Who's who in Operation Plunder Dome: A quick guide to the major players
Operation Plunder Dome – the April 28, 1999, FBI raid on Providence City Hall that signaled the downfall of Mayor Vincent “Buddy” Cianci (well, the second downfall) – grew to encompass quite a cast of characters.
From the charismatic Cianci himself to his top aides, an undercover informant, city officials, prosecutors and judges, here’s a quick guide on who’s who in the case:
THE DEFENDANTS
Buddy Cianci
Providence’s longest-serving mayor, Vincent “Buddy” Cianci is one of the most iconic figures in Providence politics. He was first elected mayor in 1974, survived a federal corruption probe in the 1980s that brought down dozens of other city officials, and resigned in 1984 after pleading no contest to assaulting his estranged wife’s alleged lover with a lit cigarette and a fireplace log.
By 1991, he was back in office and helped lead what is widely known as Providence’s “Renaissance phase”– which saw the start of WaterFire, the arrival of the Providence Bruins hockey team, and the construction and opening of the Providence Place mall.
But by 1999, corruption once again caught up with Cianci with the execution of Operation Plunder Dome, the FBI’s undercover investigation into, as The Journal’s reporting at the time put it, Cianci’s running of City Hall as a criminal enterprise. Cianci was indicted in April 2001 and ultimately convicted of racketeering conspiracy and sentenced to five years in prison – though he was acquitted on 11 other Plunder Dome charges.
Cianci unsuccessfully tried to mount another comeback in 2014 by running for mayor, but lost to Mayor Jorge Elorza. In 2016, he died of colon cancer.
Frank E. Corrente
Corrente was Cianci’s former director of administration at the time of the Plunder Dome raid and was Cianci’s “right hand man,” according to Journal accounts at the time. City contracts, hiring, promotions and other personnel decisions flowed through him, and he was also Cianci’s campaign director.
Corrente was found guilty of racketeering conspiracy and five other counts, including bribery conspiracy and attempted extortion related to Operation Plunder Dome. He was sentenced to five years and three months in prison.
Corrente died in March 2023 at the age of 94.
David C. Ead
Ead was one of the first city officials arrested in Operation Plunder Dome. The vice chairman of the city’s Board of Tax Assessment Review at the time, Ead was arrested in the initial April 28, 1999, raid.
He eventually agreed to cooperate with the prosecution, pleading guilty and testifying that he'd arranged more than $25,000 in bribes for Cianci. For his cooperation, he avoided jail time.
Ead died in April 2014.
Joseph A. Pannone
Like Ead, Pannone was arrested in the initial Operation Plunder Dome raid, as he was the chairman of the city’s Board of Tax Assessment Review.
Pannone pleaded guilty to 14 felony charges and agreed to cooperate in the investigation; however, in January 2000, prosecutors attempted to revoke Pannone’s agreement because, as Journal reporting stated at the time, he had failed to “fully cooperate.” His plea was allowed to stand, and, at 77, he was sentenced to five years in prison, one of the longest sentences for Plunder Dome defendants.
Richard E. Autiello
Autiello was a garage owner in Providence at the time, and his company, Four A’s, held the multimillion-dollar contracts to do all preventative maintenance and small cosmetic repairs on the city’s police fleet for nearly a decade leading up to Plunder Dome.
Autiello was found guilty of racketeering conspiracy and two counts of bribery conspiracy and was sentenced to three years and eight months in prison.
Autiello died in Florida in March 2023 at the age of 94.
Anthony E. Annarino
Annarino was Providence tax collector at the time of Operation Plunder Dome and was charged with conspiracy, attempted extortion and mail fraud. The grand jury also accused Pannone of conspiring with Annarino to wipe out interest charges on late property-tax payments.
He was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison for taking bribes to waive the interest on property taxes.
Annarino died in July 2017 at the age of 72.
Rosemary H. Glancy
Glancy was the city’s deputy tax assessor at the time of Plunder Dome and was charged with attempted extortion, conspiracy and mail fraud.
She was found guilty on two counts of attempted extortion, two counts of conspiracy and three counts of mail fraud and was sentenced to 33 months in prison.
Shortly afterward, Glancy was awarded compassionate release because of her ill health.
In an interview with The Journal in October 2000, at her hospital bed, she told the paper that she “considered herself a victim of City Hall power brokers,” according to her Associated Press obituary.
She died in January 2001.
Angelo A. Mosca Jr.
Mosca was a Providence lawyer at the time who pleaded guilty to extortion charges after admitting he'd arranged a $10,000 bribe that made its way from a client to Cianci, according to previous Journal reports. He was disbarred in 2002.
John A. Scungio
Scungio was a Providence lawyer who pleaded guilty to lying to FBI agents. He was sentenced to home confinement and fined $40,000.
Artin H. Coloian
Coloian was Cianci’s chief of staff at the time of Operation Plunder Dome.
He was charged with bribery and conspiracy for allegedly accepting a $5,000 bribe to get another person a job in the city’s Planning Department. He was acquitted on all charges.
THE PROSECUTION
Antonio R. Freitas
Freitas was the government’s star witness in Operation Plunder Dome, having worked undercover with the FBI for about a year taping more than 100 hours of conversations with public officials and capturing video footage of them accepting bribes.
Freitas worked closely with FBI Agent W. Dennis Aiken, who would supply him with cash to offer as bribes to city officials.
Freitas ran JKL Engineering, a heating and air conditioning company, and was given the undercover code name “Mr. Freon.”
Freitas died in December 2022 at the age of 73.
U.S. Attorney Margaret E. Curran
Curran was the top prosecutor on the Operation Plunder Dome cases and the conviction of Cianci.
She was appointed U.S. attorney for Rhode Island in 1998 by President Bill Clinton and stepped down from her post in 2003 after a diagnosis of multiple sclerosis.
She’s remained politically active in Rhode Island since then, serving on various boards, including as chair of the Public Utilities Commission and as chair of the Health Benefits Exchange Advisory Board.
W. Dennis Aiken
One of the FBI’s foremost experts on public corruption, Aiken led the undercover investigation known as Operation Plunder Dome, working as Antonio Freitas’ handler as he secretly recorded city officials on video and audio taking bribes.
Aiken retired from the FBI in 2007.
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Who was involved in Operation Plunder Dome? Here's our guide