Summer 1945

No one was too surprised when 99 accused fascists were machine-gunned at the local jail in Schio—there was a reason why North Italy had become known as the “triangle of death” by the media in the bloody aftermath of the war.

But this time Allied Command, that had turned a blind eye to the executions for months, decided a line had been crossed. General Dunlop released a communique warning the partisans that the killings had to cease or Italy’s relationships with the Allies would be irrevocably damaged.

The killers, he said, would not only be prosecuted—they would be subject to the death penalty.

Two US CID investigators were sent in. It was an open-and-shut case. Everyone knew the killers; it was a small town. All the investigators needed to do was round up the guilty. But when CID investigators Valentino and Snyder got on the scene, they quickly discovered that things were not quite as clear-cut as they’d been told.

Under pressure from all sides, the two men needed results. Fast. And that meant shortcuts. Like torture. And ignoring the death of a charismatic partisan leader on the night of the massacre, and the whispers of foreign agents pulling strings in the shadows...