The mayor's conspiracy conviction could still be thrown out by Chief U.S. District Judge Ernest C. Torres, who will hear arguments next week.

06/25/2002

BY W. ZACHARY MALINOWSKI
Journal Staff Writer

PROVIDENCE -- Vincent A. Cianci Jr., the charismatic mayor who has dominated the city for nearly three decades and is widely credited with its revival, was convicted yesterday on a federal racketeering-conspiracy charge for running a criminal enterprise from City Hall.

The federal jury, which was in its ninth day of deliberations, returned the felony verdicts a few minutes before 1 p.m. yesterday. The jury also convicted Cianci's codefendants, Frank E. Corrente, his former top aide; and Richard E. Autiello, a garage owner in the city, on multiple counts of racketeering conspiracy, extortion and bribery.

But it was hardly a clean sweep for the federal prosecutors.

The jury found Cianci, 61, not guilty of 11 other charges, and acquitted Corrente and Autiello of a total of 14 charges.

Also, Chief U.S. District Judge Ernest C. Torres left open the possibility yesterday that he could reverse Cianci's conviction. Torres told the court he was on "the hot seat."

Torres asked defense lawyers and prosecutors to submit written arguments on the racketeering-conspiracy conviction over the next few days. Torres will hear oral arguments from both sides on July 3.

Journal photo / Mary Murphy AFTER THE VERDICT: Mayor Vincent A. Cianci Jr. emerges from the courthouse after yesterday's verdict.

Still, Torres set sentencing dates of Sept. 6 for Cianci, Corrente and Autiello. They all face substantial prison time under the federal sentencing guidelines.

Daniel I. Small, a former federal prosecutor who has tried and defended racketeering cases, estimated that Cianci could face between 37 and 46 months in prison.

Cianci, in a news conference at City Hall last night, said that he will fight the conviction and that he will not resign.

"I will fight and prove my innocence," Cianci said. "I cannot answer any questions because of the gag order. I have faith in the system."

Cianci would not say yesterday whether he plans to file papers by tomorrow to run for reelection to a seventh term this fall.

U.S. Attorney Margaret E. Curran and the prosecutors in the case, Richard W. Rose and Terrence P. Donnelly, declined comment.

AT AROUND 11:30 a.m. yesterday, the jury forewoman, Mary Dole, of Providence, alerted Torres in a note that the jurors had reached a decision on all but three of the charges.

The jury of eight men and four women was deadlocked on the racketeering, extortion and mail-fraud counts involving allegations that Cianci had extorted an honorary lifetime membership from the University Club on the city's East Side.

Once the guilty and not-guilty verdicts were announced, Torres ordered the jurors to return to the jury room and resolve their differences on the University Club.

The jury reached its final verdict on the remaining charges less than two hours later.

THE JURORS began their last hours of deliberations at 8:30 a.m. inside the federal courthouse on Kennedy Plaza across from City Hall.

Following a brief greeting from Torres, the jurors returned to the jury room and got to work. Seven of the eight men wore ties, which they rarely had in the previous two months. Several had haircuts.

At 9:30 a.m., the trial of Cianci's top aide, Artin H. Coloian, began on bribery and conspiracy charges for accepting a $5,000 payoff that Christopher J. Ise paid to get a job in the city Planning Department.

Government witness David C. Ead, former vice chairman of the city tax board, had taken the stand and testified about Cianci directing him to deliver the bribe to Coloian.

Around 11:30 a.m., Torres's clerk handed him a note, and 15 minutes later, he announced to the jury in the Coloian trial that the lunch break would be 30 minutes earlier than usual. A few minutes later, word spread that the Cianci jury had reached a verdict.

At 12:25 p.m., Cianci, dressed in a blue pin-striped suit and yellow print tie, walked into the second-floor courtroom. His hand shook as he poured himself a cup of water from a pitcher.

For the next few minutes, until the jury filed into the courtroom, Cianci twirled a pen, scratching lines onto a legal pad and then crossing them off.

Corrente drifted around the courtroom. He greeted his wife, Thelma, who had been seated in the front row of the spectator section since the jury had been impaneled more than two months ago. At one point, Corrente shrugged, leaned over and kissed her.

Cianci and Corrente took their seats at the defense table near their lawyers. Autiello sat behind them against the wall.

Four federal marshals positioned themselves at the sides of the defendants.

Journal illustration / Frank Gerardi MOMENT OF TRUTH: Cianci, at left, listens with his lawyer, Richard M. Egbert, as federal court clerk Alba Sue Mercurio reads the verdicts yesterday.

Before the jury was brought in, Torres warned the spectators to conduct themselves with "dignity and professionalism," and to refrain from any outbursts.

