[EPISODE 59] House of Gucci A Tale of Glamour Greed 

[00:00:00] Kyle Risi: So she says that if she could see Maurizio again, she would tell him that she loves him because he is the person who mattered the most to her in her life.

[00:00:12] Kyle Risi: When she was asked what she thinks that he would say in reply, she says, I think he would say the feeling wasn't mutual. darling. .  So she's not completely deluded. 

[00:00:25] Kyle Risi: Welcome to the Compendium, an assembly of fascinating and intriguing things. We podcast where each week I tell Adam Cox all about a topic I think he'll [00:01:00] find both fascinating and intriguing. We dive into stories pulled from the darker corners of true crime, the annuls of your old unread history books, and the who's who of extraordinary people.

[00:01:12] Kyle Risi: We give you just enough information to stand your ground. at any social gathering. 

[00:01:17] Kyle Risi: I'm your host this week, Kyle Risi. 

[00:01:19] Kyle Risi: And I'm your co host, Adam Cox. 

[00:01:21] Kyle Risi: And in today's compendium, we're diving into an assembly of elegance, intrigue, And the secret stitched into the fabric of murder. 

[00:01:31] Adam Cox: Um, I'm trying to guess what the clue is here. Is there like some sewing involved and killing? Could be. Killing through 

[00:01:37] Kyle Risi: Killing while sewing. Yeah. 

[00:01:40] Adam Cox: Two of my favourite pastimes. Oh really? Yeah. 

[00:01:42] So, how about this. To tease you. 

[00:01:46] Adam Cox: Okay. About today's story. I need more of a clue. 

[00:01:48] Adam Cox: So on the 27th of March, 1995, a very well dressed man was walking through the entrance of a very stylish office building just off Via Palestrio in Milan when [00:02:00] he was suddenly shot three times in the chest and once in the head. As the man lay dying in the arms of the doorman, whoever shot him vanished through the meandering streets through the city of Milan.

[00:02:13] Adam Cox: This merciless killing sparked the beginning of a years long investigation into who shot this man. And since our victim had a lot of enemies, it was difficult for police to pinpoint just one person who would have wanted him dead. 

[00:02:30] Adam Cox: Today on the compendium, I'm going to be telling you the story of the Gucci family. Father, son, and house of Gucci. 

[00:02:37] Adam Cox: House of Gucci. 

[00:02:38] Kyle Risi: What do you know about the story? 

[00:02:40] Adam Cox: To be honest, I don't think I know that much. I, I, I'm aware of the film that came out with Lady Gaga. And Adam Driver. Yes. Um, not so long ago. Uh, and I know that there was, Some sort of like fight over who would take over. Am I right in thinking that from Gucci once he had died? 

[00:02:58] Kyle Risi: That's right. Yeah, [00:03:00] so Gucci or Gucci. So it was very succession y

[00:03:02] Adam Cox: I think that's the thing. I know the sort of legacy and what comes after, but I don't actually know what happened to him and how that happened, so I'm intrigued.

[00:03:09] Kyle Risi: So now for a second, I just want you to imagine a tale that is so steeped in ambition, betrayal, and opulence, it seems like it can only be a story that is ripped from an episode of Dynasty or Dallas, this isn't an Eastenders grade drama, Adam. Because there's no get out of my pub. There's no I'm not your mother. Yes, I am 

[00:03:32] Kyle Risi: This is a story about the saga of Maurizio Gucci and his wife Patricia Reggiani and Their quest for dominance over the Gucci Empire which sparked heavy speculation over whether Maurizio's untimely murder was in fact something that he had coming.

[00:03:52] Kyle Risi: So I was really inspired to tell the story after we actually visited the Gucci Cosmo Expedition in London at the 180 [00:04:00] Studios that showcased the brand's 102 year rise to the top. And I didn't realise this at the time, but Guccio Guccio Gucci, who of course was the founder of Gucci, and of course the grandfather of Maurizio actually started out as a luggage porter working at the Savoy Hotel in London.

[00:04:18] Adam Cox: Yeah, that's right. So when you go into the expedition, the first thing that you see is you go into like a lift, like a sort of lobby area. 

[00:04:26] Kyle Risi: Yeah, and that was like a kind of a replica of the, uh, the lift that was in the original hotel at the time. And like, he would carry guests luggage up to their room, and it was from there that he was inspired to make his own line of luxury, handcrafted luggage.

[00:04:42] Kyle Risi: And, just, oh my god, that exhibition was just so awesome, wasn't it? It was, yeah. When you arrive, like you said, obviously you step into this 1930s style Art Deco elevator, which would have obviously been a nod to the original one at the Savoy Hotel that Gucci O'Gucci would have loaded guests luggage into on the way up to the rooms.

[00:04:59] Kyle Risi: [00:05:00] And then you are kind of like led into this maze of corridors and rooms filled with all their iconic archival items. And all of their stuff is displayed on these mechanical, cabinets and turntables that open and close and then reveal a piece of their kind of like their archival kind of, um, outfits or shoes and things like that. So it was really incredible. 

[00:05:21] Adam Cox: It's like, what I describe as really fancy lazy Susans? Yeah, very fancy, 

[00:05:26] Kyle Risi: very expensive Lazy Susans with Gucci luggage and Gucci loafers and scarves, kind of like just working their way around the room.

[00:05:35] Kyle Risi: And the thing is though, like when you're in there, It really does feel like you are transported into a world of kind of soap opera opulence. Everything was just really dramatic with the lights and the music and the corridors and the beautiful kind of handbags and luggage and stuff.

[00:05:53] Kyle Risi: At one point I was expecting Joan Collins to just jump out and then slap me in the face. But of course, the bitch never did. 

[00:05:59] Kyle Risi: [00:06:00] But, the thing is though, that this wasn't just a fantasy that they created during this expedition, because after researching today's story, this is actually what their lives were like. They were constantly just surrounded by these beautiful things, celebrities like the Kennedys, and the entire exhibition is just way more impressive when you realize that they've managed to kind of capture what it was like to be Part of the Gucci family in the Gucci empire. It was like a soap opera. 

[00:06:29] Kyle Risi: So like even the house of gucci movie like was heavily criticized for being too dramatic and too over the top But genuinely, after visiting that expedition, that's what it was really like. So I have a newfound appreciation for what they managed to capture in the House of Gucci with, uh, Adam Driver and, uh, Lady Gaga.

[00:06:49] Adam Cox: Oh, I really should watch that movie. Maybe I will after this. 

[00:06:52] Adam Cox: Have you not seen it? No, I haven't seen it. I thought we watched it together. No. Oh, Adam, it is so good. We're gonna watch it tonight. Sure. 

[00:06:58] Adam Cox: So today I'm going to be giving you the [00:07:00] compendium on how the Gucci brand rose to its iconic status that we know today. The decades of familial conflict that resulted in the Gucci family losing the company to a bunch of Saudis and the shocking downfall of Maurizio Gucci culminating in his untimely murder, essentially.

[00:07:21] Adam Cox: So I'm really excited about today and I hope you are too. Cool. 

[00:07:24] Adam Cox: But before we get started. Should we do all the latest things? Let's do it. 

[00:07:32] Kyle Risi: So this is a segment of our show where we catch up on all the week's happenings and share a quick tidbit, strange fact, or laugh at a bit of weird news from the past week. So Adam, what have you got for us today? 

[00:07:43] Adam Cox: So my latest thing for this week is a real life, uh, weekend at Bernie's incident. 

[00:07:50] Kyle Risi: I don't even know what The Weekend at Bernie's actually is.

[00:07:54] Kyle Risi: Really? It's a film, right? 

[00:07:55] Adam Cox: Yeah. You don't know Weekend at Bernie's? Not really, no. Okay, then this is gonna be brand new information to you. 

[00:07:59] Adam Cox: [00:08:00] Brand new information, go! 

[00:08:02] Adam Cox: So, a woman in Brazil has been arrested after taking a dead man into a bank in a wheelchair and trying to get him to sign off a four figure loan in her name.

[00:08:13] Adam Cox: What? Is 

[00:08:14] Kyle Risi: that? 

[00:08:15] Adam Cox: Okay, so two 

[00:08:15] Kyle Risi: things. 

[00:08:16] Adam Cox: That's 

[00:08:16] Kyle Risi: the plot of Weekend at Bernie's. 

[00:08:18] Adam Cox: It's basically these guys get invited to their boss's house and he's already dead and they make out that he's still alive and they carry him around with for the whole weekend. No idea.

[00:08:28] Kyle Risi: It sounds like a ball though. So this woman, she's from Brazil. She's gone into a bank. She is trying with, is it her husband? 

[00:08:36] Adam Cox: They're related. I think it was her grandfather, I believe. So what happened was she was speaking to the people at the sort of bank desk. The teller, the cashier. Yeah, probably, yeah, to try and get a loan.

[00:08:50] Adam Cox: So it's a bit more, you know, You know, in an office, maybe. And the bank staff started to get a bit suspicious when so they start to film the pair because they're like, Yeah, something's up here.

