MICHAEL DALY

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00845R000100420003-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 11, 2010
• Sequence Number: 3
• Publication Date: February 1, 1980
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/06/11: CIA-RDP90-00845R000100420003-8
STAT n s n
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
1 February 1980
Having been in New York for 61 days, the
Russian immigrant named Vassili Breeff thought
he had America figured out. The big difference
between Manhattan and Moscow, Breeff decided,
was money. Freedom, he reasoned, was a pocketful
of cash and 'a department store stocked with
anything you might desire.. In Moscow, Breeff
once waited three months for a pair of shoes that
cost him a week's salary. At Macy's all he had to
do was walk in and pick up what he wanted.
Then, as he boarded an IRT train this week, a man in .a
gray overcoat handed Breeff a copy of a newspaper
entitled the Independent Citizen. Squeezing into a seat,
Breeff opened the newspaper and started to, read. By the
next subway stop, Breeff had decided that there was
more to this concept called freedom than he had
imagined.
On the front page was a picture of the man who had
handed Breeff'the newspaper. The caption indentified
the man as Arthur Johnson, an expert in law, nutrition,
herbology, German and American history, -political
science and urban ecology. Johnson, Breeff learned; is
able to read Italian, French, Spanish and.,Portuguese
and can get by in Arabic, Greek, Japanese,.. Korean,
Polish-Ukrainian and Swahili. MOVING ON TO THE LEAD ARTICLE, Breeff read
that Johnson is also "the man the CIA could not snare,
bribe, hire or kill." For some time, the article reported,
the CIA had been bombarding Johnson's studio apart-
ment on W. 22d St with microwaves. Johnson fended off
this attack by lining his room with tin foil.
Later, the article related, the agency tampered with
one of four gallon bottles of cider vinegar Johnson
purchased at a local supermarket. The article then
described an experiment whereby. Johnson injected a
mouse with vinegar from the suspect bottle. `
"The test, mouse remained motionless for several
long minutes," Breeff read.
Glancing at the newspaper's masthead, Breeff learned
that the Independent Citizen is distributed in New York
and Bristol, Pa, The "Publisher, Editor-in-Chief and No.
I Delivery Boy" is none other than Arthur Johnson.
Turning to Page 2. Breeff read an interview of Arthur
Johnson by ArthurJohnson..
"I just want-people to leave' me` alone, Johnson
announced.
IN THE NEXT TWO PAGES, Breeff learned aboutl
Johnson's 131frby-18-foot apartment. Breeff stared for'
several minutes at the photograph of the toilet Johnson
built for his cat.
"The cat privy, constructed from lumber scraps, is
indispensable for holding down, the odor," the caption:
informr1 Breeff. "It is cleaned daily, sometimes twice."
IN 290, BREEFF READ, Johnson launched anf
acting career. He snared a four-line part in a movie
called "The Last Rebel" and a spot as an extra in an
Italian movie called "Meo Patacca." According to the
article, Johnson abandoned dramatics when he wasI
edged out by Hal Holbrook for the lead in a six-part.
television series on Abraham Lincoln.
Skimming an account of Johnson's Vitamin-E cure
for varicose veins and feline leukemia, Breeff moved on
to a column entitled "A.J. - Not Just Another Pretty
Face."
In this column, Johnson suggested that the only
solution to rat infestation is the mobilization of they
.22-caliber rifles and small-bore shotguns, infrared n'!,;h;J
scopes, floodlights and prefabricated sections of clear
plastic that can be assembled to screen-off a target area'
and contain any wayward bullets or pellets," Breeff'
read.
_
THE FINAL TWO PAGES of the Independent Citizen
contained a series of classified advertisements. Arthur
Johnson needs a ride to Washington. Arthur Johnson
hereby pledges not to write a book about his dealings)
with the CIA unless he is presented with a petition
containing 000 signatures and is guaranteed a fair
share of the royalties. Arthur Johnson, for the sum of
'one dollar American cash or its equivalent," offers "his
services as a speaker, the topic of discussion to be 'The
Future of Democracy in America.'" For the sum of $5,
Arthur Johnson offers a cassette in which a CIA anent
"confirms having deliberately infecfet in' with
gonorrhea and other sordid details."
Folding his copy of the Independent Citizen, Breeff
got off the train at Grand Army Plaza in Brooklyn. He
went straight to the Berkely Place apartment of an
American friend.
"I do not understand this," Breeff said. "How- can
such a newspaper be allowed?"
"Because Arthur Johnson wanted to print it," the
Am
f
i
ri
e
r
end said
can
"Because he wants, he can do?" Breeff asked
"As long as he doesn't hurt anybody," the friend said.
'Arthur Johnson would be in prison in Russia,"
Breeff said. In Russia,you do what they want"
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/06/11: CIA-RDP90-00845R000100420003-8