<TABLE class=tborder id=post949415 cellSpacing=1 cellPadding=6 width="100%" align=center border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=tcat> #13 (permalink)
01-30-2003, 08:05 AM
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<HR style="COLOR: #d6d8db" SIZE=1>Dominik Hasek was on the take in 94 playoffs Russian mafia got to him
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<HR style="COLOR: #d6d8db" SIZE=1>Dominik Hasek was on the take in 94 playoffs Russian mafia got to him
<TABLE class=tborder id=post949416 cellSpacing=1 cellPadding=6 width="100%" align=center border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=tcat> #14 (permalink)
01-30-2003, 08:07 AM
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<HR style="COLOR: #d6d8db" SIZE=1>Pavel Bure also
What about "after hockey" for Pavel Bure? I talked to your friend Anzor Kikalishvili a couple months ago in Moscow. He says you have a political future.
You know, for now, I just wanna concentrate on hockey, and that's what I love to do, that's what I've been doing all of my life, and hopefully I can do it much longer. . . I don't wanna spread out myself, you know, or think about business . . . And maybe it's not really smart of me, maybe I should think what, well, what should I do after, and tell the truth, I don't know . . .
There's been controversy about your business arrangement with Anzor. Can you tell me--what is that? What is your position in his company, 21st Century?
There's no position at all. And I think I said this to everybody like two or three years ago. I said I'm gonna play hockey for now. And that's what I've been doing. . . I can't spread out myself, you know. . .
But people keep asking you and you don't answer it. Are you an executive officer of the company?
No..
A figurehead?
No.
You have nothing to do with it?
No, that's what I'm trying to explain you, that's what I said two, three years ago. I said I wanna concentrate on the hockey, and I am a hockey player.
So I guess you are a star, a friend of Anzor's, and therefore, you know, you lend your name to his enterprises, and his projects. Business, politics--
Well there's no projects at all, that's the most important. And yes, always been saying, he is my friend, and I really like him as a man. I think he's really generous. I think he helps people a lot. You know I've seen how many times he helped poor people, and singers and actors . . . I know all those rumors about him, but it's rumors . . . I have so many rumors about myself [also]. . .
Mm hm.
. . . and trust me, I have so many rumors which doesn't make sense at all. And I just said to myself I'm gonna judge people how they're treating me, how they're treating other people when I'm around them . . . A person does something bad, it's not a good person. But unless they're proven. . .
What is the source of all this? For the last couple of years, nobody can talk about Pavel, or to Pavel, without -- you talk about hockey for a little while, then you talk about Anzor and you talk about 21st Century. What started all this?
What started? I don't know. I don't know what started. I think it even started before I even met [Anzor]. When I was playing Vancouver and one day I got like twenty phone calls from all over the world and people were asking, Are you alright? And I'm just like, Yeah, I'm okay. And they said, Well, it's like everywhere your car got blown up. You know, I was like, which car? . . . The story goes, I went out in Vancouver and asked my friend to bring my car from the parking lot and I give him the key. So he went there to the parking lot, start the car, and the car blew up. And I just got lucky because I didn't actually went to the parking lot myself. And, after that, I think [such rumors] just, you know, start to build up and I guess 'til now it's still going. But you know it doesn't bother me at all because I know myself, I didn't do anything wrong and I don't have intention to do anything wrong . . .
The rumor is that the mafia blew up your car?
Right. I remember this particular article, like on the front page of the newspaper like -- BURE TARGET OF RUSSIAN MAFIA. It's like huge letters on front page: 'Read the last page.' So you turn to the last page and there was like little article about some guy, I think it was Zhitnik, had some problem in Kiev. But there was nothing even about me. But, there's like, you know, people get on the front page and they remember those big letters what it said . . . I don't know what to answer. Like if I'm gonna deny it like royally, you know, I'm gonna go on TV all the time or newspaper: No, it's not true. People are gonna say: Yes, it is true. It's kind of a strange situation because no matter what you do, you got no-win situation. . .
