‘Black widow’ cashes in on estate
She was jailed for ordering his killing – now Patrizia Reggiani is to receive a handsome annual allowance from her husband’s estate
AMEGA-RICH fashion tycoon, a scorned exwife, a contract killing, a psychic, a prison ferret called Bambi and an astonishing twist that’s left everyone gobsmacked – it’s the stuff movies are made of. But this gripping saga of betrayal, murder and punishment is all too real. And the woman at the heart of it all – the socalled Black Widow – is laughing all the way to the bank, her pet macaw dramatically perched on her shoulder.
After serving 18 years in jail for ordering the hit on her ex, Patrizia Reggiani has just been awarded the equivalent of R14,8 million a year from his estate stemming from an inheritance agreement signed two years before his death.
She’s also entitled to back payments from her time in jail, which will give her bank account an instant R264-million shot in the arm.
This windfall will allow Patrizia, who lives in Milan, Italy, to resume her extravagant ways: the 68-year-old was known for blowing more than R132 000 a month on orchids and once famously said, “I’d rather weep in a Rolls-Royce than be happy on a bicycle.”
Her ex-husband was no ordinary guy, of course. Maurizio Gucci was the last member of the Gucci family dynasty and had mountains of moolah he agreed to leave to his wife before everything fell apart.
Patrizia decided she was still entitled to the bounty so she took the matter to court – and the judge agreed.
“The criminal act carried out by Patrizia Reggiani has nothing to do with Maurizio Gucci’s death,” he said. “It’s irrelevant. Any other opinion belongs to the moral rather than the strictly judicial sphere. It can’t have a bearing on the interpretation of the accord.”
Relief for Patrizia, but not so much for their daughters. Alessandra (41) and Allegra Gucci (37), who are both fabulously wealthy and live in Switzerland, are expected to contest the court’s decision.
Their mother murdered their father,
they say – she doesn’t deserve a cent from his fortune.
MAURIZIO was the grandson of Guccio Gucci, founder of the famous fashion empire. After Maurizio married Patrizia in 1972, the pair (then both 24) became one of Italy’s golden couples and led a glamorous life, partying with the likes of Jackie Onassis, sailing to private islands on their luxury yacht and living it up in a ski chalet in St Moritz in the Swiss Alps.
In addition to fabulous homes in Italy, they owned a holiday house in Acapulco, Mexico, and a farm in Connecticut, US. “We were a beautiful couple and we had a beautiful life,” she once said.
After the death of his father, Rodolfo, in 1983, Maurizio took over his dad’s 50 percent stake in Gucci – and that’s when things began to crumble. The company lost millions over the next several years, the couple divorced, and Maurizio sold the company to investment company Investcorp in the early ’90s for what amounted to R300 million at the time.
Patrizia reportedly considered her multimillion divorce settlement and yearly allowance of R1,7 million at the time of their divorce in 1991 “a mere bowl of lentils”.
After leaving Patrizia, Maurizio moved in with his partner, Paola Franchi, and her son for five years. Paola told The Guardian that Patrizia stalked Maurizio and would call their home, threatening to kill him.
She pleaded with him to hire a bodyguard “but he refused”, Paola said. “He didn’t believe Patrizia would go through with her threat because of their girls.”
Paola was depicted in the media as a gold digger, a claim she’s always haughtily denied. “Actually, my previous husband, whom I left for Maurizio, was even richer, so it was all nonsense.”
Patrizia’s rage was relentless. She’d send Maurizio rants she’d record on cassette tape – which were later played in court – in which she called him a “monster” for neglecting her and their daughters and warned “the inferno for you is yet to come”.
On the morning of 27 March 1995 a gunman shot Maurizio three times in the back and once in the head as he was leaving his office building, then fired twice at the doorman, injuring him in the arm.
After the murder, Patrizia hastily arranged the eviction of Paola and her son from their lavish flat – the removal notice was time-stamped three hours after Maurizio’s death. She then lived in the flat for two years with her daughters before her psychic had an attack of conscience and tipped off police. The psychic was in on the plot and had first contacted the hitman.
All those involved in the murder were found guilty: Patrizia for arranging the hit; the gunman for carrying it out; the psychic for finding the hitman; and the driver for manning the getaway car.
Patrizia was sentenced to 29 years in prison, which was reduced to 26 years on appeal. The others received jail terms ranging from 25 years to life.
PATRIZIA – dubbed Lady Gucci during the trial after she arrived decked head-to-toe in Gucci every day – was released in October 2014. Part of her parole conditions was that she get a job and at first she was having none of it. She’d rather remain in her cell with Bambi, the pet ferret she kept in jail, than do manual work, she said.
Sadly Bambi came to a sticky end not long afterwards – he was crushed when an inmate sat on him.
Finally Patrizia found employment she deemed suitable – as a design consultant at Milan-based costume-jewellery company Bozart, which accessorised Madonna and Pamela Anderson in the ’80s.
Her job was to spot trends, try out jewellery and advise designers but, unused to the world of work, she accidentally deleted the company’s entire photo archive and had to be relieved of her computer. One of Patrizia’s first acts of freedom was to go on a shopping spree dripping in jewellery, accompanied by her beloved macaw. She lived with her elderly mother, Silvana Barbieri, in a Milan townhouse but found it difficult. “Sometimes I wish I was back [in jail] because my mother is very difficult,” she told The Guardian. “She berates me every day for no reason.”
She continued to be disillusioned with the world of work. Last year, after a journalist complimented her dress, she scoffed, “It’s Zara. I don’t earn enough at this place to buy proper clothes.”
Which is one of the reasons why she decided to go back to court to fight for what she believed was her due.
The deal Maurizio signed happened years before his death – why should she be made to suffer when she was entitled to it? Her victory reopened Italy’s fascination with the case and Patrizia once again dominated headlines and websites.
She has her own way of dealing with the publicity, though. When a camera crew from a trashy Italian TV show turned up at her workplace and asked, “Patrizia, why did you hire a hitman to kill Maurizio Gucci? Why didn’t you shoot him yourself?” she retorted, “My eyesight isn’t so good. I didn’t want to miss.”
But at other times she seems more reflective. “If I could see Maurizio again I’d tell him I love him because he’s the person who’s mattered most to me in my life.
“But I think he’d say the feeling wasn’t mutual.”
‘I’d rather weep in a Rolls-Royce than be happy on a bicycle’