Beneath a Scarlet Sky
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Getting to know Pino
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Christine. Mary is an intellectual nut case, compulsively obsessed with denigrating author Mark Sullivan, my father Pino and anything to do with the success of "Beneath A Scarlet Sky". She's constantly posting these public ramblings (which I don't read anymore) and has never reached out personally to interact with me, Mark Sullivan or my 94 year old father. I'm 68 now and grew up knowing many of the characters in the novel. They're real. I maintained a close family relationship with my father's family, especially Dad's brother Mimmo, who prior to his passing, built a ski cabin on the plateau of Motta, right next to Casa Alpina and his mentor Father Don Luigi Re. As a boy in Italy, my brother and I remember meeting Father Re. We heard the exploits of my father not from him, but mostly from close-net family members such as my grandparents Michele, Porzia, Aunt Cicci and from our great Uncle Albert and Aunt Greta. It was well-known in our family, that Dad experienced trauma during the War (PTSD today). It was no secret that as young teens, he and Mimmo guided Jews over the Alps for Don Luigi Re (and no secret to Giovannni Barbareschi either). Uncle Albert and Aunt Greta told me of Dad's assignment as the "Driver Of The Todt General" and how they relayed his daily classified information to the Allies through an OSS Radio. For many a night, I would listen to my father and his buddy Carletto Beltramini discuss the War and that fateful mission "over The Brenner" delivering "His General" to the awaiting American's on Austrian Border. In speaking with my father growing up, he was reluctant to talk about his War time experiences. I knew that he had been an Alpine Guide and was always fond of Jews. I knew he had learned to drive a car at 17 from his friend Alberto Ascari (later confirmed to me by Alberto's wife Mietta) and with that skill and the fact that he could speak French, he became the "Driver Of A Nazi General". My grandparents told me that he and Mimmo had been sent to the Alps after experiencing the terrible bombing of a movie theater in Milan and Dad was later wounded at the "Todt Boot Camp" in Modena. Occasionally, my father would blurt out some emotional exploit of what happened.... Once he told me "witnessing" the execution of "Dolly", the mistress of "His General". I'll never forget how angry and upset he was against his own people, the Partisan's, while recounting that episode. Another time, on a cold winter day while driving to a ski race, I remember Dad pulling over to the side of this long valley road lined with telephone poles. With tears in his eyes and shaking, he told me that on every telephone pole, and as far as we could see, there were two bodies hanging. Those kinds of things left an impression on me, but the worse part was seeing my father break down emotionally.....
Mark wrote a book of historical fiction (based on what he believes to be a true story). You can believe or disbelieve what you want as very little can now be proved....and Mary has that going for her. I know my father, and everyone who knew him personally (mostly all dead now), had a reverence for charisma as a person and for what he experienced during the War and after.
My Dad doesn't see himself as a hero (and I've repeated that ad nauseum) and never sought to get his story out publicly. He admires Mark Sullivan like a son, but he's not particularly enthused with the book or it's success. And yes Mary, I am proud to be more enthused and responsible for promoting that along with Mark , whose talent gets the literary credit for it's success.
A phenomenal success I might add, beyond our wildest dreams, despite Mary's effort to falsely denigrate it as a hoax.
"Eat your heart out Mary"......Your cowardly rants only inspire more folks to read it and decide for themselves".....
Michael Lella
Welp, at least this time was one of the few occasions where you said "Mark wrote a book of historical fiction (based on what he believes to be a true story)." instead of where you began three years ago and often repeated it or a close variation. You'll recall the (closely paraphrased) "it's all true except for the dialogues [sic] that needed to be created", and much later acknowledging "creative license" but (incorrectly) insisting extent is minimal and makes no difference.More later. You've provided a lot to wade through. I need to reformat first (even you'd admit the first paragraph outdoes most of mine and would benefit from being broken into smaller pieces).
Mary F, I am a new user to Goodreads as I have never been a person to discuss things online. I did not think it would be controversial but I have a thick skin so I am not discouraged. I wrote my post because I really really appreciated Pino’s story and was hoping that my appreciation would be seen by his family (thought it was a long shot but it looks like it was successful, hello Michael). If you are so sure that his story is false then I challenge you to put your money where your mouth is and get on the national news and state this position with facts. It is hard for me to not be unkind with you but honestly if you’re going to call the Lellas liars and Sullivan a liar you need to back it up or you are spreading falsehoods and being a coward. It seems clear to me that you are not serious about the truth and you are just posting comments that are supposed to be sound intellectual because you want to slander others. It is up to you to provide proof.
Hi Michael, thank you for responding. I was hoping to hear a little more about Pino from you so I am really glad I posted on here. I believe that “they just don’t make ‘em like that anymore!” when it comes to people like your father. I know your father doesn’t feel like a hero and I’m not going to insist that he is (he is to me though!) but I just wanted to let you know that I’m inspired by his ability to take risk and lean in and do what needed to be done. He was tough and I bet he still is! (I bet he probably doesn’t think so but still!) I’m in my mid 20’s and my generation as a general rule just does not know duty, risk and strength. And we don’t know what it’s like to risk our lives for others. I am a registered nurse and there are many calling us heroes due to the pandemic. But I have no clue what tough is. Here’s to Pino! I appreciate the details Michael
Michael wrote: "Christine. Mary is an intellectual nut case, compulsively obsessed with denigrating author Mark Sullivan, my father Pino and anything to do with the success of "Beneath A Scarlet Sky". She's cons..."
Michael, I hate that you feel you have to defend your father. And I support your wisdom to ignore unproductive discourse. There are far more people who appreciate this story than don't, as near as I can tell. But honestly, it is totally okay to not like a book without denigrating others in the process.
For what it is worth when people are so invested in tearing down a story that only makes me want to spread it farther: I have gifted the book many times. I can't stand censorship. I guess I just trust readers to manage themselves without reading police (I think there is a book about that too!)
Please know many of us see your father as a hero too. Cheers!
Thank you Michael. I loved the book and appreciate you continuing to be available to answer readers’ questions.
Dear Christine, Amanda and Lory. So sorry I'm unable to reply to your posts individually (I'm having problems with my Goodreads format).
I hope you get this as I'd like to extend a virtual hug to the three of you for your support and expressing your thoughts about Mary and her compulsive rants. She is dogmatic, relentless and incredibly determined in her mission to destroy the success of BENEATH A SCARLET SKY. I have given up on engaging with her, and will only make reference to her in the third person while responding to posts such as yours. She constantly attacks me, Mark Sullivan and frankly, for over three years now, any of the nearly 30,000 CUSTOMER REVIEWERS who have expressed a positive review of the story. Honestly, it baffles me how one can afford to devote so much time to a quest without being professionally supported. I can't do it, and we're talking about my father's legacy here....
Anyhow. I wanted to extend my gratitude to the three of you. Please feel free to reach out to me through my personal email michaellella@yahoo.com From there we can exchange numbers and I'd be honored (YES MARY, HONORED) to speak with you individually.
Sincerely,
Michael lella
Pino's Son
Jun 27, 2020 12:05PMedits June 29 for typos
Part 1 of 2 [character limits]
NOTE: Comments in the quote of Mike's message are within double brackets.
Mike, if you wanted to build up credibility - or, rather, the appearance of it - instead of evading disclosures aside from relatively trivial wrongdoing like Sullivan's misappropriation of and false captioning of Franco Isman's childhood photo and all that's implied by that idiotic act - a person with minimal integrity would acknowledge the bombshell about Lella Sr.'s 1985 interview and the summary of info gleaned from it and posted mid-May; the Dehlendorf angle; why Carlo Beltramini was made out to be a lifelong bachelor who died in 1998 and written up as someone who gave a faux death bed confession about a car trip that was never harrowing and ended at Bolzano (according to Lella Sr. in 1985 interview); why Carlo's brother Franco was disappeared; why his mom had to die in 1944 (?); why you insisted that Mimmo be given a heroic role (Lella Sr. sure wouldn't have); and a whole lot more.
Message 104 [April 26]:
“Mary is an intellectual nut case, compulsively obsessed with denigrating [[it is hardly unfair criticism; like most words Mike casually tosses about, the definition would need to be utterly up-ended for this to be accurate]]] author Mark Sullivan, my father Pino and anything to do with the success of "Beneath A Scarlet Sky". She's constantly posting these public ramblings (which I don't read anymore [[Oh, please - since when? Like other such false remarks, you've said this often enough ... before last month's firefight over on the "Is Pino still living? thread, and yet ... :) ]] and has never reached out personally to interact with me [[incorrect]], Mark Sullivan [[incorrect]] or my 94 year old father [[incorrect]].
I'm 68 now and grew up knowing many of the characters in the novel. They're real. [[No one said the people with whom you are familiar aren’t real, Mike.]] I maintained a close family relationship with my father's family, especially Dad's brother Mimmo
[[Then why didn’t you ensure that Sullivan reached out to them in relation to the book? And please be careful about any fibs, because it was clear from a couple of posts from Carlo Dante and the fact that Sullivan misappropriated Franco Isman’s photo - among other far more interesting bits - that Sullivan never reached out to them.]], who prior to his passing, built a ski cabin on the plateau of Motta, right next to Casa Alpina and his mentor Father Don Luigi Re. [[If Father Re was a mentor to Mimmo, it’s a shame that Lella Sr. and/or Sullivan didn’t vacuum up authentic bits about Casa Alpina from him or from sis-in-law Valeria or other people.]]
As a boy in Italy, my brother and I remember meeting Father Re. [[Entirely irrelevant with regard to what’s in the book.]] We heard the exploits of my father not from him, but mostly from close-net family members such as my grandparents Michele, Porzia, Aunt Cicci and from our great Uncle Albert and Aunt Greta. [[Something about which I’m still curious - exactly when did Albert ostensibly marry Greta? As of 1985, Lella Sr. declared him unmarried [during the war] (twice) and that your (maternal, I gather) grandparents lived with him.]] It was well-known in our family, that Dad experienced trauma during the War (PTSD today) [[Even if true - and there is no reason to believe it is - not relevant.]]
It was no secret that as young teens, he [[allegedly]] and Mimmo [[Lella Sr. mentioned not a word about this in 1985 when talking about what he supposedly or actually did from Madesimo]] guided Jews over the Alps for Don Luigi Re [[Lella Sr. mentioned zippy about his activities (to include trips to smuggle rice in exchange for cigarettes "for a friend") being done at behest of “for Don Luigi Re”]] (and no secret to Giovannni Barbareschi either [[given that Barbareschi didn’t hang out at Casa Alpina during the time in question, aside from a couple of times including the September 1943 hike, I cannot imagine any wartime interactions]]).
Uncle Albert and Aunt Greta told me of Dad's assignment as the "Driver Of The Todt General" and how they relayed his daily classified information to the Allies through an OSS Radio. [[Pretty damn odd, then, that Lella Sr. mentioned not a thing about this in his 1985 interview. There should be evidence of a supposed link between Albert and the OSS, by the way, but you insist on making the link.]] For many a night, I would listen to my father and his buddy Carletto Beltramini discuss the War and that fateful mission "over The Brenner" delivering "His General" to the awaiting American's on Austrian Border. [[Sorry, but Lella Sr. describes an uneventful car ride and dropping off the “general” whose name he didn’t know at Bolzano.]]
In speaking with my father growing up, he was reluctant to talk about his War time experiences. I knew that he had been an Alpine Guide and was always fond of Jews.
[[OMG, you really should listen to his 1985 interview, because you’d might think better of foolish declarations like this. While your dad expressed that he was fine with one or two Jews that he knew were Jewish by way of their name within his peer group, you should know that when it came to questions he ought to have answered a particular way, he went with a really bad answer: That Jews, Turks, gypsies and protestants were not at all like him … and later how he identified Jews by their “dark” appearance. ]]
I knew he had learned to drive a car at 17 from his friend Alberto Ascari (later confirmed to me by Alberto's wife Mietta) and with that skill and the fact that he could speak French, he became the "Driver Of A Nazi General". [[According to Lella Sr., the no-name “general” spoke Italian.]] My grandparents told me that he and Mimmo had been sent to the Alps after experiencing the terrible bombing of a movie theater in Milan and Dad was later wounded at the "Todt Boot Camp" in Modena. [[Your grandparents were contradicting Lella’s own story as of 1985.]] Occasionally, my father would blurt out some emotional exploit of what happened....
Once he told me "witnessing" the execution of "Dolly", the mistress of "His General". [[Among the pretty pedestrian (as in not terribly interesting) tales circa 1985, there is nothing whatsoever about the “small” general “with no hair” having a mistress much less anything like an execution … and that includes no mention of being anywhere near the Esso station on April 29, 1945. In light of the somewhat interesting tales he had to tell about things entirely unrelated to him, you’d think he’d’ve mentioned that day and seeing what happened to the bodies of Mussolini, Petacci, et al. and Starace’s execution.]]
I'll never forget how angry and upset he was against his own people, the Partisan's, while recounting that episode. Another time, on a cold winter day while driving to a ski race, I remember Dad pulling over to the side of this long valley road lined with telephone poles. With tears in his eyes and shaking, he told me that on every telephone pole, and as far as we could see, there were two bodies hanging. [[Too bad this wasn’t used by Sullivan in the book, along with the only truly interesting tales about being repeatedly detained by partisans with the “general” and Lella Sr. being put up against a wall and thinking he’d be shot but they let them go and he can only speculate it’s because someone knew they were “special”. :) ]]Those kinds of things left an impression on me, but the worse part was seeing my father break down emotionally.....
Mark wrote a book of historical fiction (based on what he believes to be a true story). You can believe or disbelieve what you want as very little can now be proved....and Mary has that going for her. I know my father, and everyone who knew him personally (mostly all dead now), had a reverence for charisma as a person and for what he experienced during the War and after.
My Dad doesn't see himself as a hero (and I've repeated that ad nauseum) and never sought to get his story out publicly. He admires Mark Sullivan like a son, but he's not particularly enthused with the book or it's success. [[I realize you don’t care about facts any more than you do errant apostrophes, because you’ve yet to let a fact get in the way of fiction or your distorted view of x-y-z, but this statement contradicts your father’s interviews done in relation to the 2018 release of the Italian translation.]] And yes Mary, I am proud to be more enthused [[??]] and responsible for promoting that along with Mark , whose talent gets the literary credit for it's success.
A phenomenal success I might add, beyond our wildest dreams, despite Mary's effort to falsely denigrate it as a hoax. [[You’ve demonstrated that the word “falsely” does not match the one in any standard dictionary but, again, the criticism of Sullivan’s actions and failures to act, as well as yours and Lella Sr’s is not even in the same universe as what can objectively be categorized as unfair.]]
"Eat your heart out Mary"......Your cowardly rants only inspire more folks to read it and decide for themselves"..... [[Erm, “cowardly”? As for “Eat your heart out Mary”, at least it’s better than “Good Riddens” [sic] of mid-May over in response to, among other posts that day, this one: https://www.goodreads.com/community_a....
Still, I’m not sure why anything other than your Overlord Id would want you to identify yourself as a person whose emotional development seized up no later than his latter teenage years. At least this time you didn’t declare for the sixth or sixteenth time that you’ll never deign to talk to me again. (Update: I spoke too soon. See below.)]]
Michael Lella”
Part 2 of 2NOTE: Comments in the quote of Mike's message are within double brackets.
Message 110 [April 27]:
“I have given up on engaging with her [[Yes, repeatedly. How many times has this or a similar statement been posted? I haven’t kept exact track - and it’s apparent to me that you purge the internal/mental cache after posting any given remark.]], and will only make reference to her in the third person while responding to posts such as yours.