[00:08:59] Adam Cox: And they [00:09:00] end up calling for an ambulance and the police, because they're like, No, he's, he doesn't look well. But she really, commits to the role. And, tries to make out, like, has conversations with him saying, Oh, come on then, you just need to sign this piece of paper. Yeah. What do you want to do after this?

[00:09:15] Adam Cox: Like, speaking to him normally. And how does she emulate his responses? Well, he, obviously doesn't say anything, and I think she makes out, Oh, he's always like this.

[00:09:25] Adam Cox: But at one point she takes hold of his hand, and then places the pen in between his fingers, and then writes the checkout or, the documents to say, yeah, I want to take out this loan. Oh my god. And then his, head almost falls.

[00:09:39] Adam Cox: So she lifts up his head with her hand. As if, and like, I can't believe, like, she thinks she's doing a convincing job. Because the bank staff are like She's probably medicated. So she gets busted then, I'm assuming. Yeah, well, they asked, like, um, he's very pale. Um, is he okay? And she's like, yeah, he's, he's, he's like that.

[00:09:57] Adam Cox: It's fine, it's fine. He's, he's an OAP. [00:10:00] And they're like, well, if you're not well, maybe we can, you know, help him get to a hospital. She's like, no, no, it's fine. Um, but then I believe the police are called and an ambulance and yeah, he's already dead. He apparently died a few hours ago. And she tried to use her uncle to try and get this loan, which was That's quick thinking, that's opportunistic.

[00:10:19] Adam Cox: You must have thought about this for a while, going, when, when uncle dies, I'm gonna need to get a loan. 

[00:10:24] Kyle Risi: Do you reckon? I don't think she thought about it at all, because like, I reckon it was just completely opportunistic, she didn't think about it. And I'm, to be fair, I'm shocked that she got to the moment where they were ready to sign the contracts, and then they were still like, mm, are you sure he's okay?

[00:10:39] Adam Cox: yeah, this does not add up, but, um, she tried to get a loan for about two and a half thousand pounds. Okay, so not much then. Not a massive amount, but then again She's probably gonna get 

[00:10:47] Kyle Risi: like a slap on the wrist.

[00:10:49] Adam Cox: Well, I don't know. So I think she's obviously gone and been called in, to, the police station. I don't know what's happened. So whether she actually killed him, we don't know, or if it's a natural death. Don't [00:11:00] know the details, but whether it was just an opportunity for her to go, I can't get alone, but, my uncle can, whilst he's still, I don't know.

[00:11:07] Adam Cox: Got some color in his skin. 

[00:11:09] Kyle Risi: When did this all happen? 

[00:11:10] Adam Cox: Just a couple of weeks ago. 

[00:11:11] Kyle Risi: Man, you got to keep us updated. Like, did she murder him or not? Or did he just die of natural causes? I don't know. 

[00:11:17] Adam Cox: I will try and find out if I can, but apparently in Ireland last year, two men were jailed. for attempting to use a dead man's body to deceive a post office and claim his pension.

[00:11:29] Kyle Risi: Okay. I mean, these things happen though. Like you hear about it all the time where people conceal like their parents death so they can continue to claim their pension. 

[00:11:39] Adam Cox: Yeah, but the thought, I just, I would never think that I could get away with it, but these people did. Um, so this couple in, these two men in Ireland, there's CCTV footage of both men dragging the lifeless body of this 66 year old guy who had a hat on, from his home to the post office.

[00:11:56] Adam Cox: And sunglasses, obviously. He needs sunglasses, right? Yeah. [00:12:00] Because otherwise 

[00:12:00] Kyle Risi: then there's no hope. There's no way you're getting away with that unless there's sunglasses. Nodding. 

[00:12:04] Adam Cox: And that's exactly, that's what they did in Weekend at Bernie's. They put sunglasses on and everything. Okay, 

[00:12:09] Kyle Risi: I need to watch 

[00:12:09] Adam Cox: this film.

[00:12:10] Adam Cox: Um, so yeah, that's my latest thing this week. Brilliant. 

[00:12:13] Kyle Risi: Yeah, I'll definitely be watching, uh, Weekend at Bernie's. So my little story comes out of Poland where a woman called animal control in Krakow saying that an animal had been hanging around in a tree in her local community.

[00:12:26] Kyle Risi: And like people were really scared like to open up the windows just in case like the animal left the tree and made their way into their houses and stuff. So for two days residents just shut themselves away in their homes and avoided going near the tree just in case the animal pounced on people that were walking by.

[00:12:42] Kyle Risi: So after a couple days this local woman she finally calls the animal control um and when you listen to the transcript like you would believe that she was in the outback of Australia somewhere and some animal had come out of the rainforest and was just hanging around in the [00:13:00] tree and was dangerous because she was petrified.

[00:13:01] Kyle Risi: She was literally scared to death. And so were the rest of the people in the community. So, when the officials arrived in the scene, they discovered that was no chance that the animal was going to enter anyone's house and attack them. And I have a picture of the animal. Okay. And I want you to have a look at it and let me know what you think it could possibly be. Okay. 

[00:13:21] Adam Cox: Oh yeah, um, well it's kind of look like it's got brown fur so maybe it's a squirrel? Or what else hides up in trees, I'm trying to think. Is the head, is it facing down or is it facing up? And how's it gripping onto the branches? Like, I think I can see a hand, but it's not obvious what this animal is. Maybe that's an eye. Are you scared of it? Um, I don't know if I'm scared of it. I am just very confused.

[00:13:47] Adam Cox: Wow. So. The creature that you're actually looking at in this picture, the thing that's been terrorizing this local community is in fact a croissant. A croissant? A croissant. [00:14:00] What? That was a Stuck in a drink. That was a croissant? Let me look at this again. 

[00:14:03] Adam Cox: I mean, yeah, I guess it's the color of a croissant now that you said that. And 

[00:14:08] Kyle Risi: now that you know there's a croissant, it, to me, it looked very much looks like a croissant. Yeah. Just lodged in that tree.

[00:14:14] Adam Cox: Now it looks delicious. I'll have that. 

[00:14:15] Kyle Risi: Hahaha.

[00:14:16] Kyle Risi: So they're not sure how it got up there, but people were speculating that maybe that someone was trying to feed the local birds and they just lobbed it up then it just got wedged between two branches. But the thing is, if you read the transcripts of this woman calling animal control, like she's petrified, man. She's genuinely. Petrified, but this is a down croissant 

[00:14:34] Adam Cox: that's stuck in the tree. Is she visually impaired? And also, a croissant isn't that big, so to be petrified of an Like, how does that look? I 

[00:14:44] Kyle Risi: can't explain it. But 

[00:14:45] Adam Cox: she's not 

[00:14:45] Kyle Risi: the only one, like, there were neighbours that were petrified, locking their windows, so other people have seen it as well. It's not just this one crazy woman, it's a bunch of people that had seen this creature and were like, what the hell is that? Did they not have French pastries 

[00:14:58] Adam Cox: in Poland? [00:15:00] Well, they must have because someone has bought that pastry. Yeah, but are they perhaps just not that common? Yeah, maybe. Oh, 

[00:15:05] Kyle Risi: that's not a, that's not a pierogi.

[00:15:09] Kyle Risi: Yeah, so that's all my latest things for this week. 

[00:15:11] Adam Cox: Very good.

[00:15:12] Kyle Risi: So, Adam. [00:16:00] House of Gucci. Father, son, house of Gucci. It's me. Patrizia Reaggiani. Will 

[00:16:08] Adam Cox: you be doing the accent?

[00:16:09] Kyle Risi: I will be, I'm going to try if I can. I just love this story so much. 

[00:16:13] Kyle Risi: So. In 1921, Guccio, Gucci, opens his first artisanal luggage artillery in Florence and his vision was to combine exceptional Tuscan materials and craftsmanship with the elegant English aesthetic that he had observed during his time working as a luggage porter at the famous Savoy Hotel in London.

[00:16:37] Kyle Risi: It was a family affair. The entire family worked alongside an employee base of very skilled artisans to craft these gorgeous leather luggage pieces. And in a very relatively short amount of time, Gucci was already well known for its quality. However, following Italy's invasion of Ethiopia [00:17:00] by Mussolini, You know who that is, right?

[00:17:03] Kyle Risi: That's the big dictator of the time that I was like around at the same time as Hitler and a 

[00:17:08] Kyle Risi: load of shenanigans going on. This all happened in 1935. And as a result, the League of Nations decided to impose a trade embargo on Italy. And this actually meant that it was almost impossible for people in the country to gain access to materials like oil, rubber, tin, and leather.

[00:17:27] Kyle Risi: And so as a result, if Guccio was going to survive. Then he needed to get creative and so he started experimenting with alternative materials and fabrics like hemp and wood And this ultimately gives rise to gucci's iconic wooden kind of bamboo cane handle So when we were at that expedition, you would have noticed some of the Materials that we use there was lots of like kind of canvas hemp with the designs opposed to them with the bamboo handles Well, they were one of the first people in the world to start incorporating those types of materials [00:18:00] into their luggage And hence why it's become so iconic.

[00:18:02] Adam Cox: Ah, so that was all because They had this, um, trade embargo on, on that. I guess it, yeah, it's creative to be able to do that. Now that's like now considered luxury. 

