The scion of the Gucci leather goods and shion dynasty was shot dead outsidGuccie his downtown Milan office this morning by a well-dressed gunman using a silencer pistol, the police said.
Gunman Kills Gucci Heir And Escapes,Maurizio Gucci, who two years ago sold out his 50 percent share of the mily empire, was shot twice from behind, and then twice in the ce at close range. His assailant, described as being in his 40s and dressed in a beige jacket and tie, also wounded the buildings doorman before jumping into a waiting car.
Unable to find the car or the gunman,59fifty the Milan police offered no clues on the killing, which they described as the work of a professional. A spokeswoman for the Gucci company, now owned by Investcorp, said today that the death of the 45-year-old Mr. Gucci was a blow, but she stressed that relations between him and the company ended in 1993.
I cannot imagine who would commit such an inhumane act, said Vittorio DAiello,Fitted hats Mr. Guccis lawyer. The dynamic of the homicide is typical of a settling of accounts for which I can find no explanation.
In his last years as head of the company, Mr. Gucci dragged the business through a tangle of lawsuits and bitter feuds, first with mily members and later with business associates.
In 1993 Monster Energy Hats, he surrendered all management and supervisory functions to Investcorp, an Arab investment group, which had already bought up shares belonging to other mily members in 1987. That deal was reported to have cost Investcorp, which also owns stakes in Chaumet of Paris and Saks Fifth Avenue, between $160 and $170 million.
Mr. Gucci was the grandson of Guccio Gucci, a former waiter at Londons Savoy Hotel, who started out in the leather trade with a saddlers shop in his native Florence. His son,fitted caps Aldo Gucci, went on to build the mily business into a flagship of Italian craftsmanship and style, to the point where its red and green stripe and interlocking double-G logo on shoes, handbags and luggage became an emblem of the international jet set.
The Gucci dynasty was to collapse in the third generation, as Maurizio and his cousin Paolo battled for control of the company in feuds so well-publicized that they were soon dubbed Italys modern-day Borgias. Paolo Gucci once traced the bad blood back to the companys founder. Grandther would play his sons off against each other whenever he could to show they had blood in their veins dc hats, he was quoted as saying.
Maurizio Guccio, who had inherited the half share of his ther, Rudolpho, in the company in 1983 rosetta stone spanish, was known for his free-spending ways, with homes in New York, Connecticut, Rome, Milan and in St. Moritz, Switzerland, his last official residence. He was also the owner of a world-class schooner that had belonged to Stavros Niarchos, the Greek shipping magnate, on which he reportedly spent $6 million.
