PROVIDENCE / 10:15 a.m. -- The judge in the federal corruption trial of
Mayor Vincent A. Cianci Jr. said he'll issue a ruling Monday on whether
prosecutors can play a controversial surveillance tape.
The tape is said to feature two of Cianci's former top aides, Thomas
Rossi and Frank Corrente, discussing a range of charges against the
mayor as well as Cianci's sex life.
U.S. District Court Judge Ernest C. Torres said this morning it may be a
partial ruling and could depend on prosecutors establishing that
Corrente, Rossi and Cianci were part of a criminal conspiracy in City
Hall.
Federal prosecutors contend the tape shows Cianci and co-defendants
Corrente, Richard Autiello and Edward Voccola were involved in a
racketeering conspiracy. They have pleaded innocent to a 29-count
indictment that charges them with bribery, extortion, racketeering,
witness tampering and mail fraud.
Defense lawyers said the tape is nothing more than hearsay punctuated by
locker-room banter.
The meeting at a Dunkin' Donuts in Cranston in July 1999 was captured on
audiotape by Rossi, an aide to Cianci in the early 1990s who wore a wire
for federal investigators.
