Pantani, the forensic scientist: ‘Others entered the room after death’

Some people would have entered the room where the body of Marco Pantaniin the then “Le Rose” residence in Rimini, before the Scientific Police, on 14 February 2004. This was supported by two officers heard as witnesses by the Trento Prosecutor’s Office as part of the new investigation into mafia-style criminal association aimed at clandestine betting and linked to the death of the cyclist from Romagna. Pantani was found lifeless in room D5, on the top floor of the Rimini residence. He was 34 years old. Having heard brief testimonial information, the two policemen reported that it immediately seemed “strange”: inside the place under investigation, the first to enter should have been the forensic police operators. Full light has never been shed on his death, as well as on the events in Madonna di Campiglio and his exclusion from the 1999 Giro d’Italia. Three investigations into the case have already been opened and closed over the years.

“Wait outside”

At the time of the events, the witnesses were instructed to carry out surveys inside the residence in Rimini, now completely renovated: they reported having received instructions from two people who entered the room first “to wait outside”. The Prosecutor’s Office has already heard from 10 people with the aim of reconstructing the sampling methods and understanding why Pantani’s test tube was not assigned a progressive and anonymous number but 11440, placed in the presence of several people. And then there are the “investigative gaps” highlighted by the Parliamentary Anti-Mafia Commission as can be read in the “findings relating to the death of the sportsman Marco Pantani and any elements connected to organized crime which led to his disqualification in 1999”.