PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) - A star witness in the corruption trial of former Providence Mayor Buddy Cianci (see-AN’-see) has died.
David Ead died Saturday, according to the Pontarelli-Marino Funeral Home. It did not disclose the cause of death. He was 72.
Ead was the former vice chairman of the Board of Tax Assessment Review.
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He spent a week on the stand during the 2002 trial portraying Providence City Hall as a place where favors were regularly handed out for bribes. He himself admitted to taking bribes to lower tax bills, and was sentenced to a year of home confinement.
Prosecutors said at the time that Ead’s cooperation was essential to making a case against members of the Cianci administration.
Cianci was convicted of racketeering conspiracy.
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