Yahoo News ‘Green Book’ Actor Frank Vallelonga Jr. Cause Of Death Disclosed
Green Book actor Frank Vallelonga Jr. died of an accidental overdose of fentanyl and cocaine, the New York City medical examiner’s office has determined.
The cause of death was confirmed by Deadline.
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The overdose occurred before Vallelonga’s body was dumped on a Bronx sidewalk last November.
Vallelonga was 60 years old when he died Nov. 28. His body was subsequently left on a sidewalk outside a Bronx sheet-metal manufacturing factor. The New York Police Department responded to a 911 call and found Vallelonga deceased at the scene.
The official cause of death is “acute intoxication due to combined effects of fentanyl and cocaine.”
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.)
Vallelonga Jr. also had a small role in a 2004 episode of The Sopranos, among other bit parts.
Steven Smith, 35, of the Bronx, was arrested and charged with concealment of a human corpse in relation to Vallelonga’s death.
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.
Frank Vallelonga Jr. was survived by his wife, Angela; a son, Frank; and a brother, Nick.
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