Mob associate assaulted in prison brawl, Manocchio moved again

Update: Luigi Manocchio was moved again on Tuesday, after this story first published, to a low security federal prison in Butner, North Carolina.

CENTRAL FALLS, R.I. (WPRI) – Admitted mob associate Richard Bonafiglia was assaulted during a fight at the Wyatt Detention Center but is refusing to cooperate with detectives, the Target 12 Investigators have learned.

Separately, Luigi “Baby Shacks” Manocchio – the former mob boss of New England who is wrapped up in the same case – has been moved again, this time to a prison in Georgia.

Bonafiglia, 52, of Providence, was sentenced to seven years in prison for his role in shaking down strip clubs for protection money. Rhode Island State Police Colonel Steven O’Donnell said Bonafiglia didn’t sustain any serious injuries in the fight with another inmate.

“The [U.S.] Marshals service and state police co-investigate those types of incidents," O'Donnell said. "Right now Mr. Bonafiliga is non-cooperative.”

Reached by phone Bonafiglia’s attorney Robert Mann said he didn’t want to disclose any details about the altercation.

“I’m aware there was an incident but I don’t want to comment beyond that,” Mann said.

O’Donnell said fights among inmates are investigated like any other crime because “law and order” inside a prison is important to its safe operation.

“You just can’t have people fighting each other no matter what the rationale is,” O’Donnell said.

Manocchio moved, again

Luigi “Baby Shacks” Manocchio, the 85 year-old former patriarch of the New England Crime family, has once again been moved to another federal prison.

According to the Federal Bureau of Prisons website, Manocchio was moved from his cell in Petersburg Virginia to the United States Penitentiary in Atlanta Georgia.

Manocchio has just over two years left on a 5 ½ year prison sentence after he pleaded guilty to racketeering earlier this year for running the strip club scheme.

During his sentencing, his attorney Joseph Balliro Sr., of Boston, asked Manocchio be housed at a prison in Florida because the warmer climate would be better for the aging mobsters health.

On Tuesday Balliro said he was unaware that Manocchio was moved again.

It marks the seventh prison – and eighth move – since Manocchio was arrested in January 2011.

He is not the first high-ranking mobster to stay in the Atlanta prison. Longtime New England crime family boss Raymond L.S. Patriarca served time there from 1969 to 1973.

Tim White ( twhite@wpri.com ) is the Target 12 investigative reporter for WPRI 12 and Fox Providence. Follow him on Twitter: @white_tim