Top Secret
Date: July 20, 1941
From: Marvin Tucker / counter intelligence
To: J. Edgar Hoover
Re: Mrs. Sarfatti
Special representative Reilly in Montevideo, Uruguay informs of his recent conversation with Italian refugee Vasco Errera (Jewish) a distant cousin of Margherita Sarfatti. Mrs. Sarfatti still hopes to obtain an entry visa to the U.S. Reilly also learned from Errera that Sarfatti met with Italian Vice Consul Mario Simoni of the embassy in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil about her efforts to obtain currency and valuables (jewelry and art) out of Italy. While unable to provide hard evidence, Errera thinks Sarfatti may succeed if she agrees to return her extensive and embarrassing correspondence with Mussolini and possibly render other services that might include political espionage in this country.
We have kept a close watch on Vice Consul Simoni in Rio. He was suddenly recalled to Rome and left with his family on the Italian line vessel “Conte Biancamano.” We have no further information on Simoni. We continue to monitor Errera who is now residing in New York City and naturally Sarfatti in Montevideo.”
Vice Consul Mario Simoni at the Italian embassy in Rio de Janeiro received an encrypted message from Supermarina in Rome. He was being urgently instructed to set up a landing site for three large four engine airplanes flying into northern Brazil in early August. The list of requirements was daunting: a very long and secure landing strip suitable for heavy aircraft; at least two fuel trucks loaded to capacity and transportation to the port of Fortaleza of over one hundred fifty heavy crates requiring at least two large tractor trailer trucks plus an automobile for one passenger. The planes were to land within one hour of each other and were to be refuled and ready within four hours for a return flight to French West Africa.
Simoni was used to secret assignments but this was clearly something different because of the heavy equipment involved. He looked at the map and located the small town of Macau half way between Natal and Fortaleza where some research had been done the year before for an operation that never materialized. Simoni quickly made plans to travel to northern Brazil to set up the area. But he also had to elude the many British and American spies operating in Rio as well as the pro-American Brazilian security police. If he were to be tracked by Allied agents the whole operation would be compromised.
The Admiral came up with a plan.
Through official foreign ministry channels, the vice consul received a telegram informing him that he was being routinely recalled to Italy for a new assignment. The embassy officially notified Brazilian authorities that Simoni would be leaving Brazil within ten days on the Italian liner “Amerigo Vespucci.” The usual festivities and farewell parties lasted a few days and on June 25th Simoni was on board the passenger liner with all his belongings, his wife and two children.
Like many diplomats Simoni was not simply a passport officer at the consulate but an air force intelligence specialist also representing the navy. He knew what was required and set up the proper contacts through agents in Fortaleza. The Vespucci slightly modified its course and hugged the coastline on its way north to the Equator. The captain informed the passengers that there would be a slight delay in crossing the south Atlantic. On the second night as the ocean liner approached the tip of Brazil it stopped for about twenty minutes just long enough for Mario Simoni, in disguise with false documents making him a citizen of Paraguay, using the name of Miguel Costa, was transferred to a fishing boat that promptly ferried him to a beach just south of Macau. Simoni’s family quietly traveled back to Italy as if nothing had happened and no one on board questioned his absence since they had seen him only in passing.
Miguel Costa had previously located a clearing where the planes could land deep in the jungle area some fifty kilometers inland. Posing as a Hollywood producer making a war movie he negotiated with the owner for use of the property for a short period insisting that the matter must remain confidential since rival Hollywood producers were attempting to sabotage his project and so on. The landowner was amused by the story and promised to keep everything very quiet, happy to accept the rental fees for no work at all.
Once the rental was successfully negotiated Costa busied himself to stockpile the fuel required for the flight back and secure the trucks and transportation. By the end of July he signaled that everything was ready and that he was waiting in Macau.
He received the final signal two days before the planes were scheduled to land.