Mamdani Faces Backlash Over 30-Neighborhood World Cup Map Excluding Little Italy

2 articles · Updated · Fox News · Jul 9

Little Italy’s omission from a 30-neighborhood immigrant-enclaves map tied to New York City’s 2026 World Cup tourism campaign has triggered criticism of Mayor Zohran Mamdani from the Italian American Civil Rights League.
The map, created by NYC Tourism + Conventions and promoted by the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs, highlights communities from Chinatown to Little Palestine and Little Haiti but names no Italian, Jewish or Irish neighborhood.
IACRL said the exclusion insults a community that helped build New York, accusing City Hall of erasing Italian Americans after a separate dispute over a Unity Day 2026 permit.
The clash adds to earlier friction between Mamdani and Italian Americans, who also condemned his 2020 post showing him making an obscene gesture at a Christopher Columbus statue.