After Chef's Sudden Death, Drug Charges for Woman

A woman has been charged with drug crimes connected to the death of Andrea Zamperoni, a prominent New York chef whose body was found Wednesday in a hostel in Queens. Angelina Barini, 41, faces charges involving conspiracy to distribute drugs that contained fentanyl, NBC reports. Court documents say she's also connected to the deaths of two other men who also were found in motels. Barini said she's a prostitute and was paid for sex Aug. 18. According to the documents, she confessed to providing drugs to Zamperoni, per the New York Post, saying that her pimp then would not let her call police for help. Barini is accused of giving drugs to the other two men in July. The official cause of Zamperoni's death has not been released.

Zamperoni, 33, an Italian citizen, was head chef at Cipriani Dolci in Grand Central Terminal. A restaurant statