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November 6, 2009
Owning A Russian Basketball Team Can Be Hazardous To Your Health
Deadspin
The irreverent sports blog broke this story about the drive-by murder earlier this week of a billionaire Russian oligarch sports team owner.
If future Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov ever invites you to watch a game in the owner's box, don't accept. Not only will you be stuck watching the Nets, there's a decent chance you'll be caught up in an assassination attempt.
Shabtai Kalmanovich, one of Prokhorov's partners in post-Soviet billionaire sports owner crime, was murdered on Monday. Kalmanovich is the owner of the Spartak Moscow women's basketball team that is famous for shelling out big bucks to sign WNBA stars like Lauren Jackson, Sue Bird, and Diana Taurasi. He was also gunned down on the streets of Moscow when another car pulled up alongside his and opened fire. Yeah, not exactly a random act of violence.
Police say they believe that the murder could be linked to Kalmanovich's business activities, and maybe even "his prominent role in Russian basketball." So that must make people like Prokhorov feel really safe and secure. The NBA too.
Related coverage...
The New American, Dangerous Connections: NBA and the KGB
The official publication of the John Birch Society picks up the story, and runs with it.
The recent public assassination in Moscow of Russian oligarch and sports team owner Shabtai Kalmanovich should give NBA promoters pause regarding their headlong rush to welcome Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov as the new owner of the New Jersey Nets basketball franchise.
...But don't expect the gunning down of Kalmanovich to stop Nets owner Bruce Ratner and Brooklyn developers from salivating over the prospect of netting some of Prokhorov's billions.
...There are other colors also associated with Russian joint ventures: green, for huge sums of laundered money, used for bribes and corruption; and red, for lots and lots of spilt blood. Some of the most recent blood comes from Prokhorov's old business partner, Shabtai Kalmanovich, owner of Spartak, the professional Russian women's basketball team. He was slain on November 2 in classic gangland style. Kalmanovich's black Mercedes-Benz was sprayed with submachine-gun and shotgun blasts from a passing vehicle.
...The NBA is making a dangerous deal with the devil; Prokhorov is not investing his own money, it's "The Party's Gold." And the Party guards it very jealously.
Click thru for tales of Russian intrigue, the KGB, the Israeli intelligence apparatus, Stalin, Lenin, secret gold stashes, double-crosses, double-double-crosses, and more.
NoLandGrab: We can't vouch for the story's premise, but it sure makes for entertaining reading — and gives "shooting guard" a whole new meaning.
Posted by eric at November 6, 2009 10:27 PM