Longtime Rhode Island gangster Edward Lato has died at the age of 77
Edward C. Lato, a longtime Rhode Island mobster who rose in the underworld as the local Mafia crumbled under the weight of prosecutions, died Friday surrounded by his gang at his bedside in Johnston, said Steven O’Donnell, a former superintendent of the Rhode Island State Police.
Lato was arrested more than 30 times and convicted 18 times for crimes including conspiracy to commit organized crime and illegal sports betting. He was 77 years old.
“Eddie gained a reputation (in the Mafia) as a trustworthy, loyal soul,” said O’Donnell, who worked undercover in the Mafia for years and teaches organized crime at Salve Regina University.
“Eddie never cooperated with the police, never worked with them,” O’Donnell said. “He was one of the old school, who followed the code of omerta.”
In 2011, federal authorities arrested Lato and several other New England Cosa Nostra members, including former Mafia 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 essentially proven yourself to be a career criminal.”
In 2014, while still in prison, Lato’s criminal record was enhanced by pleading no contest in state court to conspiracy charges related to a sports betting operation. He received no additional punishment and was released to a halfway house in Pawtucket in 2019, at age 71.
