- Amleto Vespa
Amleto Vespa (1888-c.1940) was a
mercenary andsecret agent of Italian origin, working inManchuria between 1922 and 1940, first for a local warlord, and then for theEmpire of Japan . A self-proclaimedfascist and admirer ofMussolini , Vespa had no admiration for the Japanese administration ofManchukuo , which he described with considerable venom in a book published in 1938.Biography
Vespa was born in the small town of
l'Aquila ,Abruzzo ,Italy into a poor farming family. Little is known of his early life, aside from what he subsequently wrote in hisautobiography , in which he claims to have left the Italian countryside to fight in theMexican Revolution againstEmiliano Zapata , been involved in various political intrigues inEastern Europe and to have married a PolishCountess . He also claimed to have traveled extensively in theUnited States ,Australia ,French Indochina and inMongolia .Vespa reached
China in 1920, and worked forManchuria nwarlord Zhang Zuolin for a number of years. The Italian consulate inTianjin had arrest and deportation orders issued for Vespa, who was accused of smuggling weapons and dealing in drugs on behalf of Zhang. To avoid arrest and deportation, he managed to obtain Chinese citizenship in 1924.After the
Manchurian Incident of 1931, Vespa fledHarbin just ahead of the "Kempeitai " secret police. His family was captured and eventually freed after Vespa agreed to work for the new Japanese rulers of Manchuria."Secret Agent of Japan"
Vespa published an account of his life in
Manchukuo in a sensationalist book intended for mass audiences in 1938: "Secret Agent of Japan: A Handbook to Japanese Imperialism". According to Vespa, he began to meet with the chief of the Japanese secret service inManchukuo , a "Japanese Prince" whose name was unknown to him. According to conversations with his Japanese superiors, Vespa reports that the Japanese wanted the colony ofManchukuo to be financially self-supporting. Vespa was instructed to compile reports on wealthy members of Harbin'sJew ish community, White Russian and other foreign and Chinese residents. He was also instructed to recruit bandit forces to sabotage theChina Far East Railway , which was run by the Soviet government.Vespa claimed that the Japanese sold monopolies in
gambling ,prostitution andopium to racketeers to help pay for the conquest of China. In Harbin alone, Vespa counted 172brothel s, 56opium den s and 194 stores selling narcotics. However, the situation was confused because there were five distinct Japanese security organizations in Manchuria, often at odds with each other, and individual officers sometimes kept for themselves money that was intended to pay for Japanese arms. Vespa sold protection to other racketeers and organized gang raids against rivals of the monopolies.Vespa mentions that the area under
opium poppy cultivation increased rapidly after 1932, and that from 1937, opium was sent to China, under the guise of military materiels for theImperial Japanese Army . In localities with no Japanese military detachments, shipments were sent to Japanese consulates.Imperial Japanese Navy vessels transported drugs to towns and cities along China's coastlines and Japanese patrol boats did the same on China's principal rivers. Vespa supposed that these shipments were meant to demoralize enemy troops and reduce their combat effectiveness.Vespa also reported that many monopolies were awarded to ethnic
Korea ns. These monopolies includedchimney sweep ing and supplyingManchukuo flags, which were attempts to extort money from the local population.The Kaspe Affair
Vespa's book also gives details of the
Simeon Kaspe kidnapping case. Joseph Kaspe was a prominentJewish businessman who owned the "Moderne Hotel", the principal hotel in Harbin. His son Simeon, a French citizen and pianist fromParis , was kidnapped while visiting Harbin on23 August ,1933 . Those directly responsible were said to be a White Russian gang. When foreign diplomatic pressure obliged the Japanese authorities to arrest the kidnappers, the gang executed Simeon Kaspe. Vespa relates the discovery of the mutilated corpse of Simeon Kaspe in November 1933 outside Harbin. Vespa recorded a number of other similar cases.The Lytton Commission
Vespa also reported that Japanese secret agents were instructed to prevent complaints and petitions filed by the local population from reaching the members of the
Lytton Commission during their visit. However, despite all these efforts, the Commission nevertheless was able to interview many individuals secretly, and it received many more written submissions which protested against the Japanese authorities.Vespa appears to have died around 1940, although some sources indicate that he may have been alive in
Manila as late as 1945.References
*cite book
last = Vespa + first = Amleto
year = 1938
title = Secret Agent of Japan: A Handbook to Japanese Imperialism
publisher = Little, Brown & Co.; 1st edition (January 1, 1938)
location =
id = ASIN: B00005XV1IExternal links
* [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,883837,00.html Time Magazine, October 24 1938]
* [http://www.ilbarbieredellasera.com/article.php?sid=15680 Biography in Italian]
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