From 1987 [1] to 1992 [2] he held the qualification of international referee, officiating in a total of 38 matches, including some matches of the final phase of the 1990 World Cup in Italy: Brazil-Sweden 2-1 in Turin, Uruguay-South Korea 1-0 in Udine and the last 16 encounter Cameroon-Colombia (2-1 after extra time) in Naples.
[2] As a result of the 2006 Italian football scandal, he resigned as President of the AIA; at the end of the legal process he was sentenced by the Federal Court to prohibition for 2 years and 6 months, the sentence was reduced by the Chamber of Conciliation and Arbitration of CONI to 1 year, being replaced by Luigi Agnolin, as Extraordinary Commissioner.
The Naples prosecutor asked for the indictment of Lanese under the charge of criminal association aimed at sports fraud, and the trial was concluded at first instance with a sentence of 2 years of imprisonment.
On December 5, 2012, the fourth section of the Court of Appeal of Naples overturned the sentence of first instance acquitting him.
On 17 October 2012 the Court of Auditors sentenced Lanese, together with the referees involved in the scandal, to compensate the Italian Football Federation on charges of damage to their image.