Ex-Aide: Cicilline knew about bad check

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) - When news first surfaced that John Cicilline - disgraced attorney and brother of Providence Mayor David Cicilline - wrote bad checks to the city's tax office, the mayor denied any knowledge of it.

However according to the mayor's former chief of staff, that is not the case.

In an affidavit just filed in court Wednesday, Chris Bizzacco told state police he briefed the mayor about the first of two bounced checks - which totalled $75,000.

"Bizzacco stated that he presented the mayor with the circumstances of the insufficient funds check; however, he denies that Mayor Cicilline gave him any specific direction in the matter other than 'see what you can do to resolve it'," the affidavit states.

The affidavit also states that Bizzacco remembers bringing former Director of Administration John Simmons in with him to see the mayor. John Simmons told state police he never spoke to the mayor about the issue.

When asked about the affidavit, Mayor Cicilline maintained he did not know about his brother's actions.

"When you review the affadavit, it appears a series of people were trying to resolve this in an attempt to protect me from being embarrassed by the behavior," Cicilline said. "There is no question if it were ever brought to my attention, by any member of my staff, that my brother wrote a check for $75,000 to a city agency that bounced, I would have intervened immediately."

According to investigators, John Cicilline wrote the checks to cover back taxes owed on a Cranston St. property owned by one of his clients, Felix Nelson Garcia. However, the checks bounced due to insufficient funds. The city has yet to collect its money and the lien on the property has since grown to $111,000.

The mayor has suspended Tax Collector Robert Ceprano pending a city audit. The results of that audit are expected in about a week.

No charges have been filed in this case at this time. John Cicilline, who's since been disbarred, is serving time in federal prison on unrelated charges that he shook down a drug-dealing couple for more than $100,000.