Frank Vallelonga, 'Green Book' Actor & Bergen Restaurateur, Died Of OD

BERGEN COUNTY, NJ — The "Green Book" actor and Franklin Lakes restaurant owner Frank Vallelonga, Jr., who was found dead in late November, died of an accidental overdose, New York City officials announced Monday.

Vallelonga, the owner of a Franklin Lakes restaurant named for his famous father, died of "acute intoxication due to combined effects of fentanyl and cocaine, OCME assistant director of Forensic Biology Mark Desire said.

The actor — who also appeared in the HBO series "The Sopranos" — was 60.

The young Vallelonga was found dumped in a street in The Bronx, while a second man was arrested and charged with concealment of a corpse, New York Police Department officials told Patch at the time.

Vallelonga once ran the now-closed Tony Lip's Italian restaurant, named for the late Frank "Tony Lip" Vallelonga, Sr.

Vallelonga, Sr., whose trip through the South in 1962 inspired the movie "Green Book", was laid to rest in Mahwah, Patch reported.

Just a few weeks ago, the Bergen County Prosecutor's Office "sounded the alarm" about fentanyl in the community, after news broke that four local women were hospitalized, and one subsequently died, as a result of an overdose on the opioid.

"You have to assume that any drug, whether powder, pill or vegetation, that is shared on the street contains fentanyl, and that it can kill you," prosecutor Mark Musella said.