A crime boss nicknamed 'The Beret' was gunned down in broad daylight as he arrived at court to appeal against his sentence for masterminding a drug smuggling operation. Bulgarian mafia head Zlatomir Ivanov, 44, was shot four times in his legs, arm and stomach on the steps into the Supreme Court of Appeal in central Sofia yesterday. The underworld boss was probably shot by a sniper in a building opposite, a senior police officer said. vanov, also known as Zlatko Baretata (Zlatko The Beret), was there to appeal against his eight-year prison sentence - not his conviction. The drugs lord was taken to hospital along with his bodyguard, who was also shot. The Beret, who had been under house arrest because of health problems, was due to have surgery on his bullet wounds. His nickname comes from his time working for the Bulgarian Interior Ministry's Counter-terrorism Squad, known as The Berets, between 1991 and 1993. More... British 'mastermind' of Bali cocaine gang is jailed for just six years... despite accomplice Lindsay Sandiford getting death sentence 'We think he saw an angel': Fourteen women frighten off masked gunman by chanting 'Jesus' and 'Go in the name of the Lord' Ivanov left the special police force in protest against the arrest of other 'berets' in the southern city of Haskovo when they clashed with local pimps. Two other now notorious Bulgarian mobsters, Plamen Galev and Angel Hristov, joined him in his walkout, according to Novinite The siblings, known as the ...