Background
Ridolfi was born in 1913 in Trenton, New Jersey.
Ridolfi was born in 1913 in Trenton, New Jersey.
He attended Trenton Central High School and graduated from Princeton University in 1936, where he majored in politics. He graduated from Harvard Law School in 1939.
Early
In 1941 Ridolfi was appointed Secretary to the New Jersey Senate Minority Leader. He served as a legislative advisor to Governor Charles Edison from 1941 to 1942. He left his post to join the United States Coast Guard in World World War World War II
In 1947 he was elected Sheriff of Mercer County.
He was elected City Commissioner of Trenton in 1951, reelected in 1955.
He was first elected to the State Senate in 1953, defeating Assistant Mercer County Prosecutor Arthur Stephen Lane. Ridolfi and Lane had attended Princeton and Harvard Law at the same time.
He was re-elected in 1957, 1961, 1965 and 1967. In 1967 he served as Senate President and Acting Governor.
In December 1968, Assistant New Jersey Attorney General William Brennan III (son of Supreme Court Associate Justice William J Brennan, Junior) gave a speech alleging that three incumbent state legislators were "entirely too comfortable with organized crime." The legislators were later revealed to be Ridolfi and Assemblymen David Friedland and John A. Selecky.
He was also accused of land dealings with Edmund Bralynski (aka "Big Brownie"), identified by state law enforcement officials as "a top rackets figure in Trenton."
On January 14, 1969, a special legislative investigating committee expressed "disapproval" of Ridolfi and Selecky. The committee reported, "While Senator Ridolfi has done nothing illegal, his actions have reflected adversely on the Legislature."
He died on May 9, 2004 at the age of 90 at Rosehill Assisted Living in Robbinsville Township, New Jersey.