Francesco Caprio (born November 24, 1936) is an American retired judge and politician who served as the chief judge of the municipal court of Providence, Rhode Island, and chairman of the Rhode Island Board of Governors for Higher Education.

[15] Caprio also served in the Rhode Island Army National Guard from 1954 to 1962 in the 876th Combat Engineer Battalion.

During his time in the Army National Guard, Caprio was assigned to Camp Varnum in Narragansett and Fort Indiantown Gap in Pennsylvania.

[19] Parts of the proceedings over which he presided, featuring low-level citations, ran for more than two decades on local television.

[20][21] Caprio's TV series, Caught in Providence, originated on PEG access television in Rhode Island and was first picked up by ABC station WLNE-TV in 2000, initially airing late on Saturday nights.

[30] Caprio has been involved in the Boys Town of Italy, the Nickerson House Juvenile Court and Rhode Island Food Bank.

[13] Caprio was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Law by his alma mater Suffolk University Law School in 1991 and Providence College in 2008,[32] and also received an Honorary Doctorate of Public Service from the University of Rhode Island in 2016.

[33] In August 2018, he received the Producer's Circle Award at the Rhode Island International Film Festival.

[35] Earlier that month he was sworn in as Chief Judge Emeritus of the Providence Municipal Court, although the title was largely ceremonial and Caprio stated that he had no intention of returning to the bench.

[37] After having recently celebrated his 87th birthday, on December 6, 2023, Caprio announced that he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer on a video posted on Facebook and YouTube.