BUFFALO, N.Y. — Alexander Mogilny's story was already fascinating enough.
In 1989 he became the first NHL draftee to defect from the Soviet Union in order to play in North America.
Five years later, in 1994, his life took another interesting turn when one of those who helped him escape from the USSR was charged with trying to extort Mogilny by allegedly threatening top shoot or stab him in the legs unless he was paid $150,000.
Mogilny promised to pay the money but instead called police, who met his would be extortionist instead, when he showed up at Memorial Auditorium to collect the money.
"Maybe I'm like Sherlock Holmes," quipped the Sabres superstar when speaking to reporters following the arrest of Sergei Fomitchev.
Fomitchev gave the name Sergei Pavlovski to police who booked him on on a charge of second degree attempted grand larceny.
Fomitchev, who said he was only trying to borrow money from Mogilny pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of menacing after serving two months in jail.
However, police and league officials were taking the matter seriously after several other players who came from the USSR after Mogilny, were also reporting that either they or their families back home had been subject to extortion attempts by members of the Russian mob.
Formitchev was later indicted on federal charges of filing false information last December to obtain a visa to travel from Russia to the United States.
The video attached to this story as reported by WGRZ's Cheryl Hagen on March 26, 1994.
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