Dragan

"You English, you have no idea of honor and respect. I usually kill for less."

- Dragan voicing his disappointment in XXXX Dragan (full name unknown) is a professional assassin working for a Serbian crime syndicate, and the main antagonist of the 2004 film ''Layer Cake. ''After his employer is robbed of a large shipment of Ecstasy at gunpoint, Dragan is sent to England to retrieve the cargo and enact a vicious retribution on the thieves - along with anyone who may be associated with them.

He is played by Dragan Micanovic.

Prior To The Film
Almost nothing is known of Dragan's past, only adding to the hitman's mystique. However, it can be assumed from his devotion to the ideals held by his employers that he is not merely a mercenary, but an active member of the gang and a true believer in their strict honor-based principles. As Shanks later makes apparent, Dragan and his employers were originally members of the Serbian military forced to flee their homeland following the Yugoslav Wars, and are now wanted by the United Nations for an extensive list of war crimes committed during the conflict - including mass murder and genocide. Despite international attention, the ex-soldiers were able to escape the spotlight and find shelter in the Netherlands, gradually trading the military lifestyle for success in the criminal underworld.

By the start of the film, the Serbians have established a major drug factory in a greenhouse on the outskirts of Amsterdam, and Dragan has become legendary for eliminating anyone who challenges his employers - usually taking their heads as trophies for good measure.

Events Of The Film
The main plot of the film is sparked when a group of "loud, attention-seeking wannabe gangsters" led by the Duke make contact with the Serbians and arrange a drug deal at their greenhouse - only to abruptly hold them at gunpoint and steal a large quantity of Ecstasy from them. Though the only casualty of this encounter is an innocent greenhouse worker accidentally gunned down by the Duke's girlfriend, the Serbians do not take the theft well: their syndicate operates to strict rules of honor and respect, and they cannot tolerate such a stain on their reputation without exacting vengeance on the offender. As soon as the thieves have departed, the gang's leader calls Dragan and orders him to bring back the Duke's head.

However, most of these details remain unknown to both the audience and the main characters for the first quarter of the film. Indeed, the main cast only comes into contact with Dragan when the Duke and his gang return to London, offering a million Ecstasy pills and "massive amounts of MDMA" for purchase to the highest bidder. As Jimmy Price's most successful drug dealer, protagonist XXXX is sent to negotiate the sale and arrange the distribution, though the Duke's stupidity and ego immediately make the matter more complicated than it needs to be. After leaving the Duke and his gang to hold the pills while he finds possible buyers, XXXX meets up with Liverpudlian gangsters Trevor and Shanks, who belatedly explain how the Ecstasy was obtained and what Dragan usually does to people who offender his employers; worse still, it's also revealed that the Duke had been bandying XXXX's name around Amsterdam for most of his stay, claiming to work for him in an attempt to make himself look more important.

In an attempt to deal with the matter before it becomes a serious problem, XXXX and Morty return to the boatyard where the Duke's gang have been hiding; however, they arrive to find that the Duke has long since fled and taken the cargo with him. Dragan has already been there, however, and left a warning in the form of the boatyard's owner, Paul, tortured to death with a clothes iron.

Two days later, XXXX receives a phone call from Dragan himself: over the course of the polite but tense conversation that follows, Dragan makes it abundantly clear that he expects to be given the stolen Ecstasy and the Duke as soon as feasibly possible, and thanks to the Duke's bluster and the information tortured out of Paul, he believes that XXXX can manage this easily. Nervous, the drug dealer feigns affability for a while, before asking Dragan if he knows where he lives; when Dragan admits that he doesn't, XXXX tells him to fuck off and promptly hangs up. In hindsight, he realizes this was almost certainly a bad idea - particularly when he admits it to the rest of his gang, and they respond with a mixture of horror and disbelief.

Following the meeting with Eddie Temple and the murder of Jimmy Price, XXXX receives another call from Dragan: after being warned that any further delays will mean his immediate death, the drug dealer arranges a meeting at Greenwich Park Observatory the following day at 12 PM. Soon after, he also makes contact with Trevor and Shanks and requests some help from their own hitman, Mr Lucky: arriving at the park some time in advance, the two set up a sniper's nest in a patch of bushes well away from the public eye, and try to pinpoint Dragan by having XXXX call his phone number. However, not only does this trick fail to work thanks to a passer-by happening to answer his phone at the wrong time, but Dragan has seen the two of them setting up and has been targeting them ever since then: before Mr Lucky can open fire on the "target", Dragan shoots him through the scope of his own sniper rifle, killing him instantly. Dragon coldly warns XXXX to have the Duke and the cargo delivered to him at dusk tomorrow - or else.

Eventually, XXXX discovers that the Duke is already dead, having been eliminated by Gene some time after Paul's murder. Realizing that he has the means to placate the Serbians, XXXX decides on a risky plan to make his fortune: with the aid of his con artist friends, Tiptoe and Cody, he is able to fake a police raid on the warehouse where the Duke's gang are hiding and secure the Ecstasy. Having been watching the warehouse all along, Dragan presumes that the pills have been seized by the police and sees no reason to pursue them further. That evening, XXXX meets with Dragon at Greenwich once again, and hands over the Duke's severed head; satisfied, the assassin leaves without another word.

During the film's epilogue, Dragan is seen arriving back at the greenhouse with the Duke's head in tow. However, the Serbian crime boss doesn't seem particularly upset to discover that he has lost over a million Ecstasy pills, and as the two walk away, a look inside the drug factory reveals exactly why: the Serbians are producing drugs in vast quantities far outweighing anything the Duke stole; the murders were never about the money, but about respect.