Gerard Ouimette: Patriarca Enforcer and Three Strikes Life Sentence

Gerard Ouimette was a violent Rhode Island career criminal and longtime Patriarca crime family associate who, in 1996, became the first felon in New England sentenced to life in prison without parole under the federal three strikes law. Nicknamed “The Frenchman,” he spent the last 19 years of his life in federal custody and died in his sleep on April 18, 2015, at a medium-security prison in Butner, North Carolina, at age 75.¹

Enforcer for the Patriarca Family

Ouimette was not a made member of the Patriarca family because he was not Italian, but he operated at a high level within its orbit and worked as an enforcer and loan shark collector in Providence and the surrounding region.² Rhode Island State Police Colonel Steven O’Donnell called him “one of the most notorious villains Rhode Island has ever known” and said boss Raymond Patriarca “used anyone who was ruthless, and that was Gerard Ouimette.”³

He cycled through incarceration for much of his adult life. Inside Rhode Island’s Adult Correctional Institutions he reportedly ran a wing of the maximum-security facility and was said to enjoy smuggled liquor and seafood dinners, a measure of the influence he carried behind bars.²

Early Convictions That Became His Two Strikes

Ouimette’s record started young. In 1958, at age 18, he pleaded nolo contendere to armed robbery and was sentenced to six years at the Adult Correctional Institutions. In 1976, he was charged with assault with a dangerous weapon and conspiracy to commit assault with a dangerous weapon, again pleaded nolo to amended charges, and received a three-year suspended sentence.⁴ Both of those state convictions would later serve as the predicate offenses that triggered his federal life sentence.

The Extortion Case That Ended His Career

The case that put Ouimette away for life grew out of the March 1994 murder of Ronald Coppola, a loansharking partner of Robert P. DeLuca, Sr. After Coppola was killed, DeLuca Sr. moved to collect a $125,000 debt Coppola had been owed by Rhode Island factory and restaurant owner Paul Calenda, and Ouimette took charge of the collection.⁵

Working with an associate named James “Slugger” Gellerman, Ouimette threatened to break Calenda’s legs, blow up his car, and seize his restaurant. Calenda agreed to pay $50,000 in $5,000 weekly installments. On a recorded call, Ouimette threatened to break the legs of Calenda’s longtime housekeeper over a missed payment.⁵

A second scheme targeted David Duxbury, who had allegedly tried to shake down Robert DeLuca, Jr. Ouimette, Gellerman, and Kenneth Raposa confronted Duxbury at the Satin Doll, a Providence nightclub. Gellerman punched him in the face and Raposa kicked him twice. Ouimette then forced Duxbury to pay a $5,000 “fine.”⁵

After a federal grand jury indicted Ouimette, DeLuca Sr., and three others on extortion conspiracy charges, Ouimette and DeLuca Sr. tried to derail the case. They pressured prospective witnesses Paula Coppola and Robert Buehne to commit perjury and offered Duxbury $5,000 to flee before trial. When Duxbury appeared at a pretrial hearing anyway, Ouimette told an associate: “If we can’t get [Duxbury], we’ll get one of his kids.”⁵ Coppola and Buehne entered witness protection, and Duxbury contacted the FBI.

The trial court empaneled an anonymous jury and had the U.S. Marshals screen spectators. Prosecutors played recorded calls and a secretly videotaped meeting between Ouimette and Calenda, and an FBI search of Ouimette’s home in Fall River, Massachusetts, turned up cash whose serial numbers matched bills from Calenda’s payments. After a seven-day trial, the jury convicted Ouimette on all counts.⁵

A Life Sentence Under Three Strikes

In 1996, Ouimette was sentenced to life without parole under the federal three-strikes statute, 18 U.S.C. § 3559(c), which mandates a life sentence for violent offenders with two or more qualifying prior convictions. His 1958 armed robbery and 1976 assault convictions were the two predicates. The prosecution was led by then-U.S. Attorney Sheldon Whitehouse, later a U.S. Senator from Rhode Island. Ouimette was the first defendant in New England sentenced under the law.³

Failed Appeals

Ouimette challenged his conviction and sentence on two fronts, and lost both. In a 1998 decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit affirmed the convictions of Ouimette and DeLuca Sr., upholding the trial court’s use of an anonymous jury and spectator screening in light of the defendants’ organized crime ties, history of violence, witness tampering, and the media attention on the case.⁵

Because his federal life sentence depended on the two Rhode Island convictions, Ouimette also returned to state court and asked to have the 1958 and 1976 pleas vacated, arguing ineffective assistance of counsel and involuntary pleas. The Superior Court denied his petitions, and on December 14, 2001, the Rhode Island Supreme Court affirmed. The justices applied a presumption of regularity to the 1958 plea and held that his challenge to the 1976 plea was barred by res judicata, since he had already litigated a similar claim in 1981.⁴

Prison Memoir and Death

While serving his sentence, Ouimette wrote a memoir titled What Price Providence, tracing his life from childhood through the 1995 extortion conviction. The cover pictured him alongside Raymond L.S. Patriarca and the late Gambino boss John Gotti; the book was available through Amazon and Kindle as of 2012.⁶

He died in his sleep at the Butner federal prison on the night of April 18, 2015. He had been diagnosed with lung cancer roughly 10 days earlier and also suffered from heart problems and other health conditions.¹ Colonel O’Donnell described his legacy as that of “a very violent career criminal” who ranked among the most notorious figures in Rhode Island history.³

1
Providence Journal. Mobster Ouimette, First New England Felon Sentenced to Life for Three Strikes
2
Rhode Island Monthly. Persons of Interest: True Crime
3
WPRI. Notorious Mobster Gerard Ouimette Dies in Prison
4
FindLaw. Gerard T. Ouimette v. State, No. 2000-131-Appeal
5
Justia. United States v. DeLuca Sr. and Ouimette, 137 F.3d 24
6
Five Families NYC. Infamous Providence Mafia Enforcer