This was one of the most notorious murders in Italian history — a bloody hit arranged by a spurned spouse, all set to the background of glamour, wealth and high fashion.
Now, a quarter of a century on, the story of Maurizio Gucci’s brutal death is set to become the box office hit of the year.
House Of Gucci, directed by Ridley Scott features a star Hollywood lineup, led by Lady Gaga, who plays Patrizia, the jealous, plotting wife that hired a hitman for her Gucci heir husband.
In a story that sheds light on feuding fashion dynasties, Adam Driver and Al Pacino are also featured.
After being criticized by her husband Gucci, she hired a hitman and caused worldwide sensation. But none of that’s as bizarre as what happened next…
Photos of the cast on set have added to the hype — which this week rose a notch higher with a Lady Gaga interview in Vogue for which she posed naked, sporting a bouffant hairstyle in homage to Patrizia.
Dubbed the Black Widow by the Italian Press, in 1998 Patrizia’s trial captivated and horrified a nation. The film is expected to capture cinema audiences around the globe.
Here, the Mail looks at the film’s main characters — and reveals the very surprising stories of where they are and what they are up to today This is the. . .
Maurizio Gucci: The Victim
Maurizio Guicci first met his future bride Patrizia at a Milan event. ‘Who is that beautiful girl dressed in red who looks like Elizabeth Taylor?’ he asked. Maurizio’s father Rodolfo, the son of Gucci fashion house founder Guccio Gucci, was less impressed.
Believing her to be a gold-digger, he cut off his son’s funds.
The couple, who were married in 1972 and had two beautiful daughters together, Alessandra (and Allegra) respectively. Maurizio spent much of his time in New York working alongside Aldo as they tried to enter the U.S.
In 1983, he inherited his father’s 50 per cent stake in the firm. However, the firm struggled to survive under his direction.
Maurizio and Patrizia
He quickly took the blame for his divorce from Patrizia in 1985. Criticising his lack of business acumen and reliance on advisers, she said: ‘My husband was like a pillow — he carried the imprint of the last one who sat on it.’
Family shares in the company were sold to Investcorp, a Bahrain-based investment firm, with Maurizio offloading his remaining stake in 1993 for an estimated $170 million (£112 million).
Following his departure from the business, he maintained a low profile and spent time on his yacht with Paola Franchi (model).
Maurizio, who was entering his Milan office at 8.30 am on March 27, 1995, was hit three times in the back and then taken to hospital. As he collapsed on to the red marble floor, the coup de grace was delivered with a final bullet to the 46-year-old’s head.
Stars Wars actor Adam Driver plays Maurizio in the film, and Jeremy Irons portrays Rodolfo.
Patrizia Reggiani: The Black Widow
Patrizia Reggiani was arrested by detectives on suspicion of murder. She asked if she could change clothes before she was taken to the station. The floor-length mink jacket she was wearing on her return is what you see. She carried a Gucci leather handbag in her well-maintained hands. Black Widow loved to be at the center of attention.
The daughter of a waitress, Patrizia’s love of the high life came when her mother married into money. Indeed, when she started dating her future husband, she was so unimpressed by his ‘small’ car she demanded he buy her a Ferrari. As she later admitted in an interview: ‘I’d rather weep in a Rolls-Royce than be happy on a bicycle.’
Despite their subsequent divorce, Reggiani continued to refer to Maurizio as ‘my husband’ and was unimpressed by a financial settlement of £900,000 a year, dismissing it as a ‘mere bowl of lentils’.
Lady Gaga playing Patrizia Reggiani in the new movie, House of Gucci
In 1995, fearing that Maurizio would marry his new lover, and so threaten her status and their children’s future inheritance, she hired the services of a hitman.
‘At a human level, I’m sorry,’ she would tell reporters as she attended his funeral. ‘I can’t say the same on a personal level.’
Police took two years to discover what happened, and she was not concerned. A search of her Cartier diary showed that she had marked the date of Maurizio’s murder with the word ‘Paradise’.
Found guilty of ordering his murder and sentenced to 29 years in jail, Patrizia passed her time in Milan’s San Vittore prison reading, sleeping and exercising a pet ferret called Bambi (it suffered an untimely death when sat on by an inmate).
She was released in 2016 and spent many years as a consultant at a costume jewelry firm. Now living in Milan, she continues to receive her annual £900,000 payout from her late husband’s estate, after a court ruling in 2017.
Patrizia told a documentary this year: ‘I used to go around and ask everyone, even the butcher, to kill him — “Is there anyone who has the courage to kill my husband?” ’ She added: ‘I couldn’t do it alone. I’m not able, I don’t know how to aim and I don’t know how to use a gun.’
Now she is 72 years old and her children have nothing to do.
