John Parisella

Parisella was born in Brooklyn[6] to an Italian Catholic family.[7][8] Parisella started his career as an assistant to Tommy Gullo, a legendary betting trainer.[6] His mentor was horse trainer John P. Campo.[9] Later he became a full-fledge horse trainer training horses for his uncle Joe Scandore who managed horses for James Caan, Don Adams, Telly Savalas and Don Rickles.[6][10]

Parisella pioneered the use of foreign horses, mostly from Canada and turning them into stakes winners.[6] John also trained several stakes winners for owner Ted Sabarese in the 1980s.

Parisella has been married twice:

• In 1975, he married Bernadette Birk, the former wife of Jewish American horse trainer Robert J. Frankel.[11][12] Parisella and Frankel were originally friends as well as competitors.[6] Parisella raised his step-daughter Bethenny Frankel (Birk's daughter with Frankel) as his own child from the time she was five years old.[11] Bethenny went on to become a reality TV star and entrepreneuer.[11]
• He was also married to Melissa Parisella, with whom he has a daughter, Gabrielle (b. 1989).[10][13] They divorced and Melissa has since re-married twice: first to American football player Mike Keller, with whom she had two children,[14] and later to Robert Coveney.

Parisella appeared twice on the Johnny Carson Show.[6]