Paul Edward Tatum (April 2, 1955 – November 3, 1996) was an American expatriate businessman assassinated in a

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

metro station close to his hotel.Rubin, Julia
"Murder in Moscow Ends Dream of an American Entrepreneur"
''Los Angeles Times'', November 24, 1996. Tatum was operating a Hotel Joint Venture with a Chechen businessman named

Umar Dzhabrailov Umar Aliyevich Dzhabrailov (; born 28 June 1958) is a Russian politician and advisor to Sergei Prikhodko, the Assistant to the President of Russia,Edmond, Oklahoma Edmond is a city in Oklahoma County, Oklahoma, United States. It is a part of the Oklahoma City metropolitan area, located in Central Oklahoma. Its population was 94,428 according to the 2020 United States census, a 16% increase from 2010. maki ...

and travelled to

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

in 1985, involving himself in various business activities. He reportedly knew

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, who was a regular guest of his hotel while visiting Russia on state visits. During the attempted coup in Russia in the summer of 1991, Tatum had supplied president

Boris Yeltsin Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin (1 February 1931 – 23 April 2007) was a Soviet and Russian politician and statesman who served as President of Russia from 1991 to 1999. He was a member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) from 1961 to ...

's only link to the outside world by giving him satellite linkage from a government building in Moscow, which was surrounded by army units trying to overthrow his fledgling democratic government. Tatum had numerous disputes with his hotel partner

Umar Dzhabrailov Umar Aliyevich Dzhabrailov (; born 28 June 1958) is a Russian politician and advisor to Sergei Prikhodko, the Assistant to the President of Russia,blackmail Blackmail is a criminal act of coercion using a threat. As a criminal offense, blackmail is defined in various ways in common law jurisdictions. In the United States, blackmail is generally defined as a crime of information, involving a thr ...

ing Tatum and trying to force him out of the hotel joint venture. A few weeks later he was gunned down and shot 11 times in the head and neck. Shortly after Tatum's death, Dzhabrailov and the Moscow city government quickly took over complete control of the hotel joint venture. Carol Williams investigated the Tatum murder for the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

'' and after concluding it had likely been a

contract killing Contract killing (also known as murder-for-hire) is a form of murder or assassination in which one party hires another party to kill a targeted person or people. It involves an illegal agreement which includes some form of compensation, moneta ...

, she got a call from someone who told her it was "unhealthy to pursue certain avenues of inquiry". Tatum was interred in

Kuntsevo Cemetery The Kuntsevo Cemetery () is a cemetery servicing Kuntsevo, Moscow. It is located on the bank of the Setun River, to the south of the Mozhaisk Highway (the continuation of the Kutuzovsky Prospekt). The local five-domed church was commissioned in 16 ...

, Moscow.Imaging Russia 2000: film and facts By Anna M. Lawto
p. 105
at

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References

External links

BBC report on Russian contract killings
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Tatum, Paul 1955 births 1996 deaths American people murdered abroad People from Edmond, Oklahoma Deaths by firearm in Russia People murdered by Russian-speaking organized crime Burials at Kuntsevo Cemetery People murdered in Russia Assassinations in Russia Edmond Memorial High School alumni