More On The Versace "Mafia Hit"

 An intriguing new theory about the murder of famous designer Gianni Versace has surfaced, this time from Versace's long time lover, the designer Antonio D'Amico.

Antonio D'Amico

D'Amico & Versace

D'Amico was speaking a few nights ago on the popular Italian entertainment program Verissimo.
In an interview with the host Silvia Toffanin he was asked about the murder and replied -"someone sent him"- referring to the alleged killer Andrew Cunanan.
 D'Amico says he struggles to believe that Cunanan would just turn up and kill Versace for no reason.

"In my opinion someone sent him (Cunanan)". Asked to elaborate, Antonio gives an enigmatic reply:
"it's my belief someone who knew Gianni very well, someone who was extremely close to him, sent his assassin. There is no evidence but the truth will come out one day"

D'Amico was a former model who began working in Versace's office in 1982 where he began a relationship with the designer that lasted until his murder. There is little love lost between Antonio and Gianni's sister Donatella Versace and brother Santo.

In Gianni's will D'Amico was left a legacy of around $26,000 a month for life and the right to live in any of Versace's several homes around the world.

Silvia Toffanin

By the time Donatella, Santo and their lawyers were finished, D'Amico received a fraction of his pension and never saw the inside of a Versace house again. Donatella is on record as saying she never liked Gianni's boyfriend. D'Amico now runs his own successful fashion design business.

And where does this leave the claim by two Mafia informants that Gianni Versace was murdered over debts to the Mafia who they say had invested earlier on in his fashion design corporation ?

P.I. Frank Monte

Those claims were published by the respected Italian investigative reporter Gianluigi Nuzzi in his 2010 book Metastasi which has been a best seller in Europe with an English version in the works.
At the time a furious Santo Versace threatened to sue anyone who repeated the Mafia hit claim. Nonetheless it was printed in hundreds of newspapers around the world and not one, including author Nuzzi has received notice from solicitors.

It's far cry from 2003 when Santo and Donatella hauled Australian private eye Frank Monte into the Australian Federal Court for making the same claim in his best selling autobiography Spying Game.
Monte had worked for Gianni in New York investigating Versace's fears that an insider was cooking the books. The Versace's spent millions of dollars to silence Monte and Pan McMillan had to pulp 26,000 copies of his book which was later published without the Versace Mafia link.

Frank Monte is restrained by the Federal Court from discussing the Nuzzi claims that mirror his own and the Australian media had a field day during the highly publicized Monte court case but oddly, have been largely silent over Nuzzi's book. Only weeks before Nuzzi published his book the Shuttle spoke to several tabloid writers who scoffed at Monte's original claim and were equally vocal when it was revealed he was investigating the David Jones sexual harassment claim. That turned out to be true.

Monte will not return calls about D'Amico's claim and our legal eagle expert says :
"Monte would still be restrained by the original court orders so probably steers clear of any discussion over the Versaces" " Mind you" he continued " I can't see Donatella or Santo taking him on again if he did speak to the media. Donatello could be called to explain the inconsistent evidence she gave to the Sydney court under oath where she claimed, surrounded by lawyers during a satellite link-up,that she had never ever taken drugs and then 2 years later gave an interview to Vogue magazine where she said she had been addicted to drugs before and after Versace's death. Courts don't take kindly to being treated like mugs"

Versace bargain : "it's just not etiquette"

Paris Hilton, Bono of U2, Mick Jagger and the Dubai Royal Family are just some of the slebs who have resided at Palazzo Versace on the Gold Coast.

 There isn’t another hotel or residential resort in Australia that can invoke such recognition and reaction with it's Italian extravagance.Now living the lifestyle of a celebrity is no longer exclusive for high rollers or the rich and famous at an establishment listed in the prestigious Leading Hotels of The World.

Gold Coast real-estate agent Rob Astbury has just listed a  three bedroom residential apartment at Palazzo Versace for just $1,450,000. Some would describe it as an unbelievable bargain but Astbury told the Shuttle “I have been informed that using the words “Versace and bargain” in the same sentence is just not etiquette.” 

The reality is after an unprecedented property boom the Gold Coast is now undergoing a major price correcting and nothing is exempt, not even Palazzo Versace. After a decade working with a property developer in Thailand  Astbury has returned to the Gold Coast where he was once crowned the top Ray White sales person in Queensland. Winning two prestigious marketing awards Astbury is renowned for his theme “still the ONE”. It was the call sign of Channel 9 where Astbury built a reputation as the top sports journalist in Australia.

Despite one of the toughest Gold Coast markets ever  Astbury has had nine sales in three months totalling over $8.7 million and attributes his success to thinking outside the square when marketing prestige real estate.

And who is buying into the Gold Coast ?. Just about everyone who is anyone in Sydney and Melbourne has a holiday unit on the Gold Coast but the word is that Middle East oil sheiks and millionaires are snapping up properties at the top end of the market viewing Queensland as one of the safest spots on earth to invest. The Shuttle also hears that billionaire James Packer is looking for the quintessential property to complement the extravagant Vauclause mansion he is currently building.

