Francesco Gullino (or Giullino) (31 May 1945 – 15 August 2021) was a Dane of Italian origin who was named in June 2005 by ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'' as the prime suspect in the 1978 "

Bulgarian umbrella A Bulgarian umbrella is an umbrella with a hidden pneumatic mechanism which injects a small poisonous pellet containing ricin. Recorded usage Such an umbrella was used in and named for the assassination of the Bulgarian dissident writer Georgi ...

" murder of Bulgarian dissident

Georgi Markov Georgi Ivanov Markov ( ; 1 March 1929 – 11 September 1978) was a Bulgarian dissident writer. He originally worked as a novelist, screenwriter and playwright in his native country, the People's Republic of Bulgaria, until his defection in 196 ...

. He was born in

Bra, Piedmont Bra (, ) is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Cuneo in the northwest Italian region of Piedmont. It is situated southeast of Turin and northeast of Cuneo in the area known as Roero. Bra is the birthplace of the feminist philosopher Adri ...

, Italy and was known by the

code name A code name, codename, call sign, or cryptonym is a code word or name used, sometimes clandestinely, to refer to another name, word, project, or person. Code names are often used for military purposes, or in espionage. They may also be used in ...

"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 Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...

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, then dropped out of sight. Although Gullino admitted to having been in London when Markov was murdered, he always denied having been involved in any way. A British documentary, ''The Umbrella Assassin'' (2006), interviewed people connected with the case in Bulgaria, Britain and the United States, and revealed that Gullino was alive and well. In March 2023 the

Danish Broadcasting Corporation DR (), officially the Danish Broadcasting Corporation in English, is a Danish public-service radio and television broadcasting company. Founded in 1925 as a public-service organization, it is Denmark's oldest and largest electronic media enter ...

(DR) published a three-part documentary series about the life of Gullino and his espionage activities. The series brought special attention to an interrogation between Gullino and Scotland Yard detectives Christopher Bird and David Kemp that took place in 1993. In the interrogation Gullino admits to a relationship with the Bulgarian State. The team behind the series found and interviewed Gullino in June 2021. In the interview Gullino denies all the allegations put forth against him. Shortly after Gullino was confronted, he was found dead in his apartment in

Wels Wels (; Central Bavarian: ''Wös'') is a city in Upper Austria, on the Traun River near Linz. It is the county seat of Wels-Land, and with a population of approximately 60,000, the List of cities and towns in Austria, eighth largest city in Aus ...

in Upper Austria in August 2021.

References

Citations

Other sources

* *Brunwasser, Matthew (2008)
“A Book Peels Back Some Layers of a Cold War Mystery”
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', 10 September 2008. * 1945 births 2021 deaths Italian emigrants to Denmark People from Bra, Piedmont {{Crime-bio-stub