'The Saint' sentenced to 7 years

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) - Notorious mobster Anthony "The Saint" St. Laurent was sentenced to seven years behind bars Wednesday in a case that publicized bad blood between two rival wiseguys.

St. Laurent, 70, of Johnston, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge William Smith, who told St. Laurent he was conflicted about its length because of the elderly man's advanced age and ill health. Smith pointed out that St. Laurent had already served about a year of the sentence while waiting for his case to conclude.

Moments before learning his fate, the aging mobster broke down in tears pleading for the judge to go easy on him.

"I made a grave mistake," St. Laurent said. "It's been a while since I've been able to spend time with my wife and family."

St. Laurent is accused of trying to hire hit men to pull off a gangland slaying of reputed Mafia capo regime Robert "Bobby" DeLuca on three different occasions. Each time members of the FBI-led Organized Crime Task Force were listening in using an informant wearing a wire.

During sentencing St. Laurent his "intentention was just to scare Mr. DeLuca."

Prosecutor WIlliam Ferland asked the judge for the stiffest possible sentence, ten years, but said he was satisfied with the outcome.

“I think it was a fair sentence and a just sentence and I’m satisfied with that” Ferland said.

St. Laurent sat in a wheelchair for the hearing, on oxygen and wearing glasses. The courtroom was cleared for ten minutes at the request of his defense counsel so they could discuss his medcal condition.

His count-appointed attorney Olin Thompson told the judge considering his client's health, any time behind bars could be a death sentence. Outside court, he said St. Laurent took the sentence "hard."

"He was upset but at the same time he committed a serious crime," Thompson said. "I think Judge [William] Smith took everything into consideration and gave him a fair sentence.”

St. Laurent will be on supervised release for three years when he is released from prison.

There was no attempt made on DeLuca’s life; he was scooped up by Rhode Island State Police when law enforcement learned of the failed murder plot. St. Laurent asked that DeLuca be gunned down at his workplace, which at the time was the Providence restaurant Sidebar & Grille.

Earlier this year, St. Laurent signed a plea agreement with prosecutors pledging admitting he was a sworn member of New England's La Cosa Nostra. His case marks another blow to the already splintered mob faction in Rhode Island. In January reputed former boss Luigi "Baby Shacks" Manocchio was arrested in a nationwide sweep into organized crime. He is still in a prison cell at the Wyatt Detention Center in Central Falls awaiting trial.

As part of the plea agreement, St. Laurent said he is willing to identify Manocchio as the former boss. A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s office declined to comment on whether further charges against Manocchio will develop as a result of the cooperation.

The U.S. Attorney's office successfully prosecuted two other members of the St. Laurent family, including his son Anthony Jr., who is currently serving a six-and-a-half-year sentence in a federal prison in upstate New York on an extortion charge. Dorothy St. Laurent, "The Saint's" wife, was sentenced to three years of probation and 1,500 hours of community service.

Court documents reveal the family took in between $800,000 and $1.5 million in protection payments from Massachusetts bookmakers after their scheme began in 1988.

The Target 12 Investigators obtained the secret recordings from one of the wiretapped murder-for-hire attempts. In it, St. Laurent can be heard telling the would-be hit men that he had permission from Manocchio to pull off the hit.

“No repercussions. If you want, after it's done, I'll take you to him,” St. Laurent is heard saying on the tape. “And my word should be good enough.”

Tim White ( twhite@wpri.com ) is the Target 12 investigative reporter for WPRI 12 and Fox Providence. Follow him on Twitter: @white_tim