Claim: In the last six years of Cianci’s administration violent crime was down in the United States. It was down in the region. It was down in Rhode Island. But it was up in Providence.
Verdict: SUPPORTS

Retrieved passages:
title: Buddy Cianci
text: conspiracy, extortion, witness tampering, and mail fraud. Several other Providence city officials were also indicted. Judge Ronald R. Lagueux said of the case: "Clearly, there is a feeling in city government in Providence that corruption is tolerated. In this mayor's two administrations, there has been more corruption in the City of Providence than in the history of this state." Much of the trial was focused around a video tape showing top Cianci aide Director of Administration Frank A. Corrente taking a bribe. NBC reporterJim Taricani aired the tape on local television station WJAR, and he was sentenced to six months

title: Politics of Rhode Island
text: and convicted felon Buddy Cianci attempt to return to politics. The race was seen by many as a referendum on Cianci's legacy, with supporters pointing to the improved infrastructure, city parks, arts scene, and other gains associated with the city's "Renaissance" during Cianci's time as Mayor, while detractors pointed to Cianci's history of violent, criminal behavior and frank, less-than-remorseful admissions to using "public power for personal reasons." In a rare move into municipal politics, President Obama publicly endorsed Cianci's little-known Democratic challenger, Jorge Elorza, as did Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, who, as a U.S. Attorney, oversaw the investigation that led to

title: Politics of Rhode Island
text: Cianci's racketeering charges and eventual conviction in 2002. Even the Republican nominee for Mayor, Dan Harrop, urged citizens to vote for his Democratic opponent Elorza, citing concerns that Cianci would not have the city's best interests at heart. Ultimately, Elorza proved victorious by a margin of 53%-44% over Cianci. It was the first election that Cianci has ever lost. The Rhode Island Democratic Party is the affiliate of the Democratic Party in the state of Rhode Island. Edwin R. Pacheco is the chairman of the Party. For the past five decades, the Democratic Party has dominated politics in Rhode Island.

title: Buddy Cianci
text: Patriarca. Patriarca was found not guilty, but Cianci won praise for being an Italian-American fighting "The Mob", in the same year that the film The Godfather was painting an unflattering image of Italian-Americans in the media. In 1973, he became the prosecutor of the Rhode Island Attorney General's Anti-Corruption Strike Force, a position he held until his first election as mayor in 1974. As part of this task force, Cianci was involved in an investigation of Providence Mayor Joseph A. Doorley Jr. Cianci was gaining a reputation as an anti-corruption crusader. During this time, Cianci gained political experience working on

title: History of Providence, Rhode Island
text: three decades, during which murders and kidnappings became commonplace. The city's experienced a sort of Renaissance in the late 1970s and early 1980s, as $606 million of local and national Community Development funds was invested throughout the city and the declining population began to stabilize. In the 1990s, Mayor Buddy Cianci showcased the city's strength in arts and pushed for further revitalization, ultimately resulting in opening up the city's rivers (which had been paved over), relocation of a large section of railroad underground, creation of Waterplace Park and river walks along the river's banks, and construction of the Fleet Skating

title: Buddy Cianci
text: Cianci's estranged wife disputed the relationship. Providence municipal regulations prohibit a convicted felon from holding public office; ironically, Cianci had promulgated the rule a few years earlier. After Cianci's resignation, a special election was held to name a replacement. 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. After a few weeks it was decided by the Rhode Island Supreme Court that Cianci could not run in the special election, because the legislative intent was that the convicted incumbent

title: David Cicilline
text: of Democratic Mayors. As mayor, he was a member of the Mayors Against Illegal Guns Coalition, a bi-partisan group with the stated goal of "making the public safer by getting illegal guns off the streets." The Coalition was co-chaired by Boston Mayor Thomas Menino and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. In 2009, Cicilline served as one of six selection committee members for the Rudy Bruner Award for Urban Excellence. Cicilline's administration focused on the residential neighborhoods of Providence, as well as the "Renaissance" areas of downtown and Federal Hill that thrived under Cianci, and continued the promotion of the

title: Buddy Cianci
text: Buddy Cianci Vincent Albert "Buddy" Cianci Jr. (, ; , ; April 30, 1941 – January 28, 2016) was an American lawyer, radio talk show host, politician, and political commentator who served as the mayor of Providence, Rhode Island (1975–84, 1991–2002). Cianci was the longest-serving mayor of Providence and one of the longest-serving "big city" mayors in United States history, having held office for over 21 years. Cianci was twice elected Mayor of Providence and also served as a prosecutor and attorney. Notably, he was forced to resign from office twice due to felony convictions. His first administration ended in

title: Frederick Lippitt
text: political rival, was re-elected as mayor of Providence in 1994 and 1998. In April 2001 Cianci was indicted on corruption changes stemming from a Federal investigation named Operation Plunder Dome and was subsequently convicted. In September 2002 Cianci resigned from office after being sentenced to five years in prison. Cianci was released from prison in 2007 and resumed his career as a radio talk show host on WPRO. In June 2014 Cianci announced his candidacy for mayor of Providence in that year's election. Cianci narrowly lost the election to Democrat Jorge Elorza and returned to being a talk show host.

