In the late 19th century, Russians began leaving the country, fleeing pogroms, tsarist secret police persecution, and the Revolution, then Stalin and the KGB. The exodus created an opportunity for the Kremlin to foster networks of spies, many of whom were emigrants from Russia. By the 1930s, dozens of spies were in New York City gathering information for Moscow. Telling this complex story, this history notes how some émigrés have turned into assets of Putin's Russian nationalist state, while others have taken up the dissident challenge once more.