The FBI has asked you about this?
FBI never asked. . . They can ask me any kind of questions, but I got no answers, you know. . . When this all started -- I know lots of people in Moscow-- and I asked the Internal Minister and chief of -- it used to be KGB -- and I asked them, I said, you know, it's some people accusing me, can you give me like piece of paper which says I'm not a mafia, I'm not a gangster? It's like, Well, we don't give those kind of papers. . .
There's been a suggestion that Russian hockey players are in danger of things like extortion and pressures --
Ah, yeah, well, you know, it just make me laugh. For you to understand, you have to born in Soviet Union, in Russia, to understand whole society, whole mentality of the people -- which you never will. I can explain you, but it never would make sense to you.
Well, try. I've been there four or five times. . . Tell me about the krysha, tell me what you understand by the notion of krysha, which is part of the mentality that you're talking about.
About what?
Krysha. The roof.
The roof?
The protection.
Protection from who?
That's the point.
I can't really explain that, because I don't have a roof. I don't need a roof, you know, so I don't have it. . . You can't really explain it. It's total different society, it's total different mentality, and it's like black and white, you have to be there and you have to be born there. . . After you live for so many years you start to understand. . . So, I don't think anybody can judge what's wrong in Russia or what's good in Russia. You can't judge, that's the way it is. . . If you take whole [Russian] history, like five, ten centuries ago: Today you're President, tomorrow you're criminal. Day after, you're President again. It's just total different society. . .
But, you know, people in law enforcement circles are looking at you critically. And people like Slava Fetisov, you know--you guys are famous and you're respectable and you're very great athletes. But they're looking at you very skeptically because of some of the friendships you have. What can you say to them?
I can tell you one thing: I choose my friends. . . People can say whatever they want about that person, and I'm gonna ignore it because I'm judging people how they're treating me. And I think I would be a really bad friend, if I would have a friend and somebody would say something bad about him and I would believe the rumors, you know -- I can't be friends with you because somebody's saying something bad about you. I think that I would be traitor.
What if it threatened your visa? What if it threatened your status in the United States?
Well we'll deal with it, I don't know . . . I don't think it's gonna happen -- oh, actually, it could. But I'll deal with it, I don't know. . .
Has the league ever spoken to you about your friendship with a controversial-- Anzor?
Uh, yeah, was long time ago, yeah was probably five years ago I had a talk [with] General Manager and President that time in Vancouver. . . He called me up and he said it's no good here to hang around with [Anzori], and I just told him exactly what I said to you. I said, you know, I can't betray my friends just because of the rumors . . . If you can prove it, and, obviously, if I would know for sure he had do something bad, I'm not gonna hang around with him.
Anzor Kikalishvili is very concerned that the police say that they are inquiring about you, that they talk to you about your association. What do you tell Anzori to reassure him?
. . . Actually the police doesn't ask me any questions. . . Most of the time it's the media obviously. I understand that you don't ask for yourself, you're asking for the people, for fans. And I understand I'm talking through you to the fans. . . I think you should support your friends when they going through the hard time. And you have to get behind them, if you think and you believe they innocent. That's my answer
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<HR style="COLOR: #d6d8db" SIZE=1>Pavel Bure also
What about "after hockey" for Pavel Bure? I talked to your friend Anzor Kikalishvili a couple months ago in Moscow. He says you have a political future.
You know, for now, I just wanna concentrate on hockey, and that's what I love to do, that's what I've been doing all of my life, and hopefully I can do it much longer. . . I don't wanna spread out myself, you know, or think about business . . . And maybe it's not really smart of me, maybe I should think what, well, what should I do after, and tell the truth, I don't know . . .
There's been controversy about your business arrangement with Anzor. Can you tell me--what is that? What is your position in his company, 21st Century?
There's no position at all. And I think I said this to everybody like two or three years ago. I said I'm gonna play hockey for now. And that's what I've been doing. . . I can't spread out myself, you know. . .
But people keep asking you and you don't answer it. Are you an executive officer of the company?
