Inside the Shocking Case of Maurizio Gucci's Assassination

Mar. 15, 2025

Left: Maurizio Gucci and his wife Patrizia Reggiani in May 1972; Right: Adam Driver as Maurizio Gucci and Lady Gaga as Patrizia Reggiani in 2021’s ‘House of Gucci’.Photo:Del Puppo/Fotogramma/Ropi via ZUMA Press; Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures

Del Puppo/Fotogramma/Ropi via ZUMA Press; Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures

For a man whose very name had come to symbolize elegance,Maurizio Gucci’s deathwas sadly déclassé.

The 46-year-old third-generation scion of the Italian fashion dynasty was working to remake himself as a casino magnate in Switzerland before his death. At the heart of his slaying was the story of a former mogul whose ruthless business tactics made enemies of his relatives but secured his control of an internationally renowned and highly lucrative luxury goods business.

In 1984, Maurizio bumped his three older cousins (Paolo, Roberto and Giorgio) and his uncle Aldo from the board of the family brand and took total control of the company his grandfather, Guccio Gucci, had founded in 1921.

Mounting debts in the following years forced Maurizio to liquidate his stake to a consortium of Bahrain-based investors called Investcorp for more millions in 1993,according toThe New York Times. Amid financial woes with the company, the one-time heir and his wife, Patrizia Reggiani, finalized their divorce in 1994, having been separated for 15 years. Their two teenage daughters, Alessandra and Allegra, stayed with their mother.

Despite his family troubles, however, interior designer Paola Franchi — a childhood friend Maurizio began dating in 1990 — claimed he seemed carefree and confident in the days before his death on March 27, 1995.

“He was calm,” Franchi reportedly said in 2009. “If he would have had any problems, he did not talk to me about them. Each morning, he ran in the park. This did not seem to me like the actions of a man who felt he was in danger.”

Ahead, learn more about Maurizio’s murder, which later inspired the 2021 filmHouse of Gucci.

Where was Maurizio Gucci murdered?

From left: Roberto Gucci, Georgio Gucci and Maurizio Gucci at a new Gucci store in Paris on Sept. 22, 1983.Laurent MAOUS/Gamma-Rapho via Getty

Laurent MAOUS/Gamma-Rapho via Getty

Maurizio had left his Milan apartment just after 8:30 a.m. on March 27, 1995, for the short walk to his office 50 yards away. Stylishly clad in a suit and tie — and, of course, Gucci loafers — he strode past the public gardens and into the building at 20 Via Palestro.

However, as he headed up the short flight of stairs, witnesses said, an equally well-dressed middle-aged man fell into step behind him.Armed with a 7.65-mm pistol, the man initially fired twice at Maurizio, hitting him once in the shoulder and once in the lower back.

Maurizio spun around, collapsed onto the red marble floor and lay there as the gunman shot him once in the face before fleeing.

“It was clearly a premeditated murder,” said Italian police Maj. Paolo La Forgia.

But who was responsible?

Who killed Maurizio Gucci?

Maurizio Gucci in the 1980s.IPA/REX/Shutterstock

Gucci and Reggiani were 24 when they married in 1972 and split their time between homes in Milan and New York. He was the heir to a fashion dynasty, and she was looking for a way to move up in the world.

“She knew what she wanted, and she went out to get it,” PEOPLE’s then-editor-in-chief Dan Wakeford said onDateline’s 2021 episode “Murder in the House of Gucci.”

Wakeford added, “She wanted to get to that next echelon of society.”

After a business trip to Florence in 1985, Maurizio sent a friend to tell Reggiani he was ending the marriage and not returning to their Milan home.TIMEreportedthat he moved in with Franchi in 1991.

“Maurizio always loved me; he wanted me to have the best,” Reggiani said onPEOPLE Magazine Investigates:Crimes of Fashion, which aired in 2018 onInvestigation Discovery. “But he changed completely.”

In an exclusive interview withDatelinein 2021, Reggiani’s friend, Pina Auriemma, said Reggiani was “more sad and sorry about losing her name” than losing her husband.

Legally no longer a Gucci,according toThe Guardian,Reggiani was adamant in coercing her hired accomplices to carry out the shooting before Franchi and Maurizio wed. It was a friend of Auriemma who arranged for the hitman to kill Maurizio, with Auriemma testifying “that Reggiani couldn’t bear the thought of another woman taking her place as Mrs. Maurizio Gucci — and with it, the power, status and money that she ‘had earned.’ "

What was the result of the murder trial?

Grave of Maurizio Gucci in St. Moritz, pictured in 1997.Blick/RDB/ullstein bild via Getty

Blick/RDB/ullstein bild via Getty

The Guardianreported that Reggiani lived with her daughters in luxury for a couple of years after Maurizio’s murder until one of the accomplices in his death bragged about the hit job. In the end, Reggiani, Auriemma, Auriemma’s friend who hired the hitman, the hitman and the getaway driver were all found guilty.

“In court, I [admitted Maurizio and I] hated each other,” Reggiani said onPEOPLE Magazine Investigates: Killing Gucciin 2021. “I made a lot of threats, but I didn’t give the order to kill him.”

The outcome of the trial was that she did.

“She wasn’t keeping [her hatred] a secret,” said Carlo Nocerino, the public prosecutor who led the investigation, onPEOPLE Magazine Investigates: Killing Gucci. “Everyone in her house and her friends confirmed this.”

