Count Rocky Agusta

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riccardo_Agusta

Count Riccardo Giovanni "Rocky" Agusta (born October 21, 1950 in Milan ) is an Italian entrepreneur as well as a former car racing driver and racing team owner.

Family and origin

Riccardo Agusta was born into the wealthy Italian industrialist family Agusta . His grandfather was in 1879 Parma -born Giovanni Agusta , who in 1908 Palermo the aircraft manufacturer Agusta founded. His father was Corrado Agusta , one of the four sons of the company founder. After the death of his grandfather, who died of complications after surgery in 1927, Corrado's brothers Domenico and Vincenzo took over the business. Under Domenico's leadership in 1945 MV Agusta emerged as an independent motorcycle manufacturer. Domenico died in 1971 and the management went to Riccardo's father Corrado.

The story of the Augusta family is full of private scandals, inheritance disputes and unexplained causes of death. His uncle Vincenzo was found dead in his apartment in Milan in 1958. As a cause of death a shock was stated, which had triggered this, remained unclear . Domenico suffered a stroke on January 29, 1971 during a joint visit with the Finnish President Urho Kekkonen, as a result of which he died four days later. After his father became the head of the family and thus took control of the group, it came to considerable inheritance disputes with the widow Domenico's, her son and their daughterGiovanna Agusta . This had caused a scandal in the 1960s, as their relationship with the Brazilian footballer José Germano de Sales , who was involved in AC Milan , was publicized. Sales was still married and although his daughter was pregnant, the father refused to consent to the marriage after his divorce in Brazil . The couple rushed to Belgium and married in Liège . After only three years the marriage was divorced and Giovanna returned to Italy

Another family scandal also affected Riccardo Agusta, at least indirectly. Father Corrado had in the 1980s, the model Francesca Vacca Agusta Garfagni married his second wife. After Corrado's death in 1989, it came to a dispute over the heritage. Riccardo and Vacca Agusta argued in court over the villa in Portofino , properties in New York , Mexico City , London and St. Moritz , as well as several 1000 billion Italian Lira cash. In a settlement agreement, the legacy was shared between the parties to the dispute. Among other things, the widow received the villa in Portofino . Vacca Agusta got into trouble with Italian law in the 1990s. In the course of Mani Pulite and the investigation against Bettino Craxi also Vacca Agusta was charged. The accusation: She has washed huge sums of money for Craxi abroad. She fled to Mexico, was arrested, extradited to Italy, and sentenced to two years in prison, but was released on bail. In 2001, she came to death for mysterious reasons. After she disappeared from her villa, her body was found a few weeks later on the French coast. The cause of death could never be completely clarified .

Entanglements and rumors

In 1980 MV Agusta stopped producing motorcycles. The brand name was sold in 1992 to Claudio Castiglione and Cagiva . The rumor, Castiglione had won the company of Riccardo Agusta in a game of poker , read this uncommented .

Riccardo Agusta was a close friend of Vito Roberto Palazzolo , who became known as the banker of the mafia. Palazzolo was one of the accused in the Pizza Connection Trial and involved in countless corruption cases. In 1999, when the Agusta family still had significant stakes in AgustaWestland , Palazzolo and Riccardo Agusta were involved in a case of corruption in the procurement of helicopters in South Africa . The 300 million contract should have flowed considerable bribes .

Marriage and Entrepreneurs

In the 1970s Riccardo Agusta rose with private companies to exchange business and married in 1979 Monica Consorti . Cosorti's father was the owner of the then largest television production company in Italy. Also as a winegrower .

Racing career

At the beginning of the 1990s, Agusta entered motor racing as a driver and racing team owner. Since he had enough capital of his own, he handled his sports car sports through his own team. Over the years, he acquired a number of racing cars, with which he entered the BPR Global GT Series and the FIA GT Championship . The first car came from Venturi Paris : a 500LM , a 600LM and 400 GTR .

His first race was in 1993 at the 24 Hours of Le Mans , where he was together with Onofrio Russo and Paolo Mondini on the Venturi 500LM 23rd in the overall standings. Most of the race he had on a Callaway Corvette. In 1994, he finished in 10th place in the 4-hour race of Paul Ricard and in 1995 overall in Le Mans.

With the end of the 1997 season he finished the activities of his racing team and 1998, a partnership with Kremer Racing . With eighth place with Almo Coppelli in the Kremer K8 Spyder at the RAC Tourist Trophy , he celebrated his greatest success in the service of Kremer Racing . He also resigned as driver at the end of the year. In 2004 he tried a comeback, which was unsuccessful.