All language subtitles for Killing.Gucci.People.Magazine

[Dan] The Murder
of Maurizio Gucci

captured the attention
of the world.

Maurizio was very concerned
of all the family.

Everybody wanted
their piece of Gucci

and felt entitled to have
their piece of Gucci.

[Andrea] He was quite happy
to betray his family.

He felt predestined
to run the company.

[Sara] Infighting, revenge

Each one of them could have had
a motive for wanting Maurizio dead.

He changed completely.

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

[theme music playing]

In 1995, a murder in Milan
shocks the world of high fashion.

Here at People Magazine, we've
been covering this story for decades.

It's a tale of one of the world's
most identifiable designer labels

and a family at war
with their self.

And at the center of it all

is Lady Gucci.

And this is the last known
American interview

with Patrizia Reggiani Gucci.

Uh, to be a Gucci, means...

that I remember...

the past.

At the beginning,

Life was like a dream.

At that time,

the name Gucci,

was a symbol.

A symbol of looks, good taste.

The name Gucci has long been a
symbol of glamour across the globe.

It's an international
high fashion power house.

And Maurizio Gucci
is really the heir

to this hundred million dollar
Gucci dynasty.

[speaking]

He had a positive attitude.

He understood the industry.

Where it was going.

He was always happy to be
Maurizio Gucci.

Very charming man.

Very shy at the same time.

Maurizio as a younger man was,

shy and a little bit awkward.

He went on to become a very
charismatic, attractive compelling man.

But as a younger man
he was not that at all

and it took him a while
to build his confidence.

And a lot of that probably
came about,

when he met Patrizia
and fell in love.

[Patrizia] When I was
with Maurizio

we did everything.

She was very aware of Maurizio

and he was just the kind of eligible
bachelor that she was looking for.

I met Maurizio at a party.

And then he pursued me.

Her friends had told her
about this dashing young Gucci.

Initially, she played it cool
pretending to not know who he was.

[Elaine] Patrizia was
strikingly beautiful.

Maurizio told her she looked
just like Elizabeth Taylor

[speaking in Italian]

She was fun, she was gregarious,

she was a breath of fresh air.

We were in New York one month.

And in the other month,
we're in Italy.

[Dan] They're this young
fabulous Italian couple

throwing parties at the
hottest night spots in New York.

They're even socializing
with the Kennedys.

Step by step, I met all
the New York that counts.

They loved me.

Patrizia really wanted to be
la Signora Gucci.

And she wanted to be the best.

Signora Gucci.

[speaking in Italian]

So, this shy young man
who had been sort of awkward

when he met Patrizia,

he becomes,

almost like a movie star,

he would sweep into the room and
we're awed to be in his presence.

[speaking in Italian]

[Andrea] She was a woman
who was driven by success

and pushed very much
Maurizio too with success.

And he decided

that he found
the love of his life.

And they had
two daughters together.

The happiest day of my life,

was when my two children
were born.

When I was with Maurizio,

I was very, very happy.

[Dan] On the morning of
March 27th, 1995,

Maurizio Gucci wakes up
in his apartment

and he leaves for his office
like he does every morning.

To arrive by 8:00, 8:30.

It's a bit breezy
and a little bit grey.

The doorman at his office happens
to be outside sweeping the front steps.

As the doorman is sweeping
the leaves in the front

He's looking up a couple times and he's
noticing that there's a man across the street

who's kind of hanging out there.

And he's looking up the street as
though he's waiting for somebody.

[Dan] So, Maurizio walks in
and says hello.

As he starts to
walk up the stairs,

then all of a sudden,

the stranger from
outside is behind him.

He pulls a gun from his coat,

stretches out his arm,

and fires three shots

at Maurizio Gucci.

[gunshots]

Maurizio falls
to the ground wounded.

And then the attacker
moves closer.

And fires the fatal shot
to the temple.

[gunshot]

[Sara] When the killer
turns around to flee

and there's the doorman who was
watching this whole scene in horror.

