Customer Reviews

The Prince of Providence: The True Story of Buddy Cianci, America's Most Notorious Mayor, Some Wiseguys, and the Feds

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The colorful Buddy Cianci enjoyed a long and sordid career as the Mayor of Providence, Rhode Island. And now, as Cianci is still settling into his cell at the federal detention center at Ft. Dix, New Jersey, having been convicted of corruption, author Mike Stanton has written a long and sordid account of Cianci's life and career. The Cianci story is so compelling that is could sell itself. How does a man go from being an ambitious young prosecutor trying to lock up mob figures to putting wiseguys on the payroll during his tenure as Mayor? That's the question Stanton tries to answer, and would have done so more effectively had he not become so distracted along the way.

As Stanton demonstrates, Cianci is a tragic figure; a man with unique political skills and leadership ability whose dark side ultimately ruined him. Cianci was a charming rougue who knew how to manipulate his supporters and foil his enemies in the same manner as another disgraced big city Mayor: Marion Barry. Ultimately Buddy Cianci was all about Buddy Cianci, and that was what finally did him in.

Stanton obviously loves politics as much as Cianci did. His book is loaded with anecdotes and stories of the Providence and Rhode Island political landscape. Far too many, in fact, for quite a number are either superflous or merely rumor. Stanton repeats rumors that Cianci was hooked on cociane, for example, but never provides any proof. The book runs to nearly 400 pages of narrative, but could have easily been chopped down by about a third. Accounts of Cianci's appearances on the Imus in the Morning radio show, for example, are worth mentioning once, but not four or five times.

Overall, "The Prince of Providence" is a fascinating but overly long retelling of the sordid saga of a fallen politician.

Usually, municipal corruption is infuriating. But the Buddy Cianci story is highly entertaining, often comical. I was not surprised at all to learn that the book had been optioned for a movie even prior to publication. Unlike other reviewers, I was not familiar at all with Buddy Cianci or Providence or its reputation for mob infestation and deep-seated corruption. "The Prince" held me in thrall for all 400 pages as revelation upon revelation of kickbacks, bribery, intimidation and general malfeasance unfolded.

I would recommend this book highly to the most general audience. However, one caveat: it's mostly a book about crime and punishment, not politics. Personally, I would have liked to have learned more about Cianci's failed 1980 gubernatorial campaign. On one page, it appears that Buddy will win by acclamation; on the next, with little explanation, he's a landslide loser, failing to carry one city or even a single hometown ward. Having said that, "The Prince" is still first rate for its pure entertainment value. Definitely five stars.

The Prince of Sleaze

You might think that a book about sleaze, cheating, lying, bullying, stealing, bribing and simple bamboozling would be depressing, but instead it's fascinating. Mike Stanton's THE PRINCE OF PROVIDENCE is a jaw-dropping account of Buddy Cianci, the terrible bad boy of politics in Providence, Rhode Island.
Typical of Cianci's abuse of power was his attempt to be admitted to the prestigious University Club. Stung by rejection, he fought back with some well placed calls. The University Club found themselves unable to get building variances, their liquor license threatened and word that police would be out front ticketing every parked car. Incredibly, the mayor was offered a lifetime honorary membership.
The author is well acquainted with the mayor, his office, his cronies and the city of Providence. He describes the "good Buddy", effective administrator, tireless promoter of Providence, with the "bad Buddy", wheeler dealer, bribe taker, but it's obvious the "bad Buddy" prevails. Only the scrupulous reporting and the ebullient personality of Buddy Cianci can keep the reader from wallowing deep in the corruption and dirt of Providence politics. I personally would have liked to see more of Cianci's early life and how the influences of family and school could create such a phenomenon.
If you ever need a reference book of big city politics, this is your how-to Guide to Political Power using methods legal, illegal and every gray area in between.

Pulitzer prize winner for investigative reporting at The Providence Journal, Miker Stanton, has written a brilliant novel. The novel centers around, Buddy Cianci,former mob prosecutor, grandson of immigrants and six term Mayor of Providence, Rhode Island, and the FBI agent, Dennis Aiken, who took the surprised mayor down. This is a story of crime, mob crime, city crime, and political crime. Buddy Cianci grew up a Catholic, son of a doctor in Providence. He is a man with much charm. He married, divorced and was arrested for torturing the man he said was having an affair with his wife. He resigned his mayoral position in 1984 because of this crime and was re-elected in 1991. The citizens of Providence have a love/hate relationship with their ex-mayor. He brought life back to the city that was dying from industrial mills gone dry, to an artistical city loved by the elite. But he also brought to light the mob crime popularized by the Sopranos soap opera. Many of his political cronies were charged were corruption, and in the end so was Buddy. Of the many charges against him, he was found guilty of only one, racketerring conspiracy. He was sentenced to 5 years and 4 days in Federal prison. The Prince of Providence has been in prison for two years. He was assigned to kitchen duty, and was unable to bring his toupee or cigarettes into prison with him. This is not the end of the Cianci story. Nicole Cianci, the child who was ignored at best, has borne two children and was in rehab for drug addiction. The ex-mayor still has hopes of returning to the city he loves in some offical capacity. This is a novel of a man who thought he owned his city and found that although he is well -loved for his good deeds -it was the bad deeds that came undone. The writing is superb and the story is one to remember. prisrob

