Black Widow' Passes on Parole Because 'It Would Mean Getting A Job

Remember Patrizia Gucci? She was the wife who arranged for the murder of her ex-husband Maurizio Gucci, heir and CEO of the Gucci empire.

That's why they call her the "Black Widow."

Since being found guilty in 1998 for organizing her ex-husband's death, she has spent the last 13 years in prison watering her plants and tending to the needs of her pet ferret.

And now she is eligible for parole. After 13 years behind bars you would assume she'd would jump at the chance for her freedom, right? Well, you assumed wrong.

She has rejected the offer, reportedly telling the parole board at San Vittore: “No thanks as it would mean getting a job and I have never worked a day in my life,” reports the Daily Mail. "'I would prefer to stay in my cell and water my plants,” she added.

This shouldn't surprise anyone. Years before she hired the hitman, she was known for her extravagant and privileged lifestyle.

As the story goes, Patrizia Gucci decided to have Maurizio Gucci killed because he had left her for a younger woman and she was dissatisfied with her $650,000 divorce settlement. She claimed that the amount offered was far too little; she was aiming for at least $1 million.

According to the The Gaurdian, because she was enraged at being left for a younger woman and because the settlement amount was unsatisfactory, “She . . . plotted her ex-husband's death in league with a bizarre assortment of low-life accomplices, including a fortune teller from Naples and the night porter at a down-at-heel Milan hotel.”

In 1995, Maurizio Gucci was shot to death in front of his office.

After his murder, and all signs pointing to the embittered ex-wife as the mastermind, she was found guilty and sentenced to 29 years in prison. However, since the original sentencing, it has been reduced to 26 years on appeal.

As one would expect, the high-profile murder case attracted a media frenzy.

But after being locked away for so long, many have forgotten her lavish lifestyle (she reportedly showed up everyday in court wearing a different designer outfit) and she has fallen more or less into obscurity as far as the U.S. is concerned.

Earlier this week, Gucci’s lawyer Danilo Boungiorno said she had been offered work in a restaurant or gym as part of her parole agreement, but had turned them both down and he added: "She would prefer to stay in jail and make use of the weekend visits she is granted to see her family."

It seems that she was serious when she famously said "I'd rather cry in a Rolls than be happy on a bicycle."

Although it's difficult to imagine that prison is anything like the "Rolls" she was talking about.

(H/T Business Insider)