[[Mike’s second preference is talking to me via talking smack about me that does not serve any practical purpose other than defensive diversionary tactic to attempt to manipulate readers when they often need no further manipulation. In the past, he’d routinely vent by comment to a review in an out of the way place on the book review pages over on Amazon.]]
She constantly attacks me. [[Erm, no. Mike, using his internal emotional dictionary formed by his mental gremlins/Overlord Id, loves hyperbole and counterfactual statements and mischaracterizations, hence “constantly” and “attacks”. And he evidently purges his hard-drive of his counterfactual and often ludicrous name-calling. Translated into appropriate language, “attack” means posting what is not gushing admiration of Sullivan and Lella Sr. but instead critical disclosures, explanatory commentary and discussion of the fraud to encourage others to learn and think for themselves and - at the very least - disclosing the topic to prospective readers if they insist on recommending the book.]]
Mark Sullivan and frankly, for over three years now, any of the nearly 30,000 CUSTOMER REVIEWERS who have expressed a positive review of the story. [[This is patently false and as ever baseless (which has never stopped Mike, like suggesting that I have “political motivations” and and - knowing exactly how reprehensible it was - suggesting I might be an anti-Semite.]] Honestly, it baffles me how one can afford to devote so much time to a quest without being professionally supported. [[Says the retired guy. :) And, eep, another irrational conspiracy theory. It can’t just be that I type 120 WPM, am efficient with my time, etc. Evidently, you’d be surprised to hear that I also manage to put in ~1,000/hours a year on volunteer work in addition to a regular paid job.]] I can't do it, and we're talking about my father's legacy here.... [[Whatever it is you’re implying in terms of time, of course you could devote more time to turning what is largely myth into “history”, Mike.]]
Anyhow. I wanted to extend my gratitude to the three of you. Please feel free to reach out to me through my personal email michaellella@yahoo.com From there we can exchange numbers and I'd be honored (YES MARY, HONORED) to speak with you individually. [[Oy vey, you’d think there’d be a smidge of self-awareness here, but ...]]"
***
All of the above is what has been said before, and the only thing it essence reflects is what you are unwilling or unable to understand doesn’t align with the reality of Lella Sr.’s actual wartime experiences, which according to his own lips and a great deal of other evidence, in turn utterly fails to align with what’s in the novel much less “hews closely to what happened to” Lella Sr. (And I’m not buying that Sullivan has however often occupied a psychotic or delusional head space such that he’s swapped actual reality for alternate reality. If he wants to declare that the historical record aligns with what he did, he’s free to produce evidence on the topics that aren’t already crystal clear.
But Sullivan won’t even post (for random example) the full original of the Daddario report about the stadium interaction in April 1945 at which Leyers in effect surrendered/offered his parole and that of all others located there - the report that Sullivan chose to photograph when at the National Archives for 20-ish hours in July 2009. (Thank you FOIA.)
Sullivan clearly read about this report in Max Corvo’s book - one of many from which he gleaned so many ideas for what he understood even then would need to be an all but entirely fictionalized account of the tales of Lella Sr., et al. to turn Lella Sr. into a heroic spy who helped turn the tide of the war in Italy, etc. He extracted enough material from Corvo’s book - I guess including the idea to miscast Rauff in the lead SS baddie role and ignoring authentic history of the events he chose to inject into the book - that he decided to also miscast and misuse the [x number] person and inject Corvo where he didn’t belong.
I am grateful that, among so many other things, Sullivan chose not to squander the opportunity to mention the “1980s” supposedly but not in fact soon-aborted interview and that he couldn’t refrain from his pathological habit of name-dropping and so thanked Paul Oliner in the Acknowledgments ... along with others whom he ought not have thanked in the way he did if he truly wanted to prevent his bad judgment calls from being uncovered. Had he left out the false description of the 1985 interview, I might never have learned about it, or perhaps not until someone ELSE uncovered it. This might’ve taken however many more years.
