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The 81-year old Pannone did not want to talk. Joe Pannone was a key figure in the Plunder Dome corruption case. He was chairman of Providence board of tax assaement review when he was arrested along with the vice chairman of the board David Ead on extortion and related charges. Ead became a governemnt witness.

Pannone also agreed to cooperate with the prosecutors, but changed his mind, pleaded guilty went off to prison. Joe Pannone is now back home here in Providence after spending four years and one month at the federal prison at Fort Devens, Massachusttes.

According to the federal bureau of prisons, Pannone must wear a monitoring ankle bracelet. He's confined to his home 24 hours a day. The only exceptions are for employment, if he gets a job, for meetings with his lawyer, for religious reasons and for medical care. During the long Plunder Dome investigation undercover FBI cameras caught Pannone taking kickbacks and claiming that former Providence Mayor Vincent "Buddy" Cianci took bribes, along with the mayor's former top aide Frank Corrente. Although Pannone never testified, the secret tapes were a key part of the case that sent Cianci, Corrente and Richard Autiello off to prison.

Pannone's placement into home confinement is a routine. Procedure that comes for many inmates in the final months of their sentence. Any violation of the rules, however, could result in Pannone being sent back to prison. His sentence is secheduled to end in February.