Alleged Bulgaria Mafia Boss: Will I Be Charged over Al Qaeda Ties?

Krasimir Marinov, aka “The Big Marguin”, who is charged with plotting the murder of controversial Bulgarian journalist Bobi Tsankov, has declared he never had anything to do with the victim.

Tsankov, a Bulgarian radio and TV talk show host with a criminal record, was murdered on January 5, 2010, in broad daylight in downtown Sofia.

Marinov, who is allegedly a large-scale mafia boss, and his younger brother Nikolay Marinov, aka The Little Marguin, who is still wanted by the police, have been charged with ordering the murder.

“I don’t know Bibi Tsankov, I have never met him, and I have never had any kind of relations with him,” the Big Marguin told the Sofia Appellate Court, Krasimir Marinov stated Thursday.

“Is the next accusation against me going to be for ties with Osama Ben Laden?,” Marinov asked the court while appealing his permanent detention.

Earlier on Thursday, Krasimir Marinov was charged with leading an organized crime group and drug dealing – another accusation that he rejected explicitly.

The Sofia Appellate Court is going to rule on Marinov’s appeal later on Thursday.

The two Marguin Brothers are publicly known as being among the leaders of the SIC corporation - allegedly one of Bulgaria's two powerful mafia structures in the 1990s. Many of their associates have perished in gangland killings after 2000.

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