PROVIDENCE — Mobster Anthony M. St. Laurent Sr. is sticking with his public defender –– at least for now.

St. Laurent, who is known as “The Saint” and was a made member of the Patriarca crime family, is now accused by federal authorities of attempting to recruit fellow inmates to kill a rival.

U.S. District Magistrate Lincoln Almond asked St. Laurent during yesterday’s hearing whether he was satisfied to continue to be represented by public defender Olin Thompson.

“Yeah, for now. If I find somebody, I find somebody,” St. Laurent said by videoconference from federal prison in Fort Devens, Mass., where he is serving five years for extortion. “If I don’t, then Mr. Thompson will take care of it.”

During a hearing before Almond last month, St. Laurent indicated he was going to hire a lawyer rather than have an appointed one. Almond said last month that he had reviewed an affidavit in which St. Laurent stated he had no assets.

Almond yesterday told St. Laurent that should he later seek a different lawyer it would not delay the pursuit of the case against him.

“I’m not trying to delay nothing, your honor,” St. Laurent said.

St. Laurent is accused in a federal affidavit of solicitation to commit murder for hire against Bobby DeLuca, who authorities have said was a capo regime in the Patriarca crime family. No indictment has been handed up against him.

Yesterday’s hearing was to determine whether St. Laurent had settled on legal representation. Almond last month tentatively appointed Thompson to be his lawyer.

St. Laurent has waived his right to a preliminary hearing in which a judge determines whether the government has shown reasonable likelihood someone committed a crime in order for a case to go forward.

mmckinne@projo.com