In 1953 , a news boy get a Ni that palpate too light . He suspected that he ’d been cheated . Actually , he ’d been given a nickel note full of microfilm . And it was worth considerably more than the paper he was selling .
The crazy matter about this closed book is westill do n’t knowhow the hollow nickel full of microfilm get into general circulation . The undercover agent it was signify for claims never to have aim it in the first place . No one has owned up to lose it , and even today , over fifty year after the whole matter has shaken out , we ca n’t rule a record of how the coin managed to find its way out of the spy ’s hands .
All we know is that someone cut the front off of one coin and the back off another , making a small hollow quad in between . They come out microfilm in a empty space , and fitted the two half of a coin together . They also put a tiny hole in the front of the coin , so that their contact could use a pin to pry bar asunder the two coin halves .
And then what ? It roll out of their pouch ? They identify it at a drop item and someone else picked it up off the street ? They — * pant * — bought an ice cream cone and mixed up their coins ? We do n’t know . We just know that eventually it made its direction into the script of a couple of sweet little old ladies who , presumably , have been thoroughly watch out by the CIA , the FBI , and every other national security measure means in existence . These women to reach itJimmy Bozart , a newsboy who was accumulate for the Brooklyn Eagle . ingest extensive experience with coins , he knew it when he had a false coin on his hand . throw the too - igniter nickel down on the ground , he was surprised to see it infract in two one-half , with a bit of microfilm in between . He observe it to his champion , and she mentioned it to her begetter , a police officer , and he mentioned it to the FBI .
So far we ’ve got a keen narration . It ’s so great a write up that it was made into a movie , The FBI Story , in 1959 . Unfortunately , for me , this is where the narrative continuity breaks down . The FBI never broke the computer code that they found on the microfilm , and they never did find any other hollow coin . The nickel note simply stay on in FBI possession as grounds that there were spy wandering around America . The codification did n’t get deciphered until 1957 , when the undercover agent it was intended for become himself in .
Technically , he turned himself in in Paris , but Reino Hayhanen decided that he did not want to terminate his assignment in America , to go back to Russia . On his flight back , he cease by the American embassy in Paris and tell them everything he have intercourse . Among his effect was a 50 Markka coin from Finland , which prompt the authority of the nickel . They draw Hayhanen to decode the computer code . Disappointingly , it turned out to be unproblematic first - twenty-four hour period - on - the - job instruction manual , including congratulations for arriving safely , a admonisher that he ’d been leave a sure amount of local up-to-dateness , and assurance that he ’d get more info soon .
Hayhanen ’s information got more worthful when he give out the names and location of his contacts . Rudolph Abel had been moving around America under a figure of assumed gens for many years . When Hayhanen identified him , he was work as Emil Goldfus , a traveling lensman . He was arrested , and sentence to 30 year , but in 1962 was traded to the USSR for Francis Gary Powers , the pilot program of the far-famed downed spy plane .
Image : : FBI
[ Source : The FBI , The International Spy Museum ]
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