State v. Verrecchia

OPINION

FLANDERS, Justice.

This entry in the annals of Rhode Island true-crime stories could be titled “The Ghost and the Golden Nugget Gang.” The defendant, Albert Verrecchia (Verrecchia), was a member of a local criminal enterprise known as “the Golden Nugget Group” (GNG). Upon securing the cooperation of one Michael Rossi (Rossi), Ver-recchia’s former confederate and fellow GNG member, the police arranged for an undercover detective to pose as a gun-buying convict known as “The Ghost.” After meeting with Rossi, Verrecchia saw “The Ghost,” sold him some weapons, and thereby became ensnared in…