LOCATIONS
PHOTOGRAPHY , THIS PAGE : THE PROVIDENCE JOURNAL-USA TODAY NETWORK ; RHODE ISLAND POSTCARD COLLECTION , PROVIDENCE PUBLIC LIBRARY .
Scene of the Crime
Trace more than a century of criminal history in these famous ( and delicious ) locales .
OLD CANTEEN
FROM ITS “ ROSE ” PINK walls to its famous Table No . 5 , Joe Marzilli ’ s Old Canteen had been a Federal Hill staple for nearly seventy years . Everyone from Raymond Patriarca to Buddy Cianci used to dine here , where you could still find classics like spaghetti vongole and steak a la Frank ( the way Frank Sinatra liked it ) on the menu . Rumor has it Patriarca even used to host card games in the apartment upstairs . Earlier this year , Newport ’ s Heritage Restaurant Group announced it had purchased the building with plans to turn it into Wally ’ s Weiners and the Copper Club speakeasy .
COIN-O-MATIC
WANT TO KNOW how long someone ’ s lived in Rhode Island ? Ask them about the Coin-O-Matic . The unsuspecting little storefront at 168 Atwells — now home to an Indian restaurant — was for many years the strong-
The Coin-O-Matic on Atwells Avenue in Providence , circa 1959 . hold of the elder Patriarca , notorious mob boss of New England . The store might have looked like a vending machine company , but everyone knew it was in the office in back where the real business took place . On a typical day , you could find him out front , keeping an eye on Federal Hill from his chair on the sidewalk , a cigarette dangling from his lip .
EURO BISTRO
THIS SMALL RESTAURANT down the far end of Atwells Avenue — where Anthony ’ s is today — was a favorite haunt for Luigi “ Baby Shacks ” Manocchio . When not serving prison sentences or on the lam , Manocchio lived in an apartment above the restaurant , which a family member owned . In 2018 , a court case revealed the Euro Bistro was the target of an alleged bomb plot two decades earlier . A federal informant claimed Kevin Hanrahan was planning to blow up the restaurant to assassinate
Manocchio when he was shot down at another restaurant . Manocchio was never charged with the hit .
PROVIDENCE BILTMORE
THE BILTMORE HOTEL had more than a few ties to crime during its heyday — after all , it was the place to find booze during Prohibition — but its most famous resident was none other than Mayor Vincent Cianci Jr ., who lived there at the time of his corruption trial in 2002 . The mayor had been a regular at the Biltmore bar for decades and championed the hotel ’ s reopening after it closed its doors in 1975 . Today , the hotel operates as the Graduate Providence and still offers the best view of the city from its eighteenth floor ( though the glass elevator is no longer operational ).
HUDSON FUR STORAGE
HUDSON FUR STORAGE on Cranston Street , which is still open today , was home to one of the largest heists in U . S . history . In 1975 , eight men — many with mob ties — walked into an under-the-radar safe deposit company inside the business and walked out with an estimated $ 32 million .
64 RHODE ISLAND MONTHLY I MARCH 2025