And so the killer then fires another shot
at the doorman and hits him in the arm.

And then runs off
down the street.

It was early in the morning,

I received the telephone call

that was telling me

that Maurizio was shot.

[Sara] The police arrived
very quickly, in the meantime,

the word has gone out that there's
been a murder in downtown Milan.

It's chaotic,
there's pandemonium.

And they're trying
to cordon off the crime scene.

There's a big sense of shock

because this is such a violent
and an unprecedented happening

in a city like Milan.

[Andrea] I have a very clear
recollection

of the minute that
I found out that Maurizio

had been killed.

My first reaction was,

A, it cannot be true.

And, B, if it has happened,

it's something that's

gonna be very difficult
to explain.

You know Maurizio had,

some enemies but there was
nobody that at least I met

through my long

relationship with him

that would lead to a killing.

The murder of such a high
profile member of the Gucci family

made news not just in Italy,

but around the world.

As people searched for answers.

And the family was speechless.

I was, uh...

Why somebody would kill Maurizio

because Maurizio ultimately

was a nice man, he was
not a threat to anybody.

[Patrizia speaking in Italian]

And then...

I understand

what was...

feeling lost.

[Dan] With the funeral over

and no easy answers on
the identity of the shooter.

The police investigation
begins in earnest.

So, in Italy, the magistrate is both
an investigator and a prosecutor

whereas here you would have
those roles split.

Nocerino was the leading
magistrate in Milan.

In-charge of both the investigation
and of then leading the prosecution.

[speaking in Italian]

[Sara] Nocerino was
experienced in financial crimes.

And is immediately thinking
that maybe Maurizio has been

drawn into some kind of
dirty business relationship.

[gunshot]

[Dan] When Maurizio Gucci,
a one-time heir

to the multi-million dollar
Gucci fashion label is shot dead,

investigators believe
that this was a hired hit.

Maurizio Gucci was executed.

So, Nocerino is really doing

a deep investigation into
Maurizio's business dealings,

and he also does a deep dive
into the people within Gucci.

[Nocerino speaking]

[Sara] There was a lot of
competition within the family,

and everyone wanted
their piece of Gucci

and everyone felt entitled
to have their piece of Gucci.

[Dan] To understand the power
struggles in The House of Gucci,

Nocerino had to go back
to the very beginning

and how it all started.

[Sara] He was smart,

and he saw that the wealthy people
of Europe were travelling around

with lots of luggage

and so he came up with
the idea of,

opening a leather and luggage
shop in the heart of Florence

and that's where Gucci
got its start.

Gucci family was really
a dynasty.

It started with Guccio Gucci,

but then his sons,
Aldo and Rodolfo,

and then their children.

They were all very indicative of

the classic Italian saying
about family businesses

which is that
the first generation creates,

the second generation expands,

and the third generation
destroys.

At first, it works well, the
brothers split the company 50/50.

With Rodolfo based in Italy.

Aldo leading the expansion
in to international new markets.

But, Aldo has three sons,

while Rodolfo only has Maurizio

and this becomes
a recipe for conflict.

[Sara] In Milan,
there was an elite class

of industrialists.

And Rodolfo had envisioned a wife for
Maurizio who came from this elite, who was

cut from the same cloth.

Well, first, I had all enemies.

[Patrizia] Everybody told me

that I was inappropriate

because this message...

was the message that
my father in law told them.

In the eyes of the Gucci
family, Patrizia was an outsider.

A social climber.

[Elaine] Rodolfo refused
to accept their marriage

He even went to the Catholic
church and complained to the Cardinal

begging them not
to perform the ceremony.

He dared to say, "I'm gonna
get married with this lady,

whether you like it
or not."

So, that was the first time
that in a way Maurizio,

on a personal basis came out

to be his own sort of man.

When Rodolfo found out that
Maurizio wasn't going to listen to him.

