I am looking for information about a Russian spy named Alex Pulibov
(his name might have been slightly different), who operated in the USA
for years, then succeeded to fly back to Russia where he was
eventually put on trial.

I need to know where I could find this story in detail, maybe there is
a book written about him, etc.

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Request for Question Clarification by davidsar-ga on 23 Jun 2002 16:50 PDT

There's a case from the 1980's that involved a Nick Daniloff and
Alexander Goldfarb, as well as the industrialist, Armand Hammer.  If
you think this might be the one, let me know, and I'll be glad to post
a description of the case as an answer.

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Clarification of Question by singer718-ga on 26 Jun 2002 09:32 PDT

I don't think it's that, because the story I'm referring to unfolded
somewhere between 1955 and 1962.

I don't know if it's a true story, or maybe just a fiction, I read
this story in a newspaper a while ago, and that's why I'm trying to
find out more info to see how authentic it is.

Here are some parts of the story I remember reading:
 - Please note that the spelling of names and places might not be
accurate, and the time or dates might not be exact as well.

- A Russian diplomat, named Alex or Alexi; Philibov or Pulibov; was
working at the embassy in Washington, and was also part of the Russian
team at the UN in New York.
- He lived in Long Island with his wife Olga and kids, and was a
member of many clubs over there, including: Golf, Yacht, Tennis.
- The FBI was very suspicious about him, and an agent James Donley was
assigned to go after him.
- In 1961 he bought himself a private yacht called Maryland for
$42.000, from a millionaire named Ottis Scott who moved to Los
Angeles, California.
- He used the yacht to surf the sea and to pickup signals.
- Whenever he was on the yacht he was wearing glasses, which turned
out to be wired for communication.

Another way he communicated was through a bakery service called
Skolsky Bakery.
- The owner was a Russian named Irwin Skolsky who came to the US in
1923.
- After many unsuccessful business attempts, he applied to go back to
Russia, instead the KGB offered him nice money if he stayed, all they
needed was him to open a chain of bakeries.
- One of the managers was a polish guy with the name of Ignatz Reiss.
- The bakery offered an exchange of old bread for fresh bread, they
delivered daily to the home door.
- The Philibov's also maintained their service, and in the returned
bread were some microfilms and stuff.
- It went bad when after 33 years Mr. Skolsky died, and his son in law
Victor Goldberg took over and started changing some policy's including
the old for fresh bread exchange.
- The Russians hired the Mafia to get rid of him, but he survived
their attack.
- When the police started investigating, the Russian operators left
the bakery, and that's how the whole spy ring fell apart.
- Philibov himself packed his stuff and scheduled a flight to London
for October 23,1962. 20 minutes before departure, he managed to escape
from the airport, and till the FBI figured out what was happening, he
was already on the polish ship Dombrosky leaving the US.
- In the suitcases left behind, the FBI found many communicating
devices, including the special wired glasses.
- In Moscow, Philibov was put on trial for not packing his sensitive
device in his diplomatic luggage. It is not known what his sentence
was.


This is what I remember.
Sound's like a novel? I also think so, and that's why I'm searching
for more info about this story, maybe someone could direct me to a
book where this story is written.

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Request for Question Clarification by huntsman-ga on 27 Jun 2002 11:22 PDT

Regarding the newspaper story that you read, do you recall:

- The name of the newspaper? 
- Approximately when the story was published?
- The title of the story?
- The author of the story?

With this information, it may be possible to contact the author and
ask what sources he used.

singer718,

There appears to be very little, if any, information on the key
individuals you mention. In my opinion, this is either a very obscure
case, or you are dealing with a novel.

One individual, Ignatz Reiss -- "One of the managers was a polish guy
with the name of Ignatz Reiss." -- was a Polish Communist who spied in
Europe for the Russians, but he was assassinated in 1937, about 20
years before the events you are describing:

History of Espionage
Ignace Reiss or Ignatz; Ludowik Poretsky
Polish Spymaster for Soviets
(1899 - 1937)
http://www.angelfire.com/dc/1spy/Reiss.html

As far as I have found, Reiss is the only person with any solid Web
references, and he clearly falls outside of your time period. The
results of my other searches are noted below.

