He was held at the US Embassy in Manila until a Philippine appeals court overturned his conviction in 2009, allowing him to leave the country amid anti-US protests.
But he said it took a second drink-driving conviction in July last year, which left him "feeling like dirt", to force him, following persuasion from wife Jackie and his children, to seek help.
A conviction could result in him being imprisoned or even sentenced to death.
For the last 26 years -- except for a six-year break stemming from an assault conviction in 1984 that forced him from office -- Mr. Cianci (pronounced see-AN-see) has been mayor, and Providence personified.
Similar parole violations after a previous theft conviction, in 1988, had repeatedly landed him back inside.
After his conviction in May a judge told him the aggravating features of the murder, including a sexual element and the fact that he had concealed or destroyed April's body, meant that he should spend the rest of his life behind bars.
Joseph L. Bruno, a former majority leader of the State Senate, was charged on Thursday with taking bribes and kickbacks in a fraud scheme during his long tenure in office, setting up another battle with federal prosecutors who won a conviction against him in 2009.
He was signed by the Tigers after a robbery conviction landed him in prison, where a member of the staff noticed his baseball ability.
A federal appeals court overturned a conviction against him in 2006, and Mr. Quattrone and the government reached an agreement under which the charges were dismissed in 2007.
The prosecution's case against Mr. Soares was so weak, for example, that Western diplomats said it would have been hard to win a conviction against him in a Western court.
