Aldo Gucci, the former head of Gucci Shops Inc., pleaded guilty yesterday to criminal charges for failing to pay more than $7 million in Federal income taxes.taxes.
Mr. Gucci, whose name has come to evoke elegance and wealth, waived his right to an indictment and trial. He admitted not reporting more than $11 million in personal income from his business, which sells fashionable leather goods in New York and other cities.
As part of the plea agreement, he ment and must pay the rest of more than $7 million in taxes before sentencing, according to Howard Wilson, chief of the Criminal Division of the United States Attorney's office.
Judge Vincent L. Broderick, who accepted the guilty plea in Federal District Court in Manhattan, set April 8 for the sentencing. Mr. Gucci pleaded guilty to three criminal charges, each carrying up to five years in prison and a $10,000 fine.
Mr. Gucci is 80 years old and has homes in New York and Beverly Hills, Calif., as well as Rome, Federal prosecutors said.
Standing before the judge, Mr. Gucci expressed his love for this country in an emotional tone. Although he is not a American citizen, he noted that he has lived in United States since 1977.
The prosecutor in charge of the case, Stuart E. Abrams, said later that the accountant in the scheme was dead. Mr. Abrams declined to name the accountant. He also declined to say who else might be a target of the continuing investigation.
Milton S. Gould, the lawyer for Mr. Gucci, described the guilty plea as the culmination of long negotiations with the Government. He said Mr. Gucci had ended a ''foolish and improvident'' practice devised by others.
In a statement, Gucci Shops said Mr. Gucci had resigned as chairman in 1984 and ''ceased to have an active role in the company at that time.'' It noted that his plea involved an earlier period and primarily concerned his personal taxes.
The charges against Mr. Gucci were filed yesterday by Rudolph W. Giuliani, the United States Attorney in Manhattan. Civil penalties and interest for overdue taxes may be added.
Mr. Gucci pleaded to one charge of conspiracy to defraud the Government and two charges of tax evasion. The conspiracy charge said he had failed to report about $11.8 million of income on which he owed about $7.3 million in taxes from 1977 to 1982. Of that amount, the tax-evasion charges specified that he owed $2 million for 1979 and $1.5 million for 1980.
Noting that ''the Gucci family has been the owner of a well-known business engaged in the sale of leather goods'' for many years, the charges said the business was founded by Mr. Gucci's father, Guccio Gucci, in Florence, Italy.
They added that the founder's three sons formed Gucci Shops Inc. in 1953, with headquarters at 685 Fifth Avenue, at 54th Street, and later opened shops in other cities. Two of the three sons died in recent years.