Luigi Giovanni “Baby Shacks” Manocchio, former boss of the aka the New England Mafia – died last Sunday at age 97.
Manocchio in an undated mugshot, left, and featured in an FBI wanted poster in 1969, around the time he fled to France where he spent 10 years as a fugitive from US justice. (Image: Broward County Sheriff’s Office/Casino.org)Manocchio was known as an “old-school” crime boss, making money from traditional mafia pursuits such as illegal gambling, robbery, loansharking, and extorting businesses for protection money.
At its height, the Patriarca syndicate controlled illegal gambling throughout Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut, and even had hidden interests in the Dunes in Las Vegas. But by the time Manocchio took over in 1996, the syndicate had been weakened by infighting and legal prosecution.
Some of these convictions were based on information provided by rival gangster and longtime FBI informant James “Whitey” Bulger, who later went on the lam after federal agents moved to prosecute their former collaborator. in prison in 2018 by an inmate with
Laundromat HQIntelligent and well-read by most accounts, Manocchio wasn t a flashy gangster. He conducted business from Addie’s Laundromat in his old neighborhood of Federal Hill in Providence, RI.
He was the last member of the Rhode Island faction to lead the New England Mafia. The syndicate is currently run by Carmen “the Cheese Man” DeNunzio of the Boston faction.
Manocchio was called “Baby Shacks” because he had an elder relative in the mob who was known as “Shacks” owing to the fact he was forever “shacking up” with women.
Born in Providence in 1927, Manocchio grew up during the Great Depression. His first brushes with the law came during his teenage years in the 1940s. In the 1960’s he rose through the organization under its most powerful boss, Raymond Patriarcia, who ruled for three decades.
In 1967, Manocchio was shot in the neck and critically injured during a gunfight in Federal Hill. In 1969, he was indicted for masterminding the murder of two bookies, Rudolph Marfeo and Anthony Melei, and went on the run.
He lived as a fugitive in France for 10 years, but when he heard the key prosecution witness in the case was suffering from the early onset of Alzheimer’s disease, he took a chance and returned to the US.
The gamble paid off – eventually. After initially being sentenced to life in prison, the conviction was overturned after Manocchio’s lawyers argued the witness was no longer credible. He cut a deal to plead guilty to the lower charge of conspiracy with no additional prison time. In 1985, he walked free.
‘Inherited Deeds’Manocchio’s reign as boss came to an end in 2012 when, at age 85, he was sentenced to five years for extorting money from several Rhode Island strip clubs.
By virtue of my position, I inherited the deeds of my associates, Manocchio told the court. I simply do not want my family and my friends to think that I personally threatened anyone.
Prosecution lawyers argued that he didn’t need to threaten anyone. His mere presence at these clubs was enough to strike terror into the hearts of those he extorted, they said.
