Edward Lato, a former Rhode Island mobster, dies at 77

Edward C. Lato, a former Rhode Island mobster who rose through the ranks of the underworld as the local Mafia crumbled under the pressure of criminal charges, died Friday with members of his gang at his side in Johnston, said Steven O’Donnell, former chief of the Rhode Island State Police.

Lato, who was arrested more than 30 times and convicted 18 times for crimes ranging from conspiracy to running an illegal sports gambling operation, was 77.

“Eddie was seen (within the Mafia) as a trustworthy, loyal soul,” said O’Donnell, who worked undercover in the Mafia for years and now teaches organized crime at Salve Regina University.

“Eddie never cooperated, never cooperated, with the police,” O’Donnell said. “He was one of the old school that adhered to the (silence) code of omerta.”

In 2011, federal authorities arrested Lato and several other members of New England’s La Cosa Nostra, including former mob boss Luigi “Baby Shacks” Manocchio, on charges of extorting protection money from strip clubs.

The following year, U.S. District Judge William E. Smith imposed the harshest sentence on Lato—nine years—noting, “You have effectively established yourself as a career criminal.”

In 2014, while still in prison, Lato added to his criminal record by pleading guilty in state court to conspiracy charges stemming from a sports gambling operation. He received no additional time, and in 2019, at age 71, Lato was released to a halfway house in Pawtucket.