Case file · 1962 · Espionage & Secrets
The Bridge of Spies
The Man Called Rudolf Abel
A hollow nickel, a Brooklyn artist and a swap on the Bridge of Spies.
Listen to this case in the Mystery app
Narrated mini-documentaries on the cases nobody closed. Three cases free, download and listen offline.
Download on the App StoreSources
This 7 min episode was written from the public record. These are the sources behind it.
- FBI: Hollow Nickel/Rudolf Abel (FBI case history)
- Legal Information Institute (Cornell Law School): Abel v. United States, 362 U.S. 217 (1960) (US Supreme Court opinion)
- Office of the Historian, US State Department: Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961–1963, Volume V, Document 153: Editorial Note (the 10 February 1962 exchange)
- CIA: May Day Over Moscow: The Francis Gary Powers Story (U-2 shootdown and the bridge swap)
- CIA: The Negotiator (James Donovan and the exchange)
- Wikipedia: Rudolf Abel (overview)
Where a case is unresolved, the episode sets out what is known and what is disputed, and names no one as responsible beyond the official and court record. Corrections: support@realtimecomms.co.uk



