During the jury trial, federal prosecutors presented evidence that Gobbi was one of two men sent in April 2001 by Robert Nardolillo, of Providence, to guard a 17-kilogram shipment of cocaine at a Providence hotel.

Gobbi circled the hotel in a car, while his associate, Clifford T. Falla, of Wolfeboro, N.H., remained in a hotel room guarding the cocaine. Falla was armed with a pistol, prosecutors said.

Judge Smith sentenced Nardolillo to 15 years in prison in December. Falla has pleaded guilty and is awaiting sentencing next month, according to spokesman Thomas Connell of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Rhode Island.

At a hearing, evidence surfaced that Nardolillo served as "the right hand man,'' for Matthew L. Guglielmetti Jr., a longtime captain in the Rhode Island-based Patriarca crime family.

Guglielmetti, who was snared in a similar, but separate undercover probe, pleaded guilty to a drug charge last year and was sentenced to more than 11 years in federal prison.

-- With reports from Journal staff writer W. Zachary Malinowski