Latest / Who Did What Now With Katie Charlwood / 32 - The Fall of the House of Gucci
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: You're listening to an airwave media podcast. Hi everybody, and
- 0:18Speaker 1: welcome back to Who Did Want Now? The history podcast
- 0:20Speaker 1: that's not your history class with me. You're You're Divergent
- 0:24Speaker 1: host Kertie Charlwood, true crime enthusiast and reader of books.
- 0:29Speaker 1: I am currently in the sitting room next to a
- 0:32Speaker 1: beautiful wood burning stove. I say, beautiful. I need it
- 0:37Speaker 1: to heat the house. It'll be cold. I won't have
- 0:38Speaker 1: hot water if I don't heat it up. So heat
- 0:43Speaker 1: the water so I can have a bath later, or
- 0:45Speaker 1: maybe a shower. Maybe I'll set over it. No, I'll
- 0:48Speaker 1: have a bath because I love a bath. Hi, look
- 0:52Speaker 1: at this, Look at me? Back to a regular schedule. Yeah,
- 0:56Speaker 1: sorry about that. Everything just kind of happened at once,
- 0:59Speaker 1: and I still isn't well enough to record. But it's
- 1:02Speaker 1: finding back. I'm back. It's all good. So I'm currently
- 1:04Speaker 1: sitting here with a cup of tea in a Winnie
- 1:07Speaker 1: the pul mug because I'm an adult who makes their
- 1:09Speaker 1: own life choices, and I have come to a conclusion.
- 1:13Speaker 1: You know how some people say, if they ever go
- 1:15Speaker 1: like missing or they're murdered, get two white women with
- 1:19Speaker 1: a true crime podcast, because they'll solve it. See that.
- 1:22Speaker 1: I don't think that's the best way to go. I
- 1:25Speaker 1: want swifties. I want Taylor Swift fans because they can
- 1:29Speaker 1: comb through years and years of footage looking for evidence
- 1:35Speaker 1: and making connections and finding patterns that no one else
- 1:39Speaker 1: would notice. If you need an investigator, you get a
- 1:42Speaker 1: Swifty like absolutely one hundred percent. And yet news it
- 1:47Speaker 1: was an interesting week because like three eras of Blonde
- 1:51Speaker 1: like kind of had their moment. So Paris Hilton got married.
- 1:55Speaker 1: Go Paris. Absolutely, we're here for that. Fucking love Paris Hilton. Then,
- 2:00Speaker 1: of course, Brittany is free, and Taylor Swift released Taylor's
- 2:08Speaker 1: version of Red, which I swear I think almost broke
- 2:12Speaker 1: the Internet. But let's reverse back to the Brittany thing
- 2:15Speaker 1: for a second. So we're all very excited and very
- 2:17Speaker 1: happy that, And I'm saying this more so for my
- 2:21Speaker 1: followers that were actually from like the US, because it's
- 2:24Speaker 1: all fund and well to be like, super happy for
- 2:26Speaker 1: Brittany for being free of this incredibly violating conservatorship. But
- 2:33Speaker 1: we need to support your average disabled person who has
- 2:37Speaker 1: their autonomy ripped away from them in the manner that
- 2:40Speaker 1: Brittany did. They need your voice and your support and
- 2:43Speaker 1: your awareness as well.
- 2:45Speaker 2: Was it.
- 2:46Speaker 1: One of my friends said to me, like, I hope
- 2:47Speaker 1: Brittany's get sued, like hope she suits them, And I'm
- 2:51Speaker 1: like yeah, but also I would very much like her
- 2:54Speaker 1: to hire a forensic accountant to follow the money to
- 2:58Speaker 1: see exactly human is just swindle and steal from her.
- 3:02Speaker 1: But HURRII to the blondes huszah oh and in our
- 3:07Speaker 1: news it's my birthday this week. Yeah, one year older
- 3:13Speaker 1: and one year closer to death, which is when I
- 3:16Speaker 1: put on my brother's birthday card every single year, and
- 3:20Speaker 1: yet he still speaks to me. I don't know why.
- 3:23Speaker 1: So I managed to get like a flight around trip
- 3:26Speaker 1: to Scotland and back for twenty three euro and ninety
- 3:31Speaker 1: eight cents granted, my carry on luggage is a thirty
- 3:34Speaker 1: eight centimeter long backpack which I have Marie Condo packed
- 3:39Speaker 1: the shit out of. I mean, they are going to
- 3:41Speaker 1: be Marines who are like, you did a good job
- 3:44Speaker 1: back in that bag, kitty, and I'm like, yeah, I did. Like.
