At this point in my life, I've lived in a lot different houses in quite a few different states- some of them have had really cool things related to them, but actually where I live now, Providence, has my favorite 'local legend' of all- Buddy Cianci. Obviously, he's a real guy and all of these things are 100% true, so it's not really a legend, but he was definitely legendary. The tl;dr version is that he was our super corrupt, longtime mayor who despite that actually really improved the city. Here are some choice bits from his wikipedia page, since I am too lazy to write about these things myself:
'Cianci was forced by law to resign from office for the first time in 1984 after pleading nolo contendere or "no contest" – neither admitting nor disputing – on an assault charge alleging an altercation with Bristol, Rhode Island contractor, Raymond DeLeo.[10] Cianci claimed that the man had been romantically involved with his wife, from whom Cianci was separated at the time. Both DeLeo and Cianci's estranged wife disputed the relationship. Providence municipal regulations prohibit a convicted felon from holding public office; ironically, Cianci had promulgated the rule a few years earlier.'
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'Cianci was indicted in April 2001 on federal criminal charges of racketeering, conspiracy, extortion, witness tampering, and mail fraud. Several other Providence city officials were also indicted. Judge Ronald R. Lagueux said of the case: "Clearly, there is a feeling in city government in Providence that corruption is tolerated. In this mayor's two administrations, there has been more corruption in the City of Providence than in the history of this state."[16]
Much of the trial was focused around a video tape showing top Cianci aide Director of Administration Frank A. Corrente taking a bribe. NBC reporterJim Taricani aired the tape on local television station WJAR, and he was sentenced to six months of house arrest for refusing to reveal his sources to the court. Cianci did not maintain a low profile after the indictment but poked fun at the investigation, code-named "Operation Plunder Dome". Nine people (including Cianci) were convicted in the trials, which were presided over by Judge Ernest C. Torres. Cianci was acquitted of 26 out of 27 charges, including bribery, extortion, and mail fraud, but he was found guilty of racketeering conspiracy, running a corrupt criminal enterprise.'*
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'Cianci was released from prison on May 30, 2007, to a halfway house near Northeastern University[18] in Boston. A noticeable difference in Cianci's appearance was that he had embraced his bald head, and no longer wore a hairpiece. Initially, Cianci wore the toupée at the halfway house while he worked in Providence. Upon his return one evening, he sat and ate with two other residents of the halfway house, and asked them about his famous toupée. The other residents, identified as "Dave" and "Anthony" encouraged him to "Ditch the toupee and be himself." The next day, it was history. His sentence formally ended on July 28, 2007, and he was moved to home confinement. In numerous interviews after his release, Cianci maintained his innocence, continuously stating the one charge he was found guilty of was basically being the "captain of the ship."'
As you can see, he was pretty ridiculous. But he did completely revitalize downtown Providence (and I don't mean revitalize as a synonym for gentrification here, it was literally just a super gross place that was also kind of a train yard), started Water Fire, and cemented Providence as a city that punches way above it's weight in the arts. Also, he had his own marinara sauce brand, which, actually, was kind of corrupt, too.
*another fun fact related to Operation Plunderdome, my father was dating the woman who was his press secretary during this period. She was (and still is) an awful human being who is generally super incompetent- which is why they hired her, since she was too unintelligent to actually understand how corrupt the Mayor's office was as the time, and could actually go out and talk to the press without having to worry about plausible deniability.
