Alert: John Cicilline sentenced to 18 months, disbarred
3:19 PM Fri, Sep 19, 2008 | Permalink
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BOSTON -- With the judge calling his actions "reprehensible and inexcusable," John M. Cicilline today was sentenced to 18 months in prison and immediately disbarred from the law profession. Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton in federal court also ordered Cicilline, who with his former law partner pleaded guilty to conspiring to shake down a drug-dealing couple and manipulate the criminal-justice system, to pay $15,000 restitution to the federal Drug Enforcement Administration. Cicilline, the brother of Providence Mayor David N. Cicilline, must also pay a $4,000 fine. "It is particularly upsetting and tough for the court to sentence someone who is a member of the bar," the judge said in court. "It is a tragedy. The one you have to blame for that is the one you see in the mirror." The judge denied Cicilline's request to serve the time at Fort Devens in Massachusetts. Cicilline was ordered to report to a yet-to-be-designated prison by 2 p.m. on Oct. 21. According to the charges that Cicilline and law colleague Joseph A. Bevilacqua Jr. admitted to in June in federal court in Boston, they promised clients arrested on drug charges that they could keep them out of jail for payments of $150,000. Mayor Cicilline said outside the courthouse after the sentencing that "this is a very hard day for my family obviously" and that he is determined to be a good uncle to his three nieces. Bevilacqua is still to be sentenced. -- projo.com staff writer Michael P. McKinney, with reports from Journal staff writer W. Zachary Malinowski 
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Good.. it's about time!! I'm glad the judge didn't take it easy on him... what he did was so underhanded, he took an oath when he became a lawyer, obviously that oath meant nothing to him.... I only feel bad for his family that they have to suffer due to his poor choices. Next up, Bevilacqua, hope they throw the book at him too... partners in law or partners in crime??? I think the court has spoken!!
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That's it? 18 months, $4,000 and disbarment? Is that what it's worth to society for his manipulating the court systems for the likes of drug peddlers, smugglers and who knows what else?
These drug people that provide a method for people to continue their addictions? To create new addicts? To disrupt families, children's live, marriages, divorces, etc,...
When I heard on the radio just moments after the court session ended, I was expecting the number '18' to be followed by years, not months, years.
I'm tired of people that use the court systems for their own personal advantage. Are we all tired of the face slaps handed out to known people in the system compared to the average guy who gets the full boat?
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An apple does not fall far from the tree.
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I'm still waiting for Mayor Cicilline to say that what his brother did was wrong. He hasn't said it yet. The Mayor seems upset only that his brother and former law partner were caught.
At some point, you are judged by the company you keep. Recall the story of the alleged $100,000 bribe used to obtain the liquor license for the Cadillac Lounge. And who was the lawyer in that case for the Cadillac Lounge -- the Cicillines' father.
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It's about time,they been doing that for years. Where's the R.I.US Attorneys Office? Seems Davids connections lend to a blind eye in R.I.
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Perhaps he can throw another fundraiser for himself for the good- bye party.....
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I'm sure his brother will find suitable employment for him upon his release.
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These two I know firsthand...they both should have gotten years not months following their numbers for sentencing! Nothing but Career Criminals masquerading as officers of the court exploiting their own clients and not to mention many innocent others for their own devious gratification. Joe Bevilacqua should be in prison for life after the years and years of criminal acts he has been involved in. Not to mention his innapropriate and illegal behavior w young girls.
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