[00:18:12] Kyle Risi: It's considered luxury and it's considered iconic because there's nothing else like it, right? And when you see the, the hemp bags and that Gucci embossed kind of pattern on it, the diamond pattern, as well as the handles, it's so iconically Gucci, you know what I mean?

[00:18:26] Adam Cox: Yeah, yeah. Yeah.

[00:18:27] Kyle Risi: So at the time they also perfected a technique for tanning the Gucci logo into the hemp bags as well rather than just having like a metal motif on it it was actually became part of the fabric and they were one of the first people to actually do that as well as that they also developed their famous signature rhombie motif pattern that's the kind of the little triangles that you see with the Gucci kind of logo on it.

[00:18:49] Kyle Risi: And this was hugely successful because where other leather merchants were failing or going out of business, Gucci managed to reimagine the concepts of what a high quality luggage [00:19:00] item was and its construction. And this reimagining made Gucci stand out against the sea of other Kind of luggage items that were currently available on the market that just was part of their major success.

[00:19:13] Kyle Risi: So guccio gucci, he has three sons. He has aldo vasco and rodolfo 

[00:19:20] Adam Cox: great names I know right alvin simon theodore, but italian 

[00:19:24] Kyle Risi: What Hang on. Is that the chipmunks? Yeah. Okay. Well remembered, so. They were all being groomed to secede, Guccio and run the company after he died. In particular, Gucci's eldest son, Aldo, was being pegged to be the head of the family business.

[00:19:42] Kyle Risi: And for good reason too, because he was super passionate and also he was progressive in how he wanted to run the business as well And he understood that for a business to succeed they needed to evolve and move into other products, especially If they didn't want [00:20:00] another situation like what happened during the embargo in 1935 to happen again 

[00:20:03] Kyle Risi: So they had to keep reinventing and reimagining and being creative with their products And also aldo convinces his father that they should branch out into personal handbags and other goods like shoes fragrances and accessories because up until this point it was just uh luggage, essentially, not like handbags and things like that.

[00:20:24] Kyle Risi: Aldo He also did something really smart. So, as you know, Gucci isn't cheap. And everyone knows this. And Gucci knew it as well. But they wanted to justify why. So they come up with a brand new slogan that was primarily there to underscore the company's commitment to quality over cost. 

[00:20:44] Kyle Risi: But what it ended up doing was so much more than that because this slogan, even to this day, has ended up being analysed extensively for its cleverness and its effectiveness within marketing courses and marketing degrees all over the world.

[00:20:59] Adam Cox: I'm [00:21:00] intrigued. What is it? 

[00:21:01] Kyle Risi: Quality is remembered long after price is forgotten. 

[00:21:04] Adam Cox: interesting. 

[00:21:05] Kyle Risi: Yeah, and it's incredibly effective because these simple eight words achieved several big feats for the brand, right? First off, of course, it met its first objective and that is that it underscored their commitment to quality over price So check.

[00:21:18] Kyle Risi: Yeah, but it also Resonated emotionally with consumers suggesting that investing in Gucci isn't just merely a purchase It's an investment in lasting value Mm hmm But also, it subtly looks its nose down on anyone who might even question the price for being too high. And it does it in a kind of, kind of sneering way.

[00:21:42] Kyle Risi: Like, you know, Oh, darling, you poor thing. You don't know qualities remembered long after price is forgotten.

[00:21:46] Adam Cox: You would kind of, yeah, disregard price because it's not even important. Yeah, it's not 

[00:21:50] Kyle Risi: even a factor. Oh, you question price. Oh, this product's not for you. Yeah. Darling, darling. No, no, 

[00:21:54] Adam Cox: I like that and also I guess if you've got a product that you really loved and like you are probably [00:22:00] gonna forget how much I pay for that. I just love this product 

[00:22:02] Kyle Risi: Exactly so the slogan also Instantaneously positions them as a luxury high end brand to pass the buyers who are walking past the store without needing any prior knowledge About the business. It's right there under the name, quality is remembered long after price is forgotten. 

[00:22:18] Kyle Risi: So as soon as you see those words, you know, it's going to be kind of kind of a high quality kind of store 

[00:22:23] Kyle Risi: It was also memorable and simple creating obviously a clear perception of value But my favorite aspect is how it fosters brand loyalty You'll notice as soon as I tell you this, you'll notice another business who's done exactly the same thing.

[00:22:37] Kyle Risi: So the slogan embeds a trust contract between the customer And the business even before you've made a purchase whatsoever And after buying you leave knowing that if it's not true Then you can get your money back because the contract is literally written above the store's door.

[00:22:55] Kyle Risi: Quality is remembered long after price is forgotten.

[00:22:58] Kyle Risi: So if you go home and the quality [00:23:00] is not there You Like, you go back and say, like, you're not meeting your, your obligation, right? That's your contract that's written above the door. And it's smart. 

[00:23:08] Kyle Risi: Can you think of another brand that does something very similar? 

[00:23:11] Adam Cox: I was thinking, is it John Lewis? Yes! Yeah.

[00:23:13] Adam Cox: Yeah, so theirs is, um Never knowingly undersold. That is correct, yeah. That was the one that kind of rang, as soon as you said that, that's the first thing that came to my head. 

[00:23:21] Kyle Risi: Clever, right? 

[00:23:22] Adam Cox: Yeah, yeah. 

[00:23:22] Kyle Risi: So, in 1952, the famous Gucci loafer Is then launched and they have this iconic metal schnaffle, which I just love that word schnaffle schnaffle That's the thing that the horse bites onto So when you think of the Gucci loafer with that kind of like metal kind of thing over the shoe, that's a horse schnaffle.

[00:23:41] Kyle Risi: Is it? Yeah. They put that on a shoe? A version of it. It's not gonna be a big old rusty horse schnaffle that they've just ripped off a horse and go, Ooh, let's put this on a shoe. It's a miniature version. Do you know where we 

[00:23:51] Adam Cox: should put this? 

[00:23:53] Kyle Risi: On a shoe. Schnaffle! So if you google it you'll know exactly what shoe we're referring to it's just probably [00:24:00] the most iconic item that they have in their collection.

[00:24:03] Kyle Risi: So by 1953 under aldo's leadership gucci is extremely famous And the brand becomes a major staple amongst kind of the world rich and elite Most famous of them all will later be Jackie Kennedy, who was once perhaps wearing one of their most kind of famous hobo bags at the time.

[00:24:19] Kyle Risi: It wasn't that famous, but the second that she was seen wearing that bag, like the brand just took off and that particular handbag became one of the most iconic handbags in their collection. 

[00:24:31] Adam Cox: There must be like a thing for anyone or any brand out there that wants to, I don't know, propel themselves forward, is just get a deal with them. a celebrity. 

[00:24:39] Kyle Risi: Yeah, that's it. I mean, people do that today with kind of like, influencers and things like that. It's probably not as effective getting an influencer doing it because who are they? 

[00:24:46] Adam Cox: No, but if you got Beyonce wearing that, exactly, it would transform things. 

[00:24:49] Kyle Risi: And this is the equivalent, like, soon as, like, Jackie Kendi was seen wearing one of their, their bags, it just propelled them into a whole new international level. Because remember, Jackie was one of the most [00:25:00] famous women alive at that point. So Gucci literally just changed the, the name of that hobo bag to the Jackie. Oh, no way. 

[00:25:08] Adam Cox: They got rid of the hobo bag. 

[00:25:09] Kyle Risi: It's still a hobo bag, but it's, uh, cause that's a style, but it, it, they gave it a name called the Jackie. The Jackie. 

[00:25:14] Kyle Risi: So Aldo is doing wonders for the Gucci brand at this point, but he wants to go bigger. So he tries to convince his father to expand Gucci globally but for a long time guccio is really reluctant because he's worried that having an international brand Would make it a lot harder to control for quality and the aesthetics So for ages going global was just not on the table at all and The company kind of stayed a bit stagnant for a while, but people were still wanting access to their products.

[00:25:46] Kyle Risi: So it just made sense for them to go global and to satisfy that demand, but they just never did but then in 1953, unfortunately, Guccio Gucci, he dies, and he leaves Aldo in charge of everything. [00:26:00] But even though Aldo is in charge, All three sons, Aldo Vasco and , Rodolfo, they all have an equal share of the company. 

[00:26:09] Adam Cox: But they're not doing half the work? 

[00:26:10] Kyle Risi: They're involved, but they're not like at the helm. 

[00:26:13] Adam Cox: This definitely feels like succession. It does. 

[00:26:15] Kyle Risi: So, so now with Aldo at the helm, he decides that he's going to take Gucci International. And in 1961, they open up their first Gucci stores in London and in Palm Beach. And by this time, 

[00:26:28] Kyle Risi: Gucci is so elite and exclusive that they literally don't really have to be desperate for customers at all because customers are desperate for them. Customers are coming to them to buy their goods. They don't have to advertise or anything because they're so renowned at this point already.

[00:26:44] Kyle Risi: So because of this, they have the license to Gucci the way that they want to Gucci. And if anyone tells them otherwise, they're just like, fuck you, we can do what we want.

[00:26:54] Adam Cox: We can do what they want. They create the rules. 

