When the world gets closer.

We help you see farther.

Sign up to our expressly international daily newsletter.

Already a subscriber? Log in.

You've reach your limit of free articles.

Get unlimited access to Worldcrunch

You can cancel anytime.

SUBSCRIBERS BENEFITS

Ad-free experience NEW

Exclusive international news coverage

Access to Worldcrunch archives

Monthly Access

30-day free trial, then $2.90 per month.

Annual Access BEST VALUE

$19.90 per year, save $14.90 compared to monthly billing.save $14.90.

Subscribe to Worldcrunch
eyes on the U.S.

Don't Smoke (Or Urinate) In Public: An Italian Lawyer's Tips For Visitors To The U.S.

Too many travelers ignore some pretty basic American laws that can seem foreign to them. Here's how it looks to the Italian go-to lawyer in New York for just such cases.

It's up to You...New...York
It's up to You...New...York
Maurizio Molinari

She was born in Bari and now lives in Harlem, argues before legal tribunals in New York and is a yoga fanatic. Her husband is an African American and she met her favourite actor, Denzel Washington, in a club. She's not even 40 years old, but studied in the University of Bari and identifies with both American and Italian cultures. Meet Germana Giordano, the woman who has dedicated her daily mission to aid her Italian compatriots in the legal system of New York.

Her Park Avenue office is where the majority of Italian tourists who infringe on the laws of the Big Apple come to seek help. Giordano, who usually works on homicide and other serious crime cases, spends her spare time aiding Italians who get caught in the web of the American justice system, which has become something of a mission for her.

The attorney's decision to speak with La Stampa stems from her belief that the root of the problems lie in a lack of knowledge of U.S. law. So, here's a quick guide to the most common crimes committed by Italians (and other foreign visitors?) in New York -- and how to avoid them.

Giordano is a trained criminal lawyer, and perhaps the only one among all of the Italian lawyers who offers support to the Italian Consulate in helping compatriots in distress. "There are four most common crimes" she says, "urinating in public, shoplifting, drinking and smoking in public places where it is forbidden."

Statistically, urinating in public has the highest number of cases: between 20 and 30 each year. All are men, not only young ones but the more mature as well, who behave in New York as it were any typical Italian city- they go off into a corner and take care of their needs. But in New York, if a police officer sees them doing it, he will arrest them to their utter disbelief. Fierce protests often pursue.

Sometimes in New York a criminal offense can lead to a maximum sentence of 12 months in jail. Giordano typically manages to get her clients acquitted or strike a plea bargain, hoping at least to get the legal battles in the archives of immigration rather than criminal departments.

"Even in the cases of acquittal where the criminal record is wiped clean, there are still some traces of the arrest in the immigration archives," she explains. "This means that when the person concerned wants to come back to the States and is requesting a visa, they must indicate the arrest on the form, otherwise this lie will lead to additional complications," and making it very difficult to come back into the U.S.

As for theft, "those who steal are almost always successful professionals or students with excellent CVs who, whilse shopping in a store are surprised by security with clothes in their bags. They defend themselves by saying the clothes ended up in there by accident.

Giordano sees about a dozen of these cases a year, involving depositions, interrogations, hearings and embarrassment on the part of the arrested who fear for their image if the story were to become public knowledge. In this case, the maximum penalty is 12 months in jail, or a fine, with the obligation to pay the legal fees whether or not the person is convicted.

If urinating in public is "a bad habit with criminal implications in New York," stealing from shops arises from the temptation to get away with it by a passing traveler. What they don't realize is that video surveillance and electronic access controls are everywhere in major American cities.

Another typical crime of Italians on holiday is drinking in public, explains Giordano. "They're stopped on the street with bottles or cans of beer that are not hidden in typical brown paper bags," she says, noting at least 10 cases like this each year.

Then there is the crime of smoking in public, like a certain Italian professional who was enjoying a cigarette in a park without realizing that Mayor Michael Bloomberg's new laws imposed a heavy fine. Even worse, the accused made matters worse by going to the police station and trying to resolve the situation himself.

Indeed, Giordano suggests to all foreigners who run into trouble with the law to consult right away with an attorney. When they receive a notification of a fine, visitors don't realize that a bona fide criminal case has been opened against them. Often, foreign travelers only find out how much trouble they've created for themselves in America when they apply for a visa to come back.

You've reached your limit of free articles.

To read the full story, start your free trial today.

Get unlimited access. Cancel anytime.

Exclusive coverage from the world's top sources, in English for the first time.

Insights from the widest range of perspectives, languages and countries.

Society

Italy's Right-Wing Government Turns Up The Heat On 'Gastronationalism'

Rome has been strongly opposed to synthetic foods, insect-based flours and health warnings on alcohol, and aggressive lobbying by Giorgia Meloni's right-wing government against nutritional labeling has prompted accusations in Brussels of "gastronationalism."

Dough is run through a press to make pasta

Creation of home made pasta

Karl De Meyer et Olivier Tosseri

ROME — On March 23, the Italian Minister of Agriculture and Food Sovereignty, Francesco Lollobrigida, announced that Rome would ask UNESCO to recognize Italian cuisine as a piece of intangible cultural heritage.

On March 28, Lollobrigida, who is also Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's brother-in-law, promised that Italy would ban the production, import and marketing of food made in labs, especially artificial meat — despite the fact that there is still no official request to market it in Europe.

Days later, Italian Eurodeputy Alessandra Mussolini, granddaughter of fascist leader Benito Mussolini and member of the Forza Italia party, which is part of the governing coalition in Rome, caused a sensation in the European Parliament. On the sidelines of the plenary session, Sophia Loren's niece organized a wine tasting, under the slogan "In Vino Veritas," to show her strong opposition (and that of her government) to an Irish proposal to put health warnings on alcohol bottles. At the end of the press conference, around 11am, she showed her determination by drinking from the neck of a bottle of wine, to great applause.

Keep reading...Show less

You've reached your limit of free articles.

To read the full story, start your free trial today.

Get unlimited access. Cancel anytime.

Exclusive coverage from the world's top sources, in English for the first time.

Insights from the widest range of perspectives, languages and countries.

Already a subscriber? Log in.

You've reach your limit of free articles.

Get unlimited access to Worldcrunch

You can cancel anytime.

SUBSCRIBERS BENEFITS

Ad-free experience NEW

Exclusive international news coverage

Access to Worldcrunch archives

Monthly Access

30-day free trial, then $2.90 per month.

Annual Access BEST VALUE

$19.90 per year, save $14.90 compared to monthly billing.save $14.90.

Subscribe to Worldcrunch

The latest