Eventually, I’ll get closer to zeroing in on when and under what circumstances Lella Sr. and Dehlendorf actually met - it couldn’t have been 1998 and still align with Sullivan’s version in the nonfictional sections of the novel, never mind all the other information related to this topic. Meanwhile, the fact remains that had Dehlendorf wanted to pursue a book or other entertainment product deal, he could’ve done it 20 or 30 (or more) years ago. Dehlendorf had the connections, the resources and the pull, so the versions about how this was a futile exercise for him according to Sullivan is far from credible.
What I find fascinating is how the embellished fiction in Dehlendorf’s obituary doesn’t line up with the falsity- and falsehood-packed nonfiction in the Aftermath and Preface. (Among other things, Sullivan’s mid-May saccharine tribute to him on FaceBook is a new version of how they "worked together for nearly 10 years to see it realized" ... an ill-advised belated choice to alter/embellish reality, never mind a very weird omission from the Aftermath.)
And Dehlendorf made him a better person my ass. Better than what - a guy who’d make up a lie about Pulitzer Prize nominations for investigative reporting having no reason not to be aware they (and you) would brag about it and lead to evidence of a fiction that originated with him no later than 2003, when he mentioned it in relation to a self-promotional piece he wrote about Serpent’s Kiss?
https://web.archive.org/web/201412200...
I’ll eventually get around to posting separately over on the “Is Pino still living?...” thread about Sullivan throwing Lella Sr. under the bus about the misappropriation and misuse of Franco Isman’s photo from Casa Alpina.
Christine wrote: "Hi Michael, thank you for responding. I was hoping to hear a little more about Pino from you so I am really glad I posted on here. I believe that “they just don’t make ‘em like that anymore!” when ..."Christine,
While I'm working on a reply to
Perhaps you'd not mind a summary of what you've hopefully by now (if belatedly) reviewed on GR or A'zon proper, incl. from my visible notes on the book, my review space generally and at least the last couple of pages of the thread under Mike's answer to "Is Pino still living?...":
https://www.goodreads.com/community_a...
As always, recommend viewing in 'desktop site' mode of browser if using a mobile device.
To quote Tayor Swift "And the haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate'Mary find something better to do with your time please you are .... ruining this website and I can't believe that Goodreads allows you to persist.
Mary wrote: "Part 2 of 2
NOTE: Comments in the quote of Mike's message are within double brackets.
Message 110 [April 27]:
“I have given up on engaging with her [[Yes, repeatedly. How many times has this or ..."
Tracey wrote: "... please you are .... ruining this website and I can't believe that Goodreads allows you to persist."The first remark is ill-conceived, facile and counterfactual hyperbole (GR is a rather large site). I recommend that you read and ponder the Community Guidelines, FAQs, etc. While they naturally don't offer rules of etiquette with regard to how to handle a literary fraud or the eldest known son of someone miscast and misused in a literary fraud, I assure you they do cover the topic of lively disagreement and debate.
Ms. Swift, by the way, would be disappointed that you prefer to embrace what is inauthentic, botched and exploitative over what is true and factual just for the sake of holding onto pleasure you felt from what is reasonably referred to as "trauma porn", and quite possibly to spare yourself from processing what is modestly painful and difficult (realization that you were hoodwinked by the author).
I see you have a few other things to learn but likely choose to avoid, including about American Dirt. A different situation, but howsabout you go tell David Bowles why he ought not "ruin" folks' enjoyment by sharing his views and info about authentic Latinx stories (never mind the fact that these folks aren't obligated to read his comments or any related materials).
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Or maybe surprise me and defend his right to, among other things, criticize the publisher and author for misrepresenting what the novel is, and/or help tell a few blithering nitwits about what it is you believed you actually learned from the novel that you couldn't possibly learn elsewhere while at the same time being entertained.
Because you instead may prefer what is trite: please grow up.