[00:26:55] Kyle Risi: And even though they were now this international brand, they still kept their humble [00:27:00] family values at the heart of their business.

[00:27:01] Kyle Risi: For instance, like all stores across the globe, no matter where they were, they all were mandated to close for family lunch for one hour every single day. So often there'll be customers just banging on their doors, like in New York, demanding to be let in. But Gucci would just like, VAVA NAPOLI! Vava Napoli? VAVA NAPOLI! That's what Joey says in Friends. What does that actually mean? Vava Napoli! Go to hell! I don't know. Or it could be even something worse, I don't know, 

[00:27:27] Kyle Risi: aren't you supposed to be Italian? Aren't you supposed to know this? Papadipopadi! Yeah. Mario. Mario! 1974, so we've jumped ahead a few years, Vasco, he's the middle child, he suddenly dies, he and his wife didn't have any children of their own, and his wife has no interest in running Gucci at all, So she sells her share to the Gucci brothers who now both have an exact equal share of the business.

[00:27:53] Kyle Risi: 50 percent right? Both have 50 percent and the fact that Vasco dies without any children leaves Aldo [00:28:00] and Rodolfo questioning the fate of the business after they die. Right, okay. And this is where fractures in the business really start to materialize. Aldo is obviously the one who's running the business and he has of course the most experience so it would make sense for Control to stay in his lineage when he dies.

[00:28:22] Kyle Risi: But Aldo has three children. in the line of succession. And Rodolfo, the one who's not at the helm, only has one child. 

[00:28:31] Adam Cox: Right. 

[00:28:32] Kyle Risi: So this means that when Aldo dies, his 50 percent stake, is going to be split amongst three people. Yet when Rodolfo dies, his entire stake will pass to his only child. 

[00:28:44] Adam Cox: Okay, and then he potentially gets the overwhelming majority. 

[00:28:48] Kyle Risi: Exactly. So. Gucci is going to experience this huge shift in control from Aldo who was driving all the company's success to his brother's line who is [00:29:00] essentially just there for the ride and barely doing any of the work.

[00:29:03] Kyle Risi: So can you imagine how you must feel? Yeah, knowing that like, Oh, my share is going to be split between my three kids, but then my brother who is just not motivated is all of a sudden going to pass on 50 percent of his company to his only son. 

[00:29:16] Adam Cox: Yeah. And then also who's going to be best at running that company. After that, like, is it going to be this one son or the three kids? 

[00:29:22] Kyle Risi: Atrizia Reggiani. Ah. Nah. 

[00:29:26] Adam Cox: Is she the daughter of one of them? 

[00:29:27] Kyle Risi: No, you're going to find out. Okay. Yeah, so even though Aldo and Rodolfo are like a long way off dying, the kids are already well aware of this situation, right? So ever since the cousins were young enough to understand, they completely resent Rodolfo's son who is, Mauriziano Gucci they understand that he's one day going to have a 50 percent stake of the business while the other three whose father's been running the business they're gonna have to share 50 percent stake.

[00:29:54] Kyle Risi: So there's resent there for him already and I feel really bad for him because he's hated just for [00:30:00] being born and not having any siblings which is a bit shit really. His very existence is a threat because one day he is going to own more of the company than his actual cousins do. So on top of this, Maurizio's childhood is also very sad as well.

[00:30:16] Kyle Risi: So he was born in 1948 and when he was just 5 years old, his mother dies And his father, Adolfo, becomes incredibly overprotective of him. And he's never allowed to leave the house. And when he does, it's pretty much to school and then back again. So when he does become an adult, things hardly change for him either as well.

[00:30:35] Kyle Risi: He's expected to have dinner with his dad every day. Pretty much every single night and his father just continues to exert control over every single aspect of his life and Maurizio just doesn't know any better. Maurizio just ends up growing up feeling really lonely, like compared to his cousins really.

[00:30:54] Adam Cox: Does he resent his father?

[00:30:56] Kyle Risi: I think when he, his father finally dies, I think there's a massive [00:31:00] relief there and he can finally become the person that he wants to be. But he seems to be a little bit like his dad. Very frightened, very unmotivated, not very driven. But I also get the sense that if he had a decent role model in his life, if his dad was Aldo. He would have been capable of extraordinary things. 

[00:31:20] Kyle Risi: Okay

[00:31:21] Kyle Risi: So Aldo's kids and by extension obviously Maurizio's cousins are Giorgio, Paolo and Roberto. There is a fourth child as well but she's from an affair and and her story is interesting. She grows up with Aldo being very much involved in her life and she knows that her dad owns 50 percent of this kind of internationally renowned brand but what she doesn't know is that her father has three other kids And that they are the ones that are set to inherit the business and she doesn't find this out until she's like into her teens 

[00:31:53] Kyle Risi: Really? Yeah. So she, her dad is heavily involved. He's always around. He lives with her mum. They're not married. But she [00:32:00] doesn't know that he's got these three other kids.

[00:32:01] Kyle Risi: Shit. That is, that is bizarre. It is really bizarre. 

[00:32:04] Kyle Risi: And then the fact that she thinks that she's going to get this company and she doesn't, does she get any of it? 

[00:32:10] Kyle Risi: She is involved in the business, and this isn't a story about her, but her story is very interesting, so I will leave some links to her story in the show notes, so you can go read about it, but, uh, yeah, she does get involved in the business, but she doesn't inherit a stake in the business. 

[00:32:26] Kyle Risi: So anyway, because of Maurizio's upbringing, he ends up growing up into this very timid young man who basically lives to do whatever his father says. He doesn't really have any gumption or determination and it's worrying for many because he doesn't seem like someone who you would expect to run or have a majority share of a brand like Gucci, essentially.

[00:32:49] Kyle Risi: That is until November 1970 when he meets Patrizia Reggiani. Who, if you've watched the House of [00:33:00] Gucci, is played by Lady Gaga. Father, son, house of Gucci. Is this how she speaks? This is how she speaks. It's really, it's a really bad accent. 

[00:33:10] Kyle Risi: You're not quite sure if it's Russian or Italian or Spanish. It's just very bizarre, but I applaud her for it because she's like just iconic in it.

[00:33:17] Adam Cox: Is it? But she's probably based on her. So is that how Patricia used to speak? 

[00:33:21] Kyle Risi: Uh, I mean, she speaks with an Italian accent and Lady Gaga is a legend and an icon, but she's not very great with the accent. So I thought she would be good at that. I don't know why. I think I thought she was just fine.

[00:33:33] Kyle Risi: I just, she was just fine. She's fine. I don't know. So they meet at a party. And for a number of years, they'd been socializing in the same circles. And even though they knew the same people, they were extremely different.

[00:33:45] Kyle Risi: So Maurizio was of course, tall, dark, and he was awkward while Patrizia was hugely infectious with a ton of gravitas. And she's described as having these huge purple eyes, which socializes, kind of Yeah, like, because she [00:34:00] wears like this blue eyeliner, she's got these big eyes.

[00:34:02] Kyle Risi: She hasn't been beaten up. No, she hasn't been beaten up. So people liking her to like Elizabeth Taylor. Right. But despite their differences, of course, they start dating and they fall in love. And Maurizio's father, absolutely disapproves of their relationship.

[00:34:16] Kyle Risi: He just doesn't think that Patrizia comes from a good enough family to be dating Maurizio or dating a Gucci. He thinks that she's just a social climber or a gold digger. And the thing is though, Patricia initially grew up like seriously dirt poor.

[00:34:31] Kyle Risi: She was the only child of a humble waitress. But when she's 12 years old, her mother does meet a millionaire trucker magnate who comes into the restaurant one night. And eventually they marry and from there their entire life is just completely transformed. She starts going to private school.

[00:34:47] Kyle Risi: She starts attending all these big elite kind of social events. And they start moving amongst kind of upper society. But even though they're no longer poor, people still look their nose down at them because they were considered new money. Right. [00:35:00] They're still trashy and they just come into their money. It's not like old family money. 

[00:35:03] Adam Cox: I guess like some of the celebrities now that we see on TV what do you even do? 

[00:35:07] Kyle Risi: Yeah, exactly. So I can imagine like, uh, someone like Meghan Markle would have been seen in the same light because she's just an actress who's becomes successful on her own, but she comes from quite a poor, humble family, and now she's moving within the royal circles, right, before, obviously, all the bullshit happens.

[00:35:23] Adam Cox: I see, it's lucky that the waitress found a millionaire husband.

[00:35:26] Adam Cox: Yeah, like it is a trucker magnet. So he's obviously doing kind of logistics and shipping and things like that. 

[00:35:30] Kyle Risi: But of course, even though like people are looking their nose down at her for being new money, Maritsu just doesn't care. He's deeply in love with her at this point. So to him, she brought excitement and adventure in a world where he was just kind of this awkward kind of compliant kid. So she really brings him out of his shell in a way.

[00:35:52] Kyle Risi: Bertruzzia was able to create this buffer for him to relax in when they were kind of in these social situations, which he loved to be in. He just [00:36:00] didn't know how to conduct himself in it. So like a bit like me, like I always lean on you. to be kind of that social buffer when we're in these awkward social situations where I know that I can rely on you to just kind of keep the conversation going so there's no like awkward silences.