- 3:47Speaker 1: The only thing I know I packed too much of
- 3:49Speaker 1: is underwear. But I just don't like the possibility of
- 3:52Speaker 1: not having enough knickerls that's just how it is. My
- 3:56Speaker 1: funds are not great. So basically I have penny pinched
- 4:01Speaker 1: and picked the cheapest possible travel options, which does involve
- 4:06Speaker 1: me having to get a two am bus zero out
- 4:09Speaker 1: of ten would not recommend, but I'm doing it. And honestly,
- 4:13Speaker 1: I'm really looking forward to my birthday for the first time,
- 4:15Speaker 1: like a really long time, probably a decade. Pay balf day,
- 4:20Speaker 1: pay a birth day. I know some people were asking
- 4:23Speaker 1: about sending cards and gifts and stuff if you really
- 4:28Speaker 1: want to. The fan mail address are listed in the
- 4:31Speaker 1: show notes down below, and if you go into any
- 4:34Speaker 1: of my social media, it'll have my beacons page, which
- 4:37Speaker 1: will have like my Amazon wish list, my PayPal, my Revelue,
- 4:42Speaker 1: all that kind of stuff, my coffee if you really,
- 4:44Speaker 1: if you really want to, I won't say no. It's
- 4:49Speaker 1: such a perfect day. I'm glad to spany with you.
- 4:55Speaker 1: But I know what you're thinking. You're thinking quite your
- 4:57Speaker 1: chipper jabber in fact me, in fact you I well
- 5:00Speaker 1: that first we got to get our source on as
- 5:02Speaker 1: we were talking about Patrizia Reggiane and the House of Gucci.
- 5:08Speaker 1: First of all, we have, of course the book that
- 5:12Speaker 1: the film is based Off of the House of Gucci.
- 5:15Speaker 1: A sensational story of murder, madness, glamour and greed by
- 5:20Speaker 1: Sarah G. Forden. Little Book of Guccie, The Story of
- 5:23Speaker 1: the iconic fashion House by Karen Homer. In the Name
- 5:27Speaker 1: of Guccie, a memoir by Patricia Gucci, The Guccie Wife
- 5:31Speaker 1: and The hit Man, Fashion's Darkest Tale by Abigail Haveorth.
- 5:36Speaker 1: And of course we have articles from The Guardian, The
- 5:38Speaker 1: Times and the Telegraph. So are you ready? Let's begin.
- 5:44Speaker 1: So part of me really wanted to talk about this
- 5:46Speaker 1: story for a couple of reasons, you know, because I
- 5:49Speaker 1: love many things in this world, including very important parts
- 5:54Speaker 1: of this story which involve true crime, empowered women, and
- 5:58Speaker 1: many words that I will struggle to pronounce. So any
- 6:02Speaker 1: excuse to try saying things in an Italian accent and
- 6:06Speaker 1: failing that sertably. And I'm fairly certain I only know
- 6:09Speaker 1: two words in Italian, the first of which to be
- 6:12Speaker 1: in bon journal, which is hello, and the other one
- 6:15Speaker 1: being frankle bali, which is a stamp, like a postage stamp.
- 6:19Speaker 1: And you're thinking, Katie, why are the only two words
- 6:22Speaker 1: you know hello and postage stamp? First of all, you
- 6:26Speaker 1: learn hello in most languages briviot, ja, ditch, et cetera,
- 6:32Speaker 1: et cetera. And the reason I know francle bally that
- 6:34Speaker 1: means postage stamp is because I used to work in
- 6:36Speaker 1: a souvenir store in Amsterdam and I had two very
- 6:40Speaker 1: confused Italian tourists who could only speak Italian, and it
- 6:44Speaker 1: took me and another girl, honestly, about eight minutes to
- 6:47Speaker 1: figure out what they were trying to tell us, because
- 6:50Speaker 1: she was German, I was this, and neither one of
- 6:53Speaker 1: us spoke Italian, and the Italians did not speak English
- 6:56Speaker 1: or German, or Irish or French. But we got there
- 6:59Speaker 1: in the end after a game of charades, and that's
- 7:03Speaker 1: the important thing. So let's start from the beginning, shall we.
- 7:06Speaker 1: The Gucci family have vehemently stated their roots are deeply
- 7:12Speaker 1: entwined in that of the city of Florence, Italy, from
- 7:16Speaker 1: like before the Renaissance, So we are talking fourteen ten.
- 7:20Speaker 1: This is pre but the creation of the dynasty actually
- 7:24Speaker 1: starts in eighteen ninety seven, when oh, I'm gonna have
- 7:29Speaker 1: so much fun with his name. Guccio Gio vanm Bardista Giacinto,
- 7:34Speaker 1: Dario Maria Goggi, I think I've got that right, otherwise
- 7:38Speaker 1: known as Guccio Gucci, that's right. He leaves Florence, stops
- 7:43Speaker 1: off in Paris for a bit and then ends up
- 7:46Speaker 1: in London where he's working at the Savoy Hotel, and
- 7:49Speaker 1: he's a wee bell hop being the person who lugs
- 7:52Speaker 1: around everyone's luggage. He keeps his eyes and ears open.
