In March of 1995, Maurizio had started his day like any other, leaving his apartment in Milan to walk to his office, as he did daily. He walked in, greeted his staff, and began ascending the main staircase when a man walked in and shot him twice in the back. Before falling to the ground, Maurizio turned to look back at the shooter with a confused look, presumably not recognizing who this man was, or was it a look of betrayal? Yet, with Maurizio on the ground, the man shoots him twice more, and then silently walks away. 

As people crowded the streets wondering what happened, pulled out on a long stretcher covered in a white sheet was Maurizio Gucci, pronounced dead at the scene. Nobody had recognized or knew anything about the gunman, besides the fact that the gunman’s gun had an abnormally long barrel- hinting to the use of a silencer. Due to this fact, the police began to wonder if this was done by a businessman, or if it was done by professional hitman. 

The first people that they investigated were family, friends, and business contacts- with Patrizia obviously holding the highest suspicion. There had been rumors on the street that Patrizia continuously spoke about how badly she wanted Maurizio dead- not hiding her distaste at all. Yet after further investigation of each suspect- Patrizia, the terrorist that he took a loan from, and the family members- each seemed to have had an alibi or no motive whatsoever. 

Now let’s take a shot and aim to guess what Patrizia’s motive could even be. First, it was said that Patrizia had been furious that Maurizio sold his stake of Gucci, as she believed he was throwing away everything. She also had been furious of Maurizio spending a lot of money on his new woman, and she felt almost as Maurizio was spending money that she worked hard for; as she believed that she still deserved credit for his successes. It was also observed that 24 hours after his death, Patrizia sent an eviction notice, written by her lawyer, to the apartment Maurizio and Paula were living in, essentially kicking Paula out as she was grieving the loss of her lover. Her lawyer also made a statement that she had asked him what would happen if she hired a hitman, wondering if she would go down for the crime or if the hitman would. After her lawyer were housekeepers, sweeping the floor with Patrizia and coming forward with stories on how Patrizia asked them if they could or knew a way to kill her husband.  

Even, with all of those assumptions, the police were still unable to pin the crime onto Patricia, as there wasn’t any hard evidence. Therefore, they did what any police force would do, they tapped her phone. It was revealed, as of her phone records, that she consistently talked to a woman called Pena, and seemed to be close friends. However, Pena was a Naples woman, and Milan Police had a bias that all Naples people were apart of organized crimes, so they start looking at Pena as a suspect. The only thing they found out was Maurizio’s fear of Pena. Maurizio believed that Pena was spiritual and could cause him harm in ways like cursing or voodoo, so much so that it stopped him from divorcing Patrizia. 

Then a call came in (going along the lines of this) …” I know who killed Maurizio Gucci. I was staying in a one-star hotel, talking to a hotel clerk about how much of a big shot I was. That I was a mafia man, ran a cartel, and pushed drugs. But I didn’t expect him and his attempt to one-up me. He said “oh, you think you’re so tough? Well, I was involved in the murder of Maurizio Gucci.”” The anonymous caller was not a mafia man, he was not a big drug dealer, and he was not in any cartels, so in fear of his life, he ran to the police. The police wired him up and had him go back to gather more evidence. This time, the hotel clerk mentions two more guys who he claims helped him in the murder. That wasn’t all though. The hotel clerk also claimed that they were moving onto their next job, to blackmail the person who hired them to kill Maurizio. He explained that they were paid $90,000 in advance and $300,000 after the kill, but when news hit of the murder the killers learned that their ‘boss’ hadn’t just inherited thousands of dollars, but they had inherited millions on millions of dollars.  

And who else was in line to inherit this money other than Patrizia Gucci herself. 

Now this is exactly what the police were looking for, so the police raced to Patrizia (who was living in Maurizio and Paula’s old apartment) to apprehend her. Patrizia seemed to know exactly what was going on, and she asked for some time to get ready. Patrizia put on a full face of makeup and a very expensive outfit, holding a none other than a Gucci bag filled with toiletries and luxuries.

After five months of deliberating, Patrizia was found guilty, only receiving 29 years in prison. 

Her main motive being her greed for power, money, the last name Gucci, and the status of being a part of one of the wealthiest families in the world. 

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Did you expect the killer to be Patrizia?