loop: exclude duplicates

i am working on a news page. i have 5 different news cateogories which i loop in 3 ways

for the latest post as a large article [loop type=post count=1]
for the 3 next posts as artcles with a small image [loop type=post count=3 offset=1]

then i show several older posts as lists, sorted by category [for each=category] [loop …]

PROBLEM:
in the categories list the 4 latests post occur, too.

QUESTION:
can i exclude those posts. that are shown on top?
(like putting the id’s in an array $latest and exclude them in the final loop?)