Italy is saying basta! to Smith & Wollensky, the pal of an accused tab-dodging tourist huffed this morning, after the misdemeanor case was disposed of in a Manhattan court.
“In Italy, no one will go to Smith & Wollensky again!” the pal, who gave his name only as Mario, announced to reporters in a courtroom hallway after the brief proceeding this morning.
Tourist Graziano Graziussi — charged with theft of services last week after he forgot his wallet back at his hotel and couldn’t pay his $208 bill — was less committal.
“I will think about it,” the Naples-based lawyer said, when asked if he’d ever eat another steak at the renowned Third Avenue meat mecca.
“It’s done — of course I’m happy,” he told reporters after paying a total $219.21 in restitution and surcharges.
Graziussi has insisted that he’d have been willing to leave his iPhone behind as collateral, and just needed to fetch his wallet. But cops threw him in jail overnight.
Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly, asked about the international incident during a press conference last week, noted that Graziussi had been carrying $118 on him when he claimed poverty, and “simply did not want to pay.”
Not so, Graziussi countered today.
“I am always the one to pay for everybody, which is unfortunately true,“ he said as he left court.
In fact, five years ago during another trip to New York, he went to a hot dog vendor at Sixth Avenue, and tried to pay with a $50 bill — the smallest bill he had on him, Graziussi told reporters.
The dog vendor couldn’t make change, and said don’t worry about it, Graziussi said.
“I went back there the following day [to pay] and he could not believe his eyes,” he said.
Manhattan Criminal Court Judge Erika Edwards told Graziussi that the misdemeanor theft of services case will be dismissed and sealed if he is not rearrested for six months.