Spy Sites of New York City reveals that #NYC has been a center of espionage for centuries. While spies most often keep to the shadows, occasionally they have operated in plain sight. Read on for some examples of spies cropping up in unexpected places 1/7 http://press.georgetown.edu/book/georgetown/spy-sites-new-york-city

. @frauncestavern was a regular meeting place for the Sons of Liberty at the start of the Revolutionary War, and later served as General George Washington’s last residence in New York. Founder Samuel Fraunces may have been a Patriot spy himself 2/7

Often called the blonde Mata Hari, Maria de Victorica was a German spy operating in NYC in the 1910s. One of her most notable drop sites was pew 30 at @StPatsNYC 3/7

World War I German saboteur Capt. Franz Dagobert Johannes von Rintelen conducted clandestine operations under numerous aliases, but it was necessary for him to use his real name at the @NYYC_org—where his membership predated the war 4/7

During the Cold War the CIA sought to present the US in the vanguard of the art world to gain a cultural advantage over Soviet communism. They funded international exhibitions featuring American abstract expressionists whose work was often showcased at the @MuseumModernArt 5/7

Finding himself short of money, FBI agent Earl Edwin Pitts decided to sell his services to the Soviet Union. He first met a Soviet officer in the law section of the @midmanhattanlib in July 1987 and made $224,000 selling American secrets over the next five years 6/7

To learn more about the spies who have lived and worked in NYC throughout American history, check out Spy Sites of #NewYorkCity by H. Keith Melton and Robert Wallace with Henry R. Schlesinger 7/7
http://press.georgetown.edu/book/georgetown/spy-sites-new-york-city