I don't think the overall subject of the book will be surprising to anyone from Providence, or elsewhere in RI for that fact, but some of the stories and details in the book will shock you! I lived 1/2 my life in Providence and the other 1/2 in or near Miami. As bad as the banana republic of Miami has demonstrated it can be (Elian!), it cannot compare to the corruption found in Providence and throughout Rhode Island politics. I could not put the book down for 3 days.

The only reason I knocked off 1 star on my rating is that the writing quality could have been a bit better. The author rambles in some sections and then seems to repeat himself from time-to-time. The same is noted in some other reviews, so I don't think it was my reading. Nevertheless, it is a minor issue and the book is well worth reading and owning, particularly if you ever lived in Rhode Island. Just remember, it isn't fiction like the Godfather - it really happened.

This is really a fascinating expose on Buddy Cianci. Although Ive lived in the Providence area for a few years, I still had to check myself now and then to realize that this is non-fiction!! Some of the chapters, such as that on the rape accusation, were totally new to me, and it's amazing how they got buried in more recent times.

It is also a fascinating look at old-fashioned Northeast political machines, the mob,etc.

My only criticism, is that it is a bit choppy with overemphasis on certain episodes and not much filler between. Im guessing this is based on what was available in the Providence Journal archives---so Im thinking the author wa stoo thin on original sources for this book.

As a native of Providence, Buddy Cianci is really the only mayor that I remember. He was first elected as I was starting elementary school, forced to resign for beating up a man he believed to be his estranged wife's lover as I was leaving for college and in shades of Marion Barry, re-elected by his forgiving supporters as I returned home after college graduation. For various reasons, I left the state again during his second reign.

Fortunately for the reader, Mike Stanton captures it all...the too strange to be fiction of Rhode Island's capital city, it's questionable politics and the cast of characters involved. Anyone who didn't grow up in Providence can be forgiven for thinking that they've stepped into an Elmore Leonard novel.

At the center of the book is Vincent "Buddy" Cianci, a protagonist straight from the pages of a Greek morality play. Charming, highly intelligent and charimastic, Cianci's fatal flaw seemed to be his arrogant belief that he could get away with anything. Stanton makes the reader understand how Cianci was elected over and over again despite compelling evidence of financial mismanagement of city funds, shakedowns and racketeering.

The legend of Buddy is vast...the toupees, the flamboyance, the temper tantrums and the marinara sauce. Many voters suspected that he was corrupt but after the success of the Providence Renaissance, well... it didn't seem like a big deal. Unfortunately for Buddy, his misdeeds eventually caught up with him and his cronies. Although I had been mortified when the voters returned him to office, I was saddened by Cianci's fall.

The tale is a complicated one and Stanton provides much detail. If there is one fault with this book it may be that the author didn't condense some of the minutae. Some sections may overwhelm the reader with legalese.

At the end of the book, Stanton writes that his book has been optioned for a movie. I sincerely hope it's made. This tale is stranger than anything a fiction writer could think up.

The book is accurate and well researched. Buddy loved Providence. Buddy was a loveable scoundrel. The author doesn't take sides with the issue, but tells the story of corruption, graft, payoffs, bribery, and the like. That's the way things work in Providence. There is almost no other way of doing business in Rhode Island, and it's been that way for as long as anybody can remember. Many believe that Abe Lincoln himself would have been dragged down the same way if he had lived in Providence long enough.
The book doesn't give too much credit for the many things Mayor Cianci did for the City, and its residents. Buddy just got caught up in it all, and this book tells why, and how. An absolute must read for anybody who has anything to do with the political spectrum, or Rhode Island.

