A longtime Rhode Island mobster accused of thwarting the investigation into the 1993 slaying of South Boston nightclub manager Steven A. DiSarro was ordered held without bail in US District Court in Boston Friday.

Robert P. DeLuca Sr., 70, was arrested by FBI agents in Broward County, Fla., last month and made his initial appearance in the Boston courthouse Friday. He pleaded not guilty to one count of obstruction of justice and two counts of making false statements for allegedly lying to federal investigators about the murders of DiSarro and other unnamed victims.

US Attorney Carmen Ortiz’s office asked Magistrate Judge Marianne Bowler to order DeLuca be detained until his trial, a request that DeLuca did not challenge, according to court records. Bowler ordered his detention.

DeLuca, the onetime New England Mafia capo, allegedly misled investigators in 2011 when he agreed to cooperate with federal law enforcement, but allegedly failed to disclose the extent of his role in DiSarro’s death, authorities allege.

DiSarro’s remains were found by investigators March 31 in Providence on property owned by reputed mob associate William L. Ricci. DiSarro, 43, of Westwood, was a father of five. He had been missing since 1993. Nobody has ever been charged with his murder.

The indictment alleges that DiSarro acquired The Channel, a now-defunct nightclub, between 1990 and 1991 and that New England Mafia boss Francis “Cadillac Frank’’ Salemme and his son, Frank, had a hidden interest in the club.

On May 10, 1993, the Salemmes participated in the murder of DiSarro and transported his body to Providence, where DeLuca arranged its burial on Ricci’s property, according to the indictment.

DeLuca gained notoriety as one of four soldiers inducted into the New England Mafia during a 1989 blood-oath ceremony in Medford that was bugged by the FBI. He was also a lesser known codefendant in the 1995 federal racketeering case against Salemme and Boston gangsters James “Whitey’’ Bulger and Stephen “The Rifleman’’ Flemmi.

Shelley Murphy of the Globe Staff contributed to this report. John R. Ellement can be reached at ellement@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @JREbosglobe.