Espionage: One That Got Away

Arrested in New York City last October was a Russian U.N. employee named Igor Melekh. Together with one Willie Hirsch, a German-born alien, Melekh was charged with conspiring to obtain, for transmittal to Russia, information about U.S. military installations in and near Chicago. If convicted, Melekh and Hirsch faced sentences of up to 25 years in prison.

Apparently the Russians considered Melekh exceedingly important. His counsel was expensive Edward Bennett Williams, the U.S.’s most famous criminal trial lawyer. Sometime defender of Senator Joseph McCarthy, Teamster Boss James Hoffa and Gambling Chieftain Frank Costello, Lawyer Williams had several conferences with Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy about the Melekh case—a strange twist, since Bobby Kennedy has long been bitter toward Williams for thwarting his efforts to bring down his old enemy Jimmy Hoffa.

Last week, guided by mysterious reasons, a long arm reached from Washington to Chicago and plucked Melekh from the bar of justice. At the direct request of Attorney General Kennedy, Chicago’s Federal District Judge Edwin A. Robson dismissed the charges against Melekh on condition that he get out of the country on or before April 17. The judge said he was surprised by the request and acted on it reluctantly; he then dismissed the charges against Hirsch on the ground that Melekh’s release undercut the case against his coconspirator.

The Administration explained that the decision to let Melekh go fitted in with an Administration policy of trying to eliminate friction between the U.S. and Russia. Secretary of State Dean Rusk said that he recommended dropping the case against Melekh in hope that the move might contribute to “improving our position as regards the protection of United States citizens in the Soviet Union.” But the explanations seemed a bit unconvincing. Melekh was a pretty big fish to be let off the hook. Was “his release part of an unrevealed deal with the Russians?