Ah Mary the difference between you and David is that you attack people..other readers.. and go back and attack again and again. David put forward his opinion you seek out people, to dismiss their thoughts with your self righteousness. Your misguided aggression to others is this issue not your actual opinion. You are tone deaf, in these trying times. You seek to minimize others not to inform or educate. There a people dying if this is your biggest issue you live a very privileged life. (6)
Tracey wrote: "Ah Mary the difference between you and David is that you attack people..other readers.. and go back and attack again and again. David put forward his opinion you seek out people, to dismiss their t..."The actual definitions of "attack" and "aggression" as compared to the ones suggested by their misuse here might be worthy of examination under different circumstances, but because you chose not to ponder why the Bowles review topic was raised by me in the first place ... I'll pass.
Your penultimate line is framed as though you posted here for any other reason than to chastise. If you wanted to acquire (accurate) information and weed out misinformation, there's plenty to read on this thread and others. The last line seems an ironical iceberg better left unexamined lest it be mischaracterized as "attack" vs. disagreement or debate, but I will say it's based on a false assumption that "this is [my] biggest issue".
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... "At long last, Franco Isman's official testimony has been submitted to/accepted by Yad Vashem on the topic of (Monsignor) don Luigi Re's assistance to him as a child (allowing him safe haven at Casa Alpina under an assumed name from Sept 1943 to April 1945).
As some may be aware or recall, there were cases opened on Re and Lella as a result of a request by a superfan of the book acting - at least indirectly - on behalf the despicable author, but YV was provided no useable information that warranted presentation to the committee charged with assessing whether or not a person should be recognized as Righteous Among Nations.
My considerable gratitude to fellow GR member and now friend Giovanni Ciriani for helping me see this through. Getting it done without him would've been a huge pain in the tuchus aka tushie aka rear end.
Among other things, recognition as RAN for don Luigi will be one of few silver linings of this literary fraud, along with Franco's peace of mind.
The work continues."
[[Deleted as a duplicate of Msg 118.]]
Michael this book left me in tears and in awe of your father's life. ❤
Is it true they are making a movie of the book? If so when will it be out?
Micheal, first i want to say how much i enjoyed the book Beneath a scarlet sky. It was an inspiring story and your father was a great hero. But i am seeing a lot of negative things online about Pino lella's story not lining up with history or other people's memories of Italy during world war 2, for example: Franco Isman's 'how do you invent a hero' on Arengario.net.Can you explain? I know the timeline in the book was not 100% accurate and some added storyline was put in, i am just interested in the history of your father and ww2 and want to know the truth.
- V
V wrote: "[...] Can you explain? [...] i am just interested in the history of your father and ww2 and want to know the truth."V (and others),
Unfortunately Mike established that he is unwilling to (and possibly incapable of) acknowledging the truth/authentic vs. alternate reality because he's too heavily invested in a particular narrative.
If you haven't yet, you may want to review any or all aspects of the Mike interactions in this thread or the one posted here at the bottom where he "explain[s]", sometimes by flat-out belligerent rejection. I accept that Mike painted himself into a corner years ago (arguably decades back), but this doesn't make it ok that he refuses to even, say, seek access to his father's 1985 interview for starters.
The one major concession to actual truth that I recall Mike made is when he deleted (only after being called on it) an early outlandishly false answer to "Does anyone know how much of this book is true and how much is fiction?" in the Q&A section here ... that the book is "all true except for [however much] dialogue" that Sullivan needed to create.
Even assuming Lella Sr. was ever entitled to be considered a hero, I'm afraid that he forfeited the right/privilege when he went along with this novel and then failed to correct the record to disavow all that is materially false in what Sullivan produced.
We sh-wouldn't be here, assuming Lella told Dehlendorf and then Sullivan the same or a remotely similar version that a very willing, far from traumatized or "upset" Pino relayed in a lengthy 1985 interview ... with a lady, btw, who confirmed to me, among other things, that she did not acquire his name from Yad Vashem but instead from a fellow in California who, like she, shall for the time being remain nameless.
