Legal Information Center

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 – a criminal defense attorney and former Manhattan sex crimes prosecutor – was asked by the Daily News for his expert legal opinion on the accusations by Italian model Ambra Battilana that Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein forcibly groped her against her will. The article is available here. http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/gossip/harvey-weinstein-didn-deny-groping-italian-model-source-article-1.2170579 If you or a…

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…

Recently, Matthew Galluzzo – a criminal defense attorney and former Manhattan prosecutor – was asked by several news outlets, including the BBC, Reuters, and the Globe and Mail, to discuss the apparent confession to murder made by Robert Durst to interviewers from an HBO television program. He spoke live to the BBC on two occasions…

In response to a surge in seizures of methamphetamine laboratories in New York state, in 2007 the Assembly passed tough new laws outlawing the operation of facilities used to produce illegal “chemical” drugs like methamphetamine and its variants. Thus, anyone aspiring to be like Walter White on Breaking Bad faces significant penalties for their criminal…

From time to time, an individual en route to the United States via commercial airplane gets arrested for groping or getting into a fight with another passenger. Because these crimes do not occur on U.S. soil, they generally fall under federal jurisdiction. Specifically, 49 U.S.C. § 46506 confers “special maritime jurisdiction” upon those criminal acts…