Frank Vallelonga Jr.'s cause of death revealed to be from fentanyl and cocaine
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Actor Frank Vallelonga Jr.'s cause of death has been revealed more than four months after his body was found outside of a sheet metal manufacturing factory in the Bronx.
The Green Book star died accidentally from "acute intoxication due to combined effects of fentanyl and cocaine," a spokesperson for the Office of Chief Medical Examiner of the City of New York confirmed to EW.
On Nov. 28, authorities responding to a 911 call discovered Vallelonga Jr. unconscious and unresponsive outside of the building, per a news release obtained by EW. At the time, police noted that the 60-year-old appeared to have "no obvious signs of trauma."
Gregg DeGuire/FilmMagic Frank Vallelonga Jr.
Authorities subsequently arrested Steven Smith, 35, in connection to Vallelonga Jr.'s death and charged him with concealment of a human corpse. In the criminal complaint, Smith claimed that he was not involved in the actor's death and told authorities "that dude was dead already," per New York's News 10.
A warrant was issued for Smith's arrest after he did not appear in court in January, according to the New York Daily News. The current state of the case is unclear.
Vallelonga Jr. starred as family relative Rudy Vallelonga in the Oscar-winning Green Book, which told the story of the friendship between his father Frank "Tony Lip" Vallelonga (Viggo Mortensen) and Black classical pianist Don Shirley (Mahershala Ali). He also appeared in his brother Nick Vallelonga's films — the 1994 thriller A Brilliant Disguise and the 1995 crime drama In the Kingdom of the Blind, the Man with One Eye Is King — as well as episodes of The Sopranos and The Neighborhood.
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