This is the story of Paul Dunn, born in Wilmington, Delaware, in 1917. He lived in a large apartment complex know as the Flats. The complex was owned by the Bancroft Company, which had a rental policy prohibiting Italians, Polish, Jews and blacks to occupy the dwellings. The enclave was located across the street from an area known as Little Italy.

Paul Dunn was Irish, tall, good-looking and well coordinated. As a preteen and teenager, he led an uneventful life. He was never really accepted by the Italian kids in Little Italy, who considered him a sissy and an outsider. He joined the army in 1934 and did basic training at Camp Wheeler, Georgia. After completing basic training, he was sent to London as part of the U.S Embassy Security Force.

Three month later, while attending a dance at the Noncoms Club, he and an air force soldier became embroiled in a fight over a girl. The air force Sgt. was accidentally killed; however, a military court found Dunn innocent, declaring that he had acted in self defense. Dunn was sent back to Camp Wheeler and became part of the cadre. He enjoyed his assignment as drill instructor and drove his men unmercifully. His resentment of soldiers of Italian heritage became paramount in the execution of his duties. As a result, Pvt. Pesco became ill and died of pneumonia. Pesco’s soldier friends blamed Dunn for his death and planned to kill him when he returned from his Christmas furlough. Cpl. Dennis, a friend of Dunn, warned him, “If you come back to camp after your furlough, Pesco’s friends plan to kill you. Dunn spent the holidays with his parents and returned to his boarding house, located in a secluded area outside the city limits of Macon, Georgia. He was granted permission to extend his furlough and waited for his assailants to make their move. Pesco’s friends sent two men, privates Lenni and Laravello, to kill Dunn. Both were killed by Dunn, who buried their bodies in a wooded area near his boarding house.

Dunn went AWOL (absent without official leave) and had planned his escape in great detail. He took a train to New York City and rented a room in Greenwich Village. Three weeks later with a beard, glasses, dyed hair and forged papers, he made his way to Columbus, Ohio. Within a few days, he enrolled as a student at Ohio State University majoring in education. His new name would be James Germaine. He gradated from Ohio State in June 1941 and joined the faculty of Mentor High School, Mentor, Ohio, as part of the history department. Eventually he became principal of the school.

After the bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, the United States declared war on Germany and Japan the next day. Dunn was called for the draft but failed to pass the physical. For months, he had worked on a foolproof plan to fail the physical. The plan worked to perfection.

At the conclusion of WW II, Nick Tello and Bill Heller, two soldiers who served with Dunn and were part of the group who planned to kill him, returned to their homes in the Cleveland area thirty miles from Mentor, Ohio.

Ten years later Dunn married Helen Jarvis, the school librarian, and carved out a new life. Bill Heller graduated from Ohio State under the GI education bill and secured a position teaching mathematics at Jefferson Hills High School. Jefferson Hills was an affluent and prestigious community located on the outskirts of Cleveland. Nick Tello joined the Mafia and had risen to the position of enforcer. His uncle Joe headed the Mafia and Nick was second in command.

In 1960 the National Education Association (NEA) was scheduled to hold their annual meeting in Cleveland. Paul Dunn and Bill Heller were chosen to be part of the planning committee. During the course of the preliminary meetings, both recognized each other but never revealed their findings. What followed would change their lives forever.

If Paul Dunn were returned to the military authorities, he would spend the rest of his life in prison or be hanged. Bill Heller was intent on staying alive.

Eventually, Dunn kills Nick Tello and his next victim was scheduled to be Bill Heller. When Nick Tello was killed, the Mafia, under the direction of his uncle Joe Tello, took charge. What follows involves intrigue, murder, grief and the brutality and fury of the Mafia.



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