June 29th, 2023. Modena, Italy. Everything was robbed from me. Everything.

I was there working. My producer Erin and I had been filming a series of branded documentaries for about a week. We had rented a car in Milan, and were traveling to multiple cities to film interviews. On our way to a Balsamic producer, we stopped in Modena, a lovely, upscale town I had visited many times before.

I parked our car in a public lot, one I had parked many times before, at Piazzale Risorgimento Italiano, just outside the city center. It was broad daylight, around 1pm, and the streets were busy with people, cars and businesses.

In the trunk was locked all my equipment. Cameras, lenses, drones, lights, you name it. Including all my documents, clothing and personal items. Locked securely and out of view. I am no novice when it comes to travel; I am a professional travel writer, besides being the son of two airline employees who happen to both be from Italy. I didn’t think twice about leaving the car, besides, this wasn’t Naples. It wasn’t even remotely Naples. This was the astute North of Italy, Modena, refined and mannered. We went to have lunch.

About an hour later we returned ready to head to our location. When I got close to the car I saw glass on the pavement and said, out loud, “oh some poor bastard got his car broken into”. As I went around the driver side I noticed our back window smashed, the back seat pulled forward and a hole where all our stuff was.

Erin didn’t believe me at first. She gave the “c’mon, let’s get going, stop messing around” but after seeing my face it sunk in.

I have never been robbed before. Ever. I’ve lived in some dicey neighborhoods, both in NYC, Los Angeles, and even Indonesia. Nothing has ever been taken from me. Never in a hostel, never on a train, never anywhere, and I attribute that to always being smart enough to know nothing is ever safe. I was not expecting this. At all. The feeling of being completely destroyed pouring over us like a sickness.

We went to the cafe, and asked for help. They called the Polizia Stradale, basically traffic cops. Two men came. Looked at the window and nodded. They told us to go to the Carabinieri down the street. I asked for a police report. They said “Carabinieri”. They were beyond useless.

We walked down the street and found the Carabinieri station, an old fortress of sorts. It was closed. Closed, for lunch. I guess justice has to eat. We waited for almost an hour, researching what to do and figuring out how to keep working without any gear. Finally they came back and we entered.

A woman behind a thick glass window who was impossible to hear told us that they couldn’t do anything because it was a rented car. That we needed to go to Milan where we rented the car and the car agency would assign us a representative that would give us a report. We questioned this but were told this was the only thing we could do.

Obviously not sounding right I made some calls. I know a mayor of a small town and he told us in no uncertain terms that she was completely incorrect. We went back in and asked for a captain. She sighed and made us wait for nearly an hour. Finally a man came out and shook my hand. His name was Luigi Sferra.

Luigi was helpful. He took a report. We stood there and recounted all the items that were stolen. Computers, cameras, lenses, tripods, hard disks, dear God the footage, clothing, etc. We tallied up the approximate cost of everything. 45,000 Euros give or take. My entire life and livelihood.

Our two MacBooks were still on, and they showed a location not far from where we were. We showed Luigi and told them that was where our stuff was but were told “we do not have the human assets to do a raid”. This seemed disgusting and tore us up inside. Our things were just down the street but they were either unwilling or unable to get them. I was furious.

I took to the internet. I made a quick post with some of our items and the location of our belongings. I said “Anyone with ANY information that helps us get our things back would get 10,000 Euro reward”. Really, if anything, all we wanted was the footage we already shot, that could not be replaced, but of course, the camera’s would have been great too. I know these thief rings; they steal electronics, hand it off to a fence for pennies on the dollar, and another person resells everything on the open market. I rather pay the thieves back for my items, no questions asked. The post was out on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok. We waited.