No..
A figurehead?
No.
You have nothing to do with it?
No, that's what I'm trying to explain you, that's what I said two, three years ago. I said I wanna concentrate on the hockey, and I am a hockey player.
So I guess you are a star, a friend of Anzor's, and therefore, you know, you lend your name to his enterprises, and his projects. Business, politics--
Well there's no projects at all, that's the most important. And yes, always been saying, he is my friend, and I really like him as a man. I think he's really generous. I think he helps people a lot. You know I've seen how many times he helped poor people, and singers and actors . . . I know all those rumors about him, but it's rumors . . . I have so many rumors about myself [also]. . .
Mm hm.
. . . and trust me, I have so many rumors which doesn't make sense at all. And I just said to myself I'm gonna judge people how they're treating me, how they're treating other people when I'm around them . . . A person does something bad, it's not a good person. But unless they're proven. . .
What is the source of all this? For the last couple of years, nobody can talk about Pavel, or to Pavel, without -- you talk about hockey for a little while, then you talk about Anzor and you talk about 21st Century. What started all this?
What started? I don't know. I don't know what started. I think it even started before I even met [Anzor]. When I was playing Vancouver and one day I got like twenty phone calls from all over the world and people were asking, Are you alright? And I'm just like, Yeah, I'm okay. And they said, Well, it's like everywhere your car got blown up. You know, I was like, which car? . . . The story goes, I went out in Vancouver and asked my friend to bring my car from the parking lot and I give him the key. So he went there to the parking lot, start the car, and the car blew up. And I just got lucky because I didn't actually went to the parking lot myself. And, after that, I think [such rumors] just, you know, start to build up and I guess 'til now it's still going. But you know it doesn't bother me at all because I know myself, I didn't do anything wrong and I don't have intention to do anything wrong . . .
The rumor is that the mafia blew up your car?
Right. I remember this particular article, like on the front page of the newspaper like -- BURE TARGET OF RUSSIAN MAFIA. It's like huge letters on front page: 'Read the last page.' So you turn to the last page and there was like little article about some guy, I think it was Zhitnik, had some problem in Kiev. But there was nothing even about me. But, there's like, you know, people get on the front page and they remember those big letters what it said . . . I don't know what to answer. Like if I'm gonna deny it like royally, you know, I'm gonna go on TV all the time or newspaper: No, it's not true. People are gonna say: Yes, it is true. It's kind of a strange situation because no matter what you do, you got no-win situation. . .
The FBI has asked you about this?
FBI never asked. . . They can ask me any kind of questions, but I got no answers, you know. . . When this all started -- I know lots of people in Moscow-- and I asked the Internal Minister and chief of -- it used to be KGB -- and I asked them, I said, you know, it's some people accusing me, can you give me like piece of paper which says I'm not a mafia, I'm not a gangster? It's like, Well, we don't give those kind of papers. . .
There's been a suggestion that Russian hockey players are in danger of things like extortion and pressures --
Ah, yeah, well, you know, it just make me laugh. For you to understand, you have to born in Soviet Union, in Russia, to understand whole society, whole mentality of the people -- which you never will. I can explain you, but it never would make sense to you.
Well, try. I've been there four or five times. . . Tell me about the krysha, tell me what you understand by the notion of krysha, which is part of the mentality that you're talking about.
About what?
Krysha. The roof.
The roof?
The protection.
Protection from who?
That's the point.
I can't really explain that, because I don't have a roof. I don't need a roof, you know, so I don't have it. . . You can't really explain it. It's total different society, it's total different mentality, and it's like black and white, you have to be there and you have to be born there. . . After you live for so many years you start to understand. . . So, I don't think anybody can judge what's wrong in Russia or what's good in Russia. You can't judge, that's the way it is. . . If you take whole [Russian] history, like five, ten centuries ago: Today you're President, tomorrow you're criminal. Day after, you're President again. It's just total different society. . .
