Gennady’s Dynamo Volleyball Team (Gennady third from left.)
Major Gennady Vasilenko, KGB
Gennady’s Komsomol (All-Union Leninist Young Communist League) Membership Card.
Jack Platt is promoted to Second Lieutenant in the USMC, with the participation of Jack’s father, John Cheney Platt II, and wife Paige.
Polly and Jack (Courtesy of Sashy Bogdanovich)
The Platt sisters in Laos.
Dion Rankin
John “Mad Dog” Denton
George Powstenko and Gennady. (Courtesy of Tamara “Tami” Powstenko)
Vitaly Yurchenko (l.) with Gennady (r.) and unidentified colleague.
Gennady (l.) and Dmitry Yakushkin (r.)
Gennady (center) with Irina (4th from right) and Sergei Motorin (3rd from right) at the old Russian Embassy in Washington.
Gennady at the Seawall in Georgetown, Guyana.
Dion and Gennady have a very secure picnic in Guyana.
Jack and Dion in Georgetown, Guyana.
The Four Musketeers in San Diego.
Deep sea fishing with “Mad Dog,” Genya, and Cowboy. (Courtesy of John Denton)
The Gangplank Marina, restaurant in background (early eighties). (Courtesy of Linda Herdering)
The Air Rights Center Building on Wisconsin Ave., in Bethesda, MD home to the CIA’s DC “Domestic Station” in the seventies and eighties.
The old Russian Embassy on 16th St., before its relocation to Mount Alto on Wisconsin Ave.
“The Center”—Lubyanka, the former KGB Headquarters and prison, Moscow
“The Woods”—Yasenevo Spy Center eleven miles from Moscow, home of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) Former First Chief Directorate HQ of the KGB.
The killing courtyard at Lefortovo Prison, Moscow.
Jack surprises Genya at the Pegasus in Georgetown, Guyana, February 1985. (Courtesy of Dion Rankin)
Genya,“The Russian Cowboy,” in Bozeman, Montana in 1997.
Genya and Robert de Niro
The Shoffler Brunch Group: (l. to r.) Jack, Dan Moldea, Jeff Goldberg, Genya, Ben Wickham, Harry Gossett, Phil Manuel. (Courtesy of Dan Moldea)
Genya brings ex-KGB officers-turned entrepreneurs to the United States in 1997. (l. to r.) Phil Manuel, Victor Popov, Genya, Jack, Dan Moldea, Victor Cherkashin, Aleksandr Pavlovsky. (Courtesy of Dan Moldea)
Aleksandr “Sasha” Zhomov and friend. (Courtesy of Milt Bearden)
Cowboy Jack with Anatoly Stepanov in Moscow (Photo courtesy of Michelle Platt)
Robert Hanssen, traitor. (FBI photo)
Ron Fino with Gennady and Jack in December 2013
KGB seized “evidence” document used against Gennady at his trial in 2006 (note Jack’s photo, center).
Aleksandr Zaporozhsky (r.) with his lawyer at his sentencing in Moscow in 2003. (Yuri Mashkov/ITAR-TASS/Getty Images.)
Genya’s new passport, issued before his 2010 release.
Genya in 2016, with the T-shirt he wore on the flight from Vienna.
Genya’s flight touches down at Dulles Airport on June 9, 2010. Freelance photographer Jim Lo Scalzo captured the image of a lone man watching from the terminal (Jack?). (Jim Lo Scalzo/EPA/Shutterstock)
Reunited at The Old Brogue.
Two Cowboys attend a friend’s 70th birthday bash in New York, August 2013.
Gennady wearing a tux? His cameo in the 2012 film, Silver Linings Playbook.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
First thanks must go to the late John “Jack” Platt and his great pal, Gennady “Genya” Vasilenko. These two skilled, charismatic, and patriotic intelligence officers sat down with us numerous times over a two-year period, sharing their stories, opinions, and insight with great candor. In doing so, they gained both our admiration and our friendship. The Platt women, Paige, Michelle, Leigh, and Diana, as well as their Bogdanovich cousins, Sashy and Antonia, contributed valuable details on the Platt family history and dynamics, as well as many of the photographs that appear in this book.
