Prov. mayor's brother is released

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) - Disgraced attorney John M. Cicilline has been released from a halfway house in Boston after a two-month stint at the facility.

Cicilline, the older brother to Providence Mayor David Cicilline, first arrived at the Coolidge House in Boston in December after serving a federal prison sentence at Fort Devens in western Massachusetts.

As part of his conditions of release, Cicilline had to surrender his license to practice law in both Rhode Island and the federal courts. Cicilline will be on supervised release for 24 months, but will not have to wear an electronic monitoring bracelet.

The Coolidge House is the same facility convicted Providence Mayor Vincent “Buddy” Cianci stayed in following his release from prison in 2006. The multi-story nondescript brick building sits on a gritty stretch of Huntington Ave near the Northeastern University Campus in Boston.

As Target 12 first reported last year, Cicilline struck a deal with prosecutors and pleaded guilty to shaking down his drug dealing clients. He was sentenced to 18 months in prison.

His former law partner, Joseph Bevilacqua Jr., was also implicated in the scheme and given 24 months in a prison in New York.

Cicilline’s father, famed defense attorney John F. Cicilline tried unsuccessfully to get his son released early, citing unusual personal problems surrounding his family and mortgage.