The ruling follows a January decision by the Supreme Court that threw out federal sentencing guidelines.

08:49 AM EDT on Thursday, April 7, 2005

BY MIKE STANTON
Journal Staff Writer

Vincent A. Cianci Jr. could be back in Providence soon.

The former mayor and two of his codefendants in Operation Plunder Dome, Frank E. Corrente and Richard E. Autiello, learned yesterday that they will have new hearings on their prison sentences.

The decision, by the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston, follows a highly publicized U.S. Supreme Court decision in January that struck down the federal sentencing guidelines that had been in force for 17 years.

Cianci's lawyer, John A. "Terry" MacFadyen III, said that there is no guarantee that the ruling will result in less prison time for the former mayor, who is serving 5 years and 4 months in prison at Fort Dix, N.J.

Cianci is scheduled to be released from prison on July 28, 2007.

Chief U.S. District Judge Ernest C. Torres said that he has not yet set a date for the hearing, and would ask the lawyers to file written legal arguments first.

The Supreme Court's ruling in January, in United States v. Booker and United States v. Fanfan, said that the mandatory use of the sentencing guidelines put too much power in the hands of judges, by allowing them to consider facts not decided by a jury.

However, the court, in giving judges more discretion to sentence defendants, said that they could continue to consider the guidelines.

In Cianci's case, the former mayor was convicted of racketeering conspiracy, though he was acquitted of several underlying bribery and corruption charges.

At Cianci's sentencing in 2002, Torres upheld a guideline range of 57 to 71 months, an increase of about two years. In supporting the increase, Torres concluded that Cianci deserved more time because he was the leader of the corrupt enterprise and because he was a public official who had betrayed the public trust.

Torres sentenced Cianci to 64 months, in the middle of the range. The maximum penalty under the law for racketeering conspiracy is 20 years.

Corrente, Cianci's top aide and chief fundraiser, is serving a 5-year, 3-month prison term at Fort Devens, Mass. Autiello, a businessman and Cianci fundraiser who was sentenced to 3 years and 10 months, is also at Fort Devens.

Corrente is to be released May 7, 2007; Autiello on Feb. 10, 2006.

Last week, in the first post-Booker case sent back to a Rhode Island judge for resentencing, the 1st Circuit ruled that Torres "might well have given a different sentence" if the guidelines had not been mandatory.

In that case, involving a New York dermatologist who had pleaded guilty to writing unnecessary prescriptions for painkillers and steroids, the appeals court found some indication that Torres had felt "constrained" by the guidelines.

The court did not write an opinion explaining its reasoning in the Cianci case. Instead, it issued a one-page order saying that, after consideration of the briefs filed by lawyers for the defense and the government, it was sending the case back to District Court for resentencing "pursuant to United States v. Booker."

"We intimate no view as to what sentences should be imposed on remand," the opinion concluded.

MacFadyen, Cianci's lawyer, said that the greater discretion Torres will have in resentencing Cianci doesn't guarantee that the judge will be more lenient.

"I don't think all of the legal battling has a lot to do with getting a different sentence on remand," said MacFadyen. Still, he said, the appeals court's ruling keeps Cianci's hopes alive.

"We're pleased and heartened," said MacFadyen.

U.S. Attorney Robert Clark Corrente, who is not related to Frank Corrente, said that, "at a minimum, their sentences should not be any shorter . . . Nothing has changed since the sentencing in 2002 that mitigates the seriousness of the criminal conduct by these defendants."

Cianci's lawyers, in his appeal, had argued that the jury had not explicitly determined that Cianci had been the leader of a corrupt enterprise and betrayed the public trust. The prosecution countered that it was implicit in the evidence presented to the jury regarding City Hall corruption.

Also at the sentencing, Torres rejected motions by the defense for a more lenient sentence, based on Cianci's charitable works and positive contributions to resurrecting Providence. The judge also rejected a government request to increase Cianci's sentence to 10 years.

Torres compared Cianci to Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, a dual personality who had made contributions both positive and negative.

"My job is to sentence the second Buddy Cianci," Torres said. "Because the first Buddy Cianci wouldn't be here."

Torres said yesterday that one question he would seek to clarify prior to a re-sentencing hearing is whether the prosecution and defense could request different sentences from the ones sought at the original sentencing.

"It's an interesting question that cuts both ways," said Torres. "Normally, at a resentencing, the defense asks for a lesser sentence. The issue has never arisen where the government asks for a greater sentence."

Bob Lovell, Cianci's longtime friend who helps the former mayor tend to his personal affairs, was happy to learn of a new sentencing hearing.

"Beautiful," he said. "That's a good thing. On Jan. 8, [Cianci] told me that he was at the halfway point of his prison term. He's resigned himself to serving the whole term. Appeals are wonderful, but it's not something you can count on."

After Cianci lost his appeal of his conviction last summer, Lovell said, the former mayor had his belongings moved out of the presidential suite at the Providence Biltmore, which he had occupied during his last few years at City Hall until he reported to Fort Dix in December 2002, and put into storage.

Lovell said that Cianci might be reluctant to attend his resentencing hearing, noting that "there is a lot of traveling involved -- they put you on a bus and run you from prison to prison. Diesel therapy. You smell the fumes."

At Fort Dix, Cianci keeps to himself, continues to work in the prison library and stays abreast of developments back home in Providence, from politics to the sales of his marinara sauce that benefits the Vincent A. Cianci Jr. Scholarship Fund.

When Cianci does regain his freedom, longtime friend and advertising man Normand Roussel said, "he's looking to go back on the radio as a talk-show host." In the fall of 2002, before reporting to prison, Cianci cohosted a morning show with Steve Kass on WPRO.

And when Cianci gets out, Lovell said, "the first thing he'll need to do is buy an entire new wardrobe. He's lost 50 pounds. Nothing fits him, and the government tailors aren't the best."

Mike Stanton can be reached at 277-7724, or mstanton [at] projo.com