{"id":522058,"date":"2022-12-05T18:01:00","date_gmt":"2022-12-05T15:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/was-the-tetris-co-developer-the-victim-of-a-russian-mob-hit\/"},"modified":"2022-12-05T18:01:00","modified_gmt":"2022-12-05T15:01:00","slug":"was-the-tetris-co-developer-the-victim-of-a-russian-mob-hit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/was-the-tetris-co-developer-the-victim-of-a-russian-mob-hit\/","title":{"rendered":"#Was the Tetris co-developer the victim of a Russian mob hit?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_84 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a2d69a92c88f\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a2d69a92c88f\" checked aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-1'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/was-the-tetris-co-developer-the-victim-of-a-russian-mob-hit\/#%E2%80%9CWas_the_Tetris_co-developer_the_victim_of_a_Russian_mob_hit%E2%80%9D\" >&#8220;Was the Tetris co-developer the victim of a Russian mob hit?&#8221;<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h1><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"%E2%80%9CWas_the_Tetris_co-developer_the_victim_of_a_Russian_mob_hit%E2%80%9D\"><\/span>&#8220;Was the Tetris co-developer the victim of a Russian mob hit?&#8221;<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h1>\n<div>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module alignleft\">\n        <\/aside>\n<p>On Sept. 22, 1998, police were called to the Palo Alto, California, home of Vladimir Pokhilko. They discovered a gruesome scene: The Tetris co-developer was dead, his throat slit; he was still gripping the knife. His wife Yelena and their 12-year-old son Peter had been bludgeoned to death with hammers and then stabbed. <\/p>\n<p>There was a note, in Pokhilko\u2019s handwriting:<\/p>\n<p><em>I\u2019ve been eaten alive. Vladimir. Just remember that I am exist. The davil<\/em><\/p>\n<p>And yet Sandra Brown, a now-retired Palo Alto PD Crime Scene Investigator who was at the scene, couldn\u2019t shake the feeling that the Russian immigrant was just as much the victim as his wife and son.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSomething was not right,\u201d she told The Post, noting that Pokhilko\u2019s blood splatter on the bottom of a sliding glass patio door didn\u2019t match up with the location of his body. \u201cThe blood and the knife didn\u2019t make sense. I was thinking, \u2018This man didn\u2019t kill himself.\u2019 \u201d <\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/12\/vladimir-pokhilko.jpg?w=1024\" alt=\"Vladimir Pokhilko at a dinner with his son Peter and wife Yelena in 1991.\" class=\"wp-image-24876161\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/12\/vladimir-pokhilko.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1535 1536w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/12\/vladimir-pokhilko.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all 1024w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/12\/vladimir-pokhilko.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all&amp;w=512 512w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\"\/><figcaption>Vladimir Pokhilko at a dinner with his son Peter and wife Yelena in 1991.<\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">Discovery ID<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The medical examiner, however, quickly ruled that Pokhilko, whose company AnimaTek had been in dire financial trouble, was responsible for the heinous acts. The case was closed: Murder \u2014 double homicide \u2014\u00a0suicide.<\/p>\n<p>But doubts lingered with Brown and other colleagues who worked the case \u2014 the FBI im<a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/social-mediaa\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"1\" title=\"Social Media\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">media<\/a>tely <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/download-scripts-themes-apps\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"9\" title=\"Download Scripts &amp; Themes &amp; Apps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">app<\/a>earing at the crime scene, just one day after the bloodbath, didn\u2019t help, either. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cI remember saying, \u2018Why are they here? We have possible domestic violence, a small bedroom community <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/trip-and-travel\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"10\" title=\"Trip &amp; Travel\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">trip<\/a>le homicide,\u2019 \u201d said Brown.<\/p>\n<p>Two decades later, Brown is finding out that her intuition may have been spot on. <\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/12\/yelena-pokhilko.jpg?w=1024\" alt=\"Pokhilko's wife Yelena was a prominent yoga instructer. \" class=\"wp-image-24876595\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/12\/yelena-pokhilko.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1535 1536w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/12\/yelena-pokhilko.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all 1024w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/12\/yelena-pokhilko.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all&amp;w=512 512w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\"\/><figcaption>Pokhilko\u2019s wife Yelena was a prominent yoga instructor. <\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">Discovery ID<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.investigationdiscovery.com\/crimefeed\/murder\/the-tetris-murders-co-developer-of-iconic-video-game-his-family-found-dead-in-their-home\">\u201cThe Tetris Murders,\u201d a new three-part docuseries<\/a> premiering Monday night on ID, revisits the grisly killings in light of recently unearthed documents that suggest Russian mafia may have been involved.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cInitially, some members of the Russian community came to us and said this man did not kill his family. They believed it was a mob hit,\u201d said Brown, adding that they pointed to the murder weapons \u2014 a hammer and a knife \u2014 possibly representing the Soviet hammer and sickle.<\/p>\n<p>The top-selling video <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/game\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"7\" title=\"Game\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">game<\/a> of all time, Tetris was born behind the Iron Curtain in the early 1980s. At the time, Pokhilko was working in Moscow as a psychologist with a keen interest in computers. His friend, Alexey Pajitnov, had developed a version of Tetris. Pokhilko saw it\u2019s unique addictive effect on the brain; the two worked together to develop Tetris as a video game.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/12\/tetris-murders-2.jpeg?w=1024\" alt=\"Local students (left to right) Jonny Ceron, 14, Alan Justice, 15, Preston Burnes, 14, view the memorial left in front of the Pokhilko residence on Ferne Avenue in Palo  Alto on September 23, 1998.\" class=\"wp-image-24878139\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/12\/tetris-murders-2.jpeg?quality=75&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1535 1536w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/12\/tetris-murders-2.jpeg?quality=75&amp;strip=all 1024w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/12\/tetris-murders-2.jpeg?quality=75&amp;strip=all&amp;w=512 512w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\"\/><figcaption>Local students (left to right) Jonny Ceron, 14, Alan Justice, 15, Preston Burnes, 14, view the memorial left in front of the Pokhilko residence on Ferne Avenue in Palo Alto on Sept. 23, 1998.