Buddy Cianci to Speak in Windham

You could call Bruce Breton a long-time listener to The Buddy Cianci Show on WPRO – and a first-time caller. The call Breton made after reading Cianci's memoir, "Politics and Pasta," has led to an upcoming visit to New Hampshire by the colorful former mayor of Providence, R.I.

Cianci will speak next month to the Windham Republican Town Committee, said Breton, who is chairman of the Windham GOP.

Breton read the mayor's book while he was recuperating in the hospital. He was inspired to see if Cianci would entertain an invite. He sent an email to his people, then there was the call. 

"He's a very dynamic character," Breton said in a phone interview.

Cianci, celebrated as one of the country's longest-serving mayors, also became notorious for his brush with the law and jail time. He left prison in 2007, after four years, from a conviction on a charge of racketeering conspiracy for what prosecutors called widespread corruption at City Hall. In a June interview with the New York Times Magazine, Cianci noted that he was found not guilty on 11 of the 12 charges.

Details on the September visit will be forthcoming. It will likely include a dinner at the Tuscan Kitchen, Breton said. Where, of course, the dinner conversation is sure to turn to politics, and pasta.