Elena Ioukhnovitch

Rob Astbury

Astbury recently teamed up with glamorous Gold Coast resident and agent Elena Ioukhnovitch. The pair is now making an assault on marketing properties in Mermaid Beach including Hedges and Albatross Avenues long renowned as “Millionaire Row” with some of the most expensive real estate in Australia.

In the past month Rob and Elena have listed several properties ranging from a three bedroom apartment at the tightly held Broadbeach On The Park to a spectacular three level residence at 203 Hedges Avenue, both boasting absolute beach frontage.

On The Park is a boutique six level building with one apartment per floor reduced from $3,000,000 to $1,625,000. Three years ago at the height of the boom 203 Hedges sold for $9 million and today it can be snapped up for $6,950,000. With three bedrooms, a private movie theatre and roof top swimming pool there is parking for six cars in the basement.

Astbury’s website www.robastbury.com.au has complete details, photos and videos of the large price range of properties listed including a spectacular 700 square metre Broadbeach Penthouse for $4.9 million and a stunning four bedroom beach house at La Sabbia for $4 million.

PI Monte Gives It All Away & Prince William Party Endorses Him

soon to be ex-Premier Keneally & Prince William

The famous private investigator Frank Monte who is standing for this Saturday's NSW State election has announced that if successful he will donate his yearly salary of $170,000 to a number of charities including Breast Cancer, St Vincent De Paul and an AIDs charity.

Monte says he has been  financially successful over the past few years and derives a comfortable income from a number of ventures so will not take his parliamentary salary.

With back room jockeying heating up Monte finds himself in the fortunate position of being courted by a number of independent candidates and parties anxious to do preference deals.

One-the NPMP, the No Parking Meter Party has already offered to direct preferences to Monte and this is when candidates often find themselves in the winning seat.

With the NPMP fielding 18 candidates our calculations show the PI could pick up over 30,000 preferences and may well take a seat in the Legislative Assembly.  He's also received an endorsement from the Monarchist League nicely timed to co-incide with HRH Prince William's successful tour of QLD.

With voters turning on the ruling Labor Party and with the Coalition expected to take power, voters often hedge their bets in the upper house where they may vote against the party they voted for in the lower house-the Legislative Council. Whoever rules NSW, they usually have to negotiate with a hostile upper house to pass legislation.

And if Monte finds himself a law maker in NSW where will that leave him in the infamous Versace trial where nearly ten years ago Donatella Versace claimed in the Aust Federal Court on oath that she had "never used drugs" while just a few years later gave an interview to Vogue Magazine saying that she had been "addicted to drugs before and after her brother Gianni's murder".

 Donatella and Santo Versace sued Monte over his book claim that the mafia had murdered Gianni Versace. Now the powerful Anti- Mafia Office in Rome have opened a case file on Gianni's murder and one person has already been arrested. The top US CBS show "48 Hours" recently contacted Monte and are preparing a special on the Versace empire which promises startling revelations.

This story is just beginning....

Versace Mafia Murder Claim Heats Up

News comes that there may be some startling revelations about the mighty Versace fashion empire soon.

Earlier we reported on the new book "Metastasi" by respected Italian investigative reporter Gianluigi Nuzzi in which he said that the feared and  notorious Italian Calabrian mafia N'Drangheta had murdered the fashion house creator and designer Gianni Versace. The book has become a huge best-seller in Europe and the Anti-Mafia office in Rome immediately announced an investigation. Nuzzi's source was a good one- a former mafia godfather turned whistle-blower who a Rome mafia investigator said had always provided true and solid evidence which had helped convict dozens of mafia criminals.

Nuzzi's claims were similar to those made many years before by the Australian private eye Frank Monte who worked for Gianni in New York investigating employees who Versace thought was on the fiddle. Monte published an auto-biography The Spying Game which included the mafia murder tale and all hell broke loose.

He soon found himself in the Australian Federal Court being sued by Santo and Donatella Versace in a bizarre case where they spent millions of dollars to have Monte's book pulped. Ironically when Monte re-published his book without the mafia murder claims the publicity from the trial helped it become a best seller in Europe.

As we exclusively reported- Donatella while replying under oath via satelite and surrounded by lawyers- to questions from Monte's barrister Clive Evatt QC said she had "never used drugs" yet just a few years later she said in an interview in Italian Vogue which was reprinted throughout the world that she had been addicted to illicit drugs long before and after her brother's murder and that friends like Sir Elton John had helped her go to a clinic to recover.

At home Monte had been pilloried by the local media who hung off every word from the two Versaces seemingly bedazzled by their celebrity status.

