The resentencing request would cut 29 months from the former mayor's sentence, allowing him to be eligible for release this fall.

01:00 AM EDT on Saturday, April 30, 2005

BY MIKE STANTON
Journal Staff Writer

Vincent A. Cianci Jr., who turns 64 today, would like to come home from prison before his next birthday.

In court papers filed yesterday, the former mayor of Providence asked a federal judge to reduce his prison term for corruption from 64 months to 35 months.

Cianci, who has served 29 months in federal prison at Fort Dix, N.J., would thereby be eligible for release this fall, rather than summer 2007.

But prosecutors countered that Cianci should receive more time, in part because he "has not accepted responsibility for his actions."

The government also objected to Cianci's request, filed Thursday, that he appear at his resentencing hearing in Providence via video conference, to avoid the hardships of transport from Fort Dix.

Richard M. Egbert, Cianci's lawyer, argued that Cianci merits a reduced sentence in light of his acquittal on all but one corruption charge, and that he does not deserve the increased time -- about two years -- that he received for being the leader of a corruption racket at City Hall.

Cianci, the longest-serving mayor in Providence history and acclaimed maestro of the Providence Renaissance, was convicted in 2002 of racketeering conspiracy. The maximum sentence for that crime is 20 years in prison.

Two convicted codefendants in Operation Plunder Dome, former top aide Frank E. Corrente and fundraiser Richard E. Autiello, also filed arguments yesterday seeking reduced sentences.

"Defendant [Cianci] does not depreciate the seriousness of his conviction for RICO conspiracy, particularly in light of the position he previously held," Egbert wrote. "Any level of corruption by a public official is very serious and deserving of substantial punishment."

Egbert noted, however, that the judge had thrown out some charges during the trial and then the jury acquitted Cianci of 17 underlying charges, including racketeering.

"Among conspiracies to commit RICO, the one proven here falls well down on the spectrum of venality," Egbert wrote.

The U.S. 1st Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston ordered new sentencing hearings on April 6 for Cianci, Corrente and Autiello, before Chief U.S. District Judge Ernest C. Torres.

That order followed a landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling in January that essentially made optional federal sentencing guidelines that had been in force for two decades.

Egbert also argued that the judge has more discretion now to weigh "personal characteristics," including Cianci's age and the loss of his position, his $80,000-a-year pension, his law license, his home and "his reputation and legacy as mayor of Providence."

Cianci is also asking the judge to weigh "his ongoing obligations as a major means of support for his daughter and granddaughter," and the fact that he is incarcerated in a medium-security prison rather than a prison camp.

Lawyers for Cianci and the government sparred over whether the ex-mayor should be penalized for playing a leadership role in the corruption enterprise at City Hall.

Egbert argued that the jury did not explicitly conclude that Cianci was a leader of the enterprise, which involved payoffs for city tax breaks, a city job and other favors.

"This court must look to the offense as found by the jury, not as charged by the government," Egbert wrote.

With the increased time for his leadership role, Cianci faced a guideline range of 57 to 71 months. Torres sentenced Cianci to the middle of the range -- 64 months. Yesterday, prosecutors Richard M. Rose and Terrence P. Donnelly argued that Cianci should be sentenced to the highest end of the range -- 71 months.

Cianci has not accepted responsibility for his crime, they argued, "a crime firmly rooted in greed." There was sufficient evidence presented during Cianci's seven-week trial, they argued, showing that "Cianci personally participated in the enterprise.

"While accepting the jury's verdict, he nonetheless proclaims his factual innocence," the prosecutors wrote.

Also yesterday, the government recommended that the original sentences imposed on Corrente -- 63 months -- and Autiello -- 46 months -- be maintained. Both men, who were convicted of additional corruption charges, are imprisoned at Fort Devens in Massachusetts.

Torres has said that he wanted to receive briefs from all of the parties before scheduling a hearing.

Whether the former mayor will personally appear remains to be determined. A personal appearance, Cianci argues, would involve such hardships as an uncomfortable bus trip from Fort Dix, in which he would be forced to stay at a succession of prisons, shackled and strip-searched at every stop. He might also lose his bunk assignment and his job in the prison library.

Yesterday, prosecutors countered that Cianci had not demonstrated good cause for such an "unprecedented" arrangement. Most of Cianci's reasons, they wrote, "might fairly be described as personal convenience issues."

Granting Cianci's request, the government contended, would smack of special treatment.

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