Milan, March 27^th 1995 at 8.30 am, Maurizio Gucci took his morning stroll to his office. A year and a half after being outcasted as chairman of his family’s famous fashion empire, he spent his days looking for a way to make his next million. As he entered the building, someone walked behind him and fired three shots. Gucci fell to the ground gravely wounded but dead man tell no tales. The assassin fired a fourth bullet into his head for good measure. A man appeared around the corner, the killer spinned and sent two bullets his way, hitting him in the arm. The shooter ran to a waiting getaway car and disappeared into the streets of Milan.

At first it looked like a typical mob execution, but that theory quickly unraveled. Investigators found no signs of organized crime, but rather of improvisers. According to authorities, those who practiced homicide professionally will do anything to avoid being first of noticed and then recognized . In this case, there were three witnesses. With a mob hit ruled out, the investigators wonder if the murder could be connected to the celebrated Gucci empire. They didn’t have to dig too deep into the Gucci family to find turmoil. There is also fierce acrimony between Gucci and his ex-wife Patrizia, even after nearly a decade after he walked out on her.

Gucci company was born in Florence Italy in 1921. Guccio Gucci started a modest leather goods shop to cater to the city’s elite. Gucci took advantage of the area’s long history of artisanship. Over the next two decades, Gucci leather grew and flourished. Guccio Gucci’s three sons (Vasco, Aldo, Rodolfo) and one adopted son (Ugo) joined the family business and expanded to other countries. In no time, Gucci shoes and handbags became a status symbol.

Maurizio Gucci is the only son of Rudolfo Gucci. His mother died when he was five years old. Maurizio and his father owned half of Gucci empire, meanwhile his uncle and his three cousins had to divide the other half. Many financial secrets were hidden from younger generation, and soon Paolo Gucci started prying. He wanted to know why in 1978, Gucci’s shops in the US did 48 million dollars in sales but showed no profits. What Paolo didn’t know was that most of money was being siphoned into offshore accounts by his uncle and father. The animosity was building up until Paolo’s uncovered documents exposed his father’s creative accounting and sent them to US court. Because of his own son, 81 year old Aldo Gucci spent a year in Florida jail.

Maurizio Gucci fell for a woman named Patrizia Reggiani. She was allegedly born the love child of a waitress and a trucking baron. Her family background ensured Patrizia a life of wealth and privilege. But Maurizio’s father, Rodolfo Gucci, was concerned that Patrizia was a gold digger. Nevertheless, Maurizio married Patrizia. She honed his husband’s business skill and introduced him to the social elite. But the Gucci’s family never accepted her.

With six Gucci family member sitting in the company’s board, there were many conflicts, some led to lawsuits. As we all can see here, money triumphs over family. Spurred on by his ambitious wife, Maurizio Gucci was poised to make a power graph that would leave his coussins in the dust. You’d think these bitter public battles would’ve hurt the company. But the more the Gucci name was splashed across the tabloids, the more public wanted to be seen in those trademarked double G’s.

The Guccis began licensing their trademark to nearly anyone willing to pay. In July 1982, when Paolo started to take matters into his own hands at a company meeting. Paolo showed up with a tape recorder and make his family angry. The meeting suddenly became a quarell and left a deep scar around Paolo’s eyes. A day after that incident, Paolo filed a multi-million dollar lawsuit against his relatives.

But there were bigger problems in the house of Gucci. In just a few years, their image had gone from Rodeo Drive to main street of USA. This was result of the terrible decision which Gucci family began licensing their trademark to nearly anyone willing to pay. They were addicted to the easy money coming in from licensing and then fought over the money, but lost the brand’s prestige. Because… When the cheaper items had double G’s on them, suddenly it was no longer seen as luxurious brand. Amidst this down-fall, Maurizio Gucci dreamed of reclaiming Gucci’s high class reputation.

In the 1980’s the fashion world started to take notice of Italy. Milan was becoming the new Paris. When his father died in 1983, Maurizio prepared to make his move. He had inherited 230 million dollars and half the share of the company. Encouraged by Patrizia, Maurizio tried to seize control and redefine Gucci’s label exclusively for the super-rich. But this effort faced objection from the rest of his relatives who owned the other 50% of company’s share.

With Maurizio’s business manuvering, he got less patience for Patrizia and less time for his two daughters. One day in 1985, he just left his house and never came back. Even after seperation, Patrizia kept a close eye at Maurizio’s financial affairs. Meanwhile Maurizio’s coussin, Paolo, had sent dossier to Italy authorities, proving that Maurizio had purchased his million-dollar yacht using funds from his father’s old offshore accounts, making Maurizio guilty of tax evasion. Maurizio then flee to his villa in Alpen, Swiss.

With the help of Arab Investment Group: Investcorp he was buying out all his relatives’ shares on Gucci, making him the sole owner of the company. However, there were a lot of bad business decisions, resulting in him being fired from his own company, by his Investcorp colleagues. This made Maurizio’s financial condition worse, to the extent of slashing his wife’s monthly allowance. At the same time, Patrizia felt that she contributed heavily in Gucci’s development, yet she had to see the company fell under her husband’s leadership. This surely made her held more grudge towards Maurizio.

Spring 1992, Patrizia Gucci was diagnosed with brain tumor. The day when she had a surgery to remove the tumor, her husband didn’t show up. On November 19^th 1994, after almost ten years of seperation, Maurizio and Patrizia’s divorce became final. Not long after that, Maurizio seemed to have a new girlfriend, a Milan socialite named Paola Franchi. The two moved together and lived in a luxurious condo in Milan. After been casted out from Gucci company, Maurizio barely had a job that could finance his lavish lifestyle, and also finance his ex wife. Patrizia had gone mad when she found out that her ex husband used his money in Gucci to finance risky ventures like casino and shipping company. She was also afraid of the possibility of Maurizio having a child with Paula. If that happened, there would be no money left for her and her kids, since Patrizia already spent money given by Maurizio for her and her two daughters. These made Patrizia thinking, if Maurizio was out of the picture, the money would be safe.

With the help of her friend/psychic, Giuseppina “Pina” Auriemma , Patrizia finally found the perfect person to end his ex husband’s life. March 27^th 1995 9.30 am, a gunman followed Maurizio Gucci, then shot and killed him. Hours after Maurizio died, Patrizia moved in to Maurizio and Paula’s condo, throwing out Paula to the street. On January 31^st 1997 at 4.30 a.m police arrested Patrizia at her home.