48 Facts About Buddy Cianci

On his radio show in June 2014, Buddy Cianci announced that he would run for mayor again.

Buddy Cianci was narrowly defeated by Democratic candidate Jorge Elorza in the 2014 election.

Buddy Cianci was born on April 30,1941, in Providence, Rhode Island.

Buddy Cianci's family lived in the Laurel Hill section of nearby Cranston, Rhode Island.

Shortly before dying in early 2016, the 74-year-old Buddy Cianci announced his engagement to model and actress Tara Marie Haywood, then in her 30s.

At the age of seven, Buddy Cianci began appearing regularly on WJAR's Kiddie Revue Sunday radio broadcast from the Outlet Department Store on Weybosset Street, downtown Providence.

Later, Buddy Cianci transferred schools and would earn a bachelor's degree in government at Fairfield University.

Buddy Cianci earned a master's degree in Political Science at Villanova University and a Juris Doctor at Marquette University Law School in 1966.

Buddy Cianci enlisted in the United States Army on November 29,1966.

Buddy Cianci was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Military Police Corps on April 24,1967.

Buddy Cianci served on active duty until 1969 and then in the Army Reserve as a civil affairs officer through 1972.

Patriarca was found not guilty, but Buddy Cianci won praise as an Italian American fighting "The Mob", when the film The Godfather painted an unflattering image of Italian Americans.

Buddy Cianci was helped by a revolt of Democrats upset with Doorley's administration.

Buddy Cianci presented himself as a visionary reformer, outlining plans to revive an economically troubled downtown, rebuild the waterfront, restore blighted neighborhoods, create parks, and improve schools.

Buddy Cianci was well known to be a charismatic and media-savvy politician.

Buddy Cianci was revered by many residents of Providence, credited with the revitalizing of the city's economy and image.

Buddy Cianci was seriously considered for a federal Cabinet seat in the second Gerald Ford administration, had Ford been elected in 1976.

Buddy Cianci clashed behind the scenes with John Chafee over Rhode Island's Republican nomination for the Senate seat.

Chafee was elected to the Senate in 1976 and Buddy Cianci was re-elected as Mayor of Providence as a Republican in 1978.

Buddy Cianci was supported by political allies in the Providence City Council's Republican minority.

Buddy Cianci was forced by law to resign from office for the first time in 1984 after pleading nolo contendere or "no contest" to felony assault of Raymond DeLeo.

Buddy Cianci claimed that the man had been romantically involved with his wife, from whom Buddy Cianci was separated at the time.

Ironically, Buddy Cianci had promulgated that rule a few years earlier.

Buddy Cianci attempted to run in the election under the rubric that he had been convicted of a felony but received a five-year suspended sentence rather than being sent to prison.

Buddy Cianci spent the next few years as a radio talk show host on Providence AM station 920 WHJJ and as a television commentator.

Buddy Cianci brought the Providence Bruins hockey team to Rhode Island from Maine and pushed to further several projects in the city, including new hotels, the Providence Place shopping mall and the Fleet Skating Center.

Buddy Cianci helped to orchestrate the establishment of the summer weekend festivals known as WaterFire in downtown Providence, which continues to bring up to 100,000 people to the downtown area alone on the summer nights it takes place.

In 1996, Buddy Cianci pushed to create an arts and entertainment district in downtown Providence by offering income and sales tax breaks to attract artists to downtown.

Buddy Cianci said the tax breaks were part of an arts-centered economic development strategy.

In 1998, Buddy Cianci ran again for reelection, unopposed on the ballot.

The popular Buddy Cianci had never lost a mayoral election, until losing to Jorge Elorza in November 2014.

Buddy Cianci was indicted in April 2001 on federal criminal charges of racketeering, conspiracy, extortion, witness tampering, and mail fraud.

Buddy Cianci did not maintain a low profile after the indictment but poked fun at the investigation, code-named "Operation Plunder Dome".

Buddy Cianci was acquitted of 26 out of 27 charges, including bribery, extortion, and mail fraud, but he was found guilty of racketeering conspiracy, running a corrupt criminal enterprise.

In September 2002, Buddy Cianci was sentenced to serve five years in federal prison by Judge Torres, who opted for a higher sentence than the minimum required by the Federal Sentencing Guidelines.

Buddy Cianci was forced by law to resign immediately following the sentencing.

Between his sentencing and the start of his prison term, Buddy Cianci resumed his radio career hosting a midday show with former Providence radio host Steve Kass on AM talk station WPRO.

Buddy Cianci appealed the conviction to the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit but was unsuccessful.

Buddy Cianci was released from prison on May 30,2007, to a halfway house near Northeastern University in Boston.

On September 20,2007, Buddy Cianci returned to the airwaves on local Providence AM radio station WPRO, hosting a weekday talk show.

Buddy Cianci said that he had no plans to run for political office again, although he had not entirely ruled it out when pressed on the issue.

On October 24,2007, Buddy Cianci appeared on WLNE-TV ABC6 to announce that in addition to his radio show, he was joining the television station as chief political analyst and contributing editor.

Buddy Cianci began in October 2008 as cohost of the program with WLNE weeknight anchor John DeLuca and became solo host in May 2011.

The next election in which Buddy Cianci would have been eligible to run was the November 2014.

In 2010, Cianci was quoted as saying that he was "taking a good look" at running for the US House seat to be vacated by Democrat Patrick J Kennedy.

In May 2014, Buddy Cianci, after being successfully treated for cancer, was cleared by his doctors to run for mayor in the 2014 November election.

Buddy Cianci had been taken to the hospital the previous day after experiencing abdominal pain while filming his television show, On the Record with Buddy Cianci, at the WLNE-TV studio.

The funeral procession then passed through Olneyville and Silver Lake, where Buddy Cianci grew up, ending at St Ann's Cemetery in Cranston for a private burial next to his parents and daughter, Nicole.