The cold war ended but “Rick” Ames did not stop his work as a spy. For either side. The CIA knew the well-read, extremely intelligent, Russian-speaking Ames as their eyes and ears into the Russian government. He served them everywhere from Bogota, Colombia to Rome in spying on Soviet/Russian activities. After April of 1985 the Russians also knew him as a double spy, who for the right price would pass along some very valuable information on American intelligence efforts aimed at them.

On this day, April 28, 1994, Aldrich Ames, along with his wife, pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit espionage and to evading taxes. Ames was sentenced to life imprisonment without parole. Under a plea agreement, Maria Rosario Ames was sentenced to sixty-three months in prison.

Ames’ methods were the stuff of spy novels. He used dead drops on mail box located at 37th and R Streets NW in Washington, D.C., marking it with chalk to signal his Russian counterparts he dropped off some information to them. Sometime after Ames would leave, the Russians would retrieve their package from the mailbox. Some nearby residents, noticing the growing number of chalk marks on the box, actually began joking that it was being used for a spy exchange.