Fort Lauderdale police charged Catherine Marie Pileggi with the murder of her longtime boyfriend, Ronald C. Vinci, who was found dead in the mansion he had just bought.
BY DIANA MOSKOVITZ
DMOSKOVITZ@MIAMIHERALD.COM
To friends and associates, Ronald C. Vinci lived the life so many dreamed of. He had self-made millions, a collection of Fort Lauderdale waterfront homes and a girlfriend.
Tuesday, his girlfriend, 54-year-old Catherine Marie Pileggi, surrendered to face a charge of first-degree murder in his death.
The body of Vinci, 70, was found June 28 at his newly purchased mansion at 101 SW Coconut Dr., in the well-to-do Tarpon River neighborhood, after police received a call saying his corpse was wrapped in duct tape.
When police arrived, they found his body on the floor, covered with bedding and plastic bags.
Pileggi was booked Tuesday into the Broward County Main Jail and held without bail.
“She surrendered herself to Fort Lauderdale police after she was advised through a lawyer that she was wanted for first-degree murder,” police spokesman Detective Travis Mandell said.
Officers said Tuesday they found several pieces of evidence linking Pileggi to the homicide, although they did not describe them. They also did not say how Vinci was killed.
Pileggi’s stepmother in Grovetown, Ga., outside Augusta, said Pileggi “wouldn’t hurt a fly.”
“In all honesty, she wouldn’t even say anything that would hurt somebody’s feelings,” said the stepmother, who asked that her name not be published.
Police said Pileggi’s relationship with Vinci had recently soured.
Vinci’s business attorney of the past 11 years, Michael Vivoli of San Diego, described Vinci’s death and the details that followed with one word: “Horrific.”
It was a sudden and violent end to a life that read like the American Dream: work hard, get rich, and retire on the waterfront.
Vinci’s story began in 1960s San Diego, where he had some tools and about $1,500 to his name. He started out selling Honda motorcycles. When Honda began selling cars in the United States, he added them to his showroom, Vivoli said.
As Honda’s success grew, so did Vinci’s. He eventually owned several car dealership scattered across Southern California and Las Vegas.
Friends described him as a savvy businessman who used his money to make more money. He was gregarious, outgoing and loved to ski, boat, fly his planes and helicopters and tool around on his motorcycles.
Along the way, Vinci married and divorced. He had a grown son and a grandson.
Then, in the 1990s, he met Pileggi. She was a pilot, brought to San Diego by her work with an airline.
As years passed, Vinci shed most of his dealerships and moved to Fort Lauderdale. Pileggi came with him.
They lived in comfort. In 2005, Vinci paid $1.5 million for a condominium unit in Fort Lauderdale’s Las Olas River House, a pair of glimmering blue towers in the heart of downtown and on the New River. The 41st floor unit had two bedrooms, 3 ½ bathrooms and a private elevator.
A year later, he bought a single-family home in Nurmi Isles, near the Intracoastal Waterway, for $2.2 million.
Last month, Vinci added a third home, for $2.96 million — a two-story, 8,151-square-foot mansion with five bedrooms, six bathrooms and a swimming pool overlooking the New River. He bought it from a friend.
Vinci was the first person to live in it even though it had been built several years earlier. His new neighbors said they saw him a few times and said hello.
Days later, they were confronted with the sight of police tape and a fleet of Fort Lauderdale crime-scene vans lined up outside the home.
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