oligarchs has come. They will take what’s left of the country’s wealth. Stoev
shared this with poet and journalist Rumen Leonidov before his death.
Interview by Elizabeth Dafinova
Q: Mr. Leonidov, Georgi Stoev’s last book
(Once Upon A Time In The East) was published a few days ago. Is it his legacy
or revenge?
A: It can be called a legacy. I think it is
his best book ever. As for revenge, I think not, he wasn’t that kind of person.
But I am sure that the book can be translated and even filmed. It presents a
very realistic picture of post-communist Bulgaria grounded in hard facts.
Nothing was made up. There is a blend of autobiographic portrayal and the lives
of the people around him, their ambitions, their insecurities, the numbing
dullness of the environment. Most importantly, he writes about the State
Security and the militia of the day.
Q: This appears to be Stoev’s only book, in
which he doesn’t mention his main characters’ names – the crime boss Madjo,
General Luyben Gotsev, the Margin Bros…
A: There are no names, but you can tell
who’s who.
Q: Why did he decide not to mention names?
A: He wrote this book before the series,
which the Weekend (newspaper) published, but he decided it was too “smart” for
the average reader. At the same time Georgi had an agreement with the police
and prosecutors. He had told them he was prepared to testify that Madjo had
ordered him to make hits on inconvenient persons. At the time he was relying on
Rumen Petkov, but later became disappointed in him because he ordered the
prosecution to stop investigating Madjo.
Q: The reporter Margarita Mihneva claims
that Georgi was never a thug, but he worked for the mafia, meaning that he was
low in the hierarchy. She supposes that his “colleagues”, low-level criminals,
killed him and not the characters in his books.
A: What difference does it make where he
stood? If you read his last book you will see that he was highly intelligent
with diverse interests. Who killed him is another matter. And why did they kill
him now? Right after his death the prosecutors started talking – “yes, he came
but refused to cooperate with us, yes, but he wanted us to arrest Madjo first
and then he would talk, he refused protection” but he may not even have been
offered any. Who can prove anything now? As for Mihneva’s opinion, there are
two versions. One is that he did it for the money. The other is that someone
ordered him to write what he did. I think he wanted to clear his name because
he was a brave man. He was the only one who paid for the truth with his life.
Q: Why did Stoev attack Madjo? It was
almost an obsession for him, just like the Monterey circle…
A: He said that Monterey ruled Bulgaria. He
considered Luyben Gotsev to be the Godfather; I have no evidence of this. But
Georgi was sure that he was right. He wanted to hit the oligarchs where it
hurt, the people “in the shadows”. Madjo is their favorite, that is why only he
survived, only he has the privilege to travel abroad and return home whenever
he wishes, like someone is protecting him. Nobody tried to take his business or
kill him. Stoev believed Madjo had an agreement with the police facilitated by
the oligarchs, his mediators. Madjo has a big embassy behind him and protection
because he provided vital information about drug traffic to save himself. Like
any tired crime boss, he wants peace. All other major crime bosses were killed
or went into hiding. Stoev used to say, “The mafia days are gone. We did the
dirty work, risked our lives, racked up sins, beat up and blackmailed people.
When the first private restaurants and shops opened the oligarchs ordered us to
find the owners, threaten or assault them, take their money and pass it up the
food chain. Now the time of the oligarchs has come. They will come out into the
open. They are the ones who invite the president to dance at their weddings, I
mean Georgi Gergov. Where did they get all their money? From us. They are
clean, and we’re the dirty Mafiosi. Now that the mafia is gone as an
organization Bulgaria has the worst to look forward to. The oligarchs will take
what’s left of the country’s wealth.” I asked him if the police were involved
in organized crime. He said, “How could they do that? All they did was sit
around in their offices.” The State Security didn’t play a part as a whole
either. Very few SS officials were godfathers.
Q: Who killed Georgi Stoev?
A: Those under suspicion have motives –
Madjo, General Gotsev, Rumen Petkov. They’d be idiots to do it at the time of
the MI scandal. Someone else did it – he framed them, he got rid of the
witness, and he got Rumen Petkov dismissed. It was a world scandal. The main
attack was on Petkov. I think he failed to pay the sponsors of the Socialist
Party back because he couldn’t steal from the police. You can steal from
energy, road construction and so on. Rumen Ovcharov (ex-minister of energy) didn’t
want to pay them off and lost his job. But Petkov was the treasurer of the BSP.
Someone wanted to get rid of Petkov and the occasion was brilliant.
прочетете още...
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▶BSP MP Tatiana Doncheva: Is Petkov so close to the criminals that I should seek his support?
▶Rumen Leonidov: Candidate-mayor Brigo Asparuhov will end up heading the Bulgarian FBI
▶Rumen Leonidov: The State Security was destroyed by the communists to cover up information
▶M. Mihaylov, Pleven District Court juror: The bank robberies began with ex-minister Petkov
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