The Man Who Knew Too Much

48 Hours Mystery Reports On Murder Of U.S. Journalist In Moscow

(CBS)  But Klebnikov clearly had a larger purpose in mind. "I think he really wanted to help Russia go back to what was a more energetic and positive mindset that they had before communism," says Musa. "He wanted virtue to succeed."

Klebnikov had become quite optimistic about the prospects for the new Russia, but it was not so in the '90s, when he was openly disgusted with all the corruption he saw around him. As he wrote in one book, "the country was being run by killers and crooks with everyone in government an accomplice."

These were not exactly words to win friends -- especially when you call someone the godfather of the Kremlin.

Boris Berezovsky was once in Russia's inner circle, until he had a falling out with the Kremlin. In 2000, he went into self-imposed, though hardly self-denying, European exile. Paul had him at only No. 47 on Forbes' richest Russians list, with a mere $620 million.

He started as a mathematician, making just $10 a week. But Berezovsky became Russia's richest and perhaps most notorious businessman. And Klebnikov had little use for him.

Klebnikov once told an interviewer that Berezovsky was an unprincipled person, immoral and absolutely cynical.

"In Russia, we have a tradition about the dead. One either says good or nothing," says Berezovsky.

Despite a tradition of not speaking ill of the dead, Berezovsky seemed to welcome a chance to tell 48 Hours about his bitter feud with Klebnikov. It began when Klebnikov linked him to the murder of a Russian TV personality, with whom Berezovksy had business ties. The allegations appeared in Forbes.