The U.S. Supreme Court declines to consider the former Providence mayor's case, leaving him no other avenues of appeal.

01:31 AM EDT on Wednesday, October 12, 2005

BY MIKE STANTON
Journal Staff Writer

It was more than four years ago that Vincent A. "Buddy" Cianci Jr. marched into the mayor's office, angrily waved his 97-page indictment in the face of the TV cameras and vowed to fight to the finish.

"I'm going to fight this as far as I can," he thundered. "I'm going to go all the way to the Supreme Court, to The Hague, wherever they want to go."

The struggle ended yesterday, after an epic trial, a stunning conviction and three years of appeals, when the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review Cianci's conviction.

The end came without fanfare, without the glare of the cameras and the cheering boosters and the spiritual adviser who stood behind the mayor the night of his indictment, on April 2, 2001, and chanted, "Amen."

Cianci learned the news from his lawyer, who picked it up from the Supreme Court's Web site and called the former Providence mayor at the federal prison in Fort Dix, N.J., where he is serving a 5-year, 4-month sentence and working in the prison library.

His lawyer, John A. "Terry" MacFadyen III, said that yesterday's decision exhausts Cianci's appeals. Although he had filed notice of an appeal of his prison term, MacFadyen said that will not be pursued because of the dim prospects for success.

Cianci's release date, according to the Bureau of Prisons Web site, is July 28, 2007. That doesn't count time off for good behavior, which could reduce his time by as much as 15 percent.

"Buddy is remarkably resilient," said MacFadyen. "No one is shocked by this decision. The odds are so astronomical that it's not an uphill climb, it's a vertical cliff."

The longest-serving mayor in Providence history was reduced to one of dozens of unsuccessful parties, criminal and civil, whom the land's highest court refused to hear -- along with Jim's Motorcycle and General Motors and the Hamilton County Department of Education and numerous criminal defendants.

"They weren't thinking of Buddy Cianci," said MacFadyen. "They're looking at it from a global perspective."

U.S. Attorney Robert Clark Corrente said that the Supreme Court's decision brings "closure" to one of the most epic public corruption cases in Rhode Island, dubbed Operation Plunder Dome.

Nine people were convicted of corruption charges, including Cianci's top aide and chief fundraiser, Frank E. Corrente, and four city tax officials who took payoffs for illicit tax breaks.

Cianci, who was charged with heading a criminal enterprise that took bribes for tax breaks, favors and city jobs, was acquitted of 11 charges of bribery and corruption, including racketeering, but convicted after an eight-week trial of racketeering conspiracy.

"It's nice to finally be able to close the book on a sad chapter and for the city to be able to look forward," said Corrente, the U.S. Attorney, who is no relation to Frank Corrente.

IN A JULY petition to the country's highest court, Cianci complained that the RICO -- Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act -- indictment against him was flawed.

He also argued that Chief U.S. District Judge Ernest C. Torres should have allowed the jury to hear a 1995 tape recording in which Cianci rejects the overtures of an undercover FBI agent who poses as an air-conditioning businessman trying to get a city contract.

Cianci filed his appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court two weeks after Torres -- who oversaw Cianci's original trial in Providence in 2002 -- rejected his bid to have his sentence reduced to 35 months.

The high court yesterday denied his petition for review of an August 2004 rejection of his appeal by the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston. It gave no reason for its action, simply listing it as denied.

The court rejects most petitions for review that it receives, taking only those cases that it considers of "gravity and general importance." The high court hears only about 4 percent of the petitions it receives.

ASKED WHAT'S NEXT on Cianci's legal agenda, his lawyer, MacFadyen, replied: "Nothing."

MacFadyen said the uniqueness of Cianci's case may have worked against him since the court opts to consider appeals that have broad implications for future cases.

"The results in this case were so unusual," he said. "How often is someone prosecuted under a theory in which you infer [racketeering] conspiracy from predicate [underlying] acts, then the person is acquitted of those predicate acts but then the jury determines that a RICO conspiracy existed?"

The flamboyant Cianci, a former prosecutor who first ran for mayor as the "anti-corruption" candidate, steadfastly maintained his innocence and carried through on his vow to fight to the end -- even if his reference to The Hague was more whimsical than realistic.

"He did fight it all the way," said MacFadyen. "He took it all the way. Even if the Supreme Court had taken it up, it may not have decided [before Cianci's prison term expired]. But this was a case that deserved to be pursued."

Despite Cianci's conviction, some citizens have continued to support the the former mayor, who gained a national reputation for his quick wit and his role in the revitalization of the city of Providence.

MacFadyen said that he is haunted by the same questions that Cianci spoke of following his conviction and before he reported to prison -- that he was essentially convicted of "being the mayor."

"It's hard to conclude that the jury decided beyond a reasonable doubt that Buddy Cianci did anything criminal," said MacFadyen. "It was more that they convicted him for being the captain of the ship and this happened on his watch."

Corrente, who was appointed U.S. Attorney for Rhode Island in August 2004, two years after the Cianci trial took place, said he hopes that the Cianci case sends a message that public corruption will not be tolerated.

"It's important for the public psyche to continue to be aggressive in pursuing these kinds of cases," said Corrente. "The hidden cost of this type of corruption is the lack of confidence in our elected officials, and the cloud of suspicion that is unfair to 99 percent of them. Then there's the whole cost in terms of businesses that won't locate here because of the perception of corruption, real or imagined.

"It's fallen to this office over the years to prosecute public corruption," he continued. "You'd like to think that after a while you wouldn't need to, that the message would have gotten out there. But to the extent that the message was not out there, the Cianci case shows that we will track down this sort of stuff, even if it takes five years to prosecute and three years for the appeals process."

FORMER CITY HALL aide Artin Coloian, who was also charged with corruption in Operation Plunder Dome but acquitted after a trial, said that he was "hugely disappointed" by yesterday's decision.

Coloian, who spoke to Cianci by phone on Monday, said that they knew that the Supreme Court had recently discussed the case in conference, and so the decision was not unexpected.

"He has good days and bad days," said Coloian. "When I spoke to him, he was upbeat. He's prepared himself mentally to be away for the rest of his [prison] term. Quite naturally, this is another disappointment. Everyone knew that there was only a sliver of hope, but because he believes in his innocence, he was determined to fight long and hard.

"He takes solace in the fact that he believes in his innocence."

After the U.S. Court of Appeals rejected Cianci's appeal last year, by a 2-1 vote, Coloian joked, "If I were Buddy, I'd take it to The Hague."

Yesterday, Coloian acknowledged the reality that The Hague, home of the International Court of Justice located in the Netherlands, is "not a viable option."

"Maybe Providence Municipal Court," he said. "Wouldn't that be great?"

With staff reports from Jack Perry.

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

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