is a married, white, male, 5 feet 3 inches tall, weighed 150 lbs, had black-grey hair, and brown eyes. He arrived at Ellis Island on Oct 30, 1913 on the S.S. Principe di Piemonte. He came as a passenger and entered the United States as a permanent resident. He has lived in the United States for 27 years and expects to remain permanently. His usual occupation is laborer and present occupation is unemployed.  He is a member of the Wyckoff Heights Democratic Club, 53 Irving Avenue since September 1940. He has no military service. He has applied for first citizenship papers in the United States on April 15, 1940. He has the following relatives in the United States: wife, and 4 children. He has been arrested for the offense of "Sullivan Law" in 1938 in the 83rd precinct and his case was dismissed. In the past 5 years he has not been affiliated with or active in political activities of a foreign government. The form was signed on November 7, 1940 and the registering official that signed and took his fingerprint was Charles McCarthy.

Lots of information to soak in!  So - what is the Sullivan Law, you may ask yourself.  You can read all about it at the link, but here is a summary: It was a law passed in 1911 in New York City requiring licenses for New Yorkers to carry firearms small enough to conceal. What I found particularly interesting was the following:

Many believe the act was to discriminate against immigrants in New York, particularly Italians, as the first person convicted under the law was an Italian immigrant named Marino Rossi who was travelling to a job interview and carrying a revolver for fear of the "Black Hand".^[10] At sentencing the judge declared: "It is unfortunate that this is the custom with you and your kind, and that fact, combined with your irascible nature, furnishes much of the criminal business in this country".^[11] Prior to Marino's arrest, others had been arrested under the new law but were released without charges.^[12] Whether this was part of the law's intent, it was passed on a wave of anti-immigrant rhetoric as a measure to disarm an alleged criminal element.^[13] The police department who granted the licenses could easily discriminate against "undesirable" elements.^[13] Days before the law took effect the New York Times published an article saying "Low-browed foreigners bargained for weapons of every description and gloated over their good fortune in hearing of the drop in the gun market before it was too late".^[14] After Rossi's conviction the New York Times called this "warning to the Italian community" both "timely and exemplary".^[15]

Below are images of the Alien Registration Form. Stay tuned for future posts regarding the rest o fthe documents contained in his A-file.

Gregorio Mandino

So - if you read my last post - I had been reading through over 2000 names on a ship manifest and thought I may have found our ancestor - turns out I just had to keep on reading. I believe now I have definitely found our man. Below is the Ship Mainfest for the Principe di Piemonte sailing from Palermo. It departed Palermo on 16th October, 1913 and arrived in New York Harbor on October 31, 1913. Line 24 lists Gregorio Mandino, age 22, married male labourer from the Province of Trapani, Sicily. His nearest relative is his mother Loria, Angela located in Salaparutta, Sicily. His destination is Raceland, Louisiana.

On the next page of the manifest, his record continues - also line 24. He had a ticket to his final destination, which he paid for himself. He was in possession of $25. he had never before entered the United States. He was heading to meet his Uncle Lorenzo (cannot read the last name) in Raceland, Louisiana. He was never in prison, is not an anarchist or a polygamist. He is in good health with no deformities, is 5 feet 2 inches with a fair complexion and brown hair and eyes. His place of birth: Salaparutta, Sicily.

So - the moral of the story - never give up! Even though the last post was fun to imagine - and I could convince myself it might make sense - it was not adding up so I continued to pore through all of the 2000 plus names on the ship until I found him. I am now positive that this is our man. The age, place of birth, name and supporting details all match up to the immigration documents that I located.  New information is that he had an Uncle in Louisiana.  I will now try to decipher the last name of the Uncle. Here is a zoomed in clip of the name and address. Maybe you have some ideas...

Another detail that I noticed - on this record he is going by Gregorio.  And the last name is listed as Mandino - just a misspelling - or is this the original name??

Thanks for reading.  I also updated the layout of the site a bit and added links above to the ancestry and family search trees. Hope you like the changes. - Nicole

Erminio Viola????

OK. So I am going out on a limb here - but want to propose a possibility. I have always been told that our last name was changed when great-grandpa arrived here.  No one could ever say for sure what the original name was. I always was under the impression it was some sort of mis-spelling of Mannino - like Manina.

I have been searching for hours and hours on end for a ship record for Viola Gregorio Mannino using many variations of the last name Mannino.

From two documents that belonged to Viola Gregorio Mannino - both immigration documents - I learned that he arrived in 1913. One document stated Nov 30, 1913 aboard a ship named "Prince". I have tried unsuccessfully to find a ship on this date that resembles that name.  Another document I recently came across, stated he arrived on Oct 30, 1913. I went to Ellis Island's website and did a ship search for the Italian name for Prince, Principe and found a ship named Principe di Piemonte that arrived on Ellis Island on October 30, 1913.  I tried to search for any variation of the name Mannino unsuccessfully.

