Biography
Vincenzo Frattesi was born in Pergola, Italy. Immigrated to the United States in 1913.
Emigrated to Avignon, France, where he was fined for assault in 1908, and was jailed for eight days in 1910 for the same offense. After immigrating to the United States in 1913, he became active in Milwaukee’s anarchist Circolo Studi Sociali, along with his siblings and brother-in-law. Following the 1917 Milwaukee anarchist “riot,” convicted as an accessory to the attempted murder of a police officer and sentenced to twenty-five years in prison, a conviction upheld by the Wisconsin Supreme Court. While incarcerated, repeatedly disciplined for infractions and in 1920 was declared insane and transferred to a mental hospital. Pardoned in 1922 on condition of deportation and deported on February 25, 1922.
Upon arrival in Italy, institutionalized in Naples as “paranoid” and released in November 1924. Later settled in Fossombrone, where he remained under surveillance and continued to express anarchist beliefs. In July 1928 he was recommitted to a psychiatric hospital in Pesaro and diagnosed with “paranoid early dementia.” Remained institutionalized as of 1940.
1920s custody review: The existing record omitted the state prosecution and imprisonment preceding deportation. Arrest and incarceration are recorded at 1917 year precision, with February 25, 1922 as the deportation endpoint. Transfer to a mental hospital in 1920 was not release. Later Italian confinement is kept distinct. Exact day totals are not inferred from year-only dates. No verified portrait has been found.
Sources: Kenyon Zimmer, Fraser to Furs; Bianchi v. State, 169 Wis. 75 (1919).