Murder at the Pine Tree Inn (1940)

Sixteen-year-old Anna "Annie" Rossetti was playing the piano in the dance hall inside the Pine Tree Inn when she heard sounds resembling gunshots just after 6:00 PM on August 27, 1940. She went outside and found Joseph Guisepee Fasoli moaning in pain as he lay face down in the chicken yard behind the inn. Thinking Joseph had taken ill, Annie went and summoned Dr. Samuel Finsen. 

Pine Tree Inn Advertisement (1955)

Joseph Fasoli owned the Pine Tree Inn with Annie's father, Angelo Rosetti.  The two men had immigrated to the United States from Italy. Angelo, who served in World War I, was recovering from a recent operation at a veteran's hospital.

Upon Dr. Finsen's arrival, Joseph Fasoli was dead. Seeing gunshot wounds, Dr. Finsen called for the medical examiner, who concluded that the death resulted from being shot twice in the back (under the left shoulder) at close range. 

Since they had a murder on their hands, Constable Joseph Morehouse contacted the Massachusetts State Police, who took over the investigation, setting up makeshift headquarters in the town hall. Morehouse said Fasoli lived in Southwick for about ten years.

Authorities believe that someone shot Fasoli using a 16-gauge shotgun with birdshot. Police found no shells at the scene, but they found birdshot embedded in the wood of the chicken pen. Police seized a pump gun and double barrel shotgun from a bedroom in the rear of the inn.

Joseph Fasoli

Authorities had Fasoli's body taken to the undertaking rooms at Lambson Furniture Company in Westfield. 

Angelo Rosetti was charged with first-degree murder and arrested shortly after Fasoli's funeral. He pleaded not guilty. He was freed on $10,000 bail on September 5, 1940. (His bonds comprised a mix of cash and real estate.)

Before the trial, Rosetti copped a deal, pleading guilty to second-degree murder. He claims he shot Fasoli because he struck his wife. The district attorney accepted the plea after telling the court that he didn't believe a jury would convict Rosetti of murder in the first degree. 

 Conclusion

A judge sentenced Rosetti to life in prison on February 24, 1941. 

Angelo Rosetti died in the Bridgewater State Hospital for the Criminally Insane on September 19, 1946; his funeral occurred the following morning. (His daughter Annie had gotten married on September 7.)

Joseph Fasoli's son sold the Pine Tree Inn in 1963 to the Ransford W. Kellogg  Post 872, Veterans of Foreign Wars.

Additional Information

Annie, born August 23, 1924, died September 7, 2014. 

Carolina Rossetti's Motel in Madera, CA

Angelo's son, Lt. Col. Joseph Rossetti, born in Southwick on October 19, 1920, died unexpectedly in California in 1969. He had a career in the United States Air Force. 

Angelo's wife, Carolina, died in a Greenfield, Massachusetts' nursing home in 1983. It is interesting to note that she owned and operated the M&R motel in Madera, California.