But, you know, people in law enforcement circles are looking at you critically. And people like Slava Fetisov, you know--you guys are famous and you're respectable and you're very great athletes. But they're looking at you very skeptically because of some of the friendships you have. What can you say to them?
I can tell you one thing: I choose my friends. . . People can say whatever they want about that person, and I'm gonna ignore it because I'm judging people how they're treating me. And I think I would be a really bad friend, if I would have a friend and somebody would say something bad about him and I would believe the rumors, you know -- I can't be friends with you because somebody's saying something bad about you. I think that I would be traitor.
What if it threatened your visa? What if it threatened your status in the United States?
Well we'll deal with it, I don't know . . . I don't think it's gonna happen -- oh, actually, it could. But I'll deal with it, I don't know. . .
Has the league ever spoken to you about your friendship with a controversial-- Anzor?
Uh, yeah, was long time ago, yeah was probably five years ago I had a talk [with] General Manager and President that time in Vancouver. . . He called me up and he said it's no good here to hang around with [Anzori], and I just told him exactly what I said to you. I said, you know, I can't betray my friends just because of the rumors . . . If you can prove it, and, obviously, if I would know for sure he had do something bad, I'm not gonna hang around with him.
Anzor Kikalishvili is very concerned that the police say that they are inquiring about you, that they talk to you about your association. What do you tell Anzori to reassure him?
. . . Actually the police doesn't ask me any questions. . . Most of the time it's the media obviously. I understand that you don't ask for yourself, you're asking for the people, for fans. And I understand I'm talking through you to the fans. . . I think you should support your friends when they going through the hard time. And you have to get behind them, if you think and you believe they innocent. That's my answer
<TABLE class=tborder id=post949419 cellSpacing=1 cellPadding=6 width="100%" align=center border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=tcat> #15 (permalink)
01-30-2003, 08:17 AM
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Nicknamed "Slava," Fetisov starred for the Central Red Army Team for more than a decade before breaking away to join the NHL's New Jersey Devils in 1989. "I had played for the Red Army," Fetisov explained at the start of his first NHL season. "I had won world championships and the Olympics. There was nothing left to prove anymore. Playing in the NHL was the next plateau for me. That's why I came." Fetisov played for the Devils for six seasons before being traded to the Detroit Red Wings, where he joined several of his old Central Red Army teammates and helped Detroit win back-to-back Stanley Cups in 1997 and 1998. In the early 1990's, during an investigation of Vyacheslav Ivankov -- a man believed to be a major leader of Russian organized crime in North America -- the FBI discovered a link to the star NHL defenseman: Fetisov had signed a document stating he was the President of Slavic Inc., a front company for Ivankov's illegal enterprises. Fetisov is currently an assistant coach with his former team, the New Jersey Devils. (read his interview)
At eighteen, Pavel Bure was already a star with the Central Red Army team and was asked to sign on for three more years. Bure decided instead to follow a number of other stars from the Red Army Team to the NHL. In 1991, Bure signed with the Vancouver Canucks. His star rose rapidly: Dubbed the "Russian Rocket," Bure put together two stellar 60-goal/100 point seasons. As early as 1993, however, Bure was mentioned in reports of NHL players being extorted by Russian organized crime. Later, Bure was linked as a friend and business associate of Anzor Kikalishvili, the head of the 21st Century Association, a sports/entertainment marketing company that law enforcement officials believe is a front for illegal activities. Bure is beginning his eighth NHL season, now playing for the Florida Panthers.(read his interview)
Valeri Kamensky grew up in Voskresensk, Russia -- a small town some fifty miles from Moscow which has produced some of the nation's best hockey players. In 1991, Kamensky became the second player from Voskresensk to make the move to the NHL, landing with the Quebec Nordiques. Kamensky reportedly played a key role in helping a reputed Russian mobster, Vyacheslav Sliva, enter Canada in 1994. Kamensky is said to have prevailed upon Quebec Nordique officials to officially request a visa for Sliva, whose criminal background could potentially have blocked his travel. In their letter of reference, the Nordiques claimed that Sliva "is a friend of one of our players." Kamensky starred for several years with the Colorado Avalanche, the name of the relocated Nordique franchise, helping the Avalanche to a Stanley Cup. In July, 1999, Kamensky signed a rich four-year $17 million contract to play for the New York Rangers.