He threw him out of the house,

he threw him out of the company,

and he completely shut him
off. They didn't speak for years.

[Elaine] This would set
the stage,

for one of the biggest betrayals
in the history of the family.

As a rejected Maurizio
and his new bride

are invited to New York
by their Uncle Aldo.

[Sara] Aldo really liked
Maurizio,

they were actually very close when
Maurizio was estranged from his own father.

Aldo thought that he was
talented and he had potential

and he wanted to bring him
in to the business.

[Andrea] He said to Maurizio,

"I will teach you the trade,

and then you will do even
better than I have done."

Aldo saw Maurizio as his best
chance of a third generation,

that takes the company
to a different level.

So, according to Uncle Aldo...

uh, wishes,

we went to New York.

[Dan] Newly married, but now
estranged from his father,

the family
is thriving in New York.

[Andrea] They go through a
very special period of their life.

Maurizio is no longer,

being dependent on his father
which he was all of his life.

Second, he is madly in love
with his wife.

And third, Patrizia is

so fascinated by New York and by

the American way of life.

In fact, they're flying
all over,

going to fabulous parties
and meeting fabulous people.

And one of these fabulous
people is Pina Auriemma.

By some accounts, she's a
psychic or a tarot card reader.

Patrizia and Pina
quickly become close friends.

[Andrea] Pina...

who was a psychic.

Her role was of being trusted
by both Maurizio

and Patrizia.

Pina was a very...

dear friend of mine.

Pina was, uh...

destroying all my problem

with a sense of humor.

[Andrea] Maurizio had always
been very attentive

to superstition,

and whenever he had
to do something important

he had also this type of advice,

helping him
in his decision process.

[Dan] Maurizio was flourishing
under the guidance of his Uncle Aldo.

But, a new problem emerged.

There was a certain amount of
jealousy brewing among Aldo's children.

Aldo had five children
and Maurizio was alone.

One side was five,

and one side was one.

They had different visions
for the business.

They all thought that they were

marketing geniuses,

and as a result the build up
of the problems started.

[Patrizia] When Rodolfo died,

the problem of the shares
were up.

Maurizio inherited
of course, the 50 percent.

What happened
is very difficult to say.

[Andrea] At that point
of time, he became

the single largest shareholder.

Fifty percent of the company.

And he feels that he has the
skills, the will, and the knowledge

to actually run the company
at a different level.

Maurizio now controls the majority
of the shares in the company.

His Uncle Aldo holds 40%.

Having made the fateful
decision to split the other 10%

among his own sons.

All of a sudden, Maurizio
steps forward and says,

"I'm no longer anyone's protege

I own half of this company
and you will all listen to me now."

This created an uproar.

[Dan] It was Maurizio's cousin
Paolo, who was really angry.

Not only at Maurizio,
but at everyone in the family.

When there was a Gucci fight,
he was usually at the center of it.

[Elaine] There was a lot of bad
blood spilled between the Guccis

and sometimes,
it was real blood.

There was one meeting that
Paolo brought a tape recorder to,

because he didn't trust that
anyone would negotiate honestly.

There was shouting, he
was hit with the tape recorder

and then he ran out screaming
that he was going to sue.

Maurizio, without me...

had the idea to buy
the shares from Paolo.

[speaking in Italian]

The first thing he told me
was he felt

that he was predestined
to run the company

and turn the company which was
already a very successful company

into a global business.

[Sara] So, they hatch
a very clever strategy

to buy out the shares
of Maurizio's cousins.

It was a secret campaign
because none of the brothers

could know that Maurizio was
behind it or they wouldn't sell.

How did we get it?
It's very simple.

Paolo was going through a
very difficult time in his life.

And I said, you know,
I will pay over the odds

for this specific block
of shares.

[Sara] Paolo thought
he was selling to an investor.

Little did he know
that Maurizio was behind it.

[Andrea] He was quite happy
to betray his family.

He just asked how much.

