Luigi Giovanni "Baby Shacks" Manocchio (born June 23, 1927) is an American

mobster A gangster is a criminal who is a member of a gang. Most gangs are considered to be part of organized crime. Gangsters are also called mobsters, a term derived from '' mob'' and the suffix '' -ster''. Gangs provide a level of organization and ...

from

Providence, Rhode Island Providence is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. One of the oldest cities in New England, it was founded in 1636 by Roger Williams, a Reformed Baptist theologian and religious exile from the Massachusetts ...

. He is the former boss of the

New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the Can ...

-based

Patriarca crime family The Patriarca crime family (, ), also known as the New England Mafia, the Boston Mafia, the Providence Mafia, or The Office is an Italian-American American Mafia, Mafia crime family, family in New England. It has two distinct factions, one based ...

, which is part of the American Mafia.

Criminal career

Manocchio has a criminal record dating back to the 1940s. In November of 1967 he was shot in the neck and seriously wounded during a running gun battle on Federal Hill in Providence. In 1969, Manocchio was indicted for participating in the murders of Rudolph Marfeo and Anthony Melei. He fled to

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, but later returned to the United States, living undercover in

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for most of the 1970s. In 1979, Manocchio finally surrendered to law enforcement and pleaded guilty to several lesser charges. He was sentenced to 30 months in prison. In July 1996, Mannocchio was

indicted An indictment ( ) is a formal accusation that a person has committed a crime. In jurisdictions that use the concept of felonies, the most serious criminal offence is a felony; jurisdictions that do not use the felonies concept often use that of ...

with 43 others in a burglary ring. Prosecutors claimed that this Patriarca-sanctioned gang was responsible for stealing $10 million in merchandise. When his trial began in April 1999, Manocchio pleaded guilty to reduced charges and was sentenced to three years of

probation Probation in criminal law is a period of supervision over an offender, ordered by the court often in lieu of incarceration. In some jurisdictions, the term ''probation'' applies only to community sentences (alternatives to incarceration), such ...

."All About the Providence Mob
by Allan May Crimelibrary.com Since then, Manocchio has continued his steady rise in the ranks of

organized crime Organized crime (or organised crime) is a category of transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals to engage in illegal activity, most commonly for profit. While organized crime is generally th ...

, becoming boss in 1996. Manocchio was promoted to boss of the Patriarca family following the imprisonment of many of the organization's other leaders. He has been described as a "shrewd, opportunistic old-school leader who excels at keeping a low profile" and "tough and capable". Mannochio's headquarters is a

laundromat A self-service laundry, coin laundry, laundromat, or coin wash is a facility where clothes are washed and dried without much personalized professional help. They are known in the United Kingdom as launderettes or laundrettes, and in the Unit ...

in the Federal Hill section of Providence. In March 1999, the

Federal Bureau of Investigation The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, ...

(FBI) charged family enforcer Jim Palumbo in

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, and associates Rocco Folco and Anthony St. Laurent with

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. In December 2004, Palumbo was named, but not indicted, and later jailed, in a case involving

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mob captain Frederick Simone as the defendant. The indictment identified Manocchio as Patriarca family boss, Alexander "Sonny Boy" Rizzo as underboss, Rocco Argenta as

consigliere Consigliere ( , ; plural ) is a position within the leadership structure of the Sicilian, Calabrian, and Italian-American Mafia. The word was popularized in English by the novel '' The Godfather'' (1969) and its film adaptation. In the novel, a ...

and Carmen DiNunzio, Mark Rosetti and Matthew Guglielmetti as capos. On January 20, 2005, the FBI raided the Providence office of the

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(LIUNA) and the offices of Capital City Concrete in

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, all part of an investigation into labor racketeering in the

Rhode Island Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is the smallest U.S. state by area and the seventh-least populous, with slightly fewer than 1.1 million residents as of 2020, but it ...

construction business. Among those arrested in the Capital City raid was Guglielmetti, who was charged with overseeing distribution of

cocaine Cocaine (from , from , ultimately from Quechua: ''kúka'') is a central nervous system (CNS) stimulant mainly used recreationally for its euphoric effects. It is primarily obtained from the leaves of two Coca species native to South Ameri ...

bound for

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, and money laundering. In November, 2009, Manocchio reportedly ceded control of the Patriarca family to mobster Peter Limone. On January 20, 2011, Manocchio was indicted on charges of extorting payments from the owners of the Cadillac Lounge and Satin Doll club, both adult entertainment establishments in Providence. The indictment listed his nicknames as "Louie", "The Professor", "The Old Man", or "Baby Shacks".indictment pdf at justice.gov
/ref> In 2012, Manocchio pleaded guilty and was sentenced to five and a half years in prison. Manocchio told the court: "By virtue of my position, I inherited the deeds of my associates" and "I simply do not want my family or my friends to believe I personally threatened anybody." On May 12, 2015, Manocchio was moved from federal prison in

Butner, North Carolina Butner is a town in Granville County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 8,397 as of the 2020 census. Butner was managed by the state of North Carolina from 1947 through 2007. History A bill passed by the North Carolina General ...

, to a

halfway house A halfway house is an institute for people with criminal backgrounds or substance use disorder problems to learn (or relearn) the necessary skills to re-integrate into society and better support and care for themselves. As well as serving as a ...

in Providence. On November 4, 2015, Manocchio was released.

Notes

External links

WPRI.com Target 12: Who is Luigi 'Baby Shacks' Manocchio'?
By Tim White

Boston.com: Lower in profile, Mafia still thrives in N.E., officials say; Old patterns persist as membership dips
By Shelley Murphy {{DEFAULTSORT:Manocchio, Luigi 1927 births Living people American crime bosses American gangsters of Italian descent Patriarca crime family People from Providence, Rhode Island Extortionists