• A federal magistrate rules that Mayor Vincent A. Cianci Jr. and his codefendants have been given all of the information about one of the bribery-conspiracy counts that they are entitled to.
BY TRACY BRETON
Journal Staff Writer
PROVIDENCE
-- U.S. Magistrate Judge Robert W. Lovegreen has rejected a request by lawyers for Mayor Vincent A. Cianci Jr. and his codefendants to force the government to disclose more information about one of the bribery-conspiracy counts the defendants are charged with.
In an order put in the court file yesterday, Lovegreen said that the defendants have been given all of the information they are entitled to relating to the charge in question. He said the defense is not entitled to obtain a more detailed disclosure of what the government's evidence is prior to trial.
The count at issue alleges that Cianci; his former top aide, Frank E. Corrente; and Richard E. Autiello, a Providence tow operator and body shop owner, conspired to demand and receive about $250,000 in campaign contributions for the Friends of Cianci from tow operators who wanted to keep their positions on the Providence Police Department's tow list.
The alleged offenses occurred between January 1991 and October 1999. The defense lawyers had asked the court to provide the specific dates of each transaction; who paid the money and how much; exactly what people "are connected to each transaction" and the precise "thing of value of $5,000 or more" that the tow operators received in return for the money they contributed.
Lovegreen said that at first glance, the defense request seems to have "some merit in light of the extensive period of time involved and the number and amount of contributions and contributors." But he noted that the U.S. Attorney's office has already turned over, under seal, a summary revealing a year by year breakdown of money received during each of the relevant years, the people who provided each contribution, and the amount of each contribution coded with a reference to the corresponding exhibit the government intends to introduce at trial.
"The defendants are not entitled to more. . . ," Lovegreen said.
The trial of the corruption case against Cianci and the others is scheduled to start the week of April 15.
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