A shiny block and a playground are being erected on the site of the legendary Mirage restaurant of VIS boss Vasil Iliev, the Telegraph reports.
Two years ago, the plot of land, later renamed the Mirage Tavern, was sold and demolished. A powerful investor has built a luxury 10-storey building with a broken structure and its own playground on the corner of Todor Kableshkov and Kiro Tuleshkov streets in Sofia’s Gotse Delchev district.
In front there are two young magnolias in bloom, and on the side there is a fenced area with children’s swings and slides. The young green vegetation coexists with tall trees, witnesses of the Mutren times and events from the early 90s of the last century.
The cult restaurant “Mirage” is not just a restaurant, but also an office of the founder of VIS Vasil Iliev. To the Emperor, who ran a business for millions of levs and dollars. The place where the VIS empire was ruled.
The assassination
April 25, 1995, before noon. Vasil Iliev leaves his apartment in Druzhba. Before that, he kissed his girlfriend, who has the flu.
“How are you, little mouse? Should I bring you some juice? ”He tells the young woman. His words will be documented later in the investigation.
Vasil is in Sofia, but his men have gone to Moldova for a national team match. He and his brother Georgi miss the charter after a hard night. The day before, Vasil bought a white Mercedes from Filip Naidenov – Fatik, and arranged a bar number – 9988 in the Traffic Police.
The tension between the groups is at its peak. The emperor has a meeting with a politician at the Moscow Parkhotel.
Shortly after 8 p.m. he drove to the Mirage restaurant, where he met Slavi Trifonov. After the boss’s Mercedes, the car with his bodyguards is moving. Cars crawl along the narrow and potholed Louis Ayer Street.
There is a construction site nearby. Two killers, armed with Zagi submachine guns, jumped out. There is a rain of bulletswho spray the car windows. The VIS chief dies in seconds without his guards being able to react.
They they jump out of their car, approach the Mercedes and see the terrible truth. Within seconds, they reached the Mirage and stormed in, shouting that Vasil had been killed.
Lightning
Minutes later, the restaurant’s porters are at the scene of the assassination. Then they call the head of the Homicide Department at the National Police, Botyo Botev.
Dozens of cops are on their feet. Enclosing measures and inspections are a routine procedure in such cases, but in this case they remain without result. The killers have already disappeared in different directions.
The manager of “Mirage” calls Georgi Iliev’s wife – Maya, with the terrible news.
Georgi arrives at the scene of the murder overwhelmed. His beloved brother, insurance boss and former wrestling champion sits bloody and lifeless in his car.
After his immediate death, the Mercedes continued to move and hit a fence. According to acquaintances, Georgi did not say anything in Mirage, where he only drank that night, and then went to Vasil’s favorite cafe in Druzhba.
Ilievi’s mother, Venka, who lives in their hometown of Kyustendil, learned the bad news from her third child, daughter Mariana.
Fear
Competitive PEC bosses later say news of Vasil Iliev’s murder scared and stressed them. All members of Intergroup’s management are taking steps to remain under constant guard with cameras, guards and bulletproof vests. They are adamant that they have nothing to do with the showy execution of the Emperor. However, many more boss killings will follow.
The funeral
Two days after the shooting, the founder of the VIS force, Vasil Iliev, was buried in his hometown of Kyustendil. A rally of nearly 1,600 employees, dozens of followers, famous footballers and artists sent him on his last journey.
The procession with the dead boss passes through the city and gathers thousands of onlookers.
One of the crosses is worn by Dimitar Dimitrov – the Monkey. The man close to Vasil will try to continue the line of easing the tension between VIS and other power groups, but without much success.
On January 28, 2002, he was assassinated by an explosion at the entrance to his girlfriend’s apartment building in the capital’s Strelbishte district. According to police, he was ordered by the VIS. The bomb was placed in one of the mailboxes at the entrance. Dimitrov died on the second day after the attack without regaining consciousness.
Samokovets
At the head of the mourning procession with the Emperor’s coffin is the future boss Konstantin Dimitrov – Samokovets, who at that time was only a security guard in Borovets. On December 6, 2003, he was shot in broad daylight in Dam Square in the center of Amsterdam in the presence of his girlfriend, model Tsetsi Krasimirova, who was wounded by a ricochet bullet.
Dutch assassin Erwin Wrecker was caught and sentenced to 15 years in prison. The local services suspected Samokovets of organizing our largest smuggling network, but this could not be proven.
Behind the coffin of the dead boss walks Metodi Metodiev – Meto Ilienski. On November 23, 2003, he disappeared without a trace after a phone call to go to a meeting.
Georgi Iliev’s godfather – Rumen Marinov – Narcissa fails to escape death. She caught up with him in front of his home on November 27, 2003 in the capital’s Lozenets district. ” The man returns at dawn on Srebarna Street, where he is waited for by killers in front of the block. Marinov sees them and runs away, they catch him and shoot him on Hristo Tsenov Street.
It is said that he knew one of them and managed to say his name on Georgi Iliev’s phone.
Shocked by the death of Vasil Filip Naidenov – Fatik also does not live to old age. On August 19, 2003, at a red light at the intersection of Bulgaria and Gotse Delchev Boulevards in Sofia, he was shot dead in his Mercedes by killers in another car, disguised and armed with a Kalashnikov assault rifle.
The PEC boss Krassimir Marinov – Margina, goes to Vasil Iliev’s funeral, but only expresses his condolences to his mother and leaves.
The grave
At the moment of the Emperor’s funeral a guard stands at his grave. It continues to this day.
Next to the monument is a house like a mushroom, where for a long time there are no healthy boys, but pensioners. No one has ever officially said why this is necessary. Probably so that the last house of the Emperor would not be robbed or desecrated.
It is said that the guard of the grave is paid by Vasil’s sister – Mariana. She has been living in Plovdiv for years. He has three children. He runs a luxury boutique in the city center.
Mystery envelops the grave of Vasil Iliev 26 years after his showy murder, and today …
10 years after Vasil’s shooting, on August 25, 2005, Georgi was killed by a bullet in one of his favorite restaurants – “Buddha Bar” in Sunny Beach.
Georgi’s wife, Maya Ilieva, also takes over part of the business. And she is raising three children. And from his first wife Marietta Vasil Iliev leaves a girl.
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