[00:36:14] Kyle Risi: Do you? You do that? When I'm feeling awkward, sometimes I don't know what to say. You always just jump in. See, like you're my Patrizia. Thanks. I guess. So she fills that mother type void that his father was never able to kind of offer him growing up, like, do your homework, clean your room, stop using my makeup, you're grounded!

[00:36:38] Kyle Risi: Like, he just loves it. Like, all the things you say to me. 

[00:36:42] Adam Cox: I don't think I've ever said stop using my make up. 

[00:36:44] Kyle Risi: Well, it's because I never use your make up. Not the right colour. Right.

[00:36:49] Kyle Risi: So yeah, like, she offered Maurizio a lot. She brought, this loud, decisive, confident personality, along with obviously her beauty, and for Patrizia, he brought [00:37:00] status, money, and legacy, all the exact things that, of course, Patrizia really, really liked. 

[00:37:07] Adam Cox: They complemented each other quite well.

[00:37:08] Kyle Risi: Yeah, she was a little bit of a gold digger, right? Status climber. 

[00:37:12] Adam Cox: Well, you know, if she's kind of earning her keep a little bit. 

[00:37:14] Kyle Risi: Yeah, I'm not dogging on her for it. I mean, yeah, do what you gotta do. Girl gotta work, right? . The thing that underscores their entire relationship, is that almost immediately, Patrizia is really influential over Maurizio. She knows how to control him. She knows how to kind of influence like his decision making. She knows how to kind of get him to do what she wants.

[00:37:35] Kyle Risi: And to give you a sense of how Patrizia saw Maurizio, she was quoted as saying, Maurizio is like a chair that molds to the shape of whatever person is sitting in it. 

[00:37:46] Adam Cox: Is that a good accent? Um, it's an accent. Should I be, uh, 

[00:37:49] Kyle Risi: embarrassed to be half Italian? 

[00:37:52] Adam Cox: I think people, if people in Italy are listening, they are going nuts. throwing their meatballs out the window. 

[00:37:58] Kyle Risi: Oh, that's [00:38:00] racist! So. Of course, completely against Rodolfo's wishes, they get married, and like in a classic soap opera style move, Rodolfo tries to get the cardinal conducting the marriage to stop the wedding from happening. Of course, it doesn't work, so Rodolfo is just so disgusted. That his son has ended up marrying this, this tramp that, um, he completely disinherits Maurizio and cuts him off financially. 

[00:38:28] Adam Cox: Really? Mmm, 

[00:38:29] Kyle Risi: yeah. Wow, 

[00:38:29] Adam Cox: that's, so he's not gonna inherit anything now? 

[00:38:32] Kyle Risi: Well, I mean, so Maurizio ends up having to go to work for Petruccio's father at the trucking business. And Petruccio's like, oh no, this won't do. Like, I married you because of your inheritance, you know, so disguised as an act of compassion, right, she's like, but Maurizio, he's your father, like, so she puts all her energy into kind of like making sure that they try and reconcile their relationship, because remember, without [00:39:00] his inheritance, she's just some rich trucker dude's daughter, essentially.

[00:39:05] Kyle Risi: So eventually, though her plan works, and they do make amends and The couple end up then having their first child a year later after they kind of reconcile. So he's back on the inheritance books Okay, they've got their first kid. It's all sorted. Yeah 

[00:39:18] Kyle Risi: So Rodolfo brings Maurizio back into the Gucci company and with Patrizia's Encouragement or what some might say, her pushing him, he starts to speak up a bit more confidently about how Gucci should be run. And as a businessman, he ends up really flourishing for the first time. And it's all because of her encouragement. 

[00:39:40] Adam Cox: Like her coaching and like, yeah, that's interesting. Um, so yeah, okay. She's thinking about herself a little bit. Well, probably a lot. But, at the end of the day, she's helping him, like, push forward.

[00:39:52] Kyle Risi: Because the thing is though, she can't get the inheritance unless he 

[00:39:54] Adam Cox: Yeah, well, that's one way. Otherwise, it's a divorce, right? 

[00:39:57] Kyle Risi: And also, their lifestyle just takes a massive leap [00:40:00] towards opulence. Before, he was just a really rich kid without much personality in how he chose to be rich.

[00:40:06] Kyle Risi: He lived in a huge house, sure. You But it wasn't adorned with kind of like gold railings and custom made moldings. And yeah, sure. He drove a nice car, but it wasn't a souped up Ferrari with like a custom rear spoiler kind of outlook outwardly. He was just like a basic. Rich kid, basic bitch rich kid.

[00:40:25] Adam Cox: Very vanilla. 

[00:40:26] Kyle Risi: Very vanilla, but with Patrizia in the picture She knew that it was all about optics, it was all about looking rich both outwardly and Ostentatiously. So like I picture Patrizia as the type of girl that you see at the sugar hut on a Saturday night like she would dress how she thinks rich people would dress.

[00:40:48] Kyle Risi: It's like the equivalent of wearing like a Louis Vuitton motif outfit with big huge Chanel earrings and Dressing how you think rich people dress, right? Yeah, that's Patrizia. 

[00:40:58] Adam Cox: I always think there's people at the [00:41:00] airport that are in those designer sweatpants. Yeah Who are you doing this for?

[00:41:04] Kyle Risi: And they make a point of holding a Chanel Shopping bag. And they're not 

[00:41:07] Adam Cox: even in business 

[00:41:07] Kyle Risi: class. No, they're not. They're just sitting in economy.

[00:41:10] Kyle Risi: You're in coach. That's it. It's like when we were traveling to Australia and we got to Abu Dhabi Airport and we were getting our connecting flight and we saw all those people that were obviously Going to Abu Dhabi to get plastic surgery done and we saw that woman that just had a facelift And she was dressed like in one of those brown Louis Vuitton Track suits with her Louis Vuitton bags and everything and on the plane she was just like she's sitting in coach Yeah, essentially 

[00:41:40] Adam Cox: And also, I remember seeing that girl who was like, rocking on the floor in pain. 

[00:41:44] Kyle Risi: Yeah, so, when we were at this airport, there must have been kind of some tourist thing where people go to To get plastic surgery done because on that flight there were loads of people that had hair transplants that were on their way home Yeah, and they were still recovering and that one girl. Yeah, we're just kind of nose job done [00:42:00] and she was in so much pain 

[00:42:01] Adam Cox: Yeah, she had her like pills in front of her and everything and she was like I can't imagine like having that done and then going on a 13 hour flight afterwards 

[00:42:09] Kyle Risi: And the thing is though, when you go up in the air at 38, 000 feet, you swell up.

[00:42:13] Adam Cox: Yeah. 

[00:42:14] Kyle Risi: And they're already swollen. So God knows what they look like when they 

[00:42:17] Adam Cox: get, when they land. To be honest, I forgot to check. Next time. 

[00:42:20] Kyle Risi: God. But yeah, so that's how I imagine, Patriziana Reggiani. 

[00:42:26] Adam Cox: But is the dad liking her anymore at this point? Obviously he's rekindled the relationship.

[00:42:31] Kyle Risi: Well, I don't think he really has a choice. I think he still believes that she's a bit of a gold digger, but there's not much you can do. They're married now, right? And especially if they've 

[00:42:37] Adam Cox: got a kid as well, it's kind of like, well Exactly, 

[00:42:39] Kyle Risi: So they move to New York. Uh to run off the gucci us and they live in the olympic tower on fifth avenue and this is a huge duplex Penthouse which is spanned across the entire 50th and 51st floor of the building So they've got two full stories completely to themselves. It's huge. 

[00:42:59] Kyle Risi: [00:43:00] They become huge players on the social scene Where they are friends with Jackie Kennedy Onassis. They spend the days just partying on yachts and buying a bunch of holiday homes all around the world. And what I just love about their story at this period of their lives is that they have a private limousine that they are chauffeured around in.

[00:43:19] Kyle Risi: And the license plates reads Maurizia, which is basically a portmanteau for their names, Maurizio and Pertuzia. So essentially, they are the original Rangelina. Really? Yeah, that's pretty much one of the first instances where we see that. 

[00:43:35] Adam Cox: I guess, it also makes sense, they probably couldn't fit either of their names. Like completely on this license plate. 

[00:43:39] Kyle Risi: I get the sense if Patrizia had the say, had she would just have her own name on there. Patrizia Reggiani. And it would even be elongated with that, like nine A's. 

[00:43:50] Adam Cox: You'd need Three license plates for that. Yeah, that's it. She doesn't care.

[00:43:55] Kyle Risi: So, People would often like comment on how symbolic that [00:44:00] was because it would really perfectly encapsulate their relationship as this kind of partnership, like without each other, they wouldn't be this ambitious, successful power couple. They were, and Patrizia brought confidence and Maurizio essentially just brought the means and the name and the power and the money.

[00:44:19] Kyle Risi: Maurizio was the instrument, she knew how to play. Right, okay.