Over the next few days we received hundreds of DM’s, emails and messages. It was an overwhelming show of support. Multiple news outlets ran stories about what happened to us. Carlo Gregori of the Gazzetta di Modena ran two stories. Vittoria Melchioni of the Corriere di Bologna also ran the story and reward information. Emanuela Zanasi of Modena in Diretta ran a story as well. Both Sulpanaro and Ultimissime Modena ran stories as well. People from all over came to our assistance, saying that they hate how the crime has increased, and offering assistance in any way possible. Still the GPS on our computers was active and STILL the Carabinieri refused to go investigate. We decided we had to go if no one else was going to help us. They advised us against it, as they “knew the perpetrators that lived in that apartment building and it was very dangerous”. We went anyway against their warning to see if anyone could help us. Other locals joined us and knocked door to door. We found nothing.

After a week we lost hope. Only the newspapers kept calling asking for updates, more then the Carabinieri ever did. They were interested mainly because the uselessness of the Carabinieri had been an issue for a long time, and this was a clear demonstration of how crime is allowed to happen because of an impotent police force. Our liaison was a Tenente Cali, who seemed nice enough over text message, but was about as useful as wet bread stick in this situation.

If we didn’t know the location of our items then being robbed would have been just a tragedy, not a disgusting disgrace. It happens. Italy has given me so many blessed things over the last 30 years I’ve been going there that I almost could get down with the idea that this was some sort of payment. The fact that our items just sat down the street for nearly a week and the law would simply not do anything about it changes that. In my eyes they are worse then the thieves.

I don’t blame the thieves. I’m sure they needed to rob us because of some circumstance. I wish I could have just given them money and saved us all a lot of heartache. I do blame the Carabinieri however. Not sure how I can get past that ever.

About 2 weeks later we were pushing forward with the shoot. I had bought a new camera in Florence and some emergency gear that would get us through. I found myself in Trapani, Sicily shooting a salt mine when I got a DM on Instagram. A young kid from Modena said he found my two passports (US and EU). He said he would turn them in to the Carabinieri if I offered him some of the reward, which I did. To my surprise he turned them in to Tenente Cali. When I asked Cali if he interrogated him or could detect how he came to find our passports which were in my camera bag he said “there was no leads”. I’m not quite sure what else needed to happen for the Carabinieri to do their job.

I returned home about a month later having living out of a bag from H&M. I was drained, sick, and defeated. Everyone felt bad for us and I was exhausted with telling the story over and over. Insurence wouldn’t cover the theft as it was out of the country. Even DJI with their “no questions asked” replacement wouldn’t reimburse the drone I had bought right before the trip. Everything I owned to make a living was gone. Even the computer I use to edit, gone. Everything. I was dead in the water.

I’ve gone into debt. There is nothing else to do but try to rebuild, paying 20% on the dollar just to work. There is nothing else I can think about except how I’m going to get back to where I was before, which, quite frankly, wasn’t easy street by any means. It was still a lot of work, and now it’s the same work for 20% less for who knows how long.

Some brands have been very generous, and while it is odd to reach out to certain people to ask for help, they understand that supporting a creator and long time user of their products is a good thing for everyone. Some lent me camera’s and computers, some donated equipment. In the end it’s the good will of these companies that give this story a happy ending.

About a month ago I got a phone call from Carlo the journalist at the Gazzetta di Modena. “They caught the guys!” What? They found them? No one told me. I looked at the article he sent me and oddly enough another “well known American filmmaker was robbed in Modena” but the thieves were caught and the expensive items returned. Lucky for that well known American Filmmaker I thought, if, they exist. To me it was just vague enough and just specific enough to sound like the Carabinieri trying to spin the bad press they got over my case. Frankly I don’t really care. I never asked for their help before, and know not to ask for it ever again.

So, if you were to ask me what to do if your life is stolen for you in Italy I would tell you the following:

– Get international insurance before you leave.
– Get insurance on the car.
– Get an American Express card. They were the only one’s that reimbursed my items that were purchased with the card.
– Make copies of your passport and keep them on you.
– Don’t leave anything in the car. Even the trunk. It’s not safe, regardless of the city you’re in.
– Don’t expect the Carabinieri to be much help for anything.