Kazimir's murder and Bogdan's killing of Gianni

Kazimir’s murder and Bogdan’s killing of Gianni Gunduz are linked acts of violence recounted years later as a personal history of betrayal and retaliation. In a chess game with Stephen, Bogdan explains that Gianni killed Kazimir at Tony Curran’s direction, then describes how he drew Gianni to Newhaven and killed him. The account also reveals the practical arrangements that made Gianni’s disappearance appear to point elsewhere: his belongings were removed, his money divided, and the police given an anonymous lead.

Causes and Background

Bogdan begins by identifying the victim as a close friend from his first period in England. Kazimir drove a taxi and, according to Bogdan, had seen Tony Curran shoot a young boy from London in an incident connected with drugs. The evidence does not establish why Tony shot the boy, and Bogdan says he never learned the reason. That earlier shooting matters to the account because it places Kazimir in possession of knowledge that could expose Tony’s criminal activity.

The taxi company was run by Gianni, a Cypriot known as Turkish Gianni. He and Tony were business partners, but Tony held the senior position. Bogdan distinguishes between the man who carried out the killing and the man who ordered it: Gianni killed Kazimir, while Tony instructed him to do so. To Bogdan, that division did not lessen Tony’s responsibility. His account presents the murder as a consequence of the hierarchy between the two men and of Kazimir’s proximity to what Tony wanted kept hidden.

Kazimir’s Murder

Gianni asked Kazimir to drive him into the woods, claiming that he needed help burying something. The two men dug a hole. Bogdan recalls Kazimir as hardworking and kind, qualities that make the betrayal in the scene especially stark: the work Kazimir performs to help Gianni becomes preparation for his own burial. Gianni shot him and buried him in the hole they had dug.

At first, Bogdan believed Kazimir might have fled or returned home and gone into hiding. The uncertainty ended when Gianni spoke to his associates about the killing, including the detail that Kazimir had done the digging. Bogdan learned what had happened through those conversations. In retrospect, Gianni’s willingness to boast supplied the information that allowed Bogdan to act, even as it exposed the carelessness that would later leave Gianni vulnerable.

Bogdan’s Retaliation at Newhaven

Bogdan arranged a private meeting with Gianni at Newhaven at about two in the morning. He told Gianni that a friend who worked at the port might have money-making work for him and asked him to keep the meeting secret from Tony and the others. The promised opportunity was a deception designed to bring Gianni within Bogdan’s reach. A security guard was present, but he was a cousin of Steve Georgiou, who genuinely worked at the port; Bogdan describes the use of a real connection as making the lie easier to sustain.

Steve accompanied them. He had known Kazimir and liked him, giving the retaliation a shared personal connection rather than making it Bogdan’s alone. The three went down the harbour steps and boarded a small boat. Bogdan allowed Gianni to believe they were discussing the use of the boat for smuggling people and that the port security guard would look the other way. Once they were away from the shore, Bogdan told Gianni that the meeting was about Kazimir and shot him. The supposed business arrangement thus reversed into a confrontation over the murder that had been concealed as an ordinary disappearance.

Concealment and Consequences

Bogdan and Steve took Gianni’s keys and cards, weighted him with bricks, and threw him overboard. They returned to Newhaven and asked Steve’s cousin not to speak about what had happened. They then went to Gianni’s home, entered with the keys, and removed his passport, clothes, cash, and other valuables. The money included drugs proceeds and funds belonging in part to Tony; Bogdan estimates the total at about one hundred thousand pounds.

The proceeds were divided according to Bogdan’s account. He sent half the money to Kazimir’s family. He gave the remainder to Steve, who wanted to open a gym and whom Bogdan considered trustworthy. Bogdan then drove Steve to Gatwick. Steve travelled to Cyprus using Gianni’s passport, then returned to England on his own passport. These steps helped create the appearance that Gianni had left the country, while also directing a substantial part of the stolen money toward Kazimir’s family and Steve’s proposed business.

Bogdan later called the police anonymously and told them that Gianni had killed Kazimir. The police raided Gianni’s home and found that his passport and clothes were missing, details consistent with the apparent flight Bogdan and Steve had staged. The account does not describe a formal resolution of either killing; instead, it closes on the contrast between an official investigation redirected toward Kazimir’s murder and Bogdan’s concealed role in Gianni’s death. Because the events emerge through Bogdan’s retrospective explanation to Stephen over chess, the scene turns a private game into a measured disclosure of the loyalties, revenge, and deception behind the two deaths.