[00:44:23] Kyle Risi: And I think like very early on as well, like Patrizia knew that Maurizio had to do a lot of work if they were going to make a success of the business after like he gets his inheritance, because Maurizio's dad Rodolfo wasn't the ambitious type, especially compared to his brother Aldo, as we already discussed, and as a result, Maurizio never got that drive instilled in him. As a young kid that he needed. So she knew this and she knew that she needed to mold him into the kind of businessman that he needed to be in order to run Gucci. 

[00:44:54] Adam Cox: Fine. That's what I did so what was happening with the other three kids, the cousins at this point?

[00:44:59] Kyle Risi: So the cousins, they [00:45:00] all knew that their dad would probably die or retire eventually. So in order to future proof their stake in the company, they start setting up all these separate deals to use the Gucci's name for other things, right?

[00:45:11] Kyle Risi: And this is where the Gucci logo becomes recognizable amongst just ordinary people. They start licensing it for watches and belts and sunglasses and perfumes and things like that. 

[00:45:23] Kyle Risi: And protizia and Maurizio, they hate this because Gucci is now affordable to the masses and this results in counterfeit items starting to kind of just saturate the market. So in the film, You see Petruccia going out in the street one day and she sees this guy on the streets selling counterfeit items from China and loads of them are just Gucci items and she's just outraged because they they They've now cheapened the brand essentially by selling all these different kind of licenses to different companies which has then made China see that there's a demand for these items and then they just flooded it with [00:46:00] counterfeits

[00:46:00] Adam Cox: But surely that also must help them in some way but I guess she perhaps doesn't see that. They 

[00:46:04] Kyle Risi: don't see it that way, no. And so by like the 1980s, Gucci has gone from being this brand that is so exclusive and so out of reach to ordinary people, to Where they were making like literally bespoke handbags for like Jackie Kennedy to be in a staple of street vendors selling Gucci on like street corners So it's completely cheap at it.

[00:46:23] Kyle Risi: So eventually so eventually Rodolfo, that's obviously Maurizio's dad he dies in 1983 and Maurizio of course inherits 50 percent of Gucci all to himself and finally Patrizia is like, yes bitch, we are in charge. We are Gucci. We are Gucci. It's our name, sweetie. That's one of the lines that she says in the show.

[00:46:46] Kyle Risi: Oh right, okay. And first of all, so, so she starts going around calling herself the first lady of Gucci. 

[00:46:54] Adam Cox: I mean, I guess so, 

[00:46:55] Kyle Risi: yeah. So she becomes this really power hungry, kind of, In [00:47:00] charge, kind of bitch, kind of like Dallas style, kind of villain, Joan Collins, essentially. Big hair and 

[00:47:05] Adam Cox: shoulder pads. 

[00:47:05] Kyle Risi: Big hair, shoulder pads, shoulder pads, you name it, yeah.

[00:47:09] Kyle Risi: So she's completely insufferable, and for the first time in his life, Maurizio, following obviously his father's death, Like he feels free from that incredibly controlling presence that his father had over him for most of his life And he just loves it. Like he really comes into his own But it's at this moment as well that he realizes that his father's presence wasn't the only controlling factor hanging over him because more and more Patrizia was trying to call the shots and now for the very first time he saw that for what it was.

[00:47:45] Adam Cox: It's the power, yeah, he's feel like he's obviously being managed by his dad or whatever and now what without him out of the way he can see clearer and he's like actually the same thing's happening but with my wife. 

[00:47:56] Kyle Risi: Exactly that. So, one day, [00:48:00] he says that he's going on a work trip. He says goodbye to Patrizia and their two daughters, and he just never comes back.

[00:48:07] Kyle Risi: He doesn't have the nerve to tell Patrizia that he's leaving, so he sends one of his friends to be like, Oh, by the way, maurizio's breaking up with you. So, uh, Really? As casual as that? Yeah, yeah, just sends one of his mates. Wow. 

[00:48:20] Adam Cox: I mean, he probably would still not be where he was today if it wasn't for Patrizia.

[00:48:24] Kyle Risi: Correct. But he doesn't see it that way, right? Yeah, fine. So, of course, Patrizia is furious. Yeah, of course. And she looks like she spent years molding Maurizio into the man that he needed to be to run his share of Gucci. And then he just goes ahead and dumps her. So, like, I get it. Yeah, I get it, man. I'd be furious.

[00:48:43] He starts making moves in the company all on his own, and it begins to materialise. He's not actually a great businessman, at all. And, now that he has dumped Patrizia, who was of course the brains behind the company, things just start falling to shit because the family just can't agree on anything, [00:49:00] right?

[00:49:00] Kyle Risi: He's making really bad decisions that their cousins just can't get behind. 

[00:49:03] Adam Cox: So it was really down to Patrizia who was making a lot of the business decisions, or at least like steering them in the right direction. Apparently, 

[00:49:10] Kyle Risi: yeah. And that's kind of how the The film would also portray it as well.

[00:49:14] Kyle Risi: Behind every great man is an even better woman, right? Is that the saying? Um, something like that, yeah. Yeah, I don't know. 

[00:49:20] Kyle Risi: So amongst the family is this weird, complicated game of 4d chess with moves. Just been flung all over the place. And a whole new level of resentment starts to settle in. The cousins are just desperate to build their own legacy by licensing kind of the Gucci's name to all sorts of kind of lower quality Taki products which obviously their dad, Eldo, who technically still owns 50 percent of the business, just completely disapproves of.

[00:49:44] Kyle Risi: So he wants to put a complete stop to that as well. But they are like, but you're going to die soon. And we need to make sure that we can get a bit of money before our stake or our control in the business kind of diminishes. 

[00:49:56] Adam Cox: They need to prove their value a little bit. 

[00:49:57] Kyle Risi: Yeah, they need to prove the value. But also like [00:50:00] Maurizio, he also disapproves of what the cousins are doing trying to kind of sell or license kind of the Gucci name but because he has his own power struggle with Aldo who remember still owns 50 percent of the business. Aldo is constantly overruling him based on obviously Maurizio's lack of experience and being new to the game and things like that and that really pisses him off so he decides that he needs to pick his battles and he starts to Plan behind the scenes what his next move is going to be to kind of try and get a one up over aldo Okay. 

[00:50:31] Kyle Risi: So he teams up with against Aldo with his cousin Paolo. So this is Aldo's son, all right, in an attempt to drive a wedge amongst Aldo and his kids. And what they do is they snitch on Aldo for evading seven million dollars in tax. And this results in Aldo being sent to prison.

[00:50:53] Kyle Risi: And the poor guy is 81 years old. Well, I can't believe this. His son, 

[00:50:58] Adam Cox: yeah, has gone [00:51:00] along with this and going like 

[00:51:01] Kyle Risi: They've done this on the pretense that if he's out the way then you are free to then continue to license the Gucci name on other things and because they're so desperate to build a Legacy for themselves and to carve out a bit of kind of revenue for themselves 

[00:51:14] Adam Cox: So even though Maurizio is not happy with the licensing He'd rather this happen to get Aldo out of the way, so I guess he can push forward more of his decision making.

[00:51:23] Kyle Risi: That's right. Ah, but the thing is though, once Aldo is out of the way, Maurizio then puts a stop to the Cousins licensing the Gucci name to other businesses. So he's played this kind of 4D chess game. 

[00:51:34] Adam Cox: Yeah, and I'm surprised they didn't see that coming, to be honest. 

[00:51:36] Kyle Risi: Yeah, I know, idiots. Absolute idiots. And the thing is though, he's doing this all on his own, Because Patrizia is out of the picture at this point. 

[00:51:43] Adam Cox: So I can see now that Maurizio is making some enemies within his family. Uh huh. Aldo's gone to prison. 

[00:51:49] Kyle Risi: Uh huh. 

[00:51:49] Adam Cox: He's screwed over the his cousin. 

[00:51:51] Kyle Risi: Mm hmm. 

[00:51:51] Adam Cox: Uh, and then Patrizia's like She's been dumped. Yeah. Yeah. So, that's at least three people. 

[00:51:57] Kyle Risi: Yeah. Who, who murdered him. [00:52:00] Who did it? So, Maurizio, he's extremely ruthless, but he also has a desire to bring Gucci back to his old glory days and make it that luxury brand that it once was prior to the 80s. But ultimately, he also understands that there's only a limited amount of time that he can hold the other cousins off, right?

[00:52:16] Kyle Risi: So he needs to do something a bit more permanent. So he decides that he's going to try his very best to make the lives of his cousins and his uncle as miserable as possible to the point. That they would be willing to sell their share in Gucci to him and get out of the business. 

[00:52:34] Kyle Risi: What could he do for that to happen?

[00:52:37] Kyle Risi: So his plan is to finance this by negotiating with this really huge Saudi Arabian investment firm to front up a bunch of money to get Aldo to sell him their business. Because the thing is though, what he's done is very clever. He has worked with his cousin, so Aldo's son, um, to get him sent to jail, right?

[00:52:58] Kyle Risi: So now all of a sudden Aldo's [00:53:00] sitting there thinking, fuck, my sons have completely betrayed me, fuck them if they're going to get a share of the business. So now Maurizio is going to say, Hey, how about I buy you out? And he's going to say, this is great revenge to my sons who have like sent me to jail. Let me sell my, my 50 percent stake of the business to my nephew. And that will stick two fingers up to my son's essentially. 