I've no basis on which to presume Lella later made up one or more wildly different versions for Dehlendorf and then Sullivan, but even if he did, Sullivan is in no position to successfully throw Lella (Pino or Mike) under a bus with variations on "I had no idea", "I misunderstood" or "I had no reason to question [a-b-c ... x-y-z]!" and forgetting various fibs around a whopper that he devoted a decade to research to imply validation, etc.
We're entitled to presume Sullivan took note of Lella's 1985 interview - among many other research items and subjects, several of which he blatantly lied about by both omission and commission, i.e. regarding Leyers for one. He then proceeded to craft a tale in blatant and bewildering disregard of virtually every material aspect (and a number of not-so significant aspects) of what may be found in the historical records and elsewhere in pursuit of $$$ and acclaim.
At minimum he:
• owes a detailed apology to all readers (via electronic distribution to as many readers/listeners as possible), plus one directly to the granddaughters and great-grandchildren of Hans Leyers; [1]
• should insist the publisher remove the Preface and Aftermath sections, or heavily revise them and reveal the changes (underscoring additions and striking through stuff to be disregarded);
• should insist on a revised publisher disclaimer to one for hist fic that all must read-listen to before proceeding, with future marketing as something along the lines of "inspired by [or "sparsely 'based on' "], among other stuff, some very different tales (circa 1985)";
• pledge to and in fact actually donate a whopping portion if not all future proceeds to various institutions, starting with ones he exploited by virtue of misleading name-dropping and related remarks in order to create the veneer of verification and authenticity, e.g., Yad Vashem, the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, and (where the name-dropped and misused Liliana Picciotto is evidently still Head of Historical Research) the Fondazione Centro di Ebraica Contemporanea (aka CDEC), etc.
I won't hold my breath, because Sullivan's established himself as a fully committed Grade A deceitful schmuck.
Finally - yes, I'm a wordy cow! - Franco's information makes up a very small portion of what is wrong with this attractive customized virus Sullivan created and then had the gall / chutzpah to claim (truth nuggets) this "fully dramatized" "biographical and historical fiction" ... "hews closely to what happened to" Lella and is "90% true".
https://www.goodreads.com/community_a...
[1] He's already rendered an almost comical 'but-it's-really-Pino's-fault'-brand apology to Franco for his misappropriation and misuse in book presentations of two photos of Franco and the false caption of one as "Mimmo Lella, spring 1944, Casa Alpina".
For the few people who find this discussion section, please note Father/don Luigi Re is recognized by Yad Vashem as Righteous Among Nations on the basis of the testimony of Franco Isman, a real v. fictional resident of Casa Alpina from ~Sep 1943 until April 1945.
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Erm, no, you won't see me on television, but I wouldn't rule out Franco Isman doing an interview (so long as he doesn't need to leave Italy). :)
My intuition has served me pretty well in the past, and in light of the fact this account was just opened never mind a few telling clues in the projection I see in the comments, I assess a far better than decent chance this is someone with whom I've crossed paths many times who is a perpetrator/co-perpetrator of the hoodwinking of the reading public (or posting here at his request).
So be it if taking issue with offensive exploitation of real people and subject matter is (disingenuously) referred to as pathetic (I'll operate from the presumption that you understand what that word means). However, you'll pardon me for crediting with intelligence someone who'd deploy near-belligerent, facile declarations made (evidently, if sincere) with no apparent grasp of actual vs. alternative facts.
I should think folks would think this through and maybe wonder why I haven't even received so much as a nasty note from Sullivan or someone on his behalf in three years. (I do not count all the bluster from Mike Lella, whom I'd like to credit with willful disregard for repeatedly broadcasting that he has a fundamental misunderstanding of what defamation means.)
One good reason for the silence (among many) is because Sullivan would much rather keep his mouth shut and pray, while deluding himself that he's gotten away with it for this long and so won't eventually be held accountable for what he did. I trust he's spent plenty of time worrying about how much of the ill-gotten gains ultimately will find their way into the pocket of attorneys for fees down the road when this is (eventually) widely exposed for what it is.