The trial lasted five months, with Reggiani convicted of murder. She was initially sentenced to 29 years in prison before her sentence was reduced to 26. After serving 18 years, Reggiani was released in 2016.

Reggiani has maintained that she was wrongfully convicted, claiming onKilling Gucci,“I’m not innocent, but I’m not guilty.”

What did Patrizia Reggiani say about her ex-husband’s murder after being released from prison?

Patrizia Reggiani (left) is seen on Nov. 16, 2021, in New York City.Nancy Rivera/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images

Nancy Rivera/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images

On thePEOPLE Magazine Investigates: Killing Gucciepisode, Reggiani said she “does not like to remember” what happened to lead up to the murder, telling PEOPLE that she still feels “enormous love” for her late ex-husband.

“If I met Maurizio now, I would tell him to forgive me for what happened,” she said. “All the things that happened were a big misunderstanding.”

What isHouse of Gucci?

Lady Gaga as Patrizia Reggiani and Adam Driver as Maurizio Gucci on the set of ‘House of Gucci’ at Piazza Duomo in central Milan on March 11, 2021.MIGUEL MEDINA/AFP via Getty

The 2021 filmHouse of Guccidramatizes the case, starringLady Gagaas Reggiani andAdam Driveras Maurizio.

Adapted from Sara Gay Forden’s book,The House of Gucci: A Sensational Story of Murder, Madness, Glamour and Greed,directorRidley Scott’s moviehad access to the Gucci brand’s archivesfor period-accurate wardrobe and props.

Though Driver and the likes ofAl PacinoandJared Letofilled out the Gucci-born side of the cast, much was made of Gaga’s portrayal of Reggiani, with the entertainer spending six months practicing an Italian accent before staying in the accent during production for another six months.

“I wanted to make a real personout of Patrizia, not a caricature,” GagatoldThe Wall Street Journalin 2021.

Gaga’s research into the role did not include meeting Reggiani, though — something that didn’t sit well with Maurizio’s ex-wife.

She continued, “It’s nothing to do with money because I won’t be taking a single cent from the film.It’s about common sense and respect.”

What was Lady Gaga’s experience after the release ofHouse of Gucci?

Left: Patrizia Reggiani in the 1980s; Right: Lady Gaga as Patrizia Reggiani in 2021’s ‘House of Gucci,'.Ipa/Shutterstock; Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)/Album

ThoughHouse of Guccireceived mixed reviews from critics, Gaga’s portrayal of Reggiani was widely praised. In critic Owen Gleiberman’sreview forVariety, he wrote, “Gaga’s face is avid and open, with a fervor that volts through her eyes;she has a born actress’ giftfor letting you read her emotions while holding a nugget of mystery in check.”

Gaga credited her director for helping her build her performance.

“I have to say this, Ridley: There’s not a lot of men that are directors who would empower a woman to be ugly on camera,” GagatoldThe New York Timesin 2021. “When I aged and had scenes where I was in this embarrassing, desperate state, heembraced the ugliness of this character, and that should be commended because it is ugly to be disposed of for your looks; it is ugly to be left for a younger woman.”

In the same interview, Gaga shared how she connected to Reggiani with her experience making the movie and didn’t want to let go of it afterward.

“I felt the way Patrizia felt, a life without Gucci was not a life worth living,” she said. “The greatest time in her life was being a Gucci, and I can say to you, being done with this film, that the greatest time in my life was being a Gucci. That’s how art and life line up. Ridley’s life is a masterpiece, and you’re lucky if you get to be a part of it.”

For her work, Gaga was nominated for numerous accolades, winning best actress at the 2021 New York Film Critics Circle Awards. Despite Golden Globe and SAG nods, Gaga was noticeably absent from that season’sAcademy Awardnominees, which her costar Leto claimedwas “a shock and a surprise” in a 2022cover story forVariety. The lone Oscar nomination for the film was for Best Achievement in Makeup and Hairstyling, withHouse of Gucciultimately losing toThe Eyes of Tammy Faye.

What did Maurizio Gucci’s friends and family think aboutHouse of Gucci?

Tom Ford attends the 2021 CFDA Fashion Awards at The Grill and The Pool restaurants on Nov. 10, 2021, in New York City.Sean Zanni/Patrick McMullan via Getty

Friends and family of Maurizio and Reggiani were not as celebratory ofHouse of Guccior Gaga’s performance.

Fashion designerTom Fordlikened watching the movie to being in a natural disaster.

He continued, “The movie rivals the nighttime soapDynastyfor subtlety but does so with a much bigger budget … I’m still not quite sure what [the film] is exactly, but somehow I felt as though I had lived through a hurricane when I left the theater. Was it a farce or a gripping tale of greed? I often laughed out loud, but was I supposed to?”

In a statement to the Italian news agency ANSA, whichVarietysharedin 2021, the Gucci family said how Reggiani “is portrayed not just in the film, but also in statements from cast members, as a victim trying to survive in a male and male chauvinist corporate culture,” adding, “This couldn’t be further from the truth.”

Reggiani and Maurizio’s youngest daughter, Allegra,spoke toVanity Fairin 2022, breaking her silence on what happened in her family for the sake of her two children, calling sections of the film “lies.”

Her book,Fine del Giochi(translated toGame Over), details her parents' marriage, her father’s death and Reggiani’s role in all of it — her way of remembering her family, completely apart from what was shown in the movie.

source: people.com