Todor Zhivkov to 1988, Bulgaria won an unprecedented 153 Olympic medals and numerous European and world competitions in sports as diverse as volleyball, rhythmic gymnastics and wrestling. Dissent was punished under Zhivkov's rule. The CSS was a feared tool of control, and overt opposition largely stayed underground until the late 1980s. In 1978, the Bulgarian dissident Georgi Markov was assassinated in London by an agent who stabbed him with an umbrella tip which implanted a very small ricin ball. According to former KGB general Oleg Kalugin, this was requested by Zhivkov and either performed by the KGB or it assisted the CSS;
Tip and Trade Tip and Trade Tip and Trade is a 2011 true crime book by Canadian author Mark Coakley, that depicts an insider trading conspiracy involving Wall Street lawyer Gil Cornblum and another lawyer, Stan Grmovsek, who were found to have gained over $10 million in illegal profits over a 14-year span. The crime was detected in 2008. Cornblum committed suicide before criminal charges were laid. Grmovsek pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 39 months in prison; this was the longest term ever imposed for insider trading in Canada. Canada's national newspaper, "The Globe and Mail", called "Tip and Trade" "riveting." A