The Tragic Murder Of Maurizio Gucci
Before the Gucci brand was headed by figures outside the family, the company was in the hands of Maurizio Gucci, the last family member who would hold this position. Unlike the steady wave of success the company has ridden in recent years, the high-fashion brand was embroiled in tumultuous family battles while Gucci headed the company. Eventually, the stream of chaos ended in tragedy when Gucci was shot dead in the foyer of his office in 20 Via Palestro, Milan, in 1995.
Although The Guardian reported that the company was happy to brush the assassination aside, others were not so quick to let it go. The crime, which seemed like something straight from a mobster film, conjured images of a seedy crime underworld that did not often surface in Milan. When Gucci's wife, Patrizia Reggiani, was later arrested for ordering her husband's assassination, the trial became a fixture of the Italian media spotlight that fed fascinated locals, who tried to piece together why Reggiani would sentence her wealthy husband to death.
Gucci's final moments were surprisingly ordinary
Despite the chatter around Gucci's dramatic-sounding death — a murder-for-hire plot orchestrated by his wife — his final moments were heartbreakingly simple. Behind the media fixation on the hit was an Italian businessman who met his tragic end not engaged in the underworld of the Italian mafia, but doing what he did daily: going to work and making small talk with locals.
Giuseppe Onorato, the doorman of the Milan building where Gucci was executed, described the businessman's last moments to The Guardian: "Mr. Gucci arrived carrying some magazines and said good morning. Then I saw a hand. It was a beautiful, clean hand, and it was pointing a gun," he said.
According to People, Gucci was shot twice by the gunman, once in the lower back and once in the shoulder. The two bullets were all it took to cut short the life of the 46-year-old fashion mogul. His final moments were spent on the red marble floor of his office building dressed in a suit, tie, and Gucci loafers.
Daily Beast reports that Lady Gucci: The Story of Patrizia Reggiani, a documentary about the murder, is premiering March 21 on Discovery+.