Food, Receipt and Restaurant

Burchfield

The North Providence delegation to the 85th National League of Cities Congress and Exposition checked into the Caribe Royale Orlando in Florida on Nov. 11, 2008.

The motto of this national gathering of municipal officials at the Orlando Convention Center was: “Join the conversation! Share solutions that move America’s communities forward.”

But three of the five North Providence councilmen on the trip had another conversation in mind, federal prosecutors charge â€" one that would set back the cause of good government in their financially strapped, politically fractious town.

On their second night in Florida, after seminars that included “Guarding the Public Checkbook” and “Local Economic Development: The Good, Bad and Ugly,” Town Council President Joseph Burchfield and Councilmen John A. Zambarano and Raymond L. Douglas III allegedly adjourned to the bar in their sprawling pink hotel, which welcomes its guests to a “tropical playground.”

Over drinks, an FBI affidavit alleges, they discussed a $25,000 bribe from a developer for their support of a proposed Stop & Shop off Mineral Spring Avenue.

Another, unidentified North Providence official who was with them at the bar that night heard Zambarano say that he hoped the Stop & Shop deal “would go through soon because [he] hoped to get the money for Christmas,” according to an FBI affidavit.

The official later allegedly told another councilman on the trip, Paul Caranci, and Caranci allegedly pretended to cut himself in on the bribery scheme, while secretly tape-recording his conversations for the FBI.

The unidentified official is either John Fleming, another councilman at the time, or town clerk Mary Ann DeAngelus. According to town travel records and a list of conference attendees obtained by The Journal, Fleming and DeAngelus are the only other North Providence officials who went to Orlando.

Fleming, like Caranci, now works for Secretary of State A. Ralph Mollis, a former North Providence mayor. Fleming, Caranci and Mollis have not responded to repeated requests for comment from The Journal.

DeAngelus, who is the sister of Zambarano, could not be reached.

The entire trip cost North Providence taxpayers about $10,000.

On Thursday, the FBI arrested Burchfield, Douglas and Zambarano on charges of extortion and bribery. An affidavit unsealed in federal court alleged that the $25,000 was paid by the principal in a Rhode Island real estate development company for their votes to approve a variance on Feb. 10, 2009.

The three spent most of Thursday in a cellblock in the federal courthouse in Providence, before their release on $50,000 unsecured bond. Extortion carries a maximum prison term of 20 years; bribery 10 years.

According to town records, prominent Rhode Island developer Richard Baccari, the president of Churchill & Banks in Providence, sought the zoning change to build a Stop & Shop.

The money was allegedly paid through the developer’s North Providence lawyer on the project. Town records show that Robert Ciresi, a former town solicitor, represented Baccari before the Town Council on the project.

“If youse want something, you’re the guy that’s gonna do the deal,” Zambarano allegedly said the lawyer confided.

The FBI investigation saw its inception in the trip to Orlando.

North Providence taxpayers spent $6,689 to send six officials to the conference, according to town travel records.

While the town did not have additional expense records available on Friday, the conference program booklet says there was a $525 registration fee per person, which would have cost the town another $3,150, for a total of about $10,000.

To be eligible to attend the conference, the town had to be a “direct” member of the national organization, with annual dues of about $2,000, says Dan Beardsley, director of the Rhode Island League of Cities and Towns.

Beardsley says several Rhode Island communities used to send delegations, but many have cut back. The only other Ocean State community to send anyone to the 2008 convention was Providence, which sent two people â€" Mayor David N. Cicilline and City Council chief of staff Thomas Glavin, according to the league.

North Providence spent $1,935 on airfare, for Southwest Air flights from Providence to Orlando. The town also paid, in advance, for five hotel rooms at the Caribe Royale, which cost $2,927.

Town records show that another $310 ticket was purchased for Caranci’s wife, Margaret, who also went to Orlando. Councilman Frank A. Manfredi said Caranci paid for his wife’s ticket.

In addition to the pre-paid hotel and airfare, three of the six town officials submitted purchase orders to get reimbursed for expenses in Florida.

Douglas was reimbursed $888, Zambarano $701 and Caranci $238. Some of their expenses apparently included meals and expenses for the other North Providence attendees.

For instance, Zambarano paid for two rental cars, one for himself for $182 and one for Douglas for $368 for an SUV, a Nissan Pathfinder Armada.

Douglas also was reimbursed $450 to upgrade his suite at the Caribe Royale, at $112.50 a night for four nights.

Douglas also spent some time at the Calypso Bar, though he did not seek town reimbursement for the $42 he spent there. One of Douglas’s Calypso Bar charges was on Nov. 12, the night that Douglas, Zambarano and Burchfield allegedly were heard discussing the bribe while having drinks with Fleming or DeAngelus.

The Calypso Poolside Bar overlooks the hotel’s 250,000-gallon swimming pool, surrounded by waterfalls, palm trees and cabanas.

Earlier that night, when the FBI says the North Providence officials had dinner before the alleged bribery conversation at the bar, Zambarano picked up a $150 check for dinner at P.F. Chang’s China Bistro in Orlando. He was later reimbursed.

The town only paid for five hotel rooms, and six officials went to Orlando.

Councilman Manfredi said Saturday that he had been asked to go, but declined, feeling it wasn’t worth the money. He said he had been scheduled to room with Burchfield, while he believes Zambarano and Douglas shared a room.

Douglas also picked up a $135 restaurant tab one night at Ciao Italia that included six entrees, and a $216 tab the next evening at Ember, for which the town later reimbursed him.

Caranci charged the town $126 for a rental car, which the receipt shows was rented in his wife’s name. He also was reimbursed $111 for meals, including $37 for dinner on Nov. 13 at Columbia Restaurant in Sarasota, which is more than 100 miles from Orlando.

There was no extra mileage charge on the rental car bill as a result of the Sarasota trip. Caranci’s restaurant receipts show that he charged the town only for his food, not his wife’s.

Burchfield, who resigned from the council on Friday, and his co-defendants, Douglas and Zambarano, have declined comment.

Mayor Charles A. Lombardi said in an interview Friday that Zambarano invited him to Orlando, and the mayor saw a booklet with seminars about what could be learned there.

“Maybe he felt it would be good for camaraderie,” said Lombardi. “But I don’t do that. I’m not here to take a perk. I know our issues.”

Councilman Manfredi called the trip “an awful waste of taxpayers’ money â€" not only to go there and discuss illegal activities, but to get reimbursed for upgrades on suites.”

Manfredi said he obtained the travel records about six months ago, and also asked the councilmen who went to show him information documenting panels attended and municipal lessons learned. Aside from Caranci, who showed him notes and information booklets, Manfredi says, “I got zero.”

The North Providence delegation flew home on Saturday, Nov. 15, 2008.

Among the final seminars at the National League of Cities Congress that week were “Competent Leadership for Change through Crucial Conversations” and another on dealing with economic downturns, “Turbulent Times, Hidden Opportunities.”

mstanton@projo.com