Louis Manocchio, the last Rhode Island boss of the New England crime family, has died. He was 97.

12 News law enforcement analyst Steven O’Donnell, a former Rhode Island State Police colonel, said Manocchio died early Sunday morning. Manocchio had been living at the R.I. Veterans Home in Bristol.

Manocchio — whose given name was Luigi – was given several nicknames over the years by members and associates of the crime family as well as investigators that kept watch on him. But the one that ultimately stuck was his alias in court documents from his arrest in 2011, when the former Mafia don was referred to as “Baby Shacks.”

The unassuming and notoriously health-conscious mobster rose to the underworld’s top job in 1995 following the arrest of then-boss Francis “Cadillac Frank” Salemme, who was a close ally to Manocchio.

Despite being the subject of intense surveillance by state and federal investigators, Manocchio was largely able to fly under the radar, avoiding any significant legal headaches until 2008. That year Manocchio was approached by two veteran FBI agents – Special Agents Joseph Degnan and Jeffrey Cady – while dining on soup at a Federal Hill restaurant. Manocchio, investigators said in court documents, had just been handed an envelope full of cash which the FBI was able to trace back to a Providence strip club.

The money, they would later allege, was an extortion payment.

While the moment didn’t immediately lead to charges, it proved to be Manocchio’s undoing: he soon stepped down as the boss of the crime family, and in 2011 he was indicted as part of a sweeping crackdown into organized crime that ultimately sent him to a federal prison for more than five years.


Three years later, Manocchio was released from a federal prison in North Carolina and placed on home confinement, and six months after that he was free to walk around Federal Hill once again. He completed his probation three years later.

“It’s been remarkable journey in La Cosa Nostra,” O’Donnell said. “For 80 years he lived in that life, that world.”

Details of the funeral arrangements have not yet been released.

97...that's quite the age. RIP

What languages did he learn when he was in Europe? Italian, Spanish, French?

I'm surprised that Scott Burnstein hasn't wrote on it yet. Despite his poor research and reporting at times, I do like his writing style and I am a subscriber so....

Damn, Baby Shacks finally goes down. Didn't think the dude was ever going to die as healthy as he was. Lots of history gone with that one

Not withstanding when they framed him for murder, he had a long run.

Spill it

That old man knew how to dress.

Yeah, and I heard he was great at checkers and monopoly too!