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Putin says “Traitors always end badly” But “illegals” can end up in Playboy

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“Traitors always end badly. They finish up as drunks, addicts, on the street…”
This is what Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said recently during a visit in the Ukraine. He also told reporters that he had met earlier in Moscow with the ten Russian “illegals” who had been expelled from the U.S. for being agents of the Russian government.
While Putin said the illegals would “have interesting, bright lives,” he explained that traitors never are happy after they betrayed their homelands.

Sergei’s Death. Mistakes. Nonsense and a Chuckle

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I’ve been a journalist for more than three decades, but I’ve never had a day like yesterday.
My morning began at 5 a.m. when I announced on my blog that my good friend, Sergei Tretyakov, had died unexpectedly on June 13th. We became good friends while collaborating on Comrade J. I posted this news after speaking several times during the week to Helen, his wife, and to several sources in the U.S. government familiar with his case.

Sergei Tretyakov, Russian Spy ‘Comrade J,’ Dead at 53

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I am sorry to announce that my good friend, Sergei Tretyakov, the subject of my book, Comrade J: The Untold Secrets of Russia’s Master Spy in America After the End of the Cold War, died unexpectedly on June 13th in his home with his wife, Helen.
Sergei was 53.
Helen asked those of us who were his friends to not immediately reveal his death until an autopsy could be performed under the supervision of the FBI. She was concerned that Sergei’s former colleagues in Russia’s SVR, which replaced the KGB as Russia’s foreign intelligence service, might attempt to use his unexpected death for propaganda purposes.

Dateline Interview

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The arrest of eleven Russian “illegals” last week caused my phone to ring. The BBC, NPR, NBC, and Russian television wanted to speak to me. I said no because I was not familiar with the case, but then the media began reporting that the FBI had uncovered the spy ring  because of a tip from Sergei Tretyakov, the subject of my book, COMRADE J, and a good friend.
Suddenly, everyone was calling asking me about him and the case.
On Thursday afternoon, I was interviewed by DATELINE for a show that will air Sunday, July 11th about the spies. While no one ever knows how much  — if any of what you say — will end up on the air, I wanted to let you know that I had been interviewed. If you are interested in spies, tune in.
Thanks.

Spy Arthur Walker Still In His Brother’s Shadow

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Because I have spent much of my career writing about crime and prisons, I have gotten to know a lot of criminals, including some down right evil psychopaths. Occasionally, I  get a note from a prisoner asking me to write a letter to a parole board recommending clemency.

The most recent came from Alice Lundgren, wife of Jeffrey Lundgren, who was executed by the State of Ohio in 2006 for murdering a family of five. The Lundgren cult is the subject of my book, Prophet of Death. I told Alice no.

In the past 37-years, I have written only one letter on behalf of an inmate.

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Is Solitary Confinement Cruel?

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      Is being confined indefinitely in  a solitary prison cell “cruel and unusual punishment” and does it violate a prisoner’s right to due process?

    A team of students at the University of Denver Strum School of Law and two of their professors claim the answer to both questions is yes. In 2007,  they filed a civil rights lawsuit against the federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) on behalf of a familiar name: Thomas Silverstein.

Silverstein sent me this drawing after I mailed him one of my books. Several BOP officers were angry that I gave him a copy but didn't offer them one.

     Silverstein is a major character in my book, The Hot House: Life Inside Leavenworth Prison, and someone I have known since 1987. That’s when I became the first and – to date — the only reporter ever allowed to interview him in prison.

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