Andrea Morante did all the
negotiations one by one with the brothers

and then the final negotiation
with Aldo.

He had no choice, but to
follow his sons out the door

because they already had
the majority.

He told me, "You're not buying stock,
you know, you're buying my soul here."

[Sara] When they realized that
it was Maurizio, it was as though

he had plunged a knife
into their hearts.

Aldo, in particular felt
incredibly betrayed by his nephew

who he had tried to help.

Each one of them could have had
a motive for wanting Maurizio dead.

After learning how Maurizio ruthlessly
seized control of the family business.

Police believe each of Maurizio's
cousins has a powerful motive to kill him.

Investigations began
wiretapping all of the Guccis.

Combing through their financial
records and phone records,

looking for any evidence that might
connect a member of the Gucci family

to Maurizio's murder.

[speaking in Italian]

At the same time, they begin investigating
Maurizio's other business interests,

and, of course,
they call in Patrizia.

[speaking in Italian]

Patrizia is unable to give
Nocerino any helpful leads.

He learns that at the time of Maurizio's
death, the couple was separated,

and communicating mostly
through lawyers.

Our relationship was broken.

[Andrea] Patrizia was
very ambitious.

She wanted to have a role
within the company

wanting to become not only
Mrs. Gucci, but also Gucci CEO.

And Maurizio was not in accord.

She was coming into the office and
creating scenes in front of the staff.

Their relationship really
started to break apart.

[Elaine] And then, one morning,
he packs a small suitcase,

for what he says is a quick
business trip to Florence.

And the following day, a friend
calls with a message from Maurizio.

I received the telephone call
by this friend of us

and he said, "I have to see you,

because what I have
to tell you is not great."

Maurizio went away.

[inaudible]

I didn't realize that Maurizio
was separating by me.

I will never believe
that he was split up from me.

Because I was doing everything
for him.

[laughs]

[Andrea] The relationship with
Patrizia was a dependent relationship.

All of a sudden, that
dependency had been eliminated

and therefore, he was free to focus
exclusively on what he wanted to do

which was turnaround
the company.

[Elaine] With his cousins sidelined
and Patrizia out of the picture,

Maurizio implements his
own vision for the company.

[Dan] By the mid-1980s, the Gucci
family had licensed their brand and logo

to any number
of cheap manufacturers.

Maurizio wanted to return the company
to its high end, luxury, glory days.

No more Gucci place mats,
no more Gucci towels,

no more Gucci shops
in every mall.

He brings in a new design team
to revamp the brand

and sets the stage
for the company's resurgence.

[Elaine] Maurizio may have had
a long term vision,

but all that licensing
of the Gucci name,

it brought in tens of millions
in sales.

So, by shutting it down, the
company starts hemorrhaging money.

The company is in crisis. They can't pay
their bills, they can't make their payroll.

They are really,
really strapped.

At the same time, Maurizio
is still living this lavish life,

with multiple homes, Ferraris,
and he's racked up 40 million in debt.

And he's now facing bankruptcy.

[Elaine] Ultimately, Maurizio
is forced to sell the company

before his vision
could come to life.

And for the first time, Gucci is
no longer owned by the Guccis.

On the one hand,
he received the lot of money

so you could argue that he was,
you know, financially independently.

On the other hand, he had lost
everything that really meant to him.

[Sara] When he loses the
company, Patrizia was apoplectic

because she had always aspired
to be la Signora Gucci.

And here, you know, her Gucci
doesn't even own Gucci anymore.

[Elaine] By selling Gucci
for nearly $200 million.

Maurizio was once again flush
with cash and he started to spend it.

[Sara] So the magistrate Nocerino is
really looking through all of Maurizio's

business dealings, he's
looking at the casino that he was

surveying, you know,
as a possible investment.

Broadly, at all of the people that
could have been the potential killer.

[Dan] Nocerino's investigation
is exhaustive.