Then, the jurors arrived. Dole, the forewoman, carried the verdict form to her seat.

Torres spoke to her, acknowledging that the jury was deadlocked on three charges.

Dole handed the verdict form to Torres's clerk, Alba Sue Mercurio. She stood at a lectern and announced the verdict.

"Count 1, racketeering conspiracy, as to Vincent A. Cianci Jr., Guilty."

She continued with guilty findings against Corrente and Autiello on the same charge.

Cianci dutifully checked each charge off with his pen, never looking up.

His face was briefly ashen.

Upon several of the guilty findings, Corrente exhaled and shook his head in disbelief.

Autiello displayed no emotion.

Afterward, Torres read the jurors a so-called "Allen charge," or dynamite charge, urging them to break through their deadlock and reach verdicts on the University Club charges.

Torres told them to resolve their differences "without violence to your individual judgment."

The jurors returned to the jury room for more work and court was adjourned.

Cianci, Corrente and Autiello stayed on the second floor near the courtroom. Spectators and reporters were told to leave.

Outside the courthouse, a crowd of about 200 had gathered in Kennedy Plaza. Many came from downtown office buildings to witness history firsthand.

About two dozen uniformed police officers and plainclothes detectives lined the street. Several of them asked reporters whether this meant that Cianci's reign had ended.

Some spectators were in disbelief that Cianci, one of the nation's longest-serving mayors, might be heading to prison.

"This is an event that people will remember like 9-11 and when Kennedy was shot," said Robert Barrera, a businessman from North Smithfield. "[Cianci] was such a positive influence you hate to see this."

Melissa Cutler, an intern in a law office, was disappointed.

"I thought I was going to hear not guilty," she said. "I think everyone kind of knew he was doing things, but I think that what he has done for the city overshadowed that he was a crook."

Pat Cortellessa, an independent candidate for mayor, attended the trial each day and was happy with the outcome. He had a case of champagne on ice for a celebration at his campaign headquarters on Washington Street.

"It's a victory party for the people of Providence who fought corruption, kickbacks and bribes," he said.

CIANCI'S long-awaited trial began on April 17 with the selection of the jury. The jury and six alternates were impaneled within 21/2 days, despite concerns that it would be difficult to find an impartial jury for the state's biggest celebrity.

There had been plenty of publicity about the case since the FBI first arrested two city tax officials in April 1999. The federal authorities dubbed the investigation into City Hall corruption "Operation Plunder Dome."

Over the next few years, four city officials, Joseph A. Pannone, David C. Ead, Rosemary H. Glancy and Anthony E. Annarino, were convicted on corruption charges. Two lawyers, Angelo A. Mosca Jr. and John A. Scungio, also pleaded guilty to criminal charges.

The Cianci trial produced an array of shady characters -- tax cheats, scam artists and a parade of tow-truck operators who reluctantly testified that they contributed $3,300 a year to Cianci's campaign.

The trial also featured testimony from a former governor, two state court judges and a director of table games at the Foxwoods Resort Casino in Connecticut.

Cianci, Corrente, Autiello and Edward E. Voccola, a city businessman and convicted felon, accused of paying bribes for a $1.2-million School Department lease, sat through each day's testimony. On many days, Voccola dozed through the proceedings.

Over seven weeks, more than 50 witnesses testified and 700 exhibits were introduced. Reporters dropped in from national news outlets such as the Today show, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Time magazine and the New Yorker.

The daily testimony revealed that many city officials lived in fear of Cianci and Corrente. There was plenty of evidence that despite the city's image as a success story, City Hall is an unwieldy patronage machine fueled by payoffs and favoritism.

In the late afternoon, when court ended each day, Cianci went to public events and tried to conduct his city business as usual.

The government produced dozens of video and audio tapes that its key witness, Antonio R. Freitas, had secretly recorded for the FBI. On two of the tapes, Freitas recorded Corrente accepting $1,000 bribes for help in getting the Marriott Corp. to lease a Freitas-owned building.

Corrente, who retired as Cianci's chief of administration and campaign director in July 1999, was the mayor's right-hand man. He was involved in city contracts and played a major role in hirings, promotions and other personnel decisions.

During the trial, the government also aired tapes of Freitas meeting with Joseph A. Pannone, the foul-mouthed former chairman of the city's Board of Tax Assessment Review, and David C. Ead, the board's former vice chairman.

Ead was the only witness who testified that he arranged bribes for Cianci. He said that he played a key role in delivering a total of $25,000 in bribes for the mayor.

The alleged bribes included a $10,000 payoff for reducing a $500,000 tax debt on the estate of the late Fernando N. Ronci to $100,000; $10,000 from Freitas for two vacant city-owned lots that he wanted to buy; and a $5,000 bribe for getting Christopher J. Ise a job in the city's Planning Department.

