Frank Corrente, a central figure in the Plunder Dome case against former Providence Mayor Buddy Cianci, died Wednesday at age 94.
Corrente was taped during an undercover video in 1999 depicting him accepting a $1,000 bribe from businessman Tony Freitas, who was working with the FBI.
While a number of staffers were convicted of corruption-related offenses during Cianci’s first tenure as mayor, the videotape of Corrente was seen as a sign of how graft reached into the upper reaches of Cianci’s administration during his second stint at City Hall.
Corrente served four years in prison after being convicted on a half-dozen counts. Cianci, who died in 2016, was convicted of a single count of racketeering conspiracy in 2002 and he was sentenced to about five years in prison.
The undercover video became a story in itself. Federal prosecutor Richard Rose was fined for screening it for visitors to his home. WJAR-TV reporter Jim Taricani, who died in 2019, was sentenced to home confinement after declining to identify from whom he got a copy of the tape.
Corrente’s death was confirmed by another former Cianci staffer, lawyer Artin Coloian.
Ian Donnis can be reached at idonnis@ripr.org