Buddy Cianci was Mayor of Providence for my entire childhood - I never knew another Mayor until I left the City of Providence at the age of 23. When Cianci was elected into office - the choices were slim - 'same ole, same ole' or 'what's his name' OR a young, bright, newcomer with actual thoughts in his head. The choice was obvious for many voters in Providence. Mike Stanton's book captures a lot of stories into this book and some are absolutely hysterical, but the book itself is disjointed, repetitive and at times extremely boring. It is also full of comments that speak negatively toward the people of Providence - comments that had I not lived there and returned for many years, would leave me believing that the entire state is a cesspool of idiots. They are not. Providence is a City like any other City - most of the people who vote do so by the eenie meenie method - very few vote with a true understanding or any kind of knowledge of the person they are giving power to - and usually any candidate that is elected ANYWHERE will be scrutinized by what they do good for their city and what they screw up. Most do not last as long as Buddy, in fact, no one has EVER lasted as long as Buddy - so why are some readers surprised by the lengthy stay? because Mike Stanton chose to write about mob, murder and mayhem and get the book out to the public for the quick money instead of writing a fully-developed story on each of the characters and WHY the people of Providence continued to keep him in office. Was the reason Buddy stayed in office for so long because he bought his way through a century? If you read this book, keep in the back of your mind - that government jobs, while there may be many of them, there are not THAT many out there that can be used to satisfy a whole city of voters - and also remember that any government revolves inside an insulated world - the information we get is all narrated by the media who are only informed by in-house people when they feel it necessary to inform the public of what is 'going on' in their world - which is usually biased and explained by someone who is really ticked off. Buddy was handed a filthy, dirty, rat-infested city and turned it into something that cannot be believed unless seen with your own eyes - the City is truly a beautiful place to be in - words I thought I would never say. Is there a darkness behind the City - of course there is - as there is every place in this world. I could go on for days - but I guess what I want people to remember while reading this book is that after all was said and done, after many, many years of digging and scraping Providence politics from top to bottom - the FBI and all the glory that help them - came away with less than a handful of people they could actually put away and put them away with nothing any more unusual than what goes on in every big company run in the US today. Cesspool? For Sale Sign on Everything? Have you checked out your home town today?

The reviewer, formerly from Providence, actually witnessed first-hand some of the goings-on described in this book and that occurred during the early part of the period defined by the author as Buddy I.

Mike Stanton does a journalistically very thorough job of chronologically revealing the true essence of one of the most fascinating and colorful persons to have ever treaded the modern American political landscape. Whether or not you know Providence or Rhode Island, the tale of Buddy Cianci will keep you turning the pages of Stanton's The Prince of Providence until the very end. While the writing and the flow of information could have been a little tighter in places, the Pulitzer Price-winning investigative reporter from The Providence Journal does a phenomenal job of telling the story of Providence (Ex-) Mayor Buddy Cianci, an immensely dichotomous personality who reflected to a tee the history and character of the city-state he ruled for a quarter century, but who now resides in a federal prison in New Jersey. Stanton's incorporation of the history of Rhode Island and its capital city is both fascinating and crucial to understanding just how this surrealistic juxtaposition of corruption and charismatic vision came to be and why it flourished for so long.

Rhode Island, which was founded in 1636 as an eccentric assembly of maverick outcasts, boasts on one hand a long and proud history of independence, rebellion, and milestones of progress. At the same time it has quietly nurtured a deep-seated tradition of pervasive, brutal and often murderous corruption. After all, where else could governors, mayors, and state Supreme Court justices all end up behind bars in the same decade? Its capital city was once a national player, a proud and wealthy economic powerhouse that had fallen into desperate straits by the time Buddy was first sworn in as mayor in January 1975. Although there is much debate today about the long-range prospects of the much-ballyhooed Providence Renaissance, no one can deny that this man Buddy almost single-handedly willed into existence the modern transformation of his city. The critics and skeptics of the renaissance openly wonder how much further the city would have gone had the 'Providence For Sale' signs not been posted all over City Hall during the long reign of Buddy. Nonetheless, as you read the pages of Stanton's book, you will find yourself utterly astonished at how the man they called Buddy, the man who substantially reshaped his city's fortunes, was brutal, vindictive, and corrupt, all the while being a seductive charmer who was (and remains) beloved by thousands. You will laugh, as this reviewer did, at the endless stories and antics of Buddy and at the quips and one-liners that were the product of a brilliant intellect. Sadly, you will also understand why the citizens of this historically mob-connected city did not until recently resolve to clean it up. One of the ironies that will certainly strike you is how the man called Buddy would publicly fulminate at the mere mention of HBO's The Sopranos - he maintained it was bad for the image of Italian-Americans and, therefore, bad for the image of Providence. Can one really be so blinded by the reflection in the mirror?

On a much broader level, Stanton's The Prince of Providence presents us with one of the most interesting political case studies of character and the human personality. One is left asking why the few who are as brilliantly and uniquely gifted as Buddy was usually end up self destructing by virtue of ruinous flaws of personality and character. This mystery is not answered in Stanton's The Prince of Providence - it is not meant to be a social study - but you will nonetheless find in the book one of the most interesting case studies from which to ponder that question and perhaps arrive at your own conclusion.