[00:53:25] Adam Cox: Yeah. Yeah. I see how he would now do that. 

[00:53:29] Kyle Risi: And that's exactly what happens. And to his credit, this is a brilliant move. Like bringing in an investment company Gucci was essentially the first to do it.

[00:53:36] Kyle Risi: So today you'd be hard pressed to find a fashion house that doesn't have an investment company behind them. They all are owned by these big kind of like venture capitalists kind of investment funds that are out there. So after securing the deal, he presents his offer to the family and immediately Aldo agrees.

[00:53:55] Kyle Risi: Because at this point, he's in his 80s, he's just got out of prison and he's just had enough of [00:54:00] all the mind games and all the calculated moves and he just wants to stick it up to kind of his sons. And so, the three cousins, were no longer in line to herit a third of Aldo's 50 percent stake in Gucci and Maurizio was now chairman of the entire company. He's got his family out of the way now. So, brilliant move. Savvy. Mm hmm. 

[00:54:20] Kyle Risi: So he had completely ousted Patrizia, the brains obviously behind the entire operation, and he had now eliminated every remaining Gucci family member from the business. With all the family out, Maurizio makes sweeping changes to Gucci. Basically he dissolves all of the Gucci licensing deals that the Cousins had secured.

[00:54:38] Kyle Risi: He also then brings in Tom Ford, to be the creative director of Gucci and he starts working with him to bring Gucci back to what it was in his glory days. 

[00:54:48] Adam Cox: Right, didn't know he was involved. 

[00:54:50] Kyle Risi: Yeah, Tom Ford's first big gig was working for Gucci as creative 

[00:54:55] Adam Cox: director. So this is obviously before he had his own brand and everything.

[00:54:57] Kyle Risi: Mm hmm. 

[00:54:58] Adam Cox: Kind of like how [00:55:00] the original gucci, who founded Gucci He, got his sort of big break or at least his inspiration from working at the Savoy a prestigious hotel in London And then same way with Tom Ford, he's got his first big break by working for, Went on to do great.

[00:55:15] Adam Cox: Yeah, I guess so. Yeah,

[00:55:17] Adam Cox: but the thing is though like Maurizio is spending huge amounts of cash in order to bring Gucci back to its old glory days. And the thing is, none of this is very sustainable at all. Yeah, they have some great ideas, but he's literally hemorrhaging cash. And also remember, he's not a very good businessman at all.

[00:55:35] Adam Cox: He makes some really poor decisions. So within a few years, the Saudis are just like, Yeah, we're getting rid of you because we gave you all of this money and you still haven't made us any profit whatsoever. 

[00:55:47] Adam Cox: So, in 1993, the investment firm decides that they're going to buy out Mauricio's share of Gucci for 170 million dollars at the time. And they kick him out of the company. And that was, [00:56:00] ultimately, the end of gucci as a family run business. 

[00:56:04] Adam Cox: And that's it. They're not involved. None of the Gucci family are involved in this business. Nope. Anymore. 

[00:56:08] Kyle Risi: No Gucci's in the Gucci 

[00:56:09] Adam Cox: family. No way. Just owned by a bunch of Saudis. 170 million. That sounds like a nice amount of money and an easy life, right? 

[00:56:16] Kyle Risi: Exactly. I mean Maurizio is not really that. sour or sore about it. So for the first time ever, there's just no Gucci family members part of the Gucci company. And for the first time in a long time, the company is thriving.

[00:56:29] Kyle Risi: Tom Ford is on record as saying that when this all happened, obviously he was shocked that it happened, but it was such a relief because there was no more of this bizarre family soap opera style infighting and drama. They could just get on with running the company, they could run Gucci. 

[00:56:47] Adam Cox: He must've felt like he was in some sort of telenovela.

[00:56:51] Kyle Risi: That's exactly it. So throughout all of this, Patrizia, is obviously furious because, not only did she build up this man to be this leader. Only to [00:57:00] have him then dump her. But then she has to watch helplessly as he loses his entire family legacy.

[00:57:06] Kyle Risi: And that's the whole reason why she even got involved with him in the first place. Because she wanted that for herself. She's not her partner, is she? No, she's not. So Maurizio starts dating this new woman and they're living in Italy together. And he has this 170 million and he's just chilling out.

[00:57:23] Kyle Risi: Trying to work out what he's going to do with the rest of his life, the first thing that he decides to do is that he's officially going to ask. Patricia for a divorce and in the settlement She gets the house that she's currently living in with her daughters, but it's not owned by her It's in a trust for the girls for when they're older 

[00:57:41] Kyle Risi: she is given an annual alimony amount of 1. 5 million dollars Which she calls a mere bowl of lentils Wow and And also, in one of her most famous quotes, she says, I'd rather be sad in a Rolls Royce than [00:58:00] happy on a bicycle.

[00:58:05] Adam Cox: I am liking this woman. She's brilliant! 

[00:58:08] Kyle Risi: but what pisses her off the most is that in the divorce settlement, she can no longer refer to herself as a Gucci. Which is the one thing that was the most important to her, so, she's completely outraged.

[00:58:21] Kyle Risi: She says, I was the most Gucci of them all. I can see that, actually. So, she officially goes back to being Patrizia Reggiani. But Regardless of the divorce settlement, she still refers to herself as Patrizia Gucci, the first lady of Gucci, and she's still going around telling people that that's who she is.

[00:58:42] Kyle Risi: So to sum up, he has ousted his entire family from the company. Uh, he has stopped them from making millions of dollars from Taki Watches. He sends his 81 year old uncle to jail. Uh, he really pisses off his ex wife who believes that she has made him who he is. Then he goes ahead and loses the entire [00:59:00] company to a bunch of Saudi Arabians And in the middle of all of this, Maurizio walks into his office building on the 27th of March, 1995, and is shot dead by a hitman.

[00:59:12] Kyle Risi: So immediately after his death, it's huge international news. The funeral is of course extravagant with Patrizia front and center weeping with her daughters wearing a black veil and tan aviator sunglasses. It's very nineties, very Italian. And there's just a lot of speculation in the press over who could have hired a hitman to kill Maurizio. But because there were so many people with a motive to do it, it takes investigators two years to work it all out. 

[00:59:40] Adam Cox: Really? That's a considerable amount of time. Yeah. 

[00:59:44] Kyle Risi: I guess they're a hitman. Almost no leads as well, up until The end of those two years. 

[00:59:48] Adam Cox: Yeah, I guess there's no like DNA left. That's linking it to them No, 

[00:59:52] Kyle Risi: but I'm going to spoil it now for you. Okay, because I'm just gonna tell you right now Patricia did it. 

[00:59:57] Adam Cox: Oh, well, I kind of [01:00:00] guess 

[01:00:00] Kyle Risi: And she would have almost got away with it if it wasn't for some guy running his mouth in some bar 

[01:00:05] Adam Cox: Those pesky kids. 

[01:00:05] Kyle Risi: There's pesky hitmen hanging out in bars.

[01:00:08] Kyle Risi: So everyone in the family immediately thinks, of course, it's Bertuzia that she did it, although they didn't have obviously any proof. And this is all based on the fact that she was super vocal about how pissed off she was, of course, Following the divorce and losing, obviously, her rights to use the Gucci name.

[01:00:25] Kyle Risi: So this also wasn't helped by the fact that just two hours after Maurizio was shot dead, she sends an eviction notice to his girlfriend in the mansion that they were living in, where she then moves in with her daughters the very next day. 

[01:00:41] Adam Cox: Yeah, you think maybe you should wait, I don't know, a few days, a week, maybe?

[01:00:45] Adam Cox: Yeah, what's an 

[01:00:45] Kyle Risi: acceptable amount of time? 

[01:00:47] Adam Cox: I don't know. Two days? month? Wait until he's in the ground, then be like, uh, that house you're in? Exactly. I'm gonna want that back. Red flags, right? 

[01:00:53] Kyle Risi: Red flags. Plus, also, various people started coming forward saying that in the months leading up [01:01:00] to His death, but Rizzi had been asking around for how she could hire someone to kill Maurizio So, I mean that's that's the blatant thing and it took them two years.

[01:01:08] Kyle Risi: Yeah, it did Well, it wasn't until one night Two years later, when some guy in a bar was bragging about how he had helped hire the hitman who had killed Maurizio Gucci. And the owner of the bar hears this and then he calls police and then from there everything just unravels very, very, very quickly.

[01:01:26] Kyle Risi: It turns out that Patrizia asked her astrologer if she knew how to hire a hitman And the astrologer was like, yeah, probably, like So the astrologer asks a friend, Benito, Keralio?

[01:01:38] Kyle Risi: I think that's how you pronounce that And he's like, sure, for the right price And Patrizia pays him 415, 000 to kill Maurizio 

[01:01:47] Adam Cox: That's quite a lot of money. It's a huge 

[01:01:48] Kyle Risi: amount of money. 

[01:01:49] Adam Cox: Yeah, because we were looking at the average hit While back, and it was like 20k. Not to kill anyone, it was just for research purposes.

[01:01:55] Adam Cox: And who, that's asking her astrologer. That's so random. I know, right? That's like asking our barber [01:02:00] going. Oh, hey, um, how can I kill someone? Yeah, any ideas? 