Patrizia offered to meet Lady Gaga but she declined, afraid it might influence her portrayal.
‘I lived as her for a year and a half,’ said Lady Gaga. ‘I was either in my hotel room, living and speaking as Reggiani, or I was on set, living and speaking as her.’
Patrizia stated that she is happy to have been given the role. ‘It’s good,’ she added. ‘She looks like me.’
Giuseppina auriemma, The Black Witch
For 30 years, Giuseppina — known as Pina — was best friends with Reggiani. Those were long ago.
‘I completely erased Patrizia,’ Pina recently revealed. ‘I removed her from my life and my thoughts and I would never be her friend again.’ Played in the film by Salma Hayek, in 1998 Pina was jailed alongside Patrizia, serving 13 years in prison. She was convicted of acting as the ‘middle woman’ in the hit, liaising with the organiser of the murder.
When Pina was arrested she was described in the media as a maga — sorcerer or fortune-teller.
Her interest in the occult has been denied. She explained she would only accompany her friend to do tarot cards readings.
In their hopes of knowing the future, Gucci and his wife spent thousands on jewelry.
The pair became bitter after Pina’s murder. Patrizia claimed that Pina had hired the hitman, but she was not informed, and then blackmailed Pina.
Pina, however, stated in a recent interview that her plan was to obtain money from Maurizio rather than to kill him.
She said she had been living in ‘perpetual remorse’ for not having warned him the night before. As a volunteer, she assists the homeless and releases women from prison.
‘What happened deeply changed Pina. She underwent a radical transformation in jail,’ her lawyer, Pietro Traini, told the Mail.
‘Pina’s role was limited. The only way she got in touch was through Naples friends.
After that, she got out of the frame. But it was Patrizia who then stepped in and directly took action to organise the crime.’
Paola Franchi, The Lover
The day after Maurizio’s murder, his then partner Paola Franchi received an eviction notice from Patrizia forcing her to leave his apartment.
The legal timestamp, Paola noticed, showed the papers had been drawn up at 11am the previous day — less than three hours after Maurizio died.
Paola and Maurizio met their first time as children. They were married for five years after they both divorced.
‘We fell in love immediately,’ said Paola, played by Camille Cottin in the film. ‘Maurizio used to tell me that we were two halves of the same apple.’
They had planned to have lunch together on the morning of the murder. Paola arrived to find her lover’s office cordoned off by police.
Before the shooting, she advised Maurizio of his need for a bodyguard. He dismissed her worries.
‘Patrizia was stalking us,’ Paola recalled in a recent interview. ‘She still had spies in Maurizio’s circle and she knew all about our plans, his business dealings, everything. She called many times abusing him and threatening to kill him.’
An interior designer-turned-artist, Paola now divides her time between Milan and Kenya. ‘I have not forgiven Patrizia, it’s not in my nature, but I’m not vindictive nor a resentful person,’ she has said.
Aldo Gucci is the FASHION godfather
Aldo Guccio was Aldo’s oldest son. Aldo joined his family’s business in 1921 when he turned 20.
In the 1950s he spearheaded the company’s presence in the U.S., prompting President John F. Kennedy to later herald him as the first Italian Ambassador to fashion.
However, his life later was marred by family disputes.
In 1986, Aldo pleaded guilty to evading more than $7 million (£4.9 million) in tax in the U.S.
Also, he confessed that he had diverted profit from his U.S. company to fake companies overseas and was sentenced with a one-year term.
He was 84 when he died after five months. Al Pacino will play him in the film.
Aldo’s granddaughter Patrizia Gucci said: ‘My grandfather was a very handsome man, like all the Guccis, and very tall, blue eyes and very elegant.
Al Pacino is playing him. He’s not tall enough and the photo of him shows him looking fat, thin, and really ugly. Shameful, because he doesn’t resemble him at all.’
House Of Gucci opens in cinemas on November 26
Paolo Gucci: The Black Sheep of Family
The son of Aldo, Paolo had a hand in designing the brand’s famous double G logo — and had numerous fallouts with relatives.
Twice fired, he was involved in a £3.7 million lawsuit against the firm. His cousin, Maurizio died at 64. In the movie, Jared Leto plays the role.
The representation did not find favour, again, with Ms Gucci, his daughter, who told journalists that photos showing a bald Leto in a lilac suit were ‘horrible’.
Allegra Gucci and Alessandra: tried to take off mom
At the time of Maurizio’s murder, his daughters, Alessandra, then 18, and 14-year-old Allegra, stood by their mother — who claimed that her actions had been affected by a brain tumour, meaning she was not fully in command of her mental faculties.
They have cut all ties to her since her release and tried to prevent her from receiving the annual estate payout. Both sisters reside in St Moritz (a Swiss ski resort).
House Of Gucci will be in theaters starting November 26.