In 1993, during the summer off-season following his rookie year for the Los Angeles Kings, Alexei Zhitnik was targeted for extortion in his native Kiev, Ukraine. His new-found celebrity, and his widely reported $400,000 salary, made the talented young defenseman a target for extortionists. The attempt proved unsuccessful. Later, Zhitnik was unusually frank in speaking about extortion, a topic that few players discuss. "If you pay the first time, the next time you pay much more," he told the Los Angeles Times in December, 1993. "But my friends helped me. Like the police -- the cops can't do nothing. No rules. No laws." Zhitnik now plays for the Buffalo Sabres.
In 1994, at age eighteen, Oleg Tverdovsky was drafted by the NHL's Mighty Ducks, a Disney-owned franchise in Anaheim, California. Tverdovsky was the second pick in the draft; his starting salary -- $4.2 million for his first three years -- was one of the largest ever paid to a rookie. On January 30, 1996, Tverdovsky's mother Alexandra was kidnapped from her home in Donetsk, Ukraine, and was held for ransom. The leader of the kidnappers was one of Tverdovsky's former minor league hockey coaches in the Ukraine. According to a Donetsk police official, the man, identified only as "Nikolai V.," visited Tverdovsky's lavish home in Anaheim, seeing for himself the riches that come to a young NHL star, and decided he deserved a share. Of the extortion attempt, Tverdovsky later told a Canadian newspaper: "This was my problem and I was supposed to take care of it. Sometimes it bothered me and it was tough to play." After eleven days, Tverdovsky's mother was released; the kidnappers were caught and put on trial. Tverdovsky's parents moved to the United States. Tverdovsky now plays for the Mighty Ducks of Aneheim.
Dubbed "Alexander the Great" for his sensational hockey skills, Mogilny, at age twenty, was considered the best young player on the Soviet Central Red Army Team. Immediately after helping the team to the 1989 World Championship, Mogilny defected to the United States -- flying from Stockholm Sweden, the site of the hockey tournament, to New York's JFK airport. After a brief international intrigue over the unprecedented defection -- he was widely reviled as a traitor -- Mogilny settled in Buffalo, where he began a rocky few years of play for the Sabres before settling into more consistent all-star performance. In early 1994, Sergei Fomitchev, a former associate of Mogilny's who helped the player defect to the United States and briefly lived with him in Buffalo, attempted to extort Mogilny. Fomitchev approached the star NHL player for $150,000 - $200,000. Mogilny turned to the FBI and the plot was foiled. Fomitchev served two months in an Erie County jail before being deported. Mogilny currently plays for the Vancouver Canucks
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Nicknamed "Slava," Fetisov starred for the Central Red Army Team for more than a decade before breaking away to join the NHL's New Jersey Devils in 1989. "I had played for the Red Army," Fetisov explained at the start of his first NHL season. "I had won world championships and the Olympics. There was nothing left to prove anymore. Playing in the NHL was the next plateau for me. That's why I came." Fetisov played for the Devils for six seasons before being traded to the Detroit Red Wings, where he joined several of his old Central Red Army teammates and helped Detroit win back-to-back Stanley Cups in 1997 and 1998. In the early 1990's, during an investigation of Vyacheslav Ivankov -- a man believed to be a major leader of Russian organized crime in North America -- the FBI discovered a link to the star NHL defenseman: Fetisov had signed a document stating he was the President of Slavic Inc., a front company for Ivankov's illegal enterprises. Fetisov is currently an assistant coach with his former team, the New Jersey Devils. (read his interview)
