RI Prisoner Relocated to NJ

Former Mayor Vincent "Buddy" Cianci Jr. has been reassigned to the federal prison at Fort Dix, N.J., according to a letter from the Federal Bureau of Prisons.

Cianci, 61, was sentenced to five years and four months in prison for a corruption conviction. He was initially told to report next week to the Elkton Federal Correctional Institution in eastern Ohio.

U.S. Rep. James Langevin, D-R.I., received a letter Monday from Bureau of Prisons Director Kathleen Hawk Sawyer, who said Cianci was reassigned to Fort Dix so he'd be closer to his troubled daughter.

Nicole Cianci, 28, who is rehabilitating at a drug treatment center in Exeter, asked Langevin and Rep. Patrick Kennedy to request the transfer, explaining that she relies on her father for financial support.

Talk-show host Arlene Violet, a friend of Cianci's ex-wife, accused the former mayor of exploiting his daughter's drug addiction to get a more advantageous prison assignment.

Cianci, who has been co-hosting a talk show on a rival station, warned Violet to stop meddling in his family affairs.

The city's longest-serving mayor, Cianci was convicted of racketeering conspiracy in June. He resigned in September, on the day he was sentenced.

Cianci has appealed the conviction and is awaiting a higher court ruling on a request to delay his prison sentence while the appeal in heard. If that motion is denied, he will be required to turn himself in at Elkton on Dec. 6.

Article continues below

---

advertisement

---

Author: NBC10/AP