. >> his expertise drew the attention of vladimir potanin, a future deputy prime minister of russia withthe kremlin, who had just been given the right to open two private banks. he asked prokhorov to run them as his partner. the downside was, the job might get him killed. during the 1990s, hundreds of russian businessmen were gunned down by contract killers hired to resolve disputes or by gangsters trying to muscle in on someone else's turf. >> it was a wild west. it was a territory with no sherriff. >> with no sherriff? >> no rules. you need to survive. >> and he did survive, and with no blood on his hands. by the time he reached 30, he was already a multimillionaire. but a much bigger pay day was just around the corner. in 1995, prokhorov and potanin's bank won the equivalent of the russian lottery. kremlin leaders gave them what amounted to an insider's opportunity to buy one of the state's most valuable assets: a huge mining and metals operation called norilsk nickel, which is among the world's largest producers of nickel, copper, and platinum. they acquired it from the kremlin in a