RI Con Man 'The Coin' Convicted Again, This Time For Fake $100s

CRANSTON, RI — A Rhode Island man was sentenced to 15 months in federal prison on Wednesday after pleading guilty to counterfeiting $100 bills. Louis "The Coin" Colavecchio, 77, of Cranston, has several fraud-related convictions, including creating "slugs" for use in casino slot machines.

Colavecchio was arrested in December following a six-month undercover investigation by the Secret Service. Agents searched Colavecchio's then-home in Coventry, seizing $29,000 in fake $100 bills, a printing press, photos of $100 bills, a computer and other counterfeiting materials, according to the Department of Justice. On March 19, he pleaded guilty to charges of intent to defraud and possession of counterfeit obligations.

Before he was arrested, "The Coin" reportedly boasted that he had a plan in place should he be caught counterfeiting again, saying he would claim to be working as a "counterfeit deterrence specialist."

Colavecchio was first convicted of fraud in 1997, when he was sentenced to 27 months in federal prison for creating fake tokens, called "slugs," to use at Foxwoods Casino and casinos in Atlantic City. Since then, he was convicted of larceny and obtaining money under false pretenses after he stole $100,000 from his 92-year-old aunt. He was also convicted of growing cannabis.

In 2015, he published a tell-all autobiography that tells the story of his life of crime, including his work with the infamous Rhode Island crime family, the Patriarcas.