(WJAR) — Former Providence Mayor Vincent "Buddy" Cianci Jr. died 10 years ago Wednesday.

What can we add to the Cianci story that hasn't been told in books, including one of his own? Only that even after 10 years, Buddy -- the good one and the bad one -- still looms large over the city he ran.

Just ask the guy who's running it now: Mayor Brett Smiley.

"When I'm in the mayor's office itself and someone comes in, I'd say 50% of the meetings start with somebody telling me their Buddy story," Smiley said.

There are no parks, no streets and no statues of Buddy to officially commemorate him. It's controversial. He was a convicted criminal and went to prison.

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But should there be something?

"I go around, our rec centers, our schools, his name's on a lot because there's these plaques on all these buildings when they were built," Smiley said.

"I know that's know what you're saying, but I say that just as a positive to his legacy, to that point is he helped build a lot of this stuff," Smiley said.

Smiley said the prospect of memorializing Cianci raises "thorny questions."

"We actually have a whole committee on this in Providence," he said. "It's not a stroke of a pen from a mayor. I think it requires a whole community conversation to sort of wrestle with that question."

In 2002, Cianci was found guilty of conspiracy in Operation Plunder Dome and spent more than five years in federal prison.

He was released in 2007, and resumed his career as a radio talk show host.