title: Buddy Cianci
text: than the minimum required by the Federal Sentencing Guidelines. Cianci was forced by law to resign immediately following the sentencing. Between his sentencing and the start of his jail term, Cianci resumed his radio career hosting a midday show with former Providence radio host (and former director of communications to Governor Don Carcieri) Steve Kass on AM talk station WPRO. After some legal wrangling, Cianci's lawyers managed to have him sent to prison closer to Rhode Island, and Cianci served his sentence at the Federal Correctional Institution, Fort Dix, in Burlington County, New Jersey. Cianci appealed the conviction to the

title: Buddy Cianci
text: his tenure, Providence became visibly cleaner and more tourist-friendly. 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. He also 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, Cianci pushed to create an Arts and Entertainment District in downtown Providence by offering income and sales

title: Johnston Police Department (Rhode Island)
text: 30 assault rifles, 44 bayonets, 12 Humvees and other items. No members of this department have been killed in the line of duty. In October 2008, Detective Marc Zaccagnini pleaded no contest to charges of trespass and vandalism. More serious charges were dropped to obtain this plea. He was sentenced to a five-year deferred sentence and community service. He was terminated by the police department on 1 November 2007. He sued the department. The court quickly ruled against him. In May 2008, Zaccagnini violated the terms of his release when he was convicted of simple assault in an unrelated matter

title: Frederick Lippitt
text: and Democrat Francis Darrigan. In 1984, Cianci pleaded no contest to assault, kidnapping and extortion charges. He received a five-year suspended sentence and was removed from office. The City Council chairman, Democrat Joseph Paolino, became acting mayor and a special election was called. Lippitt entered the race as an independent and narrowly lost to Paolino in a hard fought race by only 129 votes. The special election included two other independent candidates - State Representative Keven McKenna and businessman Emmanuel Torti. Ironically, after Cianci was disqualified by the Rhode Island Supreme Court from running in the election, he endorsed Lippitt

title: Buddy Cianci
text: city's first Italian-American mayor, ending a 150-year "power monopoly" held by Irish Democrats. At the age of 33 years, 10 months and seven days, he was also the city's youngest-ever mayor at the time, and the first Republican to lead this heavily Democratic city since 1939. Cianci was well known as an extremely charismatic and media-savvy politician. His propensity to attend parades, weddings, public events, and backyard neighborhood barbecues, led to a common joke during his tenure that Cianci would jump to "attend the opening of an envelope". Cianci was revered by many residents of Providence, and credited with the

title: Political positions of Donald Trump
text: and naive the arguments of criminal justice reformers that the U.S. criminal justice system puts too many criminals in jail. Trump is in favor of at least one mandatory sentence, where using a gun to commit a crime results in a five-year sentence. Trump has on several occasions asserted that crime is rising in the United States. Trump's assertion that crime is rising is false; in fact, both violent crime and property crime have been consistently declining in the U.S. since the early 1990s. Trump's claim that "inner-city crime is reaching record levels" received a "pants-on-fire" rating from PolitiFact. As

title: Bristol Fourth of July Parade
text: and cheers, despite having been indicted this time on federal corruption charges. Cianci's last appearance as sitting mayor was in 2002, after his conviction. Instead of riding his usual horse, Cianci walked this time, and he was frequently stopped by fans along the route to take photos and to shake his hand. In 2003, new Providence Mayor David Cicilline marched in the parade, accompanied by a more modest contingent than his predecessor. The Rhode Island Tea-Party Association applied to enter the parade with a float featuring a representation of the British ship "Beaver", which was ransacked by colonists dressed as

title: Herbert F. DeSimone
text: awarded the Neil J. Houston Award for contributions to the Criminal Justice systems and Public Interest. He was also awarded Man of the Year by Engineering News Record and Man of the Year by the Italo-American Club of Rhode Island. DeSimone was a longtime advisor and mentor to Providence Mayor Buddy Cianci. Cianci started his career in DeSimone's Attorney General office, and worked on DeSimone's 1970 and 1972 gubernatorial campaigns. DeSimone was present at Cianci's home the night in March 1983 when Cianci was accused of beating Raymond DeLeo. DeSimone testified in Cianci's trial, in which Cianci pleaded no contest

title: Rudy Giuliani
text: During Giuliani's administration, crime rates dropped in New York City. The extent to which Giuliani deserves the credit is disputed. Crime rates in New York City had started to drop in 1991 under previous mayor David Dinkins, three years before Giuliani took office. The rates of most crimes, including all categories of violent crime, made consecutive declines during the last 36 months of Dinkins's four-year term, ending a 30-year upward spiral. A small nationwide drop in crime preceded Giuliani's election, and some critics say that he may have been the beneficiary of a trend already in progress. Additional contributing factors

title: Public image of Rudy Giuliani
text: of the safest big cities in the country. Supporters of Giuliani contend that this is evidence of his leadership skills and efficiency. Statistics show that between 1993 and 1997 the decrease New York City crime accounted for 25% of the nation's overall crime decrease. Giuliani spokeswoman Maria Comella said, "Mayor Giuliani successfully worked to get guns out of the hands of criminals in order to transform a city out of control. By being tough on crime and enforcing the laws on the books, New York City’s murder rate was cut by 66 percent." However, the FBI warned against drawing broad

title: Buddy Cianci
text: Island constitutional amendment, aptly named "the Buddy amendment"). The next election in which 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 U.S. House seat to be vacated by Democrat Patrick J. Kennedy. He did not declare his candidacy. In May 2014, Cianci, after being successfully treated for cancer, was cleared by his doctors to run for mayor in the 2014 November election. On June 25, Cianci declared his candidacy for Mayor of Providence as an independent. In August he