Edward Daniel DiPrete (born July 8, 1934) is an American Republican Party politician and convicted felon from

Rhode Island Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is the List of U.S. states by area, smallest U.S. state by area and the List of states and territories of the United States ...

. He served as the 70th Governor of Rhode Island for three two-year terms, serving from 1985 to 1991. Convicted of numerous corruption charges, he is the only Rhode Island governor to have gone to prison.

Early life

DiPrete was born in

Cranston, Rhode Island Cranston, once known as Pawtuxet, is a city in Providence County, Rhode Island. The official population of the city in the 2020 United States Census was 82,934, making it the second largest in the state. The center of population of Rhode Island i ...

. He graduated from the

College of the Holy Cross The College of the Holy Cross is a private, Jesuit liberal arts college in Worcester, Massachusetts, about 40 miles (64 km) west of Boston. Founded in 1843, Holy Cross is the oldest Catholic college in New England and one of the oldest ...

, and received honorary degrees from Holy Cross,

Providence College Providence College is a Private university, private Catholic Church, Catholic university in Providence, Rhode Island. Founded in 1917 by the Dominican Order and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence, local diocese, it offers 47 undergradua ...

, Bryant College and the

University of Rhode Island The University of Rhode Island (URI) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Kingston, Rhode Island, United States. It is the flagship public research as well as the land-grant university of the state of Rhode Island ...

. From 1970 to 1974, he served on the Cranston School Committee. From 1974 to 1978, he served as an at-large member of the Cranston City Council. He served as mayor of the city from 1978 to 1985.

Governor of Rhode Island

DiPrete served as the 70th Governor of Rhode Island from 1985 to 1991, and was defeated for reelection in a landslide by former U.S. government attorney and millionaire businessman

Bruce Sundlun Bruce George Sundlun (January 19, 1920 – July 21, 2011) was an American businessman, politician and member of the United States Democratic Party, Democratic Party who served as List of governors of Rhode Island, 71st governor of Rhode Island ...

in the 1990 election, who had previously lost twice to DiPrete. In 1994, DiPrete was indicted on criminal charges relating to the awarding of state contracts during his service as governor. All charges were dismissed in March 1997 by a

Rhode Island Superior Court The Rhode Island Superior Court is the State court (United States), state trial court of general jurisdiction in Rhode Island. Jurisdiction The Superior Court has original jurisdiction in all felony proceedings, Civil law (common law), civil matter ...

Judge who also found the

State Attorney General The state attorney general in each of the 50 U.S. states, of the federal district, or of any of the territories is the chief legal advisor to the state government and the state's chief law enforcement officer. In some states, the attorney genera ...

's office guilty of 10 findings of "egregious prosecutorial misconduct." He was subsequently charged again, and in December 1998, he pleaded guilty to state charges of bribery,

extortion Extortion is the practice of obtaining benefit through coercion. In most jurisdictions it is likely to constitute a criminal offence; the bulk of this article deals with such cases. Robbery is the simplest and most common form of extortion, ...

and

racketeering Racketeering is a type of organized crime in which the perpetrators set up a coercive, fraudulent, extortionary, or otherwise illegal coordinated scheme or operation (a "racket") to repeatedly or consistently collect a profit. Originally and of ...

, and was sentenced to a year in prison. In a

plea bargain A plea bargain (also plea agreement or plea deal) is an agreement in criminal law proceedings, whereby the prosecutor provides a concession to the defendant in exchange for a plea of guilt or '' nolo contendere.'' This may mean that the defendan ...

he also admitted accepting $250,000 in exchange for state contracts during his term as governor. DiPrete agreed to this plea bargain only after receiving assurance that pending charges against one of his sons would be dismissed. Those charges against his son were dismissed in their entirety prior to DiPrete agreeing to the plea bargain. In addition, his state retirement pension was revoked, despite attempts to have it reinstated. DiPrete served eleven months in Adult Correctional Institutions. Subsequently, the state Supreme Court overturned the denial of DiPrete's pension benefits to his wife and remanded the case back to Superior Court for a new hearing. Because of a degenerative neurological disease, Mrs. DiPrete, notified the court through her attorney, she wished to terminate the request, and the new hearing ordered by the Supreme Court did not proceed.

Personal life

DiPrete was known for his "everyman" persona, serving supermarket fried chicken to guests in his Winnebago motor home. He parked the motor home outside the

Rhode Island State House The Rhode Island State House, the capitol of the state of Rhode Island, is located at 900 Smith Street just below the crest of Smith Hill, on the border of downtown in Providence. It is a neoclassical building designed by McKim, Mead & White wh ...

during a snowstorm in February 1987 so that he would be able to come to work despite heavy snowfall. DiPrete kept an arcade

Pac-Man originally called ''Puck Man'' in Japan, is a 1980 maze action video game developed and released by Namco for arcades. In North America, the game was released by Midway Manufacturing as part of its licensing agreement with Namco America. Th ...

game in his house, which he demonstrated to president

George H. W. Bush George Herbert Walker BushSince around 2000, he has been usually called George H. W. Bush, Bush Senior, Bush 41 or Bush the Elder to distinguish him from his eldest son, George W. Bush, who served as the 43rd president from 2001 to 2009; pr ...

in 1989. DiPrete and his wife Patricia had seven children; Patricia died in 2011. DiPrete lived in his home in Cranston until October 2016, when he moved to an apartment in the Garden City section of that city.

Electoral history

References

* , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Diprete, Edward D. 1934 births 20th-century American politicians American politicians convicted of bribery College of the Holy Cross alumni Living people Mayors of Cranston, Rhode Island Politicians convicted of racketeering Republican Party governors of Rhode Island Rhode Island city council members Rhode Island politicians convicted of crimes School board members in Rhode Island