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>> In 1997, Gianni Versace was shot and killed on the steps of his Miami home by serial killer Andrew Cunana. Now, reports have surfaced alleging that Versace's death was the result of Mafia debts.

According to an interview with Giuseppe Di Bella, a former member of the Calabrian Mafia group ’Ndrangheta, Versace was involved in money laundering for the organization: "There were rivers of money from drugs, extortion, protection rackets, loan sharking, mountains of money and it had to be made clean. Bars, restaurants, property and luxury goods were used but also clean businesses like that of Versace."

Versace sent out a statement denying the reports: “We categorically state that it is based on the false and shameful allegations and ‘confessions’ of a former member of the ’Ndrangheta. The Versace family, together with Gianni Versace SpA, utterly refute these baseless allegations and reserve the right to take every possible civil and criminal action against anybody who repeats or propagates these allegations, and to protect the reputation of the company and the memory of Gianni Versace.”

But Rome-based anti-Mafia investigator Giancarlo Capaldo noted: "We have opened a file into what Di Bella says — he is an informer and his information in the past has always proved correct."