In 2017, Perillo was elected as mayor of Tinton Falls at the age of 93, defeating the incumbent mayor, Gerald Turning, by 300 votes. Prior to his election, he had been working as an accountant.

Perillo made national headlines in 2017 when, as a 93-year-old World War II veteran, he decided to enter politics and defeated the borough's incumbent mayor and former police chief Gerald M. Turning.