Monti claimed he was a defector “and offered his services to assist in the German War Effort.” The Germans treated him as just another American POW and sent him to a Luftstalag. The P-38 was turned over to Luftwaffe engineers for performance tests and evaluation intended to improve German pilot’s methods for defeating the speedy and agile aircraft |
During that time military investigators discovered his enemy wartime activities and SS officer’s commission. On January 26, 1948 Monti received a discharge under “honorable conditions” from the Air Force at Mitchel Field. Waiting for him as he left his barracks were FBI agents under the charge of Special Agent Edward Scheidt, who promptly arrested him for Treason. He was taken to Brooklyn Federal Court and held without bail until arraignment. |
Monti underwent psychiatric evaluation for 3 weeks at King’s County Hospital where he was found to have “paranoid traits” but was “not legally insane.” At the hearing his counsel, Lloyd Paul Stryker, claimed that Monti agreed to record the Nazi propaganda while a prisoner of war so “he could get to Berlin to plead with Hitler to end the war”, or “capture or kill him”. On October 14, 1948, standing before Judge Matthew T. Abruzzo in Brooklyn Courthouse, a federal Grand Jury indicted Monti on 21 counts of treason including deserting his post and cooperating with Nazis. Monti pleaded Not Guilty. Trial was set for January 17, 1949 and Stryker, counsel for the defendant, requested bail for his client which was denied. |
Monti’s attorney, Stryker, gave a twenty minute plea for leniency, stating that during Monti’s early youth he was influenced by extreme isolationist, anti “New Deal” and anti-communist magazines and newspapers. Stryker further explained that Monti believed communism was an enemy of the church and government, and was “fanatically imbued with the idea that Russia was the real enemy of the United States.”
Monti was sentenced to 25 years in federal prison and a fine of $10,000.00. He was incarcerated at Leavenworth Federal Penitentiary in Kansas. An unsuccessful attempt to reverse his plea occurred in 1951 when Monti claimed he was “coerced” by his then counsel (Stryker) to plead guilty. His new attorney alleged that his conviction was “double Jeopardy”, after already being “tried and punished by an Army Court Martial”. After a seven day re-trial, Judge Inch ruled that Monti’s claim was “entirely without merit.” Martin James Monti was paroled in 1960 and lived quietly for the 40 years until his death on September 11, 2000. He is buried in Sacred Heart Cemetery, Florissant, St. Louis County, Missouri. |