But, the wire taps on the Gucci
family have so far come up empty

and Maurizio's business dealings,
while complex, seem to be above board.

But he learns that Maurizio's
personal life is rife with drama

as he pursues
new romantic interests.

[Sara] Paola Franchi is part of
this Italian Milanese social scene

She's the daughter of
a, of a wealthy family.

And she's tall, thin, she's
blonde, she's got real elegance.

So, Paola is everything
that Patrizia is not.

[Dan] Even though they were
separated for years,

Patrizia never let go of her perceived
spot in the social elite of Milan.

Position meant everything
to her.

Patrizia still felt
that she was Mrs. Gucci.

She was introducing herself
as Mrs. Gucci.

[Dan] Maurizio has clearly
moved on.

He buys a fabulous, enormous
apartment on the best street

in the best neighborhood
of Milan, Corso Venezia.

And moves in with Paola Franchi.

[Dan] Then one night, out of the
blue, police receive a phone call.

A man at a hotel bar has struck
up a conversation with a stranger

and heard a bizarre story.

[Nocerino speaking]

Investigators interrogate the man
who identifies four people in the plot

to kill Maurizio Gucci.

A pizzeria owner, a mechanic,
a porter at a cheap hotel

and a psychic named
Pina Auriemma.

Armed with information
from a whistleblower,

Nocerino and his team
begin following Pina Auriemma

and her alleged accomplices, wiretapping
their phones and tracking their cars.

[Sara] Nocerino acquires
the car where the accomplices

are talking about the murder
and the money

that they're getting and
they're, they haven't been paid.

So they're talking about trying to
get more money for what they did.

Nocerino quickly learns the identities
of the four accomplices in the murder.

It's Pina Auriemma
who is Patrizia's friend,

who goes to her friend,

who then goes to his friend,

Benedetto Ceraulo,

who is the killer,

who goes to the other guy

who is running a pizzeria.

It's a very random group
of people

who all come together
in this pact.

[speaking in Italian]

So, Nocerino rounds up
the four accomplices.

He brings them in.

He interviews them all.

[speaking in Italian]

As Nocerino interrogates
the suspects,

a complicated story unravels.

Beginning with Patrizia and
Maurizio's broken marriage.

[speaking in Italian]

[Dan] Patrizia became fixated

on Maurizio's new girlfriend,
Paola Franchi,

and what that might mean

for her own extravagant
lifestyle.

[Sara] There was no way that
Patrizia wanted to see

somebody else become
La Signora Gucci.

She was determined
and always would be

La Signora Gucci.

The investigators learned

Patrizia's hatred

seems to have spilled over

into open bloodlust.

[speaking in Italian]

This hatred grows
into an obsession,

which then grows into this

determination to see him dead.

And she goes around Milan,

openly telling people,

"Who is going to kill Maurizio
for me?"

She says this at dinner parties.

[speaking in Italian]

[speaking in Italian]

[Pietro speaking in English]

[Sara] Patrizia is having
phone conversations with Pina.

And they are talking about,

you know, how much money
the killers need to be paid.

They were also very clever.

So, they were talking about
how many meters of fabric

they needed to buy and, so,

you know, the 10,000
or 30,000 or 40,000 lira

was being talked about
in terms of how many feet

of "stoffa"
for the new curtains.

[speaking in Italian]

[speaking in Italian]

With Maurizio dead,

Patrizia seized the chance
to reclaim her title

of Lady Gucci.

She went to the apartment where Maurizio
had been living with his girlfriend,

Paola Franchi

and kicked her out.

She just stepped right back
into her life as Mrs. Gucci.

She kicked Paola
out of the apartment.

She didn't invite her
to the funeral.

She really sent her packing
with no compassion.

And she reclaimed him in death,

in a way that she could not
in life.

[Dan] But when the police
finally caught up with Patrizia,

her days as Lady Gucci
were numbered.

[Sara] After he hears the story,

Nocerino realizes that

it's time to go for Patrizia.

