66 AMERICAN SPY
English-only Italian American friends from home who were there for the
week. After dropping a gettone into an Italian pay phone, I called my buddy
at his hotel to plan our get-together.
“What’s the address?” I asked.
“I don’t know,” was his not entirely unexpected reply.
“Well, what street are you on? With that I can probably find you.”
“Hang on, I’ll go check.”
After a minute or two, my friend got back on the phone. “We’re on
Senso Unico Street,” he reported.
Senso Unico means “One Way” in Italian.
Many years of part-time work for that same family’s catering company
also paid dividends during my CIA career. I learned how to function com-
fortably in formal social gatherings, often among the “upper class” and
scions of industry and government. Years later I felt right at home during
my first official reception overseas.
In August 1980, I bid a tearful farewell to my girlfriend “Stacy” and my family,
packed up my truck with clothes and music, and drove cross-country for five
days to Washington, DC, to fulfill my dream of going to law school. The law
had always appealed to me and my strongly held beliefs in fairness, justice, and
equality. I am grateful to have been born free in America and never cease to be
amazed by the wisdom and foresight of our Founding Fathers. I also grew up
in an era in which we were inculcated with the simple but valuable concepts
of fair play, following the rules, and knowing right from wrong. I tend to be
trusting of others until they prove otherwise. An astrology-hooked friend of
mine insists I’m wired this way because I’m a Libra.
Moving to climatically challenged Washington, DC, induced serious
culture shock in this flip-flop-wearing, chicken-taco-eating kid from the sunny
Southwest, but my experience during those first three years was transforma-
tive and directly informed my decision to join the CIA. I worked, clerked,
and/or interned throughout law school, in all three branches of the federal
government. I also bore witness to a number of impactful historic events that
just happened to coincide with my new life on the East Coast.
Permitted to practice law through the school’s immigration law clinic, I