Notorious mobster now a free man

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) - For the first time in more than 14 years, reputed Patriarca Crime Family captain Robert “Bobby” DeLuca, is a free man.

Shortly before 11 a.m. Friday morning, DeLuca walked into a downtown federal building with his attorney Artin Coloian to officially end his federal probation. Minutes later, clutching what federal probation officials call “a letter of satisfaction” DeLuca strolled out without comment.

His probation will end one minute after midnight on September 20th.

DeLuca was arrested in 1995, caught up in a sweeping federal investigation that also accused mob enforcer Gerard Ouimette. The pair was found guilty of trying to extort $50,000 from Providence businessman Paulie Calenda.

The mid-90s were a tough stretch for DeLuca, legally speaking. He was also snared in a federal investigation out of Boston along with James J. "Whitey" Bulger, leader of Boston's Winter Hill Gang and notorious hit-man Stephen "The Rifleman" Flemmi.

DeLuca had already been given a suspended sentence after a Rhode Island State Police sting into organized criminal gambling. In all, he spent more than 12 years in federal and state prisons before getting out on work release.

“He did his time, cooperated and did the right thing,” said federal probation official Barry Weiner. “Everything came off clean; he’s off and on his way.”

Weiner said before handing a former inmate the letter of satisfaction, the Feds perform an electronic inquiry into criminal records to make sure there is nothing outstanding.

“Or nothing we don’t know about,” Weiner said.

DeLuca, who was the alleged target of a recent murder-for-hire plot involving fellow capo Anthony "The Saint" St. Laurent, burst onto the scene in 1989 when his induction in the Patriarca crime family was caught on FBI wiretap. The infamous tape secretly recorded in a Medford, Massachusetts home, was used in countless court hearings to prove the existence of La Cosa Nostra.

"That's an organized criminal family whose sworn oath is basically to break laws," said Rhode Island State Police Lt. Col. Steven G. O'Donnell, a veteran organized crime fighter. "You don't leave that organization voluntarily."

Investigators say DeLuca quickly rose through the mob ranks, making strong ties to the Gambino crime family in New York and Boston mobsters. DeLuca was a close associate of one-time mob boss Francis “Cadillac Frank” Salemme.

O'Donnell said, however, Friday's release from the squeeze of the Federal Bureau of Prisons doesn't mean law enforcement isn't keeping tabs on DeLuca.

"We wish him the best," O'Donnell said. "We hope he stays on the straight and narrow and if he's not we'll be there waiting for him."