PROVIDENCE, R.I. - Nicholas Pari, an associate of the Patriarca crime family who told police where the body of a man killed in a 1978 mob slaying was buried, died Thursday. He was 71.

State Police Lt. Col. Steven O'Donnell said Pari had been seriously ill, but did not know the cause of death.

Pari was sentenced to seven years in prison for the 1978 slaying of mob associate Joseph "Joe Onions" Scanlon. It was the first case in Rhode Island where prosecutors won a murder conviction without finding the victim's body.

Pari and co-defendant Andy Merola, who died last year, told authorities as part of a plea deal that they tossed Scanlon's remains into Narragansett Bay. Investigators long had doubts since the body never floated to the surface or washed ashore.

The mystery was finally solved last month when police arrested Pari on racketeering, firearms and drug offenses.

Pari then led detectives to an East Providence apartment complex where they eventually dug up bones, a boot and a jacket that police believe are Scanlon's remains. The state medical examiner was working to conclusively identify them.