The murder of Maurizio Gucci
Milan, Italy, 1995
This case is a work of fiction. The characters, names, places and events in the game do not portray real people. The account below is a factual summary, based on public sources, of the case that served as inspiration.
On the morning of Monday, March 27, 1995, at around 8:30, Maurizio Gucci, 46, grandson of the founder of the fashion house, was shot dead in the lobby of the building at Via Palestro 20 in Milan, where his company had its offices. He had walked there from his home on Corso Venezia. A man fired four times at him, wounded the doorman Giuseppe Onorato and fled in a green Renault Clio driven by an accomplice. Two years earlier, in 1993, Gucci had sold his last shares in the family company to the investment fund Investcorp.
The investigation went through business dealings, debts and the victim's relatives and took almost two years. The breakthrough came from a police informant, who said that the hotel porter Ivano Savioni had been boasting of taking part in the crime. Wiretaps revealed the plan, and on January 30 and 31, 1997, Savioni, the driver Orazio Cicala, the gunman Benedetto Ceraulo, the fortune-teller Giuseppina "Pina" Auriemma and the victim's ex-wife, Patrizia Reggiani, were arrested; according to the prosecution, Reggiani commissioned and paid for the murder through her friend Auriemma. On the day of the crime, Reggiani had written a single Greek word in her diary: "Paradeisos", paradise.
Sources
In the game
Marble Steps
Milan, Monday, March 27, 1995, 11 am. At 8:30 am, Lorenzo Brancati, 46, heir to the Brancati fashion house, was shot four times on the marble steps of his office building.
The trial began in May 1998, and on November 3 of that year Reggiani was sentenced to 29 years in prison (reduced to 26 on appeal); Ceraulo received a life sentence, and Cicala, Savioni and Auriemma were also convicted. Reggiani always denied having had her ex-husband killed and left prison in October 2016, after 18 years. The story inspired books and the 2021 film "House of Gucci".
