Reputed ex-N.E. mob boss arrested

Luigi “Louie’’ Manocchio, who allegedly stepped down as the longtime boss of the New England Mafia more than a year ago and was staying in Florida, was arrested Wednesday afternoon at the Fort Lauderdale airport.

The 83-year-old Mafioso, nicknamed Baby Shacks, The Old Man, and The Professor, appeared briefly yesterday in federal court in Florida, where he was ordered returned to his native Rhode Island to face federal extortion charges that he forced two Providence strip clubs to pay him protection money.

Manocchio and an associate, Thomas Iafrate, were both indicted on conspiracy to extort and extortion charges in US Dis trict Court in Providence. They were the only two New England men arrested in the sweep announced yesterday by US Attorney General Eric Holder,

The crackdown also targeted all five crime families in New York, another in New Jersey, and led to charges against 91 reputed mobsters and associates, according to federal authorities.

“This was an important step nationally in disrupting activities’’ of La Cosa Nostra, said Richard DesLauriers, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Boston office, referring to the Italian name for the Mafia, translated as “This Thing of Ours.’’

“It shows there is ongoing LCN activity in New England, as well as other parts of the country,’’ he said.

Law enforcement officials said they believe that fear of indictment prompted Manocchio to relinquish his position about 18 months ago as boss of the family controlling Mafia activities from Boston to Worcester and throughout Rhode Island and parts of Connecticut.

Manocchio, who allegedly assumed control of the family after his predecessor, Boston-based Francis “Cadillac Frank’’ Salemme, was indicted on federal racketeering charges in 1995, worked out of Addie’s Laundromat on Federal Hill in Providence and lived in an apartment upstairs, according to authorities.

The indictment alleges that he conspired with Iafrate since 1993 to extort payments from adult entertainment businesses in Providence, including the Satin Doll and the Cadillac Lounge strip clubs. Iafrate, 63, of Johnston, R.I., worked as a bookkeeper at the two clubs, the indictment says.

“Iafrate was responsible for setting aside, collecting, and delivering extorted ‘protection’ payments to Manocchio’’ on behalf of the clubs, the indictment says. Manocchio is charged with extorting approximately $2,900 from the strip clubs on Nov. 6, 2008.

Iafrate pleaded not guilty to the charges and was released on a $50,000 unsecured bond. No date has been set for Manocchio’s court appearance in Rhode Island, and it was not clear who represents him.

Peter F. Neronha, the US attorney for Rhode Island, said the FBI, Rhode Island State Police, and Providence police had been targeting Manocchio for a long time and used nearly every law enforcement tactic to gather evidence, including electronic surveillance.

“This investigation isn’t over yet,’’ Neronha said during a telephone interview. “Other things may or may not develop.’’

Documents filed in another Mafia case pending in federal court in Providence allege that Manocchio sanctioned the attempted murder of reputed mob capo regime Robert DeLuca. Manocchio has not been charged.

In that case, reputed mobster Anthony St. Laurent was charged in 2009 with a murder-for-hire scheme in which he allegedly tried to recruit someone to kill DeLuca because he had publicly accused St. Laurent of being a “rat,’’ or informant, for the government.

A plea agreement signed by St. Laurent and filed in court Wednesday says he will plead guilty and has admitted that when he tried to recruit associates to kill DeLuca, he told them that Manocchio had given him permission to kill DeLuca. Mafia rules require a made member to get the boss’s permission to kill another made member, according to the court filing.

Neither Neronha nor the FBI would say whether Manocchio will face additional charges. But Neronha said the elderly reputed mobster remained a threat.

“Whether you are 83 or 63, if someone else is willing to do your bidding and engage in violent conduct, it doesn’t matter how old you are.’’

In 1999, Manocchio was given probation by a Rhode Island judge after admitting he gave his elderly mother a stolen dishwasher and refrigerator.

In 1983, after a decade as a fugitive, Manocchio was sentenced to life in prison after being convicted of playing a role in the 1968 slayings of two bookmakers. But the state Supreme Court overturned his conviction, and he was released after serving just two years.

Massachusetts State Police Detective Lieutenant Stephen P. Johnson, who oversees organized crime investigations as head of the Special Service Section, recounted yesterday how he and a federal Drug Enforcement Administration agent dropped in on Manocchio at his Providence laundry while investigating a case about seven years ago.

“Louie was behind the counter, actually handling the laundry,’’ said Johnson, adding that he was startled to see the reputed boss working. “He was just sitting there, running the cash register.’’

He described Manocchio as an “extremely low-profile’’ boss, who abdicated his position in 2009 while under intense scrutiny from law enforcement. He said control of the family shifted back to Boston.

“It’s very clear to us that the power for the New England mob family transferred about a year and a half ago from Manocchio to various high-level [mobsters] in the metro Boston area,’’ Johnson said.

Manocchio is the fourth consecutive boss of the New England mob to face indictment, following Salemme, the late Nicholas Bianco, and Raymond “Junior’’ Patriarca.

Despite a wave of successful federal and state prosecutions that have sent dozens of New England mobsters to jail since the 1980s, Neronha said it continues to attract new members.

“It’s one of those constant problems that you have to stay on top of,’’ Neronha said. “If you don’t, it gets out of control. It’s naive to think if we take down one or two players, someone doesn’t stand up.’’

Shelley Murphy can be reached at shmurphy@globe.com.