At eighteen, Pavel Bure was already a star with the Central Red Army team and was asked to sign on for three more years. Bure decided instead to follow a number of other stars from the Red Army Team to the NHL. In 1991, Bure signed with the Vancouver Canucks. His star rose rapidly: Dubbed the "Russian Rocket," Bure put together two stellar 60-goal/100 point seasons. As early as 1993, however, Bure was mentioned in reports of NHL players being extorted by Russian organized crime. Later, Bure was linked as a friend and business associate of Anzor Kikalishvili, the head of the 21st Century Association, a sports/entertainment marketing company that law enforcement officials believe is a front for illegal activities. Bure is beginning his eighth NHL season, now playing for the Florida Panthers.(read his interview)
Valeri Kamensky grew up in Voskresensk, Russia -- a small town some fifty miles from Moscow which has produced some of the nation's best hockey players. In 1991, Kamensky became the second player from Voskresensk to make the move to the NHL, landing with the Quebec Nordiques. Kamensky reportedly played a key role in helping a reputed Russian mobster, Vyacheslav Sliva, enter Canada in 1994. Kamensky is said to have prevailed upon Quebec Nordique officials to officially request a visa for Sliva, whose criminal background could potentially have blocked his travel. In their letter of reference, the Nordiques claimed that Sliva "is a friend of one of our players." Kamensky starred for several years with the Colorado Avalanche, the name of the relocated Nordique franchise, helping the Avalanche to a Stanley Cup. In July, 1999, Kamensky signed a rich four-year $17 million contract to play for the New York Rangers.
In 1993, during the summer off-season following his rookie year for the Los Angeles Kings, Alexei Zhitnik was targeted for extortion in his native Kiev, Ukraine. His new-found celebrity, and his widely reported $400,000 salary, made the talented young defenseman a target for extortionists. The attempt proved unsuccessful. Later, Zhitnik was unusually frank in speaking about extortion, a topic that few players discuss. "If you pay the first time, the next time you pay much more," he told the Los Angeles Times in December, 1993. "But my friends helped me. Like the police -- the cops can't do nothing. No rules. No laws." Zhitnik now plays for the Buffalo Sabres.
In 1994, at age eighteen, Oleg Tverdovsky was drafted by the NHL's Mighty Ducks, a Disney-owned franchise in Anaheim, California. Tverdovsky was the second pick in the draft; his starting salary -- $4.2 million for his first three years -- was one of the largest ever paid to a rookie. On January 30, 1996, Tverdovsky's mother Alexandra was kidnapped from her home in Donetsk, Ukraine, and was held for ransom. The leader of the kidnappers was one of Tverdovsky's former minor league hockey coaches in the Ukraine. According to a Donetsk police official, the man, identified only as "Nikolai V.," visited Tverdovsky's lavish home in Anaheim, seeing for himself the riches that come to a young NHL star, and decided he deserved a share. Of the extortion attempt, Tverdovsky later told a Canadian newspaper: "This was my problem and I was supposed to take care of it. Sometimes it bothered me and it was tough to play." After eleven days, Tverdovsky's mother was released; the kidnappers were caught and put on trial. Tverdovsky's parents moved to the United States. Tverdovsky now plays for the Mighty Ducks of Aneheim.
Dubbed "Alexander the Great" for his sensational hockey skills, Mogilny, at age twenty, was considered the best young player on the Soviet Central Red Army Team. Immediately after helping the team to the 1989 World Championship, Mogilny defected to the United States -- flying from Stockholm Sweden, the site of the hockey tournament, to New York's JFK airport. After a brief international intrigue over the unprecedented defection -- he was widely reviled as a traitor -- Mogilny settled in Buffalo, where he began a rocky few years of play for the Sabres before settling into more consistent all-star performance. In early 1994, Sergei Fomitchev, a former associate of Mogilny's who helped the player defect to the United States and briefly lived with him in Buffalo, attempted to extort Mogilny. Fomitchev approached the star NHL player for $150,000 - $200,000. Mogilny turned to the FBI and the plot was foiled. Fomitchev served two months in an Erie County jail before being deported. Mogilny currently plays for the Vancouver Canucks
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