Anthony "The Saint" St. Laurent Sr.

charged with extortion

This story is from The Journal archives

By W. ZACHARY MALINOWSKI
Journal Staff Writer
Friday, 4/14/2006

Anthony St. Laurent Sr., who was on supervised release, following a 1999 extortion conviction, is ordered held without bail.

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PROVIDENCE - Mobster Anthony "The Saint" St. Laurent Sr., a longtime fixture in the New England underworld, was charged yesterday with trying to extort more than $200,000 from two Massachusetts men.

The federal indictment, unsealed yesterday afternoon, alleged that over the past six weeks, St. Laurent and unnamed others have conspired to collect extensions of credit from the two men, and to physically harm them if they didn't pay up.

Assistant U.S. Attorney James H. Leavey identified the alleged extortion victims as James Furtado and a second man, David, whose last name he did not present to the court.

Leavey told the court that St. Laurent had been captured on tape giving orders to extort $100,000 from each man, and then, to begin collecting $2,000 a week from each of them.

In arguing that St. Laurent is a danger to the community and should not be released on bail, Leavey also said the mobster had been captured on a recording recruiting "two individuals to kill a third individual."

Leavey did not identify the two hired killers or their intended victim. He refused to say more outside the courtroom.

St. Laurent, 64, of 2 Rotary Drive, Johnston, looked like a seriously ill man as he shuffled into the courtroom, using a cane. During the 20-minute hearing, he remained seated next to his defense lawyer. He appeared to doze off, at times, as the judge spoke.

St. Laurent is well-versed in mob crime and court appearances. He has spent years in federal and state prisons, in Rhode Island, New Jersey, Kentucky and Massachusetts. In 1999, he was sent to prison on extortion charges, after he threatened to "throw acid" in the eyes, and "cut the heart out," of a gambler who owed him $63,000.

Just three months after he was sent to prison, St. Laurent was arrested in his cell in a federal prison in Kentucky, and charged with overseeing a sports-betting ring in Rhode Island. The ring took in more than $600,000 in illegal bets during a two-month period, the police said.

For decades, St. Laurent has been a key cog in the gambling and extortion rackets of the Patriarca crime family.

Retired state police Capt. Brian R. Andrews said that he can remember, as far back as 1970, driving past the St. Laurents' home in Johnston.

"It was always on a list of places to do drivebys," Andrews said. "I would look for vehicles owned or operated by other mob figures. I spent a career watching it, on and off."

St. Laurent also became well-known for his myriad ailments. In the 1990s, his lawyer told a judge that he took 40 enemas a day to deal, with an intestinal condition.

Yesterday, St. Laurent's medical condition once again took center stage. His lawyer, Judith Crowell, argued that her client was in such poor health, the court should let him stay at home with an electronic bracelet attached to his ankle.

She said he needs surgery on both knees, suffers from congestive heart failure, and has had a colostomy.

"He has a chronically impacted rectum," Crowell said. "He has to have his stool removed, biweekly."

U.S. Magistrate Judge David L. Martin was not swayed by the argument. He pointed out that St. Laurent is accused of extorting and threatening to harm people from his home. He also noted that the crimes are alleged to have taken place while St. Laurent was on supervised release, from his 1999 extortion conviction.

Martin ordered St. Laurent held, pending his trial on the new charge.

IN ANOTHER mob development, Bobby DeLuca, a capo in the Patriarca crime family, has been temporarily suspended from the state prison's work-release program. On Monday morning, FBI agents and a state police detective stopped by the Sidebar & Grille, in Providence, and took DeLuca into custody.

Ann Fortin, acting spokeswoman for the Adult Correctional Institutions, confirmed that DeLuca is off the work-release program at the restaurant. She said he has been transferred to the John J. Moran Medium Security Facility. Until now, DeLuca had been in minimum security. Fortin declined to say why DeLuca had been removed from the work-release program or transferred to the more secure facility.

DeLuca, who has spent the past 11 years in federal and state prison, on extortion and gambling charges, has been employed at the Sidebar & Grille since last spring. The restaurant, at Dorrance and Pine streets, is owned by his lawyer, Artin H. Coloian, a former top aide to ex-mayor Vincent A. Cianci Jr.

Coloian said he knows why DeLuca was removed from his restaurant, but he declined to talk about it.

"From what I'm told from law enforcement, it's an ongoing investigation," Coloian said. "Any comments at this time would be inappropriate."

AUTHORITIES declined to say whether there was any link between DeLuca's transfer and St. Laurent's arrest.

"I'm going to leave everything with 'The Saint' up to the feds," said state police Maj. Steven G. O'Donnell.

Leavey, the federal prosecutor, said: "I wouldn't say a word."

In recent years, there has been bad blood between DeLuca and St. Laurent.

In 2001, DeLuca -- then in federal prison in New York state -- filed papers in Superior Court, Providence, accusing St. Laurent of being a "top-echelon informant" for the FBI and Rhode Island State Police.

St. Laurent has vehemently denied the charge.

bmalinow@projo.com / (401) 277-7019