NEW YORK—For more than three decades, Kurt Seidl worked as a chef, cook, bartender and, most recently, nanny. He wrote in his spare time, self-publishing collections of short stories under the name Gerald Conteh. But Seidl was not only writing under a pen name; it turns out he was also living under one.

In 1975, Seidl was arrested on federal charges that he tried to extort $10,000 from a rare-coin dealership in Manhattan; the government said he sent a letter threatening to damage the firm's reputation if it did not pay.

He jumped bail and became a fugitive. Then, last November, while in the hospital with chest pains, Seidl, now 63, feared he was dying and decided to surrender to the authorities. Once out of the hospital, he dialed the city's 311 line from a pay phone. The police showed up and handed him over to the FBI. He was released on his own recognizance after a month in jail and is now living in a men's shelter on Manhattan's East Side, awaiting his next court hearing.

“;I said to myself, well, let me just clean everything up,”; explained Seidl. “;I mean, it was a wrong thing I did long time ago.”;

New York has had its share of notorious fugitives, like members of the radical group Weather Underground, who avoided the authorities for extended periods. Seidl never made the FBI's Ten Most Wanted List, but his survival underground suggests that an obscure figure who takes the proper precautions can remain undetected almost indefinitely in this city of anonymity.

Federal prosecutors declined to comment on the case, and Robert M. Baum, Seidl's lawyer, would not let his client discuss the charges against him or some aspects of his time as a fugitive. And many details about his life could not be independently verified. A Czech who also speaks Spanish and German, Seidl said in a series of interviews that he served in the Czechoslovak Army in the 1960s, including in counterintelligence, but fled after the 1968 Soviet invasion. “;I have about 100 different ways how not to get caught,”; he noted.

In 1969, Seidl was accepted as a refugee into the United States and later received his green card, Baum said. In 1975, Seidl and two others were accused in the plot to extort $10,000 from the coin firm, Stack's, court papers show. According to the filings, Seidl's letter threatened, “;By donating this sum, you would be saving yourselves your families and business much consternation.”; Representatives of Stack's declined to comment.

Seidl said he decided to jump bail after a lawyer said he would receive a 12-year sentence. “;I didn't want to spend 12 years in a prison,”; he said.

He moved to Boston for a few months, then returned to New York. He abandoned his apartment and his factory job, cut his hair and beard. He chose the alias Gerald Conteh because it was short and simple. He avoided driving, and did not apply for a license or a passport.

When he did travel, to places like Atlantic City, he took the bus and bought tickets with cash. He never married, avoided old friends, and did not reveal his secret to new ones. “;I couldn't tell anybody,”; Seidl said. Baum, the lawyer, added, “;He created his own prison for more than 30 years.”;

Seidl said he took jobs in bars, delis and restaurants, and eventually began writing recipe guides and a handbook on how to start a restaurant, including scouting locations, marketing and developing food lines.

He later worked for about nine years as a nanny in Marine Park, Brooklyn, shepherding a girl and boy who are now 8 and 11 to playgrounds and helping them learn to read and write.

“;My kids really excel in school, and I know it's because of him,”; said the children's mother, Nadine Konopski, who works at a local hospital. Konopski said she was stunned and angry to learn of his arrest and history, but added, “;Nothing could change the past nine years that he spent with my children.”;

During that period, Seidl said, he began publishing his short story collections through print-on-demand firms whose services are advertised on the Web. They were not best-sellers: According to their publishers, 57 copies of “;Brooklyn Tales”; were printed; “;I Still Believe in Santa”; sold about 150 copies.

Seidl said he had wanted to turn himself in sooner: “;For years it bothered me.”; He finally decided the time had come in November, after he was hospitalized with chest pains, which led to the insertion of two stents.

While awaiting his next court hearing, he has been spending much of his time in libraries, checking e-mail, doing research and planning a new book: his autobiography.

This time, “;Gerald Conteh”; will not be the author. “;That part of my life is gone,”; he said. “;It's finished.”;