Today, I decided to scroll through every single name - which is no small feat.  There were 2,049 passengers aboard. I got about halfway through and saw this name:

Could it be that our last name should be Viola?  As a first name - it doesn't seem like a very common one for men.  As a last name - however - maybe.  Erminio kind of sounds like Mannino.  So a few possibilities come to mind.

1. This is our great-grandfather. His name was really Erminio Viola and once he got here he changed his identity.

2. This is our great-grandfather and whoever wrote his information down incorrectly wrote Viola as the last name and thought he said Erminio when he said Mannino.

3. This is not our great-grandfather.

Some things that would suggest it is not him is the age. This person is 29 which would put his birth year at around 1884.  From all other documents, his birth year is approximately 1893. Only 9 years off - so in my opinion - pretty close.

The last place of residence is Cepagatti, Italy - this is a new location that has not come up before. Also when I looked at the actual image of the record it states that this person has a wife in Cepagatti, Italy. So - is it possible that our great grandfather left a wife behind and started a new life?

Curious to hear your thoughts....


PS. Melissa Mannino generously setup a gofundme account to assist me with family research costs. I want to say THANK YOU!! I appreciate any support - whether financial or simply reading and sharing your thoughts. There are quite a few costs that come up so the gofundme is very helpful and will be used for purchasing documents, ancestry world membership upgrade (if possible), memberships in various organizations like New York Genealogical Society, etc.

A Century of Italian-American Life

This article describes the church where Viola and Vincenza may have gotten married. A Century of Italian-American Life

Viola and Vincenza Tied the Knot in Rockford, Illinois

In my last post, I described why I thought the ship record belongs to my great grandmother Vincenza Fontana.  Based on the confirmation of the record, I had a hunch that Vincenza and Viola must have gotten married in Rockford, Illinios. None of the search engines were coming up with a match, but then again the name spelling has been highly variable.  I found a resource called the Illinois USGenWeb Archives, which simply lists in alphabetical order all marriages by the groom's last name. I tried Mannina, Mannino, Manina, Minini, Minina, and Fontana and nothing was popping up. So I decided to simply type in Vincenza with the years 1921 and 1922.  I found it!

M921-0393 04/18/1921 MAMINA, VIOLLE 28 VINCENZA, GATONA 19


The date makes sense, Vincenza arrived in January of 1921 and was headed to Rockford, Illinois, and I knew that Uncle Tony was born in 1922.  Note the mis-spelled names.  Here we have Mamina as the groom's last name and they completely botched the bride's name.  They have her last name as Vincenza and her first name as Gatona.  Being that Viola is such a unique name - I have no doubt that this is the mystery couple! 

I sent a fax to the Winnebago County Clerk and will hopefully be able to purchase a copy of the marriage certificate - although they do say that they only issue them to the actual people who were married or their parents, I am hoping that since it is for genealogical purposes that perhaps they will send it to me anyway!

Additionally, I have 2 family trees - one on ancestry.com and one on familysearch.org.  The family search tree found a record called an Alien Case File for Gregorio Mannina. I have written to the National Archives to request a copy of the record.  On the index, it indicates an arrival date of October 30, 1913. This is one month different from the Naturalization record that I previously found - so I am hopeful that I may soon locate the ship record for Gregorio, aka Viola, Mannino.

Vincenza's Ship Record

We had a nice family party last weekend and the topic of of our family story came up.   I was sharing my tree documents and got some new insight that has helped me to feel confident that I have the correct ship record for my great grandmother, Vincenza Fontana. In the below image,Vincenza is listed on line 19.  The date of the ships' arrival is January 20, 1921.  The name of the Ship is the Dante Alighieri. She is listed as 19 years old, female, single. Her occupation is listed as Housewife, then that is crossed out and something is written in cursive above it. I cannot figure out what it says - here is an image - perhaps one of my reader's will know what this says:

This record states that she is from Camporeale and that her nearest relative in Italy is her mother, Rosalia, who is in Camporeale. While viewing this document, I learned that my father's cousin Rosalie was named after Vincenza's mother.  Vincenza approached her mother and father and asked them to name her after her mother. This helped me confirm that the record belongs to my great grandmother. We also learn from the document that she is heading to Rockford, Ill.   3 of her children were born in Rockford, Illinois, so this is an obvious connection.

This is the back of the document: It states that she is had $40 in her possession, and that she was heading to Rockford, Illinois to meet her father, Fontana, at 665 Court St, Rockford, IL. Her place of birth is Camporeale, Italy and she is in good health with no physical or mental defects.

An image of the Passenger Ship, Dante Alighieri