We were most fortunate to get to know another outstanding civil servant, former FBI agent Dion Rankin. When we started this project, we approached it as an espionage “odd couple” tale of Jack and Genya, but as we began the interviewing, we quickly realized that for much of the time there were Three Musketeers who kept “Operation Gennady” going, the third member being Dion Rankin. Fortunately for us, Dion also made himself available countless times for interviews, or a quick fact-check, even going out of his way to verify small details with family and colleagues. Like Jack and Genya, Dion became a great friend, and entire sections of this book, photos included, would not have been possible without his gracious participation.
We are most grateful to all those additional named and unnamed interviewees who trusted us with their memories. Understandably, given the topic, some sources preferred anonymity. These did not: Joe and Marcia Albright, Jeremy Bash, Milt Bearden, Jerry Bernstein, Antonia Bogdanovich, Sashy Bogdanovich, Robert “Bear” Bryant, Brad Byrne, Pat Byrne, General Matt Caulfield, Barry Colvert, Richard Davis, Robert De Niro, John “Mad Dog” Denton, Denis Doyle, Gregory Feifer, Ron Fino, Jeff Goldberg, Harry Gossett, Sandy Grimes, David Grossman, Burton Gerber, Linda Lee Herdering, Roy Jacobsen, Ron Kessler, Alan Kohler, Jack Lee, Amy Lovett, David Major, Phil Manuel, Keith Melton, Dan Moldea, Brian O’Connor, Michael Sellers, Tamara “Tami” Powstenko, Dion Rankin, Mike Rochford, Gary Schwinn, Phil Shimkin, Ira Silverman, Michael J. Sulick, McKim Symington, Carl Vogt, Tom Welch, Courtney “CW” West, Ben Wickham, and the International Spy Museum.
Christina Pullen was a great help as liaison to the FBI, and Tena Johnson at Dezenhall Resources provided regular—and critical—logistic assistance in a variety of ways, including transcribing, editing, photo scanning, and just plain old cheerful encouragement. Also at Dezenhall, Erica Munkwitz put the final edit under her personal electron microscope. Steve Wiltamuth, maintainance supervisor at the Gangplank Marina, helped guide us through the history of the Gangplank Restaurant, leading us eventually to photographer Linda Herdering, who supplied both her memories and her wonderful photos of the Marina and the Potomac harbor. Amy Lovett, editor of the Williams College alumni magazine, provided key assistance in connecting with Jack’s classmates.
Fellow author Dan “Luca” Moldea has been a great friend and admired colleague for decades, and his support for our work has been both unselfish and encouraging. Dan’s early help in navigating the Washington intel community, as well as acting as liaison to his well-connected journalistic fraternity, got the project off to a great start. Our many friends in Dan’s DC Author Dinner Group were likewise always available with their expertise.
This book would not have even started without the suggestion of Robert De Niro, who first recommended Gus to his friends and Good Shepherd consultants, Jack and Genya. Bob knew it was a good story, but we think he would acknowledge that even he didn’t know how good it was. If there’s such a thing as an Italian mensch, Bob D. is it. Bob’s colleagues at Tribeca Films, Jane Rosenthal and Berry Welsh, were early supporters of Gus and Eric’s involvement in developing the story. Morgan Billington and Tribeca’s support staff helped with logistics. Ron Howard and Tyler Mitchell of Imagine Entertainment showed great enthusiasm for the book from its earliest proposal stages. Kris Dahl, Josie Freedman, and Caroline Eisenman of ICM have been essential touchstones and advocates throughout this project.
Publisher Sean Desmond of Twelve Books believed in this project from its initial stages, and we are indebted to him for putting his faith in us. Both Sean and Rachel Kambury provided essential editorial direction down the stretch. Copy editor Dianna Stirpe made a boatload of informed suggestions regarding the manuscript. Of course, it goes without saying that the authors had the last word on content, and thus bear responsibility for any remaining errors. Production thanks also go to Jarrod Taylor at Twelve for his wonderful art direction and to production editor Yasmin Mathew and her team for putting all the pieces together so skillful
ly.
