Charles Psaila or Charley Psaila?

In Search of Psaila.

I still haven't found my Psaila family.  I am always looking for them.  Some clue, any clue that would bring me to them.  While I was in Salt Lake City I started researching these two people on my Ancestry.com account with the last name of Psaila.  One went under Charles Psaila and the other Charley Psaila.  They immigrated to New York was about the same time.  One was a Sheet Iron Worker and one was an Elevator Operator.  The birthdates were exactly one month apart.  They both came on the same ship but on the naturalization paperwork the dates were slightly off by a few days.  I couldn't figure out how these two men could have come from the same place, born about the same time and come over on the "same" ship.  I located the Declaration of Intention, the Naturalization paperwork for both men along with the census records for 1930 and 1940.  I labeled them Psaila (1) and Psaila (2).  After awhile I head started spinning.  I couldn't figure out which document went with which Psaila so I decided to breakdown and show it to one of the professionals at the desk.  Her name was Danielle and within a few minutes of looking at everything I had she said "These two are the same man."  Both naturalization documents gave the same identifying description of the man.  The only difference was one signed the document Charles Psaila and the other signed it Charley Psaila.  According to her they were definitely the same person.  I needed one more document to settle it in my mind so I tracked down the marriage document that was listed on Charles Psaila's naturalization paperwork.  I  located the microfilm of the marriage and went straight to the date listed and to my surprise the address in New York on the marriage record was the same address listed on the Charley Psaila's document.  Indeed I had the same person.  Then I had another little surprise his name was spelt as SAILO.  Can you believe that? 

The Case Against Karmnu (Carmelo) Psaila

 Karmnu Psaila was Maltese by birth and a British subject who 

traveled to Libya in 1921 to start and life with his wife Vittoria.  

He owned a barber shop in the shopping district of Suk el 

Turk in Tripoli.  Life was good for the fourteen years he lived 

in Tripoli until he started talking against Mussolini, 

the Italian ruler of Libya at the time.  

In the beginning of 1936, he was being observed by officers 

who later confirmed that every morning between 5:30 am to 

7, Psaila spent his time at the Café Italia, in the Piazza dell-

Orologio, reading the Italian newspapers among them the 

“Avvenire di Tripoli” and commenting unfavorably in public 

on every item of news, which had a ring of victory for the 

Fascist Italy.  Psaila, made the same comments to his clients and 

to the neighboring shopkeepers.  Psaila was in the habit of 

disparaging Italy and to make matters worse he continued to 

an increasing degree his inexplicable aversion to Italians.  Later 

having become aware that he was being watched, Psaila placed 

small notices on the mirrors of his shop requesting his clients 

not to speak of political matters.  Too little to late I suppose 

because soon after that he found himself before a special 

tribunal being accused of, in the time of war, spreading 

exaggerated and tendentious with the object of depressing the 

public spirit and engaged in activities likely to cause harm to 

the national, vilifying the Italian, making use of insulting 

expressions followed by acts of scorn.

There is no doubt in regard to his guilt.  All the witnesses were 

in the position to give evidence in detail regarding the facts.  

The fate of Psaila was made quite clear.  After 

deliberation, the Court found Psaila guilty for the crime of 

political defeatism.  He was sentenced to three years and eight 

months imprisonment.  The Court also ordered that Psaila, on 

the conclusion of his sentence, should be expelled from the 

territory of the State.