Nicola Napoli, was the President of Artkino Pictures, Inc., the primary distributor of Soviet films in the United States, Canada, Central America and South America from 1940 to 1982. Napoli was a double agent Soviet Spy for the United States. In 1941, he became an informant for the secret information concerning formulas and products manufactured by Dupont Corporation of America. As part of his role he was a member of Communist Party of the United States (CPUSA) and is known to have passed classified Soviet intelligence information (NKVDUS) to US intelligence during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. He was the secretary for the Anti-Fascists movement in, New York.

Early life

Napoli was born 16 November 1905 in New York of Italian parentage and was taken to Italy at an early age by his parents. He returned to the United States in 1924.

Career

Up to 1928, Napoli edited ''Il Lavoratore'', an Italian Communist publication in New York.

Amkino Corp.

Amkino Corporation, founded in 1927, and headed by ,'' Giannalberto Bendazzi (2016)''
Animation: A World History: Volume I: Foundations - The Golden Age
at

Google Books Google Books (previously known as Google Book Search, Google Print, and by its code-name Project Ocean) is a service from Google that searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical charac ...

, p. 80–81, 79, 174-177Kirill Malyantovich.
How they fought cosmopolites at Soyuzmultfilm
' article from the Notes by Film Historian magazine, 2001 (in Russian) was a

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

-based company. It was the official distributor of Soviet films in the United States through February 1940. In the mid-1930s, Napoli became an employee of Amkino Corporation, at that time the US distributor of Soviet films. In 1936 Napoli travelled to Russia and other European countries. At one time Napoli was an officer of Intourist, Inc., the parent company of World Tourist, which was operated by Jacob Golos, high level operative in the CPUSA's. Napoli acted as a double agent Soviet Spy for the FBI in the United States. Shortly before Golos' death of a heart attack in November 1943, Golos told Soviet defector Elizabeth Bentley that he was turning Napoli over to another Russian contact to continue the covert relationship.

Artkino production

''Artkino production'' was the name chosen by two

Burbank, California Burbank is a city in the southeastern end of the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Located northwest of downtown Los Angeles, Burbank had a Census-estimated population of 102,755 as of 2023. The city was ...

amateur movie makers, Jean D. Michelson and M.G. MacPherson, and unrelated to ''Artkino Pictures''. From the late 1920s to early 1930s, they completed several fiction short films.

Artkino Pictures

Artkino Pictures was the official distributor of Soviet film: newsreels, shorts, documentaries, and features in North America and South America from 1940 to 1980. In 1940, following the collapse of Amkino Corp., Napoli founded, with Rosa Madell, Artkino Pictures to continue Amkino's mission. During World War II, with the Soviet Union as part of the Allies, Napoli saw the firm's imports being accepted by a far wider number of cinemas than during the 1930s, with its

Red Scare A Red Scare is a form of moral panic provoked by fear of the rise of left-wing ideologies in a society, especially communism and socialism. Historically, red scares have led to mass political persecution, scapegoating, and the ousting of thos ...

. With the collapse of Soviet-American alliance following the war, Artkino was registered with the U.S. Department of State under the

Foreign Agents Registration Act The Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) ( ''et seq.'') is a United States law that imposes Public disclosure of private facts, public disclosure obligations on Foreign agent, persons representing foreign interests.

(FARA) as an agent of the US and Soviet Government. However, both the

U.S. Department of Justice The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a federal executive department of the U.S. government that oversees the domestic enforcement of federal laws and the administration of justice. It is equi ...

and the War Department had full cooperation in gaining Artkino's full compliance. Following the death of

Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Dzhugashvili; 5 March 1953) was a Soviet politician and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, his death in 1953. He held power as General Secret ...

and attendant changes within the Soviet film industry, allowing for production of non-political, artistic films, a wider market for Soviet film product resumed and Artkino found itself in increasing competition with other foreign film distributors in the United States.

International Film Exchange

The company held its own after Napoli's death, continuing under Madell's guidance until, nearing retirement age, she affiliated Artkino with International Film Exchange and allowed that company to take over Artkino's role in Soviet film importation and distribution by the late 1970s.

Venona cable messages

The Venona project decrypt "1699 KGB New York to Moscow, 2 December 1944." is a Soviet intelligence cable message which lists the names of scientists engaged on the problem of atomic energy. It has Saville Sax contacting Napoli, who then directed him to Sergey Kurnakov.

References

FBI Silvermaster file
pgs. 463, 464 (PDF pgs. 64, 65). *John Earl Haynes and Harvey Klehr, ''Venona: Decoding Soviet Espionage in America'' (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1999), pgs. 239, 259, 303. Ra FBI Files, (April, 2018).

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Napoli, Nicola 1905 births 20th-century American businesspeople 20th-century American newspaper editors American film people American people in the Venona papers American people of Italian descent American spies for the Soviet Union Espionage in the United States Members of the Communist Party USA Year of death missing