Richard M. Egbert, Cianci's lawyer, launched an aggressive cross-examination of Ead, calling him a liar, tax cheat and habitual gambler. In his closing arguments, he referred to Ead as a "pig."

The jury did not believe Ead, returning not-guilty verdicts against Cianci and Corrente on the three alleged payoff schemes.

But the jury did believe the testimony of Mary Maggiacomo. She testified that she paid Autiello $5,000 to get her son, Joseph Maggiacomo III, appointed to the Providence Police Department.

Evidence showed that Maggiacomo had past run-ins with the police in Cranston and Warwick. He was initially accepted into the Providence Police Training Academy, but suffered an injury and dropped out. He never became a police officer -- despite repeated efforts to get him on the force.

The government never established that Autiello passed the $5,000 to anyone in city government. And, Richard C. Bicki, Autiello's lawyer, argued that his client did not commit a crime because he is not a city official. He argued that the $5,000 payment was a lobbying fee.

Autiello had a lot of friends on the Providence police, the state's largest police force. Known as "Uncle Dickie," he scurried around police headquarters in a Providence Police Department polo shirt. He was frequently in the office of former Chief Urbano Prignano Jr., who testified under immunity about his role in helping officers cheat on promotional exams.

Autiello's company, Four A's, a car repair garage on the city's West End, has maintained the police fleet since 1991. Last July, the city signed a new three-year contract worth more than $2.5 million for the garage to do all preventive maintenance and small-dent repair to the city police cars.

ON JUNE 5, the trial took a dramatic turn. Voccola, the businessman accused of laundering money and paying off city officials to get the School Department to lease a building he owned, had the charges against him thrown out.

Judge Torres ruled that the government had not proven that he was part of the alleged criminal enterprise at City Hall.

Voccola, who had spent time in federal prison for auto insurance fraud, was ebullient. "I'm just happy, very happy," said the portly Voccola.

Torres wasn't as generous with Cianci, Corrente and Autiello. He dropped five counts against Cianci and three against Corrente. But he refused to dismiss any of the counts against Autiello.

A week later, on June 12, the jury got the case and began its deliberations.

Now, nine defendants, including Cianci, the top city official, have been convicted of criminal charges in the corruption investigation.

IF THE RACKETEERING conspiracy charge stands up against Cianci, it will end the career of one of the most colorful and controversial political figures in state history.

He was first elected mayor in 1974 and was reelected to five more terms, serving as the city's top official for all but 6 of the last 27 years.

In the 1980s, he survived a federal corruption probe that resulted in 22 convictions in city government. And, in 1984, he was convicted of felony assault for attacking his former wife's alleged lover with a fireplace log.

The conviction forced him to step down from office and serve a five-year suspended sentence. During that time, he became a popular radio talk-show host known for his sharp wit and bombastic style.

In 1990, he again ran for mayor and was reelected in a three-way race. He launched his own spaghetti sauce and olive oil and was a tireless promoter of the city's renaissance, which has lured tourists from across the world.

But behind the comeback, the government alleged that Cianci had returned to his corrupt ways. That led them to the investigation that resulted in the arrests of Pannone and Ead, the two tax officials, and eventually to Cianci.

As the investigation picked up steam, Cianci sold his million-dollar East Side house and moved into a suite in the Providence Biltmore hotel.

Freitas, the government's key witness who agreed to pose as a corrupt businessman, was the catalyst -- taping more than 180 conversations with city officials. Last night, he was making plans to share a bottle of champagne with W. Dennis Aiken, the FBI's lead investigator in the case.

He bought the champagne in Paris for $240 when the investigation started four years ago.

"I feel great that the jury believed the tapes that I made," Freitas said. "I'm just happy that justice has been done, and I'm looking for a new day in Providence."

ABOUT 4 P.M. yesterday, Judge Torres adjourned court for the day. The loquacious Cianci, who regularly held court with reporters throughout the trial and during deliberations, was at a loss for words.

"How you doin'," he murmured as he walked past the assembled media. "I think you should talk to Richard," he said, referring to his lawyer, Richard Egbert.

Cianci stepped outside into the late-day sun that beat on the court steps. There was a polite smattering of applause and a few yells of "Buddy."

The mayor cracked a slight smile and waved.

Then, Cianci and Egbert climbed into the mayor's black Lincoln Town Car chauffered by a Providence police officer. The car drove a few feet and stopped.

John A. "Terry" MacFadyen, a Providence lawyer whose specialty is appealing convictions, squeezed into the back seat.

The Town Car roared off.

With reports from Linda Borg, Tracy Breton, Bruce Landis, Amanda Milkovits and Tom Mooney.