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Body Dumped In The Bronx Identified As ‘Green Book’ Actor Frank Vallelonga Jr.

UPDATED with family statement: Deadline has confirmed that the NYPD has identified a body found dumped outside a Bronx sheet-metal manufacturing factory Monday as Frank Vallelonga Jr., a sometime actor most notable for his role in 2018’s Green Book. He was 60.

Vallelonga’s family said Thursday that he died November 28.

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In Best Picture Oscar winner Green Book, Vallelonga Jr. portrayed a relative of Viggo Mortensen’s bouncer character Frank “Tony Lip” Vallelonga. Vallelonga Jr. was the real-life son of the bouncer portrayed in the film, who also was an actor best known for playing crime boss Carmine Lupertazzi in The Sopranos. (Vallelonga Sr. died in 2013.)

According to the NYPD, police responded to a 911 call of an unconscious male in front 1243 Oak Point Avenue in the Bronx, early Monday morning. “Upon arrival, police observed an unidentified adult male, unconscious and unresponsive, on the ground at the location.” police said. “The male had no obvious signs of trauma observed. EMS responded to the location and pronounced the male deceased at the scene. The Medical Examiner will determine the cause of death. The investigation is ongoing.”

The New York Post is reporting that its law enforcement sources say Vallelonga Jr. likely was drug-overdose victim.

Steven Smith, 35, of the Bronx, has been arrested and charged with concealment of a human corpse in relation to Vallelonga’s death.

Vallelonga Jr. also had a small role in a 2004 episode of The Sopranos, among other bit parts.

Green Book, about the real-life Italian-American bouncer (Mortensen) who becomes the driver for a Black classical pianist (Mahershala Ali) in the 1960s American South, was written by Peter Farrelly, Brian Hayes Currie and Vallelonga Jr.’s brother Nick Vallelonga.

He is survived by his wife, Angela; a son, Frank; and a brother, Nick.

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