Thank you,
huntsman

-----

Google Searches -

I can find little or nothing on other key individuals. A Google search
on "The History of Espionage" Web site gives no results for any of the
following names:

Philibov
://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&q=site:www.angelfire.com+Philibov

Philipov
://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&q=site:www.angelfire.com+Philipov

Pulibov
://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&q=site:www.angelfire.com+Pulibov

Pulipov
://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&q=site:www.angelfire.com+Pulipov

Skolsky
://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&q=site:www.angelfire.com+Skolsky

A general Web search for "Irwin Skolsky" or "Skolsky Bakery" gives no
results:

"Irwin Skolsky"
://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&q=%22Irwin+Skolsky%22+

"Skolsky Bakery"
://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&q=%22Skolsky+Bakery%22

General Web searches for "Ottis Scott" give a few individuals with the
same name, but give no results when you add other key words:

"Ottis Scott"
://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&q=%22Ottis+Scott%22

"Ottis Scott" millionaire
://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&q=%22Ottis+Scott%22+millionaire

"Ottis Scott" yacht
://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&q=%22Ottis+Scott%22+yacht

"Ottis Scott" Maryland
://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&q=%22Ottis+Scott%22+maryland

Similar negative results are obtained using the alternate spelling
"Otis Scott".

-----

FBI Searches -

Although there are many individuals named "James Donley", a general
Web search for an FBI connection to him gives no results:

"James Donley"
://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&q=%22James+Donley%22

"James Donley" FBI
://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&q=%22James+Donley%22+FBI

The FBI's internal search engine (http://www.fbi.gov/search.htm) gives
no results for:

- James Donley
- Philibov
- Philipov* 
- Pulibov
- Pulipov
- Skolsky

As a comparison, an FBI search for "Abel" gives many results on Rudolf
Abel, the infamous 1950's Russian spy
(http://www.fbi.gov/libref/historic/famcases/abel/abel.htm) exchanged
in 1962 for U2 pilot Gary Powers.

*Nothing on a 1950's spy, anyway. However, "Philip Nicolov Philipov",
born in 1956, is currently wanted for murder
(http://www.fbi.gov/mostwant/fugitive/may2002/mayphilipov.htm).

-----

Interesting question!  I haven't found anything, but I do have some
suggestions for other researchers.

The name "Pulibov" seems to be a dead end -- it doesn't appear to be
an actual last name (at least as transliterated from Cyrillic to Roman
characters).  "Philibov" is closer, but still not correct.  The most
common variants are "Philippov" and "Philipov"; other possibilities
are "Philippoff", "Phillipoff", "Phillipov", "Philipoff", and
"Phillippov".

And don't get me started on "Alexi" .... "Alex" or "Alexi" are indeed
potential spellings, as are: "Aleksi", "Alexiy", "Aleksiy", "Alexy",
"Aleksy", "Alexii", "Aleksii", "Alexander", "Aleksander", "Alexandr",
"Aleksandr" ... and "Sasha" (a diminutive of Alexander)!  (Have I
missed any?)

If you multiply the first name variations by the last name variations,
you see that this is a tricky research problem.  I’d focus on
"Philippov" and "Philipov" to start with (without a first name), and
see what comes up.  (Of course, that hasn’t lead to anything for me
yet, but I only tried for about 45 minutes.)

(Incidentally, there is a reference on the Web to a young cobbler
named Sasha Philipov, who was apparently hanged for spying for the
Russians in relation to the Battle of Stalingrad.  (
http://www.ivyweb.net/btvs/board/archives/mar02_p16 )  It’s obviously
a different story, but it sounds like the basis for another
interesting question!)