While residing in Rhode Island, Colavecchio defrauded several Atlantic City and Connecticut casinos until his arrest and initial conviction in 1998.
[1] His counterfeiting equipment was auctioned off on eBay following his arrest,[2] and crimes were the subject of a documentary series Breaking Vegas from The History Channel, where he was portrayed by Angelo Fierro.
Due to the initial success of his crime, casinos have slowly phased out tokens, replacing them with paper vouchers.
Colavecchio collaborated with Andy Thibault, a veteran journalist, and Franz Douskey, author of several non-fiction books, including SINATRA & ME: The Very Good Years, to write a memoir, “You Thought It Was More – Adventures of the World’s Greatest Counterfeiter, Louis The Coin.” It was published by IceBox Publishing LLC in 2015.
[3] In August 2019, Colavecchio was sentenced to 15 months in federal prison after pleading guilty to manufacturing counterfeit $100 bills.