August 2, 2020 — The Supreme Court of Rhode Island recently upheld Providence mobster Anthony (Ponytail Tony) Parrillo’s 2015 assault conviction. Parrillo, 69, was found guilty at a bench trial for ordering the December 2011 beatdown of a man in a case of mistaken identity at Club 295 in Providence’s Federal Hill neighborhood. He’s serving a 10-year sentence in state prison
A convicted murderer and reputed high-ranking member of organized crime in New England, Parrillo operated out of the now-shuttered Club 295 in the late 2000s and early 2010s. On December 17, 2011, he had his bouncers throttle a patron named Jack Fernandes in an alley outside the establishment because he thought Fernandes had stabbed one of his employees.
In actuality, Fernandes was enjoying a night out on the town with his wife, Dr. Sumiya Majeed and was misidentified as the culprit by club security as he using the bathroom. Minutes earlier, a man had been caught having sex in the same bathroom stall Fernandes was occupying and attacked a security guard with a knife. According to court files, Parrillo restrained Majeed while Fernandes was pummeled.
Fernandez was taken to the hospital with a broken nose and several cracked ribs. The incident ended when Parrillo called his men off, reportedly saying, “Stop, no more right now, there’s too many people around, we’ll get him later.”
Months before the assault at his club in 2011, Parrillo was arrested for harassing his ex-wife. Back in 1982, he was found guilty of gangland double homicide and did a little more than a decade in prison. Parrillo killed Providence drug dealer Ronnie Leone and Leone’s friend Rudy Baronet in October 1977 in retaliation for Leone ripping Parrillo off in a cocaine deal. Baronet had driven Leone to the Parrillo’s house where they both were slaughtered.
Upon his release from prison in 1993, Parrillo went to work as a personal bodyguard and collector for Patriarca crime family underboss Luigi (Baby Shacks) Manocchio. He also secured his Teamsters union card and linked up with Providence filmmakers the Farrelly brothers, finding employment on their movie sets as a driver. Parrillo worked on the films, There’s Something About Mary (1998), Outside Providence (1999), Me, Myself and Irene (2000), Osmosis Jones (2001) and Stuck on You (2003). On the Outside Providence set, Parrillo acted as actor Alec Baldwin’s bodyguard. On the Me, Myself and Irene set, he did the same for actor Jim Carrey.
Per sources on the street and in law enforcement, Parrillo rose to consigliere of the New England mob before his Club 295 troubles derailed his ascent up the ladder of the Patriarca clan. Some local mob experts, point to Parrillo as a potential future boss or underboss of the borgata.
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