The scene was worthy of a Puccini opera: the patriarch lying on his deathbed as his heirs and dependants gather to discuss how to save his inheritance. The end of 81-year-old Gianni Agnelli could not have come in more dramatic circumstances. The man known as "the uncrowned king of Italy" died of prostate cancer in the early hours of January 24th, the day of a key meeting of Giovanni Agnelli & Company, the family trust that controls Fiat and the rest of the Agnelli empire. The meeting was being held to nominate Gianni's younger brother, the 68-year-old Umberto Agnelli, as head of the trust, and to discuss investing more family money in the rescue of the hard-pressed Fiat. Umberto was duly anointed, and the investment was promised.
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