Late mobster’s son sentenced to life without parole for murder of ex-girlfriend

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — The son of a deceased prominent Rhode Island mob figure has been sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for killing his ex-girlfriend more than six years ago.

Michael T. Marrapese, 46, pleaded guilty earlier this year to the murder of 29-year-old Lauren Ise, withdrawing his initial not-guilty plea. On Thursday, a judge sentenced Marrapese to life behind bars and declared him a habitual offender, adding an additional 25-year consecutive sentence.

According to the Rhode Island Attorney General’s Office, police were tipped off in March 2019 by one of Marrapese’s friends, who said Marrapese had confessed to the killing. Acting on that information, officers discovered Ise’s body inside her Bay View Avenue apartment in Cranston, where she had been strangled to death.

Although Ise did not have a restraining order against Marrapese at the time, she had previously told police she felt threatened by him. Officers had responded to multiple domestic disturbance calls involving the couple prior to her death.

Investigators learned that the two had ended their relationship on February 15, 2019, and that Ise had planned to move out. When Marrapese refused to let her collect her belongings, she called police for help.

Marrapese became combative and was arrested for disorderly conduct. After being released, he was taken into custody again the following day following a dispute with his landlord and was held as a bail violator until March 5, 2019.

About a week later, Marrapese went to Ise’s apartment early in the morning, knocking on her windows and asking a neighbor if she was seeing anyone. The next day, on March 13, 2019, prosecutors say he returned to the apartment, killed Ise, and then went to a friend’s home to confess to the crime.

The medical examiner reported that Ise had ligature marks around her neck, along with abrasions, contusions, facial lacerations, dislodged teeth, and defensive wounds on her hands.

Marrapese is the son of the late Frank “Bobo” Marrapese, a convicted murderer and longtime enforcer for the Patriarca crime family. The elder Marrapese died in 2017 at the age of 74 while serving time at the ACI for blackmail and extortion.

Michael Marrapese murder.