Life of Shot Bulgarian Crime Boss Still in Danger - Lawyer

The life of the convicted underworld boss, who was shot and seriously wounded in broad daylight outside a courthouse in Bulgaria's capital on Tuesday, is still in danger, his lawyer said.

"Later today we will know whether he will survive. Doctors are planning more surgeries, but in a couple of days as he is very fragile now," Maria Todorova told the morning broadcast of Nova TV channel.

Zlatomir Ivanov, aka Zlatko Baretata (The Beret),  underwent surgery for approximately four hours on Tuesday.

The former member of Bulgaria's counter-terrorism squad, who became one of the best known mobsters in Bulgaria in the late 1990s, got 4 gunshot wounds at about 9:30 EET on Tuesday.

The shooting occurred as he was about to enter the Central Courthouse in Sofia for a hearing in a trial in which he is appealing an 8-year sentence for leading a drug dealing organized crime group.

One of the bodyguards of Zlatko Baretata was also shot and wounded during the shootout, in which the failed assassin, who was positioned on the roof of the Sofia Bar Association building across the street, managed to escape.

Zlatomir Ivanov was arrested on February 7, 2009, after he turned himself in to Bulgaria's National State Security Agency DANS. He was charged with organizing and leading an organized crime group dealing with drug distribution and murders.