|
|
|
4.4.2001
Almond
calls upon Cianci to resign; Voccola in custody
Judge freezes mayor's campaign accounts
BY MICHAEL CORKERY
Journal Staff Writer
PROVIDENCE — Governor Almond, a former U.S. attorney
who tried but failed to prosecute Vincent A. Cianci Jr. on corruption charges
in the early 1980s, yesterday urged the embattled mayor to leave office for the
good of his city and the state.
One day after a federal grand jury charged Cianci with running a corruption racket
at City Hall, Almond called for the mayor to step aside and disperse the dark
cloud that has hung over Providence for the last decade.
"These are very serious charges against the mayor and his top aides that go to
the root of the operation of government," Almond said at a news conference yesterday.
"These charges are not isolated incidents; they are pervasive, covering the last
decade and touching many important sectors of city government."
A long-time political rival of the mayor, Almond said Cianci could not effectively
govern the city while defending himself against the 30-count indictment unsealed
Monday in Operation Plunder Dome.
The grand-jury indictment charges Cianci and five others, including two of his
closest aides, with racketeering, conspiracy, extortion, mail fraud and witness
tampering.
As U.S. attorney in the early 1980s, Almond netted several of Cianci's staff members
in a bribery-and-kickback scheme at City Hall, but never found enough evidence
to indict the mayor.
Cianci vowed yesterday that he would continue running the city and rebuffed the
governor's call to step aside.
"With all deference to the governor, he does know what the presumption of innocence
is; he was a prosecutor and a lawyer. I love my job as mayor. I'm doing a good
job at it," Cianci said last night as he arrived in Washington for the U.S. Conference
of Mayors.
"Eighty-two percent of the people think the quality of life in Providence is terrific
. . . I am not going to give this away over accusations which are unfounded and
not true."
Cianci traveled to the annual mayors' conference as scheduled. But yesterday was
hardly business as usual for the country's longest-serving big-city mayor, despite
his efforts to appear that way.
Cianci kept to his schedule -- giving a speech at the Providence Marriott, greeting
well-wishers on the street, even getting a hair-cut on the city's East Side; but
downtown, at the federal courthouse, the legal vise continued to tighten.
A federal judge granted a restraining order freezing three bank and brokerage
accounts of the mayor's campaign organization. The order signed yesterday by Chief
U.S. District Judge Ernest C. Torres means that the mayor no longer has access
to those campaign funds.
Cianci's arraignment is scheduled for Friday at 9:30 a.m. before U.S. Magistrate
Judge Robert W. Lovegreen. Artin H. Coloian, the mayor's chief of staff, will
also be arraigned at that time, followed by the mayor's former chief of staff,
Frank Corrente, and Richard E. Autiello, a member of the Providence Towing Association,
at 10:30 a.m.
Under the City Charter, the mayor cannot be suspended from his job upon indictment,
said Deputy City Solicitor Raymond Dettore Jr. And no immediate action was taken
yesterday against Coloian, as a result of his indictment on bribery and bribery
conspirarcy charges.
Dettore said he was reviewing the City Charter and city ordinances to review what
should be done about Coloian's job status pending the federal court case.
Coloian earns $103,740 a year, according to Kathleen Moretti, the city's personnel
director. He was not at work yesterday.
EVERYONE FROM national radio celebrity Don Imus to The New York Times buzzed
about the indictment yesterday, but the mayor was determined to do his job. It
wasn't easy.
Cianci arrived at the Marriott almost precisely at noon for a scheduled speech
to nonprofit organizations. But before he even reached the door, he hit a logjam
as reporters formed a tight circle around him.
In a gray suit with subtle pinstripes and a bright red tie, Cianci struck the
same defiant note as he had at the previous evening's news conference at City
Hall.
"I'm going to continue running the city," he said. "I'm going to continue on doing
what I need to do."
Cianci brushed off a question about whether he would consider a plea bargain.
Just as quickly, the mayor said that would not be an option.
Asked whether he had had a "regular morning," Cianci replied, "I wouldn't say
a regular morning. I would say I received a lot of calls" from well-wishers, and
even some bouquets in support. "It was a very good feeling."
In the Marriott ballroom, where a crowd of several hundred awaited the mayor's
appearance at the luncheon, many -- but not all -- stood to cheer Cianci when
he arrived.
After the speech, he was out the door again. Here and there, a well-wisher stopped
Cianci to kiss him on the cheek or shake his hand.
"I don't hide under a rock," Cianci said."I'm a fighter, not a sleeper."
ONE STRIKING CHANGE in Cianci's reality came quietly yesterday, when a
federal judge granted a restraining order freezing the banks and brokerage accounts
of the mayor's campaign organization.
The indictment charges that the Friends of Cianci was illegally enriched by shaking
down city contractors, including $250,000 from tow-truck operators, and therefore
should be subject to forfeiture.
The mayor's campaign organization has been under scrutiny in recent years, not
only by federal Plunder Dome investigators but also by the state Board of Elections
and an ongoing statewide grand-jury probe.
Last year, the Journal reported that Cianci had spent thousands of dollars in
campaign money on personal expenses in recent years, including Christmas parties,
personal holiday gifts and birthday parties for his two grandchildren. Authorities
subsequently moved to investigate those expenses.
The mayor has defended the spending as legitimate. Campaign officials could not
be reached for comment yesterday.
Asked yesterday whether Monday's indictments wrapped up the government's investigation
of corruption in Providence city government, Tom Connell, spokesman for U.S. Attorney
Margaret E. Curran, said, "With the result of the indictment, the primary focus
is preparing this case for trial and that is what the two prosecutors and others
involved with the case will be devoting their efforts to."
AT 4:35 P.M. , Almond took the podium in the state room of the State House
and called for Cianci to resign.
It was time to rid the city of corruption, once and for all, he said.
Twenty-one people were convicted on various municipal corruption charges as a
result of the "Providence probe," started in 1981. For seven years, federal prosecutors
investigated City Hall, but were never able to nail Cianci, who Almond said was
one of the targets.
"Rooting out public corruption can be painful, but necessary," Almond told reporters
at the news conference.
Operation Plunder Dome is not just political theater, Almond said. Corruption
breeds cynicism and distrust among the electorate. It makes it difficult for him
to lobby for state financing for city projects when suburban lawmakers believe
the money is being squandered by corrupt city officials.
He chided Cianci for "making light" of the indictment at the news conference Monday
night.
"The mayor has vowed to fight these serious charges all the way to the Supreme
Court, if necessary, and well he should if he is indeed not guilty," Almond said.
"But for the good of the city, he should fight this fight as a private citizen,
not the sitting mayor of Providence."
The governor said he waited almost a whole day to make his statement because he
wanted to read the entire indictment. He consulted with his chief of staff, Joseph
Larisa, and press secretary Lisa Pelosi before deciding to call for Cianci's resignation.
But Pelosi said for the most part, this was the "governor's own private decision."
Almond said he had not contacted Cianci directly, and had no plans to speak with
him. Last night, as Cianci checked into the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Washington,
the mayor wished the governor well.
"All deference to the governor," he said. "I wish him a speedy recovery from his
recent operation. And nothing but good health and good will."
With reports from Journal staff writers Tracy Breton, John Mulligan, Mike Stanton,
Karen Lee Ziner.
|
|
|
Printer-Friendly Version
