It was 1994. Paolo Adinolfi left his home in a neighborhood of Rome, Italy, as usual, and told his family he would be back for lunch... but that never happened.
At the time he disappeared, he was a judge at the Court of Appeal, but only for a few days. Because Paolo Adinolfi, until recently, had served in the Bankruptcy Section of the Court of Rome.
But now, 31 years after his mysterious disappearance, a turning point may have come: since Thursday morning, investigators, with the help of dogs, have been digging under the Casa del Jazz, a landmark for Roman culture at the beginning of Via Cristoforo Colombo, built on a property seized from organized crime.
The goal is to search and excavate several unexplored galleries, thought to be from the Roman period, which are located right under the complex that was confiscated from organized crime.
Some of the tunnels are known, others are not, and for this very reason it has been decided to carry out checks in this underground area as well. Technicians from the Directorate of Monuments are also present, along with carabinieri, members of the Finance Guard and the police. Inside the complex, workers with shovels are working in the places indicated by the investigators to open a passage in the ground, where the excavations should be carried out.
The decision to intervene was made following a request from former judge Guglielmo Muntoni. It is currently unclear on what information or investigative development the operation, which is involving several teams, is based.
"I learned about this initiative on the internet this morning. At this moment we just have to wait for the development of this activity. My family and I cannot say more at this stage," said lawyer Lorenzo Adinolfi, one of the sons of the missing judge, who immediately went to Casa del Jazz.
"This activity is not just about Judge Adinolfi. The goal is to understand what could be hidden in the ancient and historical gallery located under the Casa del Jazz, which we found covered up thirty years ago. The idea is that it was covered up to hide something," said the former judge who made the request.
Paolo Adinolfi disappeared on July 2, 1994. That day, as he was leaving his house on Via della Farnesina, Adinolfi told his family that he would be back for lunch. His wife, Nicoletta, and their children Giovanna and Lorenzo waited for him, but he never returned.
Over the years, there have been many hypotheses about the reasons for the disappearance of the magistrate, who in his previous position before his latest appointment had dealt with important matters that passed through the Bankruptcy Section, an office that, then as now, deals with matters that may also be related to criminal events.
The investigation into his disappearance has been closed, but the mysteries remain. Especially about what Adinolfi did on the morning of his disappearance and about a series of testimonies collected, according to which, one in particular, says that the judge was seen on a bus, although he had left home by car, which was later found in the Villaggio Olimpico. There is also another testimony about his presence in the judicial offices of Piazzale Clodio, in the company of an unknown young man.
There have been many hypotheses, including that of a connection between the disappearance of the judge and the fact that in previous years he had dealt with the bankruptcy case of the company Fiscom and then with that of Ambra Assicurazioni. In the first case, Enrico Nicoletti was convicted at first instance, considered by investigators to be the treasurer of the Magliana Gang, and for a long time it has been assumed that the judge could have been buried on one of his properties. Exactly as in the case of the Casa del Jazz, where excavations are being carried out this morning.
"It is necessary to carry out a verification, not because something specific is being sought, but because information has been received that in the property confiscated from the Magliana Gang there is this part, a covered, unknown gallery, and it is right to verify what is inside," said the prefect of Rome, Lamberto Giannini.
The Banda della Magliana was a notorious criminal organization that operated in Rome from the 1970s to the early 1990s. It was founded in 1975 by Franco Giuseppucci, Enrico De Pedis and Maurizio Abbatino, based in the Magliana district of Rome. It was the most powerful mafia group in the modern history of the Italian capital, controlling activities such as drug trafficking, extortion, contract killings, kidnappings and money laundering. The gang had suspected links to the Sicilian Mafia, the Neapolitan Camorra and far-right groups such as the NAR. It was gradually dismantled after the Italian police's "Operation Colosseo" in 1993, but its influence in politics, the church and the secret services remains the subject of investigations and conspiracy theories.