Former Providence Mayor Cianci To Speak Tomorrow Night

Vincent "Buddy" Cianci, the longest-serving mayor of Providence, R.I., will read from his just released memoir that details his political career at in Wednesday, March 30 at 7 p.m.

POLITICS & PASTA: How I Prosecutes Mobsters, Rebuilt a Dying City, Advised a President, Dines With Sinatra, Spent Five Years in a Federally-Funded Gated Community and Lived To Tell The Tale is the long title of the Cianci's book. The book was co-authored by David Fisher, who has had more than 15 New York Times bestsellers.

The book was released this month (March 15) by St. Martin's Press. Cianci, who as a Republican was elected in 1984 to the heavily democratic city of Providence, was its mayor until 2002, when he was convicted of racketeering.

From the publisher: "An election is a war and 'to the victor belongs the spoils.' As I learned so well, that's the real democratic process.  After all, you'll never see a victorious politician tell his supporters, 'I want to thank all of you who worked so hard for my election.  However, in the interest of good government, I've decided to give all the jobs to those people who voted against me.' My name is Buddy Cianci.  I spent almost three decades as mayor of Providence... before leaving for an enforced vacation in a federally funded gated community.  When I first took office, Providence was a dying industrial city, and I helped turn it into one of the most desirable places to  live in America.  I did it by playing the game of hardball politics as well as it has ever been played.  My favorite Frank Sinatra lyrics is "I did it my way," because that's the only way a mayor can run a city.  As I used to tell my staff, 'When you spend your weekends kissing elderly women with mustaches, you can make the decisions.'   If you want to know the truth about how politics is played, you picked the right book.  This is the behind-the-locked-door story of how politics in America really works.  It's take me a lifetime of successes and failures to write it.  It's all in these pages.  I have been called many things in my career: I've been "America's Most Innovative Mayor," a "colorful character," and a convicted felon.  But no one has ever called me shy.