Daniel Biechele, former tour manager for Great White, leaves prison yesterday. Biechele, 31, will return to his home state of Florida, where he will be on parole until January 2010.

The Providence Journal / Bill Murphy

CRANSTON — Amid a bank of TV cameras and reporters — and prison investigators prepared to protect him if any angry victims of the Station nightclub fire appeared — Daniel Biechele, the rock-band manager whose actions contributed to the fourth-worst nightclub fire in U.S. history, left prison yesterday a free man.

Biechele was paroled after serving less than half of his four-year prison sentence for lighting the spray of sparks that eventually caused the death of 100 people. He ignored reporters’ questions as he walked out of minimum security and slipped into the awaiting car of his lawyer, Thomas G. Briody.

Briody said later: “Today marks the completion of one part of Mr. Biechele’s sentence. Out of respect for the victims of the fire, he does not wish to make any comment. He was a private citizen before this tragedy and he wishes to remain so.”

More than 200 people were injured in the Feb. 20, 2003, fire at the West Warwick roadhouse when the pyrotechnics that Biechele set off for the band Great White ignited flammable foam covering the walls. Within minutes, flames engulfed the nightclub, trapping scores of people inside.

Biechele is the first of two men imprisoned for their roles in the fire to go free.

Michael A. Derderian was sentenced to four years in prison. He owned the nightclub, a former restaurant, with his brother Jeffrey. Like Biechele, both brothers pleaded no contest to 100 counts of involuntary manslaughter.

Michael Derderian was sentenced to serve four years of a 15-year term at the Adult Correctional Institutions. Jeffrey Derderian received a suspended sentence with three years’ probation and ordered to perform 500 hours of community service, which he completed last year.

Michael Derderian’s time in the ACI has not gone smoothly.

In December 2005, investigators found him guilty of three infractions, accepting chicken soup from a family member while he was on work release, for having an unauthorized visit from a friend while at work, and for lying to authorities investigating the infractions.

Derderian is now in medium security. He is scheduled to be paroled in October 2009.

Biechele, 31, will return to his home state of Florida, where he will be on parole until January 2010.

Superior Court Judge Francis J. Darigan Jr. sentenced Biechele in May 2006 to a total of 15 years in prison but suspended 11 years. Biechele had been spending his days working outside the prison as a bookkeeper for a Woonsocket social-service agency.

tmooney@projo.com