 Not one of those who then wrote so forcefully of how Monte had allegedly defamed the good Versace name bothered to follow up on how Donatella appears to have thumbed her nose at Australia's highest court. Either she lied in court or she lied to Vogue. Santo Versace said he would sue anyone who repeated Gianluigi Nuzzi's claims. A spokesperson for Nuzzi's office says no lawsuit has been forthcoming.

The Shuttle can now exclusively report that an associate of the Versace company has been arrested in Italy and another high profile one is under investigation.

To be continued....

The Versace Mafia Claims & The Australian Link

The story is so hot in Italy that the media there has gone into meltdown. On December 2nd  respected investigative journalist Gianluigi Nuzzi published his new book Metastis; A Chronicle of 'Blood & Money".

Gianluigi Nuzzi

In Metastis Mafia godfather Giuseppe di Bella, now a police supergrass says that fashion designer Gianni Versace was murdered by the notorious Calabrian Mafia  N’drangheta, a little known but feared group with close ties to South American drug lords.
di Bella says that he and his fellow mobsters laundered billions of dollars for the South Americans by filtering it through legitimate businesses and one of them was the Versace fashion empire to the tune of $200M a year. 

He claims that Gianni Versace was taking so much money out of his fashion business and taking so much cocaine he was beginning to believe the money belonged to him. di Bella says a hit was ordered on Versace to teach others a lesson.

And he says the reported killer of Versace, Andrew Cunanan was a patsy and was himself murdered by the Mafia.

Giancarlo Capaldo, of the Rome based anti Mafia department, said: 'We have opened a file into what Di Bella says - he is an informer and his information in the past has always proved correct.'

In a statement the Versace family said: 'The declarations from the informer are false and shameful.

Gianni Versace, whose celebrity friends included Diana, Princess of Wales, Elton John,  Madonna and Naomi Campbell was shot at close range in the back of the head on the steps of his Miami mansion on July 15, 1997 in what detectives at the time speculated had the hallmarks of a mob hit.

Cunanan was found dead  several days later on a Miami houseboat. It was claimed to be a suicide.

Donatella

But the Versace Mafia claims are not new.
                                                                               
Ten years ago Santo and Donatello Versace took Australian private eye Frank Monte to court in Sydney after he published a book, The Spying Game in which he detailed the very same claims. The Versaces won their case and the book was pulped.

Frank Monte

While few questions were asked at the time about why the Versaces  bothered coming all the way to the Sydney Supreme Court to take on Monte something quite different was happening in Italy.

Numerous Italian publications said that  it was common knowledge that Gianni Versace and the Mafia were ln bed together.

While Monte was on the receiving end of criticism in the Australian media, the opposite was happening in Italy. He was being hailed as a hero for exposing the Versace empire as a fashion fairy tale just too good to be true. They treated him as the underdog in the Sydney trial. Meanwhile Italian newspapers published photographs of Gianni leaving by boat from his lavish villa on Lake Como accompanied by known Mafia members. 

The local Australian media has all but ignored the di Bello story but in Italy, the UK and the USA the story is gaining traction. At least 2 major British newspapers are to shortly publish new details about the Versace empire and both have contacted Monte.

Now the Shuttle has seen a copy of a manuscript written not long after the Versace shooting-The Miami Jigsaw. The author received several credible death threats at the time and decided not to publish. The manuscript contains  never before published details of the Versace and Cunanan deaths in Miami, much of it sourced from detectives who worked on the case.

There are details that possibly didn't seem that important at the time but with  the Gianluigi Nuzzi book now become very pertinent.

Such as the fact that ownership of the houseboat on which Andrew Cunanan's body was found , linked back to a known Mafia member and was a base for mob members. Despite the well publicised details of Cunanan's trip across the USA from California to Miami on a serial murder spree, no publication at the time mentioned  his stay in Las Vegas before the trip began.

In FBI records there are details of Cunanan receiving large sums of money  in Vegas despite having no job or income with photos of him meeting with mob members. In police reports the pathologist who examined Cunanan's body said that the claim that he had died 8 days after Versace was dubious and that he may have in fact, died before Versace.

Witnesses say the man who shot Versace yelled a known Mafia curse in Italian. Cunanan did not speak the language. Nor did any of those witnesses identify Cunanan as the shooter. Beside Gianni's bod lay a dead pigeon, a known Mafia symbol.

In The Miami Jigsaw it's clear that Miami police held little faith in the Cunanan murder theory, particularly as Versace had been killed in a classic Mafia style hit in broad daylight.   Added to this was the manner in which Cunanan had killed all his other victims-shooting them front on while facing them or torturing them first.

The book has  FBI records to show the federal agency thought similarly.

Last night Santo Versace confronted  Giuseppe di Bella on Italian television and poured scorn on di Bella's claims. But when di Bella said that he had met Santo on a number of occasions which Santo denied, he revealed intimate details of Santo's home. Today talk back radio in Rome was running hot with callers on the side of Giuseppe di Bella.

Journalist Gianluigi Nuzzi talks on Italian TV about the N’drangheta and the Versace murder.