As citizens across the nation debated the merits of compassionate prison releases for the likes of former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort and lawyer Michael Cohen, a less familiar name with a Connecticut connection came up Wednesday, when former counterfeiter Louis “The Coin” Colavecchio was granted release from a North Carolina lockup.

Earning his nickname for his proficiency in counterfeiting casino currency, including $100 slot machine tokens, Colavecchio was a fixture among New England gangsters in the 1990s, when he became known for defrauding casinos in Connecticut and New Jersey, before being arrested and convicted of related charges in 1998. In 2006, at age 64, he was convicted of resisting  lawful arrest, and in 2014 he was found guilty of drug charges including running a sophisticated marijuana growing operation. In August 2019 he was sentenced to 15 months’ confinement at Federal Medical Center Butner in Durham County, North Carolina .