Video: With More Tales to Tell, Buddy Cianci Hints at Second Helping of 'Politics and Pasta'

Sinatra. President Ford. Sundlun. Unions and guns. Political favors. The Providence renaissance. CIA. Prison.

Vincent "Buddy" Cianci, Jr. dished on these stories and more from his memoir, "Politics and Pasta," Thursday night at in Middletown. Of the roughly 100 patrons who packed the independent book store, most came from throughout Aquidneck Island, while others crossed one of the three bridges just to catch the author's talk and book-signing.

“He’s an interesting person so I figured the book would be interesting too,” said Barbara Jones, of Portsmouth, who managed to find a comfortable place to stand among the nearly elbow-to-elbow crowd before Buddy arrived, her hardcover copy and alphabetically assigned placeholder for the book-signing line carefully guarded.

Jones marveled at the turnout, “Oh, my gosh! There’s so many people. It’s mobbed, but at least it’s a friendly mob.”

Island Books owner Judy Crosby was thrilled, having nearly sold out of the 125 copies of the $25.99 book she had set out for the event.

As soon as Cianci arrived, the top-10 selling author on Amazon.com, former Providence mayor, convicted felon and media personality wasted no time in unwinding a series of laugh-out-loud anecdotes and musings about his storied career and life that kept the audience rolling with laughter throughout the night.

About his close working relationship with then-Governor Bruce Sundlun, he recalls receiving a phone call late one night in which Sundlun asked if he was sleeping. "I said, 'Bruce, as long as you're governor, I'll never sleep,' " he recalled.

At another point, he recalled one political favor after creating the Providence Performing Arts Center that later involved appointing the former property owner, also a race track owner, as city consultant on the arts. "That's probably what I should have gone to jail for," he quipped.

A festive atmosphere seemed to fill the room even before his arrival. Known for drawing his share of fans and foes alike, the outspoken pundit was clearly facing a friendly crowd on this night. Newport residents Shari Donnelly and aunt Maureen Cotsoridis have been fans since his days in politics. Donnelly still recalls meeting him when she was 10 years old almost 27 years ago, back when her grandfather and former Newport Mayor Humphrey "Harp" Donnelly III was active in politics.

Mary DiRienzo of Portsmouth said she moved to Rhode Island after Cianci left public office but has nonetheless become a fan of the political TV and radio personality. She said she found the way he told stories on Thursday night to be "delightful," and she was looking forward to reading the book.

Buddy laughed right along with the audience throughout the night, shaking his head and grinning ear-to-ear at times in either disbelief or mischief over some of his own stories he’s lived to tell.

In fact, the full title of Buddy’s book is “Politics and Pasta: How I Prosecuted Mobsters, Rebuilt a Dying City, Dined with Sinatra, Spent Five Years in a Federally Funded Gates Community, and Lived to Tell the Tale.”

If that seems a little long, it might because one of the toughest challenges Buddy faced in writing his first book was deciding which stories to tell and which to leave out, he said in a later interview.

Asked if any of all of those leftovers might be simmering for a juicy follow-up to “Politics and Pasta,” Buddy smiled and nodded. "There's a possibility of that. Sure."

Based on sales so far, it looks like readers might also be up for a second helping of “Politics and Pasta,” as the book currently is ranked among the top-10-selling books on Amazon.com’s political best-sellers.

For more highlights from Thursday night's book-signing, be sure to check out the videos in the image gallery above as Buddy tells stories about:

• Prison
• Sinatra
• President Ford
• Bruce Sundlun
• The CIA
• Backroom politics
• The Providence renaissance
• And more!

Buddy returns April 12

Did you miss author Buddy Cianci’s book talk and signing at Island Books? His next Middletown engagement is scheduled for April 12 at the Middletown Public Library, announced Executive Director Theresa Coish.