- Francesco Gullino
Francesco Gullino (or Giullino) is a
Dane of Italian origin who was named in June 2005 by "The Times " (London) [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-1641567,00.html] as the prime suspect in the 1978 "Bulgarian umbrella " murder of Bulgarian dissidentGeorgi Markov . He was known by the code-name "Piccadilly".According to Bulgarian journalist
Hristo Hristov , Gullino was an occasional smuggler arrested twice in Bulgaria and given the choice of going to prison or becoming a secret agent in the West. Based inCopenhagen with a cover as an art dealer, Gullino was supposedly active until 1990 and received two Bulgarian state medals “for services to security and public order”. He was briefly detained in 1993 and questioned by the British and Danish police in Copenhagen, and, according to Hristov, has not been seen or heard from since.A British documentary, [http://www.five.tv/programmes/revealed/umbrella/ "The Umbrella Assassin" ] (2006), interviewed people connected with the case in Bulgaria, Britain and the United States, and revealed that Gullino is alive and well and still travels freely throughout the
European Union . It may be that he cannot be prosecuted after a Bulgarianstatute of limitations expires in 2008.References
* [http://www.economist.com/world/europe/displaystory.cfm?story_id=12056788 "The Markov Case"] , "
The Economist ", 4 September 2008.
*Brunwasser, Matthew (2008), [http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/11/world/europe/11sofia.html?scp=2&sq=ricin&st=cse “A Book Peels Back Some Layers of a Cold War Mystery”] , "The New York Times ", 10 September 2008.
* Hristov, Hristo, "The Double Life of Agent Piccadilly" [forthcoming book] .
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