A former mob enforcer in Rhode Island with ties to late New England crime boss Raymond L.S. Patriarca has died in a federal prison in North Carolina. Gerard T. 'The Frenchman' Ouimette was 75. The Federal Bureau of Prison's website reported that Ouimette, who had lived in Fall River, Massachusetts, died Sunday. Ouimette, suspected of having a role in up to eight murders, 'ran' the federal prison in North Carolina in the 1970s and even had booze, drugs and lobster dinner smuggled in on a weekly basis, according to a Rhode Island State Police report. His nephew, Kevin Ouimette Lynch, tells the Providence Journal that his uncle was recently diagnosed with lung cancer and died in his sleep at a prison in Butner, North Carolina. Ouimette was reportedly in control of a gangster network responsible for gambling, loansharking, extortion, and murder, among other crimes . Ouimette passed away in this medium security facility after being diagnosed with lung cancer . In 1996, Ouimette was convicted of extortion and became the first criminal in New England sentenced to life in prison under the federal 'three strikes and you're out' provision for violent offenders. Ouimette had more than 10 convictions during his criminal career, including one for punching an FBI agent. The Providence Journal reports that Ouimette spent a total of 46 years behind bars. A 1979 FBI document regarding his background paints the picture of man in control of a massive underworld network. 'Subject OUIMETTE controls a large group of criminals known as the OUIMETTE faction, whose criminal activities include gambling, loansharking, extortion and property violations such as major hijackings, robberies and burglaries,' the report states. Ouimette had close ties to crime boss Raymond Patriarca, seen here leaving a federal building in Boston on June 27, 1967. 'Although not Italian, OUIMETTE enjoys the same stature as lieutenants under RAYMOND L.S. PATRIARCA, who controls organized crime (OC) in the Boston and New England area.' The document went on to call Ouimette responsible for 'seven of eight gangland-style murders.' He was never convicted of any homicides, however. Ouimette was known to his associates as 'The Frenchman.' In his 2012 memoir, 'What Price Providence,' the enforcer blamed the police for the nickname. ''The Frenchman' is the name that Rhode Island police attached to me in 1969 since I am proud of my French descent, an anomaly in that neighborhood,' he wrote. 'Due to ensuing notoriety, the name stuck.' In the introduction to that back, he wrote that he knew he would die in prison. 'There is a saying that is appropriate to prison life: 'If you sit by the river long enough, you will eventually see all your enemies float by,'' he wrote. 'Bottom line is, if you can survive, you're ahead of the game, not by much, but by some. The reason is, there is no room for error when you are playing the La Costra Nostra's major leagues; one mistake can end your life, and often does.' The gangland enforcer's influence was not diminished behind bars, and state police said he even became the boss of the ACI's maxium security prison in the 1970s. At least once a week in the latter years of that decade, gang associate Charles 'The Ghost' Kennedy would visit the facility with as much as $600 worth of alcohol, marijuana, ham, cold cuts, cheese, and Italian bread for security guards to deliver to the incarcerated Ouimette and his gang. They even had catered lobster dinners, police said. Ouimette, then 55, is seen here being escorted out of Federal Court in Providence, Rhode Island, after being sentenced to life in prison without parole in 1996 . Besides booze, Ouimette even once had his son, then only five-years-old, smuggled into the prison for a sleepover, the Journal reported. Eventually he and Kennedy had a falling out, and Kennedy claimed a hit squad was assembled to kill him. A fearful man, during his 1996 exortion trial several strippers who were called to testify about threats Ouimette had made in their club broke down in tears before him in court. Ouimette's body will be sent back to Rhode Island where Ouimette will be buried.
Gerard T. Ouimette, 75, known as 'The Frenchman,' died in medium security federal pen in his sleep . Former mob enforcer had ties to New England crime boss Raymond L.S. Patriarca and was suspected of a role in as many as eight murders . Even behind bars, police say Ouimette kept his influence - accepting a weekly delivery of as much as $600 worth of booze and food to his cell .