Gus would like to thank:
Without the encouragement, friendship, and support of Mitzi Mabe, Jay Greer, Dale Myers, brother Bob Russo, Dr. Aga, Genius Lucas, Toudi Lechowski, Saku Ee, Jon Savitch, and furry pals Jem and Z, nothing would be possible. Jeff Silberman is much more than a gifted literary agent and entertainment attorney, “the green man” is a brother from another tribe, whose friendship, support, and guidance has been a gift to me for over twenty years. I hope he knows how much I value his presence in my life and career.
Last, but not least, I would like to thank my co-author, Eric Dezenhall, for not only contributing his inimitable writing talents to this endeavor, but also for his great friendship, enthusiasm, and wicked sense of humor. Over the last two years, I have often thought about how the story of Jack and Genya parallels our own odd couple partnership: although we hail from wildly different political backgrounds, we respect each other’s skill sets, fundamental decency, and good intentions. I can honestly say that I’ve never had a more effortless and enjoyable partnership experience.
Eric would like to thank:
My wife Donna, son and daughter-in-law Stuart and Meghan (and Brick), daughter Eliza and her alpacas, and my sister Susan Schwartz for their support during the many twists and turns this project took; Bob De Niro, who originated and believed in this story; Richard Ben-Veniste and Cary Bernstein for their encouragement; Maya Shackley and Steven Schlein and my other colleagues at Dezenhall Resources, Ltd.
I would also like to thank my co-author Gus Russo, the gold standard in investigative journalism, from whom I learned so much throughout this process and came to admire more than I did when we took on the project.
Apologies to anyone we’ve neglected.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
ERIC DEZENHALL is the CEO of Dezenhall Resources, Ltd., a nationally recognized crisis management firm that he founded in 1987. He is the author of ten books, including three nonfiction texts on scandal and crisis management, including Damage Control: The Essential Lessons of Crisis Management and Glass Jaw: A Manifesto for Defending Fragile Reputations in an Age of Instant Scandal, which explores how powerful people, organizations, and brands are brought down by the seemingly powerless through a media and internet that feed on destructive information. Eric is also the author of six novels, including Money Wanders and The Devil Himself, about the collaboration between the US Navy and organized crime during World War II to secure American ports from Nazi attack.
As an investigative journalist, Eric was the first to write about the diaries of the late mobster Meyer Lansky, which appeared in the Los Angeles Times Syndicate, the Baltimore Sun, and The New Republic. He is an adjunct professor at Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business, where he teaches classes about crisis management. He served in the Reagan White House Office of Communications.
Eric was the valedictorian of the bottom half of his class at Dartmouth, an achievement for which he was widely resented. His books have appeared in libraries and bookstores adjacent to those by Darwin, DeLillo, Dickens, Didion, Doctorow, and Dos Passos. In his spare time, he makes up words such as “nostralgia” (having fond memories of one’s nostrils) and “handsomniac” (being so handsome you can’t sleep). He lives near Washington, DC, with his family and a herd of alpacas.
GUS RUSSO is an author, musician, composer, and television documentary producer/reporter, having contributed to television specials for ABC, CBS, NBC, and PBS, in addition to networks in Germany, France, UK, Mexico, and Japan. His books include Supermob, The Outfit, Brothers in Arms (with Stephen Molton), and Where Were You (with Tom Brokaw and Harry Moses). Best of Enemies is his ninth book. His film scores include Basket Case and Brain Damage. He is on the Advisory Council of the International Museum of Organized Crime and Law Enforcement in Las Vegas. A former tennis instructor in Honolulu, Gus considers it his calling to improve the connotation of the word “dilettante.” He currently resides in the Orion Arm of the Milky Way Galaxy (the Gould Belt, specifically).
ALSO BY GUS RUSSO
The Outfit: The Role of Chicago’s Underworld in the Shaping of Modern America
Supermob: How Sidney Korshak and His Criminal Associates Became America’s Hidden Power Brokers
Brothers in Arms: The Kennedys, the Castros, and the Politics of Murder (with Stephen Molton)
Where Were You: America Remembers the JFK Assassination (with Tom Brokaw and Harry Moses)
ALSO BY ERIC DEZENHALL
Money Wanders
Damage Control: Why Everything You Know About Crisis Management Is Wrong (with John Weber)
The Devil Himself
Glass Jaw: A Manifesto for Defending Fragile Reputations in an Age of Instant Scandal
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