Cellini-Freedom Fighter

Born in New York and raised in Italy, Vito “Tutuc” Cellini went from street gangster to soldier to resistance fighter to secret agent – all before he was twenty-one years of age. Drafted into the fascist Italian army against his will and sent to the front line, he deserted and joined Tito’s Yugoslavian Partisans fighting the Nazis, returning to Italy to join the Allies amid one of the biggest cover-ups of the European war. He ended the war working covertly with the American OSS (forerunner of the CIA) hunting down criminals and undesirables. Sailing home to New York in 1948 with a forged Italian passport and just 12 cents in his pocket, he was arrested at Ellis Island. Since then, Cellini’s inventiveness, reputation and irrepressible sense of adventure have taken him all over the world, often putting his life in great peril. Respected by the New York Mafia, Cellini later negotiated with some of the most feared organized crime syndicates in Italy. Nicaragua’s President Somoza sought his advice on guerilla warfare and weapons tactics, and while in Nicaragua he was embroiled in the assassination of a high profile journalist and had to flee for his life. Cellini has kept Federal Agents informed of credible plots to assassinate known enemies of the United States. He even served for a short time, albeit inadvertently, as bodyguard for a notorious drug lord in Mexico. He has never been afraid of taking the law into his own hands because, he says, sometimes that is the only way to survive. His inventions, including the Cellini muzzle brake, have earned him 19 patents and the undying respect and gratitude of members of the U.S. Special Forces and Law Enforcement. He has been privileged to count some of America’s most revered and decorated military heroes among his closest friends. Cellini is, more than anything, a patriot; a man who puts honor above all. And while some of his adventures make fictional spies and secret agents pale by comparison, unlike his fictitious counterparts, Cellini always remained faithful to one woman. Now in his 90s, he finally feels comfortable talking about his life, and he isn’t pulling any punches. The good. The bad. The ugly. The truth. Includes more than 75 photographs.