Francesco Gullino Francesco Gullino Francesco Gullino (or Giullino) (born 1946) is a Dane of Italian origin who was named in June 2005 by "The Times" as the prime suspect in the 1978 "Bulgarian umbrella" murder of Bulgarian dissident Georgi Markov. He was born in Bra, Italy and 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 in Copenhagen with a cover as an art dealer, Gullino was supposedly active until 1990 and
People's Republic of Bulgaria his leg with the tip of an umbrella. Markov died shortly afterwards of ricin poisoning. He was the victim of the Bulgarian secret service, as confirmed by KGB documents revealing that they had jointly planned the operation with Bulgaria. The Bulgarian People's Army sided with the Soviet Union and the Afghan communists during the Soviet–Afghan War in Afghanistan fighting the jihadist guerrillas from 1982 until its withdrawal in 1989. By the 1980s, the conservatives controlled the government. Some social and cultural liberalization and progress was led by Lyudmila Zhivkova, Todor's daughter, who became a source of strong disapproval and annoyance