Morton Sobell
Morton Sobell | |
|---|---|
| Status | Released after 18 years |
| Occupation | Electrical engineer |
| Spouse | Helen Levitov (1918-2002) |
| Children | Mark Sobell Sydney Gurewitz Clemens, stepdaughter |
| Criminal charge | Conspiracy to commit espionage |
| Penalty | 30 years imprisonment |
Morton Sobell (born April 11 1917) is a self-confessed Soviet spy. Sobell was an American engineer working for General Electric and Reeves Electronics on military and government contracts. He was found guilty of spying for the Soviets along with with Ethel and Julius Rosenberg at their 1951 espionage trial and sentenced to 30 years in prison, he was released in 1969 after serving 19 years in Alcatraz.
Biography
He was born in New York City and maried Helen Levitov (1918-2002).[1] After being accused of espionage, he and his family fled to Mexico on June 22, 1950. He fled with his wife Helen, infant son Mark Sobell, and Helen's daughter from her previous marriage, Sydney. Sobell tried to travel to Europe, but without proper papers he was not able to leave. On August 16, 1950, Sobell and his family were abducted by armed men, taken to the United States border and turned over to the FBI.[1] The FBI arrested him for conspiring with Julius Rosenberg to violate espionage laws. He was found guilty along with the Rosenbergs, and sentenced to 30 years. He was sent to Alcatraz. He was released in 1969 after serving 17 years and 9 months.[2]
Sobell admitted spying for the Soviets (and implicated Julius Rosenberg) in an interview with the New York Times published on September 11, 2008.[3]
Sobell's purported innocence as a political cause
Sobell's supposed innocence became a cause among progressive intellectuals.[4][5] In 1978 the Corporation for Public Broadcasting produced a television special maintaining Sobell's innocence.[6]The Monthly Review maintained that the government had presented "absolutely no proof" of Sobell's guilt, but had tried him merely "to give the impression that an extensive spy ring had been in operation."[7]
In 2001 Sobell published a book, On Doing Time in which he maintained that he was innocent and that his convitino was a case of justice bein subverted to serve political goals.[8][9]
See also
References
- ^ a b "Helen L. Sobell, 84, Leader Of Effort to Spare Rosenbergs". New York Times. April 27, 2002. Retrieved 2008-08-03.
Helen Levitov Sobell, a voice in the struggle to spare Julius and Ethel Rosenberg and free their co-defendant, Morton Sobell, her husband, died on April 15 in Redwood City, Calif. She was 84. She had long been in declining health, suffering from Alzheimer's disease, said her daughter, Sydney Gurewitz Clemens.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help); Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - ^ "Morton Sobell Free As Spy Term Ends". New York Times. January 15, 1969. Retrieved 2008-07-07.
Morton Sobell, sentenced to 30 years for a wartime espionage conspiracy to deliver vital national secrets to the Soviet Union, was released from prison yesterday after serving 17 years and 9 months.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help); Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - ^ "For First Time, Figure in Rosenberg Case Admits Spying for Soviets". New York Times. September 11, 2008. Retrieved 2008-09-11.
In an interview on Thursday, Mr. Sobell, who served nearly 19 years in Alcatraz and other federal prisons, admitted for the first time that he had been a Soviet spy.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help); Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - ^ New Questions On Rosenberg Case, Sydney E. Zion, New York Times, August 28, 1966
- ^ Did Morton Sobell Get a Bum Deal? Hartford Courant, Jun 3, 1968
- ^ TV: 'Rosenberg-Sobell Revisited' Offers New Thinking on Spy Case, John J. O'Conner, New York Times, June 19, 1978
- ^ Refusing to Cooperate, by Lawrence Kaplan, Monthly Review, http://www.monthlyreview.org/0901kaplan.htm
- ^ Sobell, Morton, On doing Time, 2001
- ^ Refusing to Cooperate, by Lawrence Kaplan, Monthly Review, http://www.monthlyreview.org/0901kaplan.htm
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