Legal Information Center

News reports of high school teachers engaging in illicit acts with underage students are becoming almost routine and regular nowadays. The advent of modern smartphones, the prevalence of texting, Snapchat, and the rise of social media platforms have perhaps facilitated these problematic relationships. Regardless, a teacher accused of having engaged in such inappropriate relationships faces…

The criminal defense attorneys at the Law Office of Matthew Galluzzo have successfully defended professional athletes against criminal charges in New York City, and have been asked to comment on television and in the news as experts in criminal cases pending against professional athletes such as Ray Rice and Oscar Pistorius. They also understand the…

Criminal assault charges for non-citizens in New York As the go-to criminal defense firm for the New York City consulates of France, Australia, Saudi Arabia, Switzerland and Belgium, the attorneys at the Law Office of Matthew Galluzzo routinely represent foreign citizens charged with criminal assault (including, for example, Assault in the Third Degree [Penal Law…

Individuals without criminal records arrested for misdemeanors in New York City are routinely charged by way of a Desk Appearance Ticket. Though individuals issued Desk Appearance Ticket do not spend twenty-four hours in prison awaiting arraignment like other defendants, their cases are no less serious than those misdemeanor cases pursued the “traditional” way (in which…

Frequently, non-citizens seeking American visas or renewal of current ones make the mistake of accepting seemingly excellent criminal dispositions without understanding the immigration consequences. For example, people arrested in New York for misdemeanor charges such as possession of marijuana (PL 221.05 or PL 221.10), trespass (PL 140.05 or 140.10), theft of services (PL 165.15), petit…

Though it is impossible to estimate their exact numbers, at any given moment there are tens of thousands of Canadian citizens living and working in New York City. In addition, thousands of Canadians from Québec take advantage of their geographic proximity to New York City to visit as tourists. Inevitably, though, every year a few…

The New Frontier of Drug Crimes: Silk Road, Agora, and the Dark Web The traditional business model of drug trafficking, though potentially lucrative, is fraught with peril and obstacles for its participants at all levels. Thanks to fantastic television programs like The Wire and Breaking Bad, many Americans already have a basic understanding of this…

An Attorney’s Analysis of Proposed NY Legislation to Upgrade Subway Sexual Assaults to Felonies Everyone can agree that sexual assaults on the subway are a serious problem in New York City. Recently, Senator Savino (D-Staten Island) proposed legislation that would upgrade the charges for sexual assaults in the subway system from misdemeanors to felonies. Currently,…

Operating as a major trafficker – NY’s “Kingpin” statute (Penal Law Section 220.77) A few years ago, the New York Assembly enacted into law a tough new statute designed to increase the penalties for major narcotics traffickers or managers of drug trafficking organizations. Penal Law 220.77, oftentimes referred to as New York’s “kingpin statute,” makes…

Recently, Matthew Galluzzo, the French-speaking criminal defense attorney for the French Consulate of New York (and a former sex crimes prosecutor), was asked by Bloomberg News to explain the French laws relating to the “aggravated pimping” charge facing former IMF chief and French presidential hopeful Dominique Strauss-Kahn. The article is available here: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-02-02/the-former-head-of-the-imf-is-on-trial-for-aggravated-pimping-here-s-what-aggravated-pimping-really-is If you…