A Cranford Township Committee meeting ground to a halt Tuesday when fog began pouring from a giant purple bong costume worn by a North Plainfield man, forcing officials to call a recess and summon the fire department. The man behind the costume, Michael Vintzileos, who goes by the persona “Bongholeo,” insisted the substance was nothing more than harmless water vapor.
According to Cranford Mayor Kathleen Prunty, Vintzileos was asked to stop the smoke or leave the room but refused, and some audience members became visibly upset as the fog filled the room, as reported by NJ.com. Township Committee members called a recess as the fog spread, and Cranford local authorities responded to the meeting-room fog. Vintzileos’s costume released fog while a smoke-alarm recording and a warning to move to fresh air played, and per Vintzileos, the Cranford Fire Department opened the windows to address it.
Police told Vintzileos he could re-enter if he removed the costume, and he complied with the instruction to leave the building, according to his own account. He said officials made a big scene and spectacle of the incident, and claimed authorities and committee members never actually asked what substance was billowing from his costume. Prunty, for her part, said non-Cranford residents have a right to speak at meetings but that disruptive antics posing a safety issue will not be tolerated, adding that no one, including nonresidents, has been denied the opportunity to speak.
A Regular at the Podium
Vintzileos adjusted the microphone to accommodate his costume before eating potato chips and performing a parody song during his allotted public-comment time. He is a fixture at municipal meetings across the state, and says he attends them specifically to hold what he calls unchecked power accountable, documenting his experiences on social media as he goes.
He was not the only costumed provocateur in the room. Leonard Filipowski, who uses the name “Leroy Truth,” played the Star-Spangled Banner on a melodica and asked the mayor and committee to rise as a reminder to protect unity and fundamental freedoms, at one point likening Cranford to North Korea. Filipowski also condemned the July 7 arrest of Cranford resident Will Thilly, a case that has become a touchstone for the activist circuit that regularly turns up at these meetings.
Cannabis Advocates Join the Chaos
A third activist, known only as El Rampador, represented SativaCross.org, a New Jersey nonprofit that advocates for medical cannabis patients’ home-cultivation rights and disability access, according to Sativa Cross. El Rampador attended in a wheelchair and wearing a luchador mask, condemning the arrests of people of color for growing marijuana and calling the situation disgusting. He also criticized a lack of wheelchair accessibility at dispensaries, police stations and post offices, and said the lectern’s location in the meeting room amounts to a fire hazard. According to Cranford Township’s official accessibility page, its ADA Coordinator is responsible for ensuring that all township programs, services and activities are accessible.
The Cranford Township Committee says its public comment period is meant to provide a forum for residents to express opinions, concerns or ideas, per the committee’s own statement. Whether that forum can accommodate theatrical protest without descending into disorder has become a recurring flashpoint in Cranford and beyond.
A Pattern That Predates the Bong
Cranford has seen this kind of public-comment spectacle before. Local resident Will Thilly drew at least 1.6 million social-media views the previous year after performing a breakdance, backspin and moonwalk during a Township Committee meeting to protest property tax increases and developer tax exemptions, a moment covered by CBS News. Thilly, a former local committee candidate, routinely used silent dances and theatrics during his allotted five minutes at the microphone.
That history took a darker turn on July 7, when Thilly was arrested during his removal from the Cranford meeting and charged with aggravated assault on a police officer after exceeding his public comment limit while playing music through a portable speaker. Police reported that Thilly deliberately fell to the floor during his removal, injuring an officer’s knee, according to Patch. The earlier arrest preceded Tuesday’s meeting.
Legal Battles Follow the Activists
Filipowski’s own legal troubles run deeper than one meeting. He was indicted by a grand jury in April on a charge of third-degree aggravated assault of a Union City police officer stemming from a November 2025 public records dispute, and was arraigned in Essex County Superior Court while maintaining that video evidence exonerates him, according to the Hudson County View. A separate federal civil rights lawsuit he filed against Union City Mayor Brian Stack and state officials, alleging illegal meeting removals and harassment under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, was dismissed by a federal judge last September.
Vintzileos has his own history of pushing back through the courts. An Edison Township ordinance bans costumes, masks and props during public comment and caps remarks at four minutes, prompting Vintzileos to file a tort claim against the township in March 2025 alleging First Amendment violations. He also filed a federal civil rights lawsuit with fellow activist Steven Wronko against the Borough of Lavallette over July 2023 arrests related to videotaping a council meeting after it officially began, a case a federal judge evaluated last November.
Same Night, Different Town
Tuesday’s Cranford disruption was not an isolated stop for Vintzileos. The previous Tuesday, he also disrupted a Franklin Township council meeting in Somerset County to oppose automated license plate readers, clashing with the mayor over demands for his name and address, according to New Jersey 101.5. Franklin Township operates 22 state-funded Flock surveillance cameras that have drawn heavy public backlash. Vintzileos said he had not decided whether he or Bongholeo would show up to the next Cranford meeting, though he anticipated returning, and he planned to attend a Kenilworth meeting the following evening.
The Legal Line Between Speech and Disruption
Questions about public access and a mayor’s authority to maintain order sit at the center of the recurring standoffs playing out in Cranford and other towns. Gov. Phil Murphy signed a separate update to the same law last year allowing municipalities to post meeting notices online rather than in print newspapers starting in March 2026, part of a broader modernization of the decades-old Sunshine Law.
