PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) – They were more curious about how former Mayor Vincent “Buddy” Cianci Jr. looked than what his new prison sentence for corruption would be.

In an overflow room at the federal courthouse, court employees, maintenance workers and others wandered in, took stock of Cianci’s new look, and walked out, many with an astonished look on their faces.

Rose Ginish said she thought she was looking at a prison official when Cianci appeared on the television screen.

“I couldn’t recognize him,” said the 80-year-old, who sheepishly admitted she took a bus from Pawtucket in part because she was curious how Cianci had changed physically.

Cianci’s dramatically changed persona was the talk of the town on Thursday, the day a federal judge decided to leave Cianci’s 64-month sentence unchanged.

Appearing by videoconference, the 64-year-old Cianci, without his toupee, revealed that he had a bald pate, and a healthy ring of graying hair around the sides of his head. He was thin, and wore oval-shaped glasses – a departure for a man who once wore small glasses only when he was reading, and was quick to take them off. Some observers thought he looked like the actor Edward Asner; others said he looked like baseball Hall of Famer Yogi Berra.

“He looks better without the rug,” pronounced Mary Tassone, a Providence native who attended Cianci’s seven-week trial that began in April 2002. She added he looks younger and fitter without the added weight.

“He’s not as chubby,” she said.

The buzz surrounding Cianci’s appearance was no surprise to Brown University political scientist Darrell West. He said Rhode Islanders – no matter whether they loved Cianci or hated him – wanted to know how the capital city’s ultimate showman has fared after not seeing him since he left for a federal prison in Fort Dix, N.J. in December 2002.

“We’re all gossipers at heart, and this is an intensely personal story for everybody,” he said.

West said Cianci must have felt awkward with his appearance – even with limited public viewing.

“He knows it’s a small town, and everyone will be speculating about what he looks like.”

The former mayor’s family and friends expressed dismay over U.S. District Court Judge Ernest Torres’ decision.

Cianci’s daughter, Nicole Cianci, emerged from the courthouse early, rushed down the steps, and burst into tears as she collapsed in the arms of one of her father’s supporters.

“They gave my Dad the worst!” she screamed.

Cianci’s former chief of staff, Artin Coloian, who was acquitted of bribery as part of the FBI investigation into Providence corruption, said he was disappointed for Cianci and his family that his term will remain the same.

But he was pleased that Torres said he’d suggest Cianci be transferred to a federal prison facility closer to Rhode Island.

“I think it’ll make a great deal of difference to his family,” said Coloian, who has visited Cianci in prison many times.

Meanwhile, some opponents celebrated.

“I knew he was a thief from Day One,” said Frank McGeahearty, a 60-year-old Providence resident who lives on the city’s East Side. “I don’t think he could become dog catcher if he ran now.”

West said the judge’s ruling marked the political end to a man who dominated the city’s politics for decades.

“By the time he gets out,” West said, “he will have been gone for more than four years, and this really is an eternity in terms of the political process and the life of the community.”