Patrizia was at home,

asleep with her two daughters,

when the police arrived
outside her door.

They showed up at her doorstep

at 4:30 in the morning,

and they say, "Signora Reggiani,

you're under arrest

for the murder
of Maurizio Gucci."

[speaking in Italian]

She asked for few minutes
to go and get ready.

And she comes back, and she
is wearing a full fur mink coat,

dark sunglasses and she says,
"I'm ready to go."

[speaking in Italian]

[in English]

News of Patrizia's arrest
causes a sensation.

This is, like, the new Dallas,

like, you know,
this is the Gucci drama,

and the twists and turns
were just really unthinkable.

She is the Vedova Nera,
the black widow,

which literally means,
"The evil widow."

We were shocked.

You can hate your husband,

Him being the father of two
daughters that they both loved,

and I never thought that
the wife could reach the point

of killing him.

I never thought
that would be the case.

The trial starts in May, 1998.

The eyes of the world
are on this courtroom.

It's a media frenzy,

and Nocerino, the prosecutor,

decides to pursue
a life sentence for Patrizia.

Patrizia takes the stand

in her own defense,

and denies involvement
in the plot to kill Maurizio.

[speaking in Italian]

We made the, a lot of, uh...

But, I didn't give

the order of killing Maurizio.

[speaking in Italian]

[Dan] The murder
of Maurizio Gucci

had captured the attention
of the world.

And now Patrizia's fate

was in the jury's hands.

[Dan] After a six month trial,

and seven hours
of jury deliberation,

Patrizia Reggiani Gucci
is found guilty

of the premeditated murder

of her husband, Maurizio,

and sentenced to 29 years
in prison.

[speaking in Italian]

[speaking in Italian]

[Elaine] As she leaves
the courtroom,

Maurizio and Patrizia's friends
and family are left stunned.

I was just so sad and upset
by his death.

But I still, to this day,

ask myself why it has happened.

Patrizia became so jealous

that that jealousy went beyond

any reasonable behavior
that I would have anticipated.

[Sara] It was all about
the money.

And at the end when she was
convicted and sentenced, the judge said,

"Maurizio Gucci died,

not for the man he was,
but for what he had."

[Dan] To this day, Patrizia
still denies her role in the killing.

She says it was
a misunderstanding.

That she didn't know
it would happen.

She's expressed her sorrow,

but she's never accepted
the blame.

But, in our exclusive interview,

she did tell us
how she really felt

that grey windy morning in 1995.

[Patrizia speaking]

Patrizia would spend 18 years

in Milan's San Vittore Prison.

[Patrizia] They told me
I will stay here

just a few days.

Then,

this period was a little longer.

That's why I organized myself.

In the sense that...

[speaking in Italian]

I had a ferret
and this helped me

as pet therapy.

[Elaine] Fascinatingly enough,

Patrizia wasn't alone
in this jail.

[speaking in English]

[speaking in Italian]

Today, Patrizia
is out of prison,

but the drama in her life
isn't over.

She's been trapped in
lawsuits, first with her mother,

and then her daughters.

She says that they
wrongly took money from her

while she was in prison
for the death of their father.

I am still Gucci.

And maybe...

the last one that, uh...

is alive.

Two years ago,
Patrizia's daughter

ended all contact
with their mother.

Patrizia doesn't have
any relationship now

with her daughters.

[Elaine] Patrizia still
lives in Milan today,

where she can be spotted
around town

with her pet parrot.

[Patrizia] I think that money

can buy happiness.

It's better to cry
in a Rolls-Royce

than cry on a bicycle.

[Nocerino speaking]

[Andrea] If Gucci is

the success story
that it is today,

you have to

give to Maurizio
a very important credit.

He had the vision of where
the company was going.

And even though he was not
at the helm anymore,

it was his vision

that was ultimately
accomplished.

It's a crazy story.

What they said about me
is not true.

[sighs]

[speaking in Italian]