At the sentencing, federal prosecutors said that had the case gone to trial, the government could prove that in April 2006, St. Laurent directed James G. Manning of Cranston, and Ricky E. Silva, of North Providence, a felon with a lengthy and violent past, to collect $100,000 from a pizza parlor owner and bookmaker/drug dealer in the Taunton 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 and he was supposed to help them find the extortion targets.

All four men were arrested the next day.

Silva was sentenced to 5 years in prison, while Manning received 2 years.

Today, Crites’ lawyer, Timothy Morgan, and Peter H. Nerohna, the federal prosecutor, had very different views of Crites’ role in the extortion scheme. Morgan described him as a minor player; while Nerohna said,``he was the muscle with Mr. Silva.’’

Nerohna said that Crites was secretly recorded telling one of the extortion victims, ``You’re dealing with The Saint. You’re paying now and that’s it.’’

That recording, coupled with Crites’ record of assaults, weighed heavily on Lisi. She also felt that Crites deserved the same penalty as Manning: 2 years in prison.

``There is a history of assaultive behavior and that’s exactly what (Crites) was going to do here,’’ she said. ``You had every opportunity to walk away from it and you didn’t,’’ she said.

She ordered Crites to report to a yet-to-be named federal prison on May 23 to begin serving his sentence. Until then, he remains free on bail.