PROVIDENCE — The state medical examiner’s office has confirmed that the remains unearthed in East Providence last November are those of hoodlum Joseph P. “Joe Onions” Scanlon and that he died of a gunshot wound to the head, the Department of Health said Wednesday.

Mob associate Nicholas S. “Nicky” Pari, who in April 1979 was convicted of murdering Scanlon, led investigators to the site behind a Riverside apartment complex where he disposed of the body.

Pari, terminally ill with cancer, died in December at age 71.

“We hope that this information will bring closure for the family,” Dr. David R. Gifford, health director, said of the medical examiner’s findings. “This death occurred 30 years ago. We hope this gives them peace.”

The medical examiner’s office and the state police “had to locate immediate family and collect a DNA sample for comparison,” said Chief Medical Examiner Thomas Gilson.

“Because the DNA analysis for this case was so highly specialized, the femur and DNA samples from the family were sent to the University of North Texas for analysis.”

Pari and Andy Merola were convicted of murdering Scanlon inside Merola’s social club on Knight Street in Providence.

It marked the first time the state had obtained a murder conviction without a body.