R.I. man sentenced for counterfeiting $29,000 in fake $100 bills

PROVIDENCE — A Rhode Island man nicknamed “The Coin,” who was previously convicted of counterfeiting slugs used in slot machines at several Northeast casinos including at Foxwoods, was sentenced Wednesday to serve 15 months in federal prison for counterfeiting $100 bills.

Louis “The Coin” Colavecchio, 77, of Cranston, was sentenced before Judge John J. McConnell Jr. in U.S. District Court in Providence on Wednesday. He had pleaded guilty on March 19 to intent to defraud and possess counterfeit obligations.

According to court documents, Colavecchio was arrested in December after a six-month undercover investigation through the U.S. Secret Service. Agents executed search warrants at his residence in Coventry and seized $29,000 in counterfeit $100 bills, a mechanical printing press, images of $100 bills, a computer, and other counterfeiting materials.

Court documents said that before his arrest on Dec. 7, Colavecchio boasted to others that he was already working on a defense should he be arrested again for counterfeiting. If caught, Colavecchio told others, he would claim that he was working as a counterfeit deterrence specialist, officials said.

He was first convicted of counterfeiting in 1997 and sentenced to 27 months in federal prison for counterfeiting casino tokens in a massive operation that aimed at Foxwoods and the Atlantic City casinos in New Jersey. He has since also been convicted of larceny, obtaining money under false pretenses after he was caught stealing $100,000 from his 92-year-old aunt, resisting arrest, and cultivating marijuana.

According to court documents, in 2015 Colavecchio published an autobiography detailing his life of crime, including his self-described interaction and activities with the Patriarca crime family.

— Jason Vallee