The Life and Times of Vincent “Buddy” Cianci, Mayor of Providence

To quote author and journalist Mike Stanton, “There was the charismatic Buddy that wanted to be your friend, would do anything to help you, was entertaining and made you feel good about your city, and then there was the other Buddy…who presided over a City Hall where there was a range of corruption.” Did Buddy represent a politician with a lust for power, or was he a “victim” of the system that he inherited as mayor?

This class will cover Buddy’s rise and fall, including nearly a quarter of a century of Buddy’s domination in a melting pot of ethnic factions representing the capital of the New England Mafia.

Daniel Knight was appointed special agent of the FBI, where he was assigned auto thefts, bank robberies, fugitive matters, interstate thefts and public corruption investigations. In 1992, he was assigned to the Public Corruption Unit of the Criminal Division at FBI headquarters in Washington, D.C. He subsequently became supervisory special resident agent for Providence, where his squad conducted the undercover investigation, Plunderdome. Before retiring, Daniel served on the faculty of Salve Regina University in the Administration of Justice department for many years, and later, directed the department’s graduate program.