Maranatha

Vyacheslav Kirillovich Ivankov (Russian: Вячесла́в Кири́ллович Иванько́в) (January 2 1940 – October 9, 2009) was a notorious member of the Russian Mafia who was believed to have connections with Russian state intelligence organizations and their organized crime partners.^[1] He has operated in both the Soviet Union and the United States. His nickname, “Yaponchik” (Япончик) translates from Russian as “Little Japanese”, due to his faintly Asian facial features.^[2]

2009 assassination

On July 28, 2009, at around 19:20 Moscow time (1520 GMT), Ivankov was shot while leaving a restaurant on Khoroshevskoye Road in Moscow. A sniper rifle was found abandoned in a nearby parked vehicle.^[4]

Having died from his injuries seventy-three days later, on October 9, 2009,^[5] Ivankov was buried in Moscow on October 13, 2009.^[6]

This is just kind of weird. I awoke this morning wanting to watch “Maranatha” and while its been on, I decided to look up the name “Yaponchik” What I found was this Wiki entry that includes the above assassination report.. From this month… DAYS ago.

Here’s the summary from Millennial Abyss:

Summary: Frank Black and Peter Watts investigate a series of brutal killings in the Brighton Beach Russian community of New York City, killings that are linked to the nuclear disaster at Chernobyl. The shotgun slayings seem to be the work of mysterious Russian diplomat Sergei Stepanovich, a man recognized by the local immigrants as Yaponchik, a mythical Russian figure destined by prophecy to be revealed as the Antichrist.

In the story line, Yaponchik is shot by Yura and survives to tell him that he cannot be killed by Yura, he is not the one who can kill him, he in fact is to be Yaponchik’s servant… The father of lies… Yura feels he has no control.. It is fate…

One of the great episodes of the first season.

And then this revelation of Yaponchik.

Creepy.