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July 17, 2007

Mass. man pleads guilty to extortion in mob case

PROVIDENCE -- A Taunton, Mass., man implicated in a Rhode Island-based mob extortion ring pleaded guilty to a felony extortion charge this morning in U. S. District Court.

Lawrence Crites, no age available, appeared before Chief Judge Mary M. Lisi and changed his innocent plea to guilty. She scheduled a sentencing date of Oct. 12.

On Friday, a co-defendant, Ricky E. Silva, 47, of North Providence, will face sentencing. Three months ago, Silva signed a plea agreement that noted he will receive no less than four years and no more than five years in prison.

The authorities say that Anthony M. ``The Saint’’ St. Laurent, a capo regime in the Patriarca crime family, directed the extortion plot from his home at 2 Rotary Dr. in Johnston.

In January, St. Laurent was sentenced to five years in prison.

At the sentencing, federal prosecutors said that had the case gone to trial, the government could prove that in April 2006, St. Laurent directed Silva and James G. Manning, 64, of Cranston, to collect $100,000 from a pizza parlor owner and bookmaker/drug dealer in Taunton, Mass., area. If the two targets failed to pay, St. Laurent instructed Manning and Silva to ``bash’’ them.

On April 6, 2006, Manning, Silva and an unnamed FBI informant traveled to Massachusetts to look for the intended victims. Once there, Crites met them. He was supposed to help them find the extortion targets.

-- Journal staff writer W. Zachary Malinowski

Posted by Jack Perry  at 12:00 PM | Permalink

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