Notably, Victor was the man most responsible for bringing the amnesiac John Black to Salem in 1986, having "outbid" corrupt ISA chief George Nickerson for Black, who was "offered up" by the DiMera organization under the guise of possibly being the believed-dead Roman Brady. Victor also was part of the game called "The Purse, The Power, and The Pawn" in which he, Nickerson and Ileya Petrov; who had taken over the presumed dead Stefano Dimera's criminal enterprise, fought to get money and ultimately the biggest prize of them all; the Pawn, aka John Black. Victor had Petrov killed in 1986 outside a cabin. But, in 2016 it came to light that somehow Petrov had moved to the United States in 1987 and worked for an academy that trained assassins which is where John Black was originally trained before having his memory wiped. Though, technically he was trained before that time. The writers changed the storyline. Victor worked to help restore Black's memory and learn his true identity, until Black escaped. (Victor eventually became aware that Black wasn't the real Roman Brady, and was upset that he had been tricked by Stefano DiMera. Information contained in files in his possession ultimately led to the return of the real Roman, the "Tale of Two Romans" saga, and the surrounding Mexican caper involving the location of an ancient and mysterious Mayan treasure.)
