Authorities yesterday use a backhoe to search for the remains of Joseph “Joe Onions” Scanlon, a murder victim allegedly buried behind the Lisboa Apartments in East Providence.

The Providence Journal / Bill Murphy

EAST PROVIDENCE — The low drone of an orange backhoe hummed yesterday through the Riverside neighborhood where the authorities believe Joseph “Joe Onions” Scanlon was buried after he was shot in the back of the head in a Providence social club three decades ago.

As the late afternoon sun turned to darkness, a gaggle of state police troopers in marked windbreakers peered into the 10-foot hole, hoping to find bones, clothing or some other evidence of Scanlon.

Also watching were the two highest-ranking state law enforcement officials in Rhode Island, Attorney General Patrick C. Lynch and Col. Brendan P. Doherty, superintendent of the state police.

“That’s wild,” said a woman who stood outside her modest home as the digging continued. “I thought it was a drug bust.”

Earlier in the day, Nicholas “Nicky” Pari had told investigators where the body was buried, according to the state police.

The arrest of Pari, a longtime mob associate, and 17 others yesterday on a host of racketeering, weapons and drug charges, led investigators to a grassy area behind the Lisboa Apartments, at 378 Bullocks Point Ave., just a stone’s throw from the East Bay Bike Path.

Pari, 71, is dying from cancer and is confined to a wheelchair. The state police knew this might be their last chance to solve a mystery that has been part of Rhode Island mob lore since April 3, 1978, the night the victim with a catchy nickname disappeared.

“The state police were very considerate, sensitive and empathetic about his condition,” said his lawyer, Gerrick Van Duesen, who said that he was not aware of any disclosures his client may have made regarding Scanlon. “His prognosis is imminent, immediate, bleak and grim.”

A Superior Court jury, in 1979, returned guilty verdicts of first-degree murder against Pari and Andy Merola for their roles in killing Scanlon in Merola’s social club on Knight Street in Providence. The case marked the first time in state history that the state got murder convictions without producing the body of the victim.

A key witness in the trial was Scanlon’s girlfriend — Sandra Surprise. She testified that she saw Pari divert Scanlon’s attention in the social club by punching him in the face. Then, she said, Merola approached him from behind with a handgun and pumped a bullet into the back of Scanlon’s head.

A second witness, Edwin DiFonzo, testified that he helped Merola wrap the body in plastic garbage bags and stuff it into the trunk of Merola’s red Cadillac. Another witness, an FBI informant, told the jury that Merola came to his home in Brooklyn, N.Y., and told him that he had killed Scanlon because he was a “stool pigeon.”

Over the years, there had been plenty of speculation about where the body had been dumped. Some believed that Merola and Pari rolled Scanlon in a carpet and dumped him in Narragansett Bay. One tipster told the police he was buried in Merola’s social club. Detectives found a trapdoor with a metal ladder leading to a storage space. They climbed down, tore up the cement floor and dug down about 7 feet. They found a few bricks and broken bottles, but no body.

Merola and Pari appealed their convictions and, in 1982, the Supreme Court ruled that they were entitled to a new trial. In May 1982, both men pleaded no contest to reduced charges and were sent back to the Adult Correctional Institutions. As part of the plea agreement, lawyers for Merola and Pari told prosecutors that Scanlon’s body was driven to Narragansett and dumped in Narragansett Bay. No body ever washed ashore and investigators doubted the story.

Last year, an anonymous caller told a Journal reporter that Merola’s Cadillac was crushed in a scrap yard north of Providence. He said he was told that Scanlon was in the trunk.

Pari was the only person left with direct knowledge of the murder. In April 2007, Merola, who was released from prison in the late 80s, died. He had put his criminal ways behind him and he became a successful restaurateur, who ran Andino’s, a popular Italian bistro on Federal Hill.

This time, investigators say, they believe Pari is telling the truth. He lived in East Providence back in the ’70s, and the site where the apartment complex stands was built around the time of the murder. Police believe that a construction site was a prime spot to dump a body.

For now, the police will have to wait another day. At 4:45 p.m., darkness enveloped Riverside and the search came to a halt. A uniformed trooper was posted for the night outside the apartment complex.

The dig will resume this morning.

“We’re pretty sure he’s there,” said one investigator.

With staff reports from Mike Stanton.

bmalinow@projo.com