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11.7.2001
Mayoral aide
requests
separate
trial
• Mayor Vincent A. Cianci Jr.'s chief of staff, indicted last spring with Cianci and four others, faces the fewest number of criminal charges.
BY W. ZACHARY MALINOWSKI
Journal Staff Writer
PROVIDENCE
-- As top aide, Artin H. Coloian works closely with Mayor Vincent A. Cianci Jr.
But now, as a tentative date has been set for their trial on federal corruption charges, Coloian is trying to distance himself from his boss.
Coloian, through his lawyer, has filed a motion in U.S. District Court seeking to have his trial separate from Cianci and four others who were indicted last spring for their alleged roles in Operation Plunder Dome, the ongoing City Hall scandal.
The two-paragraph motion asserts that "special circumstances unique to [Coloian]," require him to ask for a separate trial. It does not elaborate on those circumstances.
Chief U.S. District Judge Ernest C. Torres has issued a gag order, prohibiting the defendants, their lawyers and prosecutors from discussing the case outside of public court proceedings.
Torres is expected to rule on the motion in the coming weeks. It's not known whether prosecutors will oppose the motion.
Coloian, 36, is the youngest of the five charged with Cianci last April in the 30-count indictment. He also faces the fewest number of criminal counts: two -- bribery and conspiracy to commit bribery.
If convicted, Coloian faces up to 15 years in prison and fines totaling $500,000.
Coloian, the mayor's chief of staff, is the only defendant not facing racketeering charges.
The others named in the indictment are Frank E. Corrente, Cianci's former top aide; Richard E. Autiello, who owns a car-repair business and is a member of the Providence Towing Association; Edward Voccola, a convicted felon and owner of property leased to the School Department; and Joseph A. Pannone, former chairman of the Board of Tax Assessment Review.
They have all pleaded innocent to the charges.
Pannone pleaded guilty to other corruption-related charges and is serving a five-year prison sentence.
The indictment alleges that Cianci and his codefendants took more than $1.5 million during the 1990s -- extorting cash and campaign contributions for leases, contracts, jobs, promotions and other gratuities.
Most of that money -- $1.3 million -- allegedly involved a deal in which the cash-strapped School Department rented space in a former auto-body shop owned by Voccola.
Jury selection for the six defendants has been tentatively set for April 2. That is subject to change, if Torres grants Coloian his motion for a separate trial.
When the indictment was unsealed last April 2, Coloian was immediately suspended from his post that pays $109,000 annually. Cianci and Coloian were charged with conspiring to take a $5,000 bribe from someone looking for a city job.
David C. Ead, a convicted tax official who is cooperating with the authorities, has alleged that he met with Cianci to arrange a $5,000 payoff to secure a city planning job for Christopher J. Ise. Ead said that he later delivered the cash to Coloian in his office in City Hall.
Cianci and Coloian have denied the charges.
Six weeks after his suspension, Coloian returned to his job. A retired Superior Court judge, John E. Orton, who was hired as an independent hearing officer, ruled that Coloian was entitled to a presumption of innocence and should get his job back.
"Thank God we live in the United States of America," Orton said at the time. "An indictment is nothing more than an accusation. It's not evidence. What it is is the government's ticket to get you into the courtroom."
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