- 7:56Speaker 1: He's paying attention to fashion and fabrics and and travel
- 8:02Speaker 1: and like upscale travel. Because after that he ends up
- 8:06Speaker 1: with a compagny wag on the basically a rail company
- 8:09Speaker 1: in Europe, which is just like travel for the rich folk,
- 8:13Speaker 1: you know what I mean. After World War One, he
- 8:15Speaker 1: ends up working for the luggage maker Frenzy. By nineteen
- 8:19Speaker 1: twenty one, Guccio Gucci buys his own shop on seven
- 8:24Speaker 1: Via der Ravinia and Lueva in Florence at the end
- 8:27Speaker 1: Indvidi Gotiogucci, and he basically sells imported leather luggage, but
- 8:32Speaker 1: not content onjust like selling imported goods. He opens up
- 8:35Speaker 1: a wee workshop in the back and he gets local
- 8:38Speaker 1: craftsman to make his own leather goods, and like he
- 8:41Speaker 1: is killing it in the leather crafting business because he's
- 8:44Speaker 1: got sixty artisans who at this point cannot fit in
- 8:47Speaker 1: the back workshop and he has to expand and move
- 8:50Speaker 1: into a bigger workshop. Unfortunately for Guccio Gucci, Mussolini the
- 8:54Speaker 1: arsehole decides to invade Ethiopia, thus resulting in a trading
- 8:58Speaker 1: bargo with Italy. Basically, there's not a lot of leather
- 9:02Speaker 1: going around. He's got to think outside the box. They're
- 9:05Speaker 1: basically using everything they can get their hands on, wicker wood, raffia, linen, jute,
- 9:11Speaker 1: even jute. You know what jude is. It is the
- 9:14Speaker 1: stuff that sacks are made off potato sacks. You know
- 9:17Speaker 1: when they say you look good in a potato sack.
- 9:19Speaker 1: If Guccio Gucci was involved apparently so by nineteen thirty seven,
- 9:24Speaker 1: Guccio launches handbags. Gucci was very much a family business,
- 9:29Speaker 1: as most businesses were back in the day, so Guccio
- 9:32Speaker 1: had his wife and all his kids working in the shop,
- 9:35Speaker 1: and his son Aldo by nineteen thirty eight, convinces Gucchio
- 9:41Speaker 1: to like open up another shop in Rome and to
- 9:44Speaker 1: start making like more Gucci accessories, so like gloves, belts, kichins, wallets, YadA, YadA, YadA,
- 9:50Speaker 1: but like during World War Two, they were creating less
- 9:54Speaker 1: luxury items and we're actually making boots for the Italian infantry. Yeah,
- 10:01Speaker 1: I'm not sure how I feel about that, but all right.
- 10:05Speaker 1: So after the war and Guccio Gucci's like, I'm done,
- 10:09Speaker 1: I've made my money. I'm going to go relax now,
- 10:11Speaker 1: I'm going to retire and chill out. And so he
- 10:14Speaker 1: distributes the shares of the company to his three sons, Aldo,
- 10:18Speaker 1: Vasco and Rodolfo and from there on then so the
- 10:23Speaker 1: brand launches its first global tagline, Quality is Remembered long
- 10:29Speaker 1: after price is forgotten, and Guccio Gucci passes away in
- 10:34Speaker 1: Milan on the second of January nineteen fifty three. Ten
- 10:38Speaker 1: months later, the very first Gucci store opens in the
- 10:42Speaker 1: United States, and throughout the sixties and seventies, you know
- 10:45Speaker 1: when they're making stuff for people like Jackie Kennedy and
- 10:49Speaker 1: Grace Kelly, like they're opening stores in Tokyo and la
- 10:54Speaker 1: and London. They're just everywhere. So Gucci has become this
- 10:59Speaker 1: international global luxury brand, the brand of movie stars and
- 11:06Speaker 1: princesses and first ladies. It is the thing. And now
- 11:13Speaker 1: that we know all about good sh let's get into
- 11:17Speaker 1: the main character of every story.
- 11:18Speaker 3: Patricia Patricia Reggiana Martinelli was born in Vignola in the
- 11:24Speaker 3: province of Modena, which is like Northernally, on the second
- 11:28Speaker 3: of December nineteen forty eight.
- 11:30Speaker 1: Her mother was a single parent, and Patricia never knew
- 11:34Speaker 1: who her biological father was, so when she was growing up, Patricia,
- 11:39Speaker 1: she grew up dirt poor. The girl knew poverty. When
- 11:43Speaker 1: she's about twelve years old, her mom marries this entrepreneur
- 11:48Speaker 1: Fdnando Reggiani, who basically made his money in trucking, so
- 11:53Speaker 1: he was he was new money. And he also wasn't
- 11:55Speaker 1: really part of like high society or anything like that,
- 11:58Speaker 1: because you know, he worked for his money anyway. At
- 12:01Speaker 1: one point he ends up adopting Patricia and basically raises
- 12:06Speaker 1: her as his own, and very quickly Patricia becomes accustomed
- 12:10Speaker 1: to very fine things, from mink fur coat to jewels
- 12:16Speaker 1: and other such beautiful finery. She liked it, She really
- 12:21Speaker 1: did like it, and she didn't hide the fact that
- 12:24Speaker 1: she liked nice things like She is known as saying
- 12:27Speaker 1: I would rather weep in a rolls Royce than be
- 12:30Speaker 1: happy on a bicycle, which is fair enough, each to
- 12:35Speaker 1: their own. The next exciting member in this story is
- 12:39Speaker 1: Marizio Gucci. Marizio Gucci. He was born in Florence on
- 12:44Speaker 1: the twenty sixth of September nineteen forty eight, and he's
- 12:47Speaker 1: the only son of Rodolfo Gucci and Sandra ravel So.
