Hayhanen and Mikhail met in New York’s Prospect Park subway station
scientists determined that it had been coated with nickel. Two hollow pennies were found in Washington DC. Neither of these pennies, nor the assortment of other coins which the Laboratory examined, was found to have tool markings or other distinguishing features to identify it with the newsboy’s 1948 Jefferson nickel. All enquiries seemed to end in failure, but the FBI realised the coin and its content were significant.
As the years passed, memories of the Maki family gradually began to fade, and all but possibly two or three old time residents of Enaville, Idaho, forgot that there had ever been a Maki family in that area. In Moscow, however, plans were being made for a ‘new’ Eugene Maki, one thoroughly grounded in Soviet intelligence techniques, to enter the scene. In July 1952 - a passport was issued to Hayhanen as Eugene Maki in Helsinki. Using this passport, he sailed on 16 October 1952, from
DEFECTION OF A RUSSIAN SPY The key to this mystery proved to be a 36-yearold Lieutenant Colonel of the Soviet State Security Service (KGB). Early in May 1957, Reino Hayhanen telephoned the United States Embassy in Paris and subsequently arrived at the Embassy to be interviewed. “I’m an officer in the Soviet intelligence service,” he said. “For the past five years, I have been operating in the United States. I need your help.” He explained he had been ordered to return to Moscow after serving in the United States, but dreaded the thought of going back to Russia. Hayhanen was Now he wanted to defect. instructed to go to the Tavern on the The story of how he managed to Green in Central Park gain entry and live in the United States is complex and lengthy, but Hayhanen had skilfully crafted a new identity - as American-born Eugene Maki. Even his wife was unaware of his previous name. It transpired the real Eugene Nicolai Maki, who was born in Enaville, Idaho, on 30 May 1919, had left the United States and settled in Estonia. Letters which they wrote to their former neighbours showed that Mr and Mrs Maki were very unhappy and sorely missed America.
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Southampton, England, aboard the Queen Mary and arrived at New York City on 21 October 1952. SPY HANDLER Several weeks before he departed for America, Hayhanen was recalled to Moscow and introduced to a Soviet agent, - ‘Mikhail’, who was to serve as his handler in the USA. In order to establish contact with ‘Mikhail’, Hayhanen was instructed that after arriving in New York he should go to the Tavern on the Green in Central Park. Near the tavern he would find a signpost marked ‘Horse Carts’. “You will let Mikhail know of your arrival by placing a red thumb tack in this signpost,” a Soviet official told him. “If you suspect that you are under surveillance, place a white thumb tack on the board.” HAYHANEN RETURNS TO THE UNITED STATES
FBI photos of the bolt
Hayhanen’s story furnished to US officials in Paris checked out and he was permitted to return to the United States. Following his arrival back in New York on 10 May 1957, Hayhanen was given a thorough physical examination; suitable quarters were found for him, and arrangements were made for him to be interviewed by FBI agents. Hayhanen said that from the fall of 1952 until early in 1954, ‘Mikhail’ served as his handler in New York. They met only when necessary the meeting place being the Prospect Park subway station. To exchange messages and intelligence data, they used ‘dead drops’. One of these was an iron picket fence at the end of 7th Avenue near Macombs Bridge.
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Another was the base of a lamp post in Fort Tryon Park. In one of the ‘dead drops’ mentioned by Hayhanen - a hole in a set of cement steps in Prospect Park - FBI agents found a hollowed-out bolt. The bolt was about two inches long and one-fourth inch in diameter. It contained the following typewritten message: ‘Nobody came to meeting either 8 or 9th... as I was advised he should. Why? Should he be inside or outside? Is time wrong? Place seems right. Please check.’ The bolt was found on 15 May 1957. It had been placed in the hole about two years previously, but, by chance, a repair crew had filled the hole in the stairs with cement, entombing the bolt and the message it contained. Questioned about the hollow bolt, Hayhanen said that trick containers such as this were often used by the Soviets. Among the items he had been supplied were
In July 1952 - a passport was issued to Hayhanen as Eugene Maki in Helsinki. Using this passport, he sailed on 16 October 1952, from Southampton, England, aboard the Queen Mary and arrived at New York City on 21 October 1952
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hollow pens, pencils, screws, batteries, and coins - in some instances magnetised so they would adhere to metal objects. HOLLOW 50 MARKKAA COIN In the modest home of Hayhanen and his wife on Dorislee Drive in Peekskill, New York, FBI agents found such items as a Finnish 50 Markka coin from Finland. It had been hollowed out, and there was a small hole in the first ‘a’ of the word ‘Tasavalta’. FBI Laboratory experts immediately noted that it bore a great similarity to the Jefferson nickel which the Brooklyn newsboy had discovered in 1953. Two separate coins had obviously been used in making the trick 50 Markkaa piece. This also was the case with the hollow nickel. And both coins had a small hole in one printed letter so that a sharp-pointed instrument, such as a needle, could be used to prize them open.
The original nickel with the code Although the FBI was convinced that it had finally identified the Soviet espionage apparatus which was responsible for the hollow Jefferson nickel, only one half of the mystery posed by this coin since had been solved. The coded message which the nickel contained still had to be deciphered.
COURTESY US NATIONAL ARCHIVES
The dead letter drops in Fort Tryon Park, New York
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