Thirty years after his mysterious disappearance, investigators have begun new underground searches beneath Rome’s Casa del Jazz in hopes of uncovering clues to Judge Paolo Adinolfi’s fate.
More than three decades after Judge Paolo Adinolfi vanished without a trace, investigators are once again searching for answers—this time beneath the Casa del Jazz in Rome. Police and Carabinieri, assisted by sniffer dogs, have begun excavations under the property, which was once owned by Enrico Nicoletti, the so-called “cashier” of the Banda della Magliana crime syndicate.
The search was ordered by the Prefecture following a request from former magistrate Guglielmo Muntoni. The tunnels beneath the site have never before been explored. Adinolfi disappeared on July 2, 1994, at the age of 52. A respected judge recently appointed to the Court of Appeals, he had handled sensitive bankruptcy cases involving organized crime.
That morning, he left his home in Via della Farnesina, telling his wife he would be back for lunch. He was reportedly seen at the civil courthouse and possibly later near his mother’s home in the Parioli district, where his house and car keys were later found. Witnesses claimed to have seen him on a bus heading toward Termini Station, but none of those accounts were confirmed.
Over the years, investigators explored multiple theories—illness, memory loss, or abduction linked to his work on the Fiscom bankruptcy, which was allegedly connected to the Banda della Magliana. All prior investigations were closed without resolution. “All we can do now is wait,” said his son, Lorenzo Adinolfi, watching as the new search began.