- 12:52Speaker 1: Rodolfo and Sandra, they were both actors in the movie
- 12:56Speaker 1: Biz Like. His parents actually met on the set of
- 12:58Speaker 1: a movie together in the Dark. Marizio he's the only
- 13:02Speaker 1: son of these two, and his mother dies when he's
- 13:06Speaker 1: five years old from uterine cancer, and his dad becomes
- 13:12Speaker 1: incredibly protective of him. So in nineteen seventy there's a
- 13:18Speaker 1: high society party in Milan and Maritzio and Patricia their
- 13:24Speaker 1: eyes luck across. I don't know a dance floor, I
- 13:27Speaker 1: don't know some more devs hymns to say, but they
- 13:30Speaker 1: see each other and they're like, damn, Marizzio, he's you know,
- 13:35Speaker 1: he's from Florence. He doesn't really know anybody. He's kind
- 13:39Speaker 1: of shy again because his dad was so overprotective of him.
- 13:43Speaker 1: And unlike the you know, the typical socialites of the time,
- 13:46Speaker 1: Patricia was strong, world exciting, you know, not the wilting
- 13:53Speaker 1: wallflower or like the trophy wife so she's you know,
- 13:56Speaker 1: she's got a good few suitors. People are really interested
- 13:59Speaker 1: in her. At this point, Maurrizzio he sees her and
- 14:01Speaker 1: he's like, she looks like Elizabeth Taylor. Who is she?
- 14:05Speaker 1: I need to know her? So he chases her and
- 14:08Speaker 1: they start saying each other. When they're both like twenty
- 14:11Speaker 1: four ish, they get married in nineteen seventy two. Here's
- 14:16Speaker 1: the thing, Rodolpho, he wasn't super happy about this union,
- 14:23Speaker 1: shall we say. He was quoted as saying that Petrizio
- 14:26Speaker 1: was a social climber who has nothing in mind but money. Effectively,
- 14:30Speaker 1: he was calling her a gold digger. Yeah, and but
- 14:34Speaker 1: that doesn't stop him from gifting his son and daughter
- 14:37Speaker 1: in law a luxury penthouse in New York's Olympic Tower.
- 14:42Speaker 1: So when they move to New York, they are the
- 14:44Speaker 1: it crowd. They are mingling with the who's who of
- 14:48Speaker 1: New York society. The celebrities of the time, I mean
- 14:51Speaker 1: themselves were probably seen as the celebrities of the time.
- 14:54Speaker 1: Marizzio had always felt kind of confined by the overprotectingness
- 14:58Speaker 1: of his father and his constrictive upbringing and the rules
- 15:02Speaker 1: of who he was supposed to be is part of,
- 15:05Speaker 1: you know, the Gucci hierarchy. And when he meets and
- 15:07Speaker 1: marries and lives with Patricia, he's free, like he gets
- 15:11Speaker 1: to live his life and be himself. Rodolfo, he does
- 15:16Speaker 1: sort of meil about a wee bit when Maurizio and
- 15:20Speaker 1: Patricia's first daughter is born, Alessandra, and he ends up
- 15:25Speaker 1: buying the couple like a bunch of properties here and
- 15:28Speaker 1: there and everywhere, and they really were living their best lives.
- 15:32Speaker 1: When their next kid is brought a liegra, Marizzio buys
- 15:36Speaker 1: a sixty four meter wood yacht called the Creole, which
- 15:39Speaker 1: they would use to travel to private islands. So not
- 15:43Speaker 1: only did they have the Pennhouse.
- 15:44Speaker 2: In New York, they had private islands, a holiday home
- 15:48Speaker 2: in al Capulco, a farm in Connecticut, and Ascacie in
- 15:53Speaker 2: Saint Maurits like what And you know, as far as
- 15:58Speaker 2: they're concerned, everything's.
- 15:59Speaker 1: Coming up melhouse. And while he is doing whatever, he's
- 16:04Speaker 1: hanging about in their Chaufford car, sailing their bow or
- 16:08Speaker 1: being involved in business stuff. But more importantly than you know,
- 16:11Speaker 1: their relationship, Patrizia becomes the advisor from Marizio. She was
- 16:17Speaker 1: basically his business advisor. When push came to shove, like
- 16:22Speaker 1: she was the brains behind the operation. She was the
- 16:24Speaker 1: one keeping at a fault. She was the run trying
- 16:26Speaker 1: to rejuvenate and regenerate and keep Gucci at the forefront.