[01:02:03] Kyle Risi: Yeah. I can't help you with that, but I can maybe give you a razor to slice someone's ear off? Can I help you with that?

[01:02:09] Adam Cox: I could do a cutthroat shave and slip. 

[01:02:11] Kyle Risi: Yeah. Oops, I've killed someone. So everyone involved is arrested and they all start talking immediately to save themselves.

[01:02:19] Kyle Risi: So Patrizia is arrested at 4am in the morning and in classic dynasty style, she refuses to leave the house until she puts on her fur coat and all of her jewelry. And when they ask her to take off a hat for the mug shot at the jail, she completely Completely has a tantrum she is so furious that they make her take off her hat for a mugshot So when you see the picture of her, she has really bad shitty hair Because of the brush because it's all been she's got like really bad hat hair So she goes obviously off to trial and another example of how this whole shitshow is like a scene from Days of Our Lives.

[01:02:54] Kyle Risi: Her defense is that she did ask around about getting Maurizio [01:03:00] killed, but That's because she had just recently had brain surgery for a benign tumor and that had made her crazy But she didn't actually do it. So her defense was basically I'm not guilty.

[01:03:13] Kyle Risi: My brain is guilty 

[01:03:16] Adam Cox: And I already asked, I didn't actually do it. I didn't 

[01:03:18] Kyle Risi: actually do it and it was the brain injury that got her That made me do it. Right, and how, how well did that stand up in court? Well, the judge is like, lol, no. Lol. Okay, Patrizia, whatever. And what didn't help her case was that they had found all the bank statements showing where the payments had gone to the hitman.

[01:03:38] Kyle Risi: Plus, the weeks before Maurizio's murder, in her diary, she had written the words, Vendetta. And then on the day of the murder, she had written another word, Paradizio, which is Greek for paradise. Wow. So, I mean, it's a clear cut, closed case, right? Yeah, don't have any [01:04:00] written 

[01:04:00] Adam Cox: evidence. 

[01:04:00] Kyle Risi: No! She 

[01:04:01] Adam Cox: was sloppy.

[01:04:02] Kyle Risi: Exactly. So, Bertruzzi and everyone involved, including the astrologer and the hitmen, they're all found guilty of the murder of Maurizio Gucci, and she is sentenced to 29 years in prison, and she serves just 16 years because she obviously gets out on parole for good behaviour. 

[01:04:17] Adam Cox: What is it with these people that kill people and get out? So early 

[01:04:21] Kyle Risi: The brilliant thing is is that she could have got out of prison But she refused, she refused to do any work on work release saying I've never worked a day in my life. I'm not going to start now. Oh my god, she sounds 

[01:04:37] Adam Cox: like the most stubborn person ever.

[01:04:40] Kyle Risi: But ultimately they force her to do some work and that results in her being released in 2014. So she's released on, work release. And the first thing she does is go shopping online. On Milan's main street, dressed in fur jewelry and wearing a stuffed parrot on her shoulder. Stuffed parrot? Yeah, a [01:05:00] big giant stuffed parrot.

[01:05:00] Kyle Risi: Why? It's iconic. I don't know, it's just, I don't know, a fashion icon. A pirate? Um, so she's then hired by a jewelry company. As a design consultant who most people think they just wanted the publicity and apparently all she does all day is just read fashion magazines and occasionally she'll like tell them what trends are in.

[01:05:21] Kyle Risi: That's how she does. This is shit. This is shit. Get out of my face. Can I go on break? But the thing is they're hiring her just ended up having the opposite effects They got a bunch of shit for hiring her and they did eventually have like one fashion show Which they were hoping by having her kind of working for them would draw a lot of press attention But Gucci decides that they were going to hold their own fashion show on the exact same day that this jewelry company did so it ended up just completely overshadowing any Positive kind of publicity that they were hoping to get at all reporter Asked her if she hated [01:06:00] Maurizio so much. Why did she just not kill him herself? And this was her response My eyesight is not so good, darling. I didn't want to miss. She's just relentless. She's just brilliant. 

[01:06:15] Adam Cox: Oh god, let's get away for Christmas. Oh my god, 

[01:06:17] Kyle Risi: for sure. So she also talks about how she ended up living with her 89 year old mother in a small flat, and she was really pissed off because she had to start wearing Zara. because the jewellery company wasn't paying her enough to buy like proper clothes. Oh no, that must have been devastating for her. Absolutely. So more recently, since obviously the release of the movie House of Gucci, she's on record as saying that she was really annoyed that Lady Gaga didn't get in touch with her to talk to her about playing her in the film, which she found apparently really disrespectful.

[01:06:52] Kyle Risi: But when they asked Lady Gaga about this, Lady Gaga was like, look, like she murdered someone and she didn't want to like glorify it by [01:07:00] kind of like engaging with her because the record showed that Patrizia was really proud of what she did and Lady Gaga didn't really want to be part of any of that.

[01:07:09] Kyle Risi: Yeah. So I get it, really. Yeah, totally. But then Lady Gaga later in an interview on the red carpet is asked, how do you feel about playing a role that glorifies murder? And she says, I don't want to glorify murder. I want to glorify female empowerment It's like oh god That's, that's not the right thing to say, Lady Gaga.

[01:07:28] Adam Cox: Yeah, I don't know, but, yeah, it's kind of contradictory, like, I understand, like, you definitely don't want to speak to her, but at the same time, you are highlighting a story of a murderer. That's it, yeah. As fascinating as it is. 

[01:07:40] Kyle Risi: Exactly. So, Patricia's daughters, uh, Alessandra and Allegra, they are now 18 and 14, I think, when she was arrested.

[01:07:48] Kyle Risi: Uh, they're now both married, they both live in Switzerland of course, and they're obviously filthy, filthy rich because of course they inherited the entire All the money. Yeah, all the 170 million dollars of it all. 

[01:07:58] Adam Cox: And I'm assuming Petritria [01:08:00] didn't get her 1. 5 million lentil money. 

[01:08:02] Kyle Risi: Oh no, probably no. Mere bowl of lentils.

[01:08:06] Kyle Risi: No, probably not. Probably just got taken away from her. I guess, well, obviously she She murdered someone, yeah, and what do her, I wonder what her daughters think? Are they kept in touch? Well, according to Bertruzzia, she hardly sees her daughters at all. She says that they don't seem to understand her.

[01:08:19] Kyle Risi: I'm like, no shit, like you killed their father. Yeah. So she says that she has nothing to her name and she has never met her grandsons at all, which I'm like, 

[01:08:31] Adam Cox: fair, fair. 

[01:08:31] Kyle Risi: Yeah, so I guess like She kind of got what she deserved. 

[01:08:36] Adam Cox: I guess that's probably the worst thing that could happen to her based on what she, prioritizes in her life. Money and everything. She has no money. She has no fame. She has nothing now. So this is the best sort of prison for her, I think. 

[01:08:49] Kyle Risi: That's it. Yeah. Yeah. Probably hell for her, isn't it? So I'll leave you with this. So she says that if she could see Maurizio again, Um, she would tell him that she loves him [01:09:00] because he is the person who mattered the most to her in her life.

[01:09:05] Kyle Risi: When she was asked what she thinks that he would say in reply, she says, I think he would say the feeling wasn't mutual. So she's not completely deluded. And that is the story of, The Gucci family. 

[01:09:22] Adam Cox: And Patrizia. Patrizia 

[01:09:24] Kyle Risi: Reggiani. 

[01:09:29] Adam Cox: What did you think? Yeah, it was good. I mean, I kind of sussed that she's probably got something to do with this.

[01:09:35] Adam Cox: Yeah. But what a fascinating story and dramatic and theatrical. And yeah, what a woman. 

[01:09:41] Kyle Risi: So now thinking back to the exhibition that we went to in London, the opulence in that exhibition. Do you think that the story that I've told makes sense? In terms of how the exhibition was arranged?

[01:09:55] Adam Cox: Yeah, because in some instances it was quite over the top or really [01:10:00] well done and just really high end. Yeah. That definitely makes sense and keeping in tones. They're carrying that vision forward. Yeah, 

[01:10:06] Kyle Risi: it's smart. 

[01:10:07] Adam Cox: Yeah, it's 

[01:10:07] Kyle Risi: smart. I don't think it's running anymore. Certainly in London, I think it ended in April.

[01:10:12] Kyle Risi: So essentially this month, but wherever it's showing, if it's moving around the UK, go and see it or just look it up online. It's really, really impressive. Yeah, yeah. So shall we run the outro? Let's do it. And so that's another episode of the compendium podcast in the bag If you enjoyed today's episode, then be sure to hit that follow button right in the app that you are listening to us right now.

[01:10:36] Kyle Risi: It really helps us more than we can articulate. You can also schedule new episodes to download automatically, and if you haven't done so already, leave us a little review. Your feedback really helps us get better.

[01:10:48] Kyle Risi: Don't forget that we release every Tuesday and until then remember in the world of high fashion. Sometimes the most stylish accessories are secrets and scandals 

[01:10:59] Adam Cox: See you next time. [01:11:00] See ya