Word: schinasi
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1960-1969
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...central figure was Egyptian-born Sami Schinasi, an enterprising scoundrel who offered his services as an espionage agent to the French government. As proof of his cloak-and-dagger abilities, Schinasi genially explained that he got his start in espionage in September 1959, when he had a civilian job at the U.S. armed forces gasoline and oil depot in Fontainebleau. Needing some extra money, Schinasi had dropped into the Russian embassy in Paris and proposed that he do some moonlighting...
...Russians agreed, and paid Schinasi a total of $600 for supplying the names of all the U.S. service chiefs at Fontainebleau, a list of the petroleum products used at the depot, and information on U.S. gas masks. By July 1960, the Russians were so delighted with his work that they suggested he develop his talent at an espionage school in the Soviet Union; he cannily refused...
...French government was impressed by Schinasi's story, but not in quite the way he expected. Last week he was being tried for threatening the security of the state, faced a possible 20-year sentence. His attorney, arguing that Schinasi had not handed any vital information to the Russians, asked that his luckless client be acquitted because "this isn't really an espionage case. It is more of a swindle...