- 16:30Speaker 1: But then the shit hits the fan. Uh. In nineteen
- 16:34Speaker 1: eighty three, Ridolfo dies and Marizzio he inherits his father's
- 16:40Speaker 1: majority staking Gucci. He's kept fifty percent. And basically Marizzio
- 16:45Speaker 1: was mad that Gucci wasn't the high level prestige brand
- 16:51Speaker 1: it once was, you know, because it was mass producing
- 16:54Speaker 1: this and over licen, saying that he wanted to go
- 16:57Speaker 1: back to the exquisite craftsmanship the come he was built upon. Cool,
- 17:02Speaker 1: but you'll make less money that way, but all right,
- 17:05Speaker 1: And because he wanted everything to be the best of
- 17:07Speaker 1: the best, he was micro managing and mismanaging. He wasn't
- 17:10Speaker 1: listening to Patricia anymore. And he was constantly fearing with
- 17:14Speaker 1: his uncle and his cousins, who basically jointly owned the
- 17:18Speaker 1: other half. So he's fighting them for years, years and years.
- 17:25Speaker 1: So not only that, he's actually spending a fuck ton
- 17:28Speaker 1: of money, like redoing sort of the Gucci offices in
- 17:31Speaker 1: Milan and New York. He's just he's hemorrhaging money. So Patricia,
- 17:35Speaker 1: she was his right hand man effectively, so she helped
- 17:39Speaker 1: him for a takeover of the Gucci fashion house. And
- 17:42Speaker 1: so while he's fighting with his uncle and his cousins,
- 17:45Speaker 1: he's actually assisted at one point, right, Rudy Giuliani. That's right,
- 17:50Speaker 1: the same guy who was helping Trump, that motherfucker. Anyway,
- 17:54Speaker 1: So by the mid eighties, you know, things are going bad.
- 17:58Speaker 1: He manages to buy out, you know, the rest of
- 18:01Speaker 1: the Gucci fam with the help of an investment group
- 18:04Speaker 1: called Investcorp, which is Roon Seal Diamond Coat does exactly
- 18:07Speaker 1: what it says in the tin, but effectively their marriage
- 18:11Speaker 1: just disintegrates. And one night he leaves to go on
- 18:15Speaker 1: a business trip. I heard, okay, so it was either
- 18:19Speaker 1: nineteen eighty four or nineteen eighty five. I have looked
- 18:22Speaker 1: this up many, many times, and everywhere I look it's
- 18:26Speaker 1: a different date. It is either eighty four or eighty five.
- 18:30Speaker 1: It is one of those, which one I have no
- 18:33Speaker 1: fucking clue, but that's what it is. So Maritzio, he
- 18:36Speaker 1: packs an overnight bag and he gets the fuck at
- 18:39Speaker 1: a dodge and the next day Maritzio gets one of
- 18:43Speaker 1: his friends to go visit Patricia and inform her that
- 18:47Speaker 1: he was leaving her for another woman and their marriage
- 18:49Speaker 1: was over. No, not cool, so without Patricia's guidance, But
- 18:57Speaker 1: you know, when it came to the business, Patrici, I
- 19:00Speaker 1: was right, Marizzio. He just wasn't making enough money to
- 19:04Speaker 1: pay for the stuff he wanted to do, and even
- 19:06Speaker 1: his personal fortune was was slowly but surely being eviscerated,
- 19:13Speaker 1: which forced his hand, meaning that he had to sell
- 19:16Speaker 1: Gucci to Invest Corp. For one hundred and twenty million
- 19:19Speaker 1: dollars in ninety three. I think it was at some
- 19:22Speaker 1: point during this Marizio he divorces Patricia, and initially his
- 19:28Speaker 1: lawyers offer her a two and a half million dollar
- 19:32Speaker 1: divorce settlement with an additional six hundred and fifty thousand
- 19:37Speaker 1: you know, sort of spousal support thing. Per Anam, she
- 19:41Speaker 1: called the divorce settlement a mirror bowl of lentils. So
- 19:46Speaker 1: Marizzio he's moved in with the blonde Paola franc and
- 19:51Speaker 1: they're planning on getting married. Patricia is like, fuck this
- 19:55Speaker 1: for a game of soldiers and decides to do something
- 19:59Speaker 1: about it because she's wor that you know, Paula and
- 20:02Speaker 1: Marizio are going to get married, and they're gonna have kids,
- 20:06Speaker 1: which would then disinherit her daughters, and it'll be your
- 20:09Speaker 1: whole fucking thing. And also, she really didn't want another
- 20:12Speaker 1: person to be the next Missus Marizio Gucci because as
- 20:15Speaker 1: far as she was concerned, that was her fucking title.
- 20:18Speaker 1: She earned it and she was keeping it. She had
- 20:21Speaker 1: grown accustomed to a certain way of living and she
- 20:24Speaker 1: was not going to descend from that. And this is
- 20:27Speaker 1: where things get weird. So Patricia is the brain. There
- 20:30Speaker 1: is a braun involved in this, but there's also an
- 20:33Speaker 1: astrologer slash psychic. Sometimes you hear a story and you're like, no, no,
- 20:38Speaker 1: this is definitely made up. But no, there's a fucking psychic.
