Fabrizio Maramaldo Fabrizio Maramaldo ( 1494 – December 1552 ) was an Italian condottiere . An illiterate native of Naples or Calabria , his exact origins are unknown , though he hailed from the Kingdom of Naples , and was perhaps of Spanish origin . He fled Naples after having murdered his wife and sought protection at the Gonzaga under Federico 11 , Duke of Mantova and in the Republic of Venice . In 1526 he was absolved of the crime of uxoricide by Charles V , the Holy Roman Emperor . He fought the Turks in Hungary , and the French in Piedmont . He suffered a grievous setback in the siege he laid to the city of Asti in 1526 where , after having breached the walls by cannon fire for a final assault , legend narrates that victory was snatched from his grasp by the intervention of the town ' s patron saint , St . Secondus of Asti who is said to have appeared in the sky . Fighting on the imperial side , he took part in the Sack of Rome the following year , and three years later , in the siege of Florence . He gained a reputation as a ruthless mercenary and ravager . The murder of Francesco Ferrucci . The black name he earned in Italian history and popular memory came from the way he despatched Francesco Ferrucci , the captain of the Florentine army . Maramaldo fought for the Duke of Orange , for the restoration of the Medici , against the army of the Florentine Republic . The two forces clashed in the town of Gavinana on the 3rd . of August 1530 , and Maramaldo murdered his old enemy , who had been grievously wounded and taken prisoner , against the principles of chivalrous conduct in wartime . There are many differing accounts of the episode , the incident being much favoured in early historical accounts and fiction . Massimo d ' Azeglio in his historical novel reimagined the scene , as recounted by the character Fanfulla , thus : - Maramaldo in the Italian language . The phrase , ' you are killing a dead man ' , in Italian , " tu uccidi un uomo morto " , became proverbial . However there are notable differences in contemporary Renaissance accounts of Ferrucci ' s last words . The version here is comes from the contemporary historian Benedetto Varchi ' s " History of Florence " . Paolo Giovio , in his " Historiarum sui temporis libri XLV , " ( 1550 – 1552 ) has Ferrucci saying , ' If you kill me , you will gain neither profit nor the approbation of praise from my murder ' . A third minor contemporary source , given in the Tuscan dialect , has Ferrucci say , ' Tu darai a un morto ' ( You ' ll be bashing a corpse ) , which may be more probable . Ten days later , Florence surrendered , and was forced to accept the return of the Medici . The feats of the Neapolitan condottiere , particularly this last incident , impressed themselves on the popular imagination , to the point that his name became synonymous with maltreatment of the weak or anyone incapable of defending himself , or for the type of person who shows himself ready to overcome or betray others as soon as he detects some weakness . Thus , in the Italian language , the substantive " maramaldo " and the adjective " maramaldesco " ( " Maramaldesque " ) has become eponymous of " ruthless " , " villainous " . One occasionally comes across the verb , " maramaldeggiare " in the sense of ' treat someone badly by ruthless mockery '