<\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">Media<a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/news\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"2\" title=\"News\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">News<\/a> Group via Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Given the Soviet government\u2019s propensity to seize intellectual property, distribution of the game was far from straightforward. Dutch businessman Henk Rogers, who had befriended Pajitnov, was able to work the Russians to then sell the rights to Nintendo, just as the company launched Game Boy, which turned Tetris into a global sensation. <\/p>\n<p>But the co-developers did not reap the financial benefits. Instead, after the Berlin Wall fell, Rogers helped them come to the United States, where the trio founded AnimaTek, which created the less popular game El-Fish. <\/p>\n<p>Then, in 1996, Rogers and Pajnitov teamed up with an unnamed Russian oligarch to form the Tetris company, leaving Pokhilko to run AnimaTek.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey basically globalized the entire Tetris company under one roof,\u201d said \u201cThe Tetris Effect\u201d author Dan Ackerman in the <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/watch-movies-tv-seriess\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"8\" title=\"Watch Movies &amp; TV Series\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">series<\/a>.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"606\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/12\/sandra-brown-1.jpeg?w=606\" alt=\"Arriving on the scene in 1998, then-Palo Alto CSI Sandra Brown told The Post she had her doubts. \" class=\"wp-image-24878072\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/12\/sandra-brown-1.jpeg?quality=75&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1212 1212w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/12\/sandra-brown-1.jpeg?quality=75&amp;strip=all&amp;w=909 909w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/12\/sandra-brown-1.jpeg?quality=75&amp;strip=all&amp;w=606 606w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/12\/sandra-brown-1.jpeg?quality=75&amp;strip=all&amp;w=303 303w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/12\/sandra-brown-1.jpeg?quality=75&amp;strip=all 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 606px) 100vw, 606px\"\/><figcaption>Arriving on the scene in 1998, then-Palo Alto CSI Sandra Brown told The Post she had her doubts that Vladimir Pokhilko murdered his family and himself. <\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">Discovery ID<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/12\/sandra-brown-2.jpeg?w=1024\" alt=\"Now retired, Brown says she hopes the documentary helps shed new light on the killings.\" class=\"wp-image-24878094\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/12\/sandra-brown-2.jpeg?quality=75&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1535 1536w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/12\/sandra-brown-2.jpeg?quality=75&amp;strip=all 1024w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/12\/sandra-brown-2.jpeg?quality=75&amp;strip=all&amp;w=512 512w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\"\/><figcaption>Now retired, Brown says she hopes the documentary will help shed new light on the killings.<\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">Discovery ID<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>While the pair were raking in money, AnimaTek was in a financial spiral, which visibly weighed on Pokhilko. Shortly after, he would wind up dead. <\/p>\n<p>But documents discovered by the show\u2019s producers upend that narrative \u2014 namely, a subpoena from the FBI\u2019s division investigating organized crime and racketeering, seeking to obtain Pokhilko\u2019s accounts, dated just two days after the murder.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHow did they have a warrant right after we got the case? That tells me they were already looking at this as a mafia case, before we even had this as a homicide,\u201d said Brown. \u201c[That] blew me away.\u201d <\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/12\/tetris-1.jpg?w=1024\" alt=\"Tetris exploded into a worldwide phenomenon when it was introduced with the Nintendo Gameboy. \" class=\"wp-image-24876220\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/12\/tetris-1.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1535 1536w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/12\/tetris-1.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all 1024w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/12\/tetris-1.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all&amp;w=512 512w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\"\/><figcaption>Tetris exploded into a worldwide phenomenon when it was introduced with the Nintendo Game Boy. <\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">picture alliance via Getty Image<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Brown said she has spoken to people connected to the case who still fear for their lives more than two decades later, leaving her convinced her there were more nefarious forces at play \u2014 and they\u2019re still at large.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat subpoena gave me proof that they were barking up the right tree,\u201d she said, noting that she hopes the series perhaps sows some doubt about Pokhilko\u2019s guilt, leading to the truth, and peace for the victims\u2019 souls.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s like Tetris \u2014 you just don\u2019t know what is on that first layer.\u201d\n                        <\/p><\/div>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a style=\"color: #ff0000;\" href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqBwgKMLG0nwswvr63Aw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">For forums sites go to <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/forum.buradabiliyorum.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Forum.BuradaBiliyorum.Com<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>If you want to read more News articles, you can visit our <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/news\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">News category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: black;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2022\/12\/05\/was-the-tetris-co-creator-the-victim-of-a-russian-mob-hit\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;Was the Tetris co-developer the victim of a Russian mob hit?&#8221; On Sept. 22, 1998, police were called to the Palo Alto, California, home of Vladimir Pokhilko. They discovered a gruesome scene: The Tetris co-developer was dead, his throat slit; he was still gripping the knife. His wife Yelena and their 12-year-old son Peter had&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":522059,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/12\/tetris-murders.jpeg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1024","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[70897],"tags":[136779,10751,45339,83001,81016,29437,4975,88208,1525,42618,28970],"class_list":["post-522058","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-12-5-22","tag-gaming","tag-mafia","tag-mob","tag-murder-suicide","tag-nintendo","tag-russia","tag-soviet-union","tag-television","tag-tetris","tag-true-crime"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/522058","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=522058"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/522058\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/522059"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=522058"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=522058"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=522058"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}