- 20:41Speaker 1: Marizzio and Patricia both had personal psychics, which they used
- 20:47Speaker 1: to have a battle of psychics, like they were trying
- 20:51Speaker 1: to get the juju of each other or something. I don't,
- 20:54Speaker 1: I don't what. Rich people are really fucking weird. It's
- 20:59Speaker 1: all I'm saying. Once you get money, it makes you
- 21:02Speaker 1: do lally, which makes me really comfortable because if I
- 21:04Speaker 1: ever get rich, I am just gonna I'm gonna walk
- 21:06Speaker 1: around like Bjork. I'm gonna be like such a weirdo,
- 21:09Speaker 1: but you know, a socially acceptably weirdo and eccentric, some
- 21:13Speaker 1: might say. But anyway, So Paula Franchie, she is like
- 21:18Speaker 1: freaking the fuck out because she is convinced that that
- 21:23Speaker 1: Patricia is spying on them, Like because Patricia somehow knows
- 21:28Speaker 1: everything about everyone and all their business dealings and who
- 21:31Speaker 1: they're meeting and where they're traveling, and she's constantly phoning
- 21:35Speaker 1: and leaving like abusive, threatening, harassing messages. So like there
- 21:41Speaker 1: were physical cassettes with like her threatening to kill him,
- 21:45Speaker 1: you know, which, as evidence goes, it kind of kind
- 21:48Speaker 1: of damning. Some might say. So Paula is like seriously married, CEO,
- 21:53Speaker 1: you need to get a fucking bodyguard because she is
- 21:56Speaker 1: Coco Bananas and she's coming for you. And what I'd
- 21:59Speaker 1: say is like, nah, she's just a woman, and you
- 22:01Speaker 1: know we've got kids. She's not going to do anything
- 22:03Speaker 1: to me, Like nah, But Patricia wasn't really into hollow threats.
- 22:08Speaker 1: On the twenty seventh of March nineteen ninety five, at
- 22:12Speaker 1: about half eight in the morning, the dorman of the
- 22:16Speaker 1: Via Ballestero Rovente, where Marizio had his private office, was
- 22:21Speaker 1: outside sweeping some leaves. Marizzio walks in, saying good morning
- 22:26Speaker 1: to the dorman as he stepped in magazines in his hands,
- 22:29Speaker 1: and then Amrizzio was shot four times from behind, three
- 22:34Speaker 1: shots in the back and one in his head. Giseppe Honorado,
- 22:37Speaker 1: the dorman, he was shot in the arm, and as
- 22:41Speaker 1: Marizio is dying on the office steps, and as the
- 22:44Speaker 1: killer flees, Giuseppe crawls towards Marizzio and holds him in
- 22:49Speaker 1: his arms as he passes away. So, yeah, the day
- 22:53Speaker 1: after the murder, Paulo Franci and her son Charlie, who
- 22:57Speaker 1: from her previous marriage, it was like eleven they had
- 23:00Speaker 1: received an eviction notice from Patricia and what's colored and
- 23:06Speaker 1: cool ice called. The eviction papers were notarized less than
- 23:10Speaker 1: three hours after Marizio was murdered, because at the time,
- 23:14Speaker 1: like if you weren't married, if you were just cohavitating,
- 23:16Speaker 1: you had like no rights. You were out in the street.
- 23:18Speaker 1: Tough fucking luck. So Paula and Charlie they move out
- 23:22Speaker 1: of the Corso Vnezzia apartment and when they're out Patricia
- 23:26Speaker 1: moves back in with her two daughters and they basically
- 23:29Speaker 1: live in this like luxury apartment for two years until
- 23:34Speaker 1: an anonymous tip comes into the police because a night
- 23:37Speaker 1: portman is boasting about being the person who assassinated Mauritzio
- 23:44Speaker 1: Gucci because clearly he is not the sharpest knife and
- 23:47Speaker 1: the cutlery drawer. So the police launched this sting operation
- 23:52Speaker 1: to basically catch Patricia and her four accomplices. So there's
- 23:59Speaker 1: Pina Oriema, who is the astrologer slash psychic. She literally
- 24:06Speaker 1: so okay, I have to pause for a second and
- 24:08Speaker 1: tell you about this woman, about this bit right here.
- 24:11Speaker 1: So she referred to herself as Ridiani's clairvoyant friend, a
- 24:17Speaker 1: self styled sorcerer, and a high society psychic. So basically
- 24:23Speaker 1: they arrange it so that they get the psychic, the
- 24:26Speaker 1: friend of the psychic who set up the hit man,
- 24:28Speaker 1: the hit man himself, and the getaway driver to discuss
- 24:33Speaker 1: the whole you know, murdering of a man on wire
- 24:36Speaker 1: tapped phones, and they fucking succeed evidence wise. They have
- 24:41Speaker 1: this discussion of the assassination on wire tapped phones gathered
- 24:46Speaker 1: by the police. They have a Cartier diary taken from
- 24:51Speaker 1: Patricia's home, which on the day of Marizzio's death, had
- 24:56Speaker 1: only the word paradesos, which is the Greek word for paradise.
- 25:01Speaker 1: Now that I'm sorry about that in itself personally is circumstantial.
- 25:04Speaker 1: Everything else, Okay, talking about the murder on the phone
- 25:07Speaker 1: to other people, granted, acceptable, But writing paradise the day
- 25:11Speaker 1: that your ex husband is murdered, when he's about to
- 25:14Speaker 1: marry another woman and destroy your legacy, egg I can
- 25:18Speaker 1: I get it? I get that bit. So they've got that,
- 25:21Speaker 1: and they've also got like the many many cassettes of
- 25:26Speaker 1: her talking about how much she wants to murder Marizio.
- 25:31Speaker 1: Oh yeah. Also in addition, furthermore, Patricia was talking about
- 25:36Speaker 1: writing some sort of biography, a sort of a tell
- 25:39Speaker 1: all about you know, Gucci, and it would tell all
- 25:42Speaker 1: their little secrets and things like that, and how it
- 25:45Speaker 1: would have all these like skeletons in the closet that
- 25:47Speaker 1: would absolutely destroy the house of Gucci. But anyway, the
- 25:51Speaker 1: trial absolutely fucking nuts. The psychic Pina Oriema confesses to
- 25:58Speaker 1: organizing the murder along with Patricia. Her friend Ivano Savioni,
- 26:04Speaker 1: was the hotel night porter who had boasted about the killing,
- 26:08Speaker 1: and he was the guy who had actually hired Benedetto
- 26:10Speaker 1: Sirolo the hit man, and Orazzio Cigala, the getaway driver.
- 26:16Speaker 1: So everybody apart from the hit man, but Benedetto confesses,
- 26:21Speaker 1: they're like, yep, I was involved. Shit, fuck I did it.
- 26:24Speaker 1: Shit you know in court, Patricia is like, right, okay,
- 26:29Speaker 1: I'm innocent. I did want him dead, but I didn't
- 26:32Speaker 1: do it. I wasn't involved in this. This was just
- 26:34Speaker 1: a crazy, random happenstance. She denies the whole thing, but
- 26:39Speaker 1: she admits to paying the psychic, but two hundred thousand quid,
- 26:42Speaker 1: but not for assisting her in an assassination. Oh no, no,
- 26:46Speaker 1: it was because the psychic had organized the hit and
- 26:49Speaker 1: had claimed that she was going to frame Patricia for
- 26:53Speaker 1: it if she didn't pay her, which honestly not not
- 26:56Speaker 1: the best defense in the world. Doesn't help that she
- 26:59Speaker 1: said that it was worth every lera good job there, Pezia,
- 27:03Speaker 1: are not digging your own home. And also she admits
- 27:06Speaker 1: to like asking her friends how much a hip man
- 27:08Speaker 1: would cost, you know, on a casual dinner party chat
- 27:11Speaker 1: and not in a I'm actually planning to murder my
- 27:14Speaker 1: ex husband kind of way. Her lawyers are like desperately
- 27:21Speaker 1: trying to like not get her convicted for murder. They're
- 27:24Speaker 1: trying to blame the fact that she had a brain
- 27:27Speaker 1: tumor removed in like ninety two, saying that this affected
- 27:30Speaker 1: her personality and sort of made her you know, non
- 27:33Speaker 1: compassmentus for you know, the crime. But the court's like,
- 27:38Speaker 1: uh ah, she's fine. So all five get convicted. Every
- 27:42Speaker 1: single one of them is found guilty. Done, Bye bye,
- 27:47Speaker 1: off you go. So Patricia, she goes. She goes to prison.
- 27:52Speaker 1: In nineteen ninety seven, Patricia was sentenced to twenty nine years,
- 27:56Speaker 1: and this gets reduced to like twenty six years, and
- 27:59Speaker 1: sometime in the not the prison allows her to have
- 28:02Speaker 1: a pet ferret to stay with her. Oh okay, cool,
- 28:07Speaker 1: because that's a fun pet and not at all terrifying.
- 28:11Speaker 1: Have you ever met a ferret? Ferrets are scary. If
- 28:14Speaker 1: she back a ferret into her corner, it's gonna kill you.
- 28:16Speaker 1: Maybe that's why she likes it, because it's like a
- 28:18Speaker 1: kindred spirit. Anyway. By twenty eleven, she becomes eligible for
- 28:23Speaker 1: parole under like this work release program, and Patricia refuses, saying,
- 28:29Speaker 1: I have never worked a day in my life, and
- 28:31Speaker 1: I'm certainly not going does start. Now that was a really,
- 28:34Speaker 1: really bad Italian accent, but you get the gist. She
- 28:37Speaker 1: ends up getting out in twenty sixteen for good behavior
- 28:41Speaker 1: after serving eighteen years out of what was originally a
- 28:44Speaker 1: twenty nine year prison sentence. So under the roles of
- 28:48Speaker 1: her parole, she's currently living in Milan. She's working for
- 28:52Speaker 1: this Costumes of the Way place, and she goes around
- 28:56Speaker 1: shopping with her pet macaw on her shoulder, called bot.
- 29:00Speaker 1: Some people say it's a pro it's amicall. Currently, Alessandra
- 29:05Speaker 1: and Allegra they both live in Switzerland enjoying the fucking
- 29:09Speaker 1: massive fortune they got off their dad and they cut
- 29:14Speaker 1: off their mum financially, which you know is fair enough
- 29:17Speaker 1: considering she organized the murderer of your father. But he So,
- 29:21Speaker 1: Patricia was asked about, you know, the House of Gucci
- 29:24Speaker 1: maybe coming up, and what she's mad about is the
- 29:29Speaker 1: fact that Lady Gaga did not come and visit her
- 29:34Speaker 1: before performing before playing her. She was like, it's just rude.
- 29:38Speaker 1: She should have met me. I kind of get her point.
- 29:41Speaker 1: I feel like I shouldn't, but I kind of get
- 29:44Speaker 1: her point. I don't support murderer, but I do support
- 29:47Speaker 1: female empowerment. Oh and Patricia, she's legally not allowed to
- 29:52Speaker 1: use the surname Gucci anymore, although she maintains she's more
- 29:55Speaker 1: Gucci than Gucchier. So she is back to being Patricia.
- 30:00Speaker 1: But what else will happen in her future? Nobody knows
- 30:04Speaker 1: him's to say, and so ends our story Patrizia Reggiane
- 30:09Speaker 1: and the House of Gucci. Jesus, I just remember something.
- 30:13Speaker 1: When they asked Patricia, I'm like, why she didn't just
- 30:17Speaker 1: end Marizio herself? She responded with my I said, isn't
- 30:22Speaker 1: so good? I would hate to miss. So what did
- 30:26Speaker 1: we learn today? Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.
- 30:30Speaker 1: Do not trust anyone who refers to themselves as a
- 30:34Speaker 1: self styled sorcerer, or anyone who feels the need to
- 30:37Speaker 1: have a battle of psychics like that's just being convicted
- 30:42Speaker 1: of murder doesn't ruin anyone's opportunity to be snarky, apparently,
- 30:46Speaker 1: And yeah, so, if you liked my retelling of this tale,
- 30:52Speaker 1: go on to Apple Podcasts and rate and review five stars.
- 30:57Speaker 1: Say something nice. My birthday's coming up. Come on, come on,
- 31:01Speaker 1: come on, I don't forget. You can follow me on Instagram, Facebook,
- 31:06Speaker 1: and TikTok with who did What Now? Pod and also
- 31:10Speaker 1: on Twitter with who did What Now? PD. I am
- 31:13Speaker 1: trying to like do more stuff for Instagram. I'm currently
- 31:16Speaker 1: working to my thirty two Counties and thirty two days
- 31:18Speaker 1: stuff just to kind of get it back on track
- 31:21Speaker 1: and get that going. Oh and that reminds me. We
- 31:26Speaker 1: have a new Patreon subscriber, one of my old patrons
- 31:30Speaker 1: who had just rejoined. Helly Hi, I just want to
- 31:34Speaker 1: say that you're going to do an amazing job at
- 31:37Speaker 1: the situation that has landed on your doorstep. You're going
- 31:39Speaker 1: to be fucking awesome. Okay, okay, speaking of Patreon, that
- 31:43Speaker 1: was a smooth segue, wasn't it. The next couple of
- 31:47Speaker 1: patrons that join will actually get to choose the topics
- 31:51Speaker 1: I cover for some episodes. Ah, So go on to Patreon,
- 31:56Speaker 1: go onto Coffee, go on to that and join, and
- 31:58Speaker 1: we will see what we can do. And so we
- 32:00Speaker 1: are on recommendation times. I I'm gonna recommend if you
- 32:06Speaker 1: think so, I'm gonna recommend you watch all too well.
- 32:10Speaker 1: It's on YouTube. Have fun. Also, in addition, furthermore for
- 32:15Speaker 1: listening I'm gonna recommend that you listen to Taylor's version
- 32:19Speaker 1: of Red. It's so good. It's so good, and reading.
- 32:23Speaker 1: I actually don't have any book recommendations this week, but anyway,
- 32:26Speaker 1: you have enough. Just listen to Taylor Swift all the
- 32:28Speaker 1: new stuff and the old stuff. We don't want those
- 32:30Speaker 1: people getting money they don't need. And you know this
- 32:32Speaker 1: is not gonna be a fun one to edit because
- 32:34Speaker 1: I have literally been talking for a two hours. Gona,
- 32:38Speaker 1: It's fine, it's fine. Hopefully this will be at most
- 32:41Speaker 1: thirty minutes. I'm so sorry if it's not, but I
- 32:44Speaker 1: shall see you next time. Adios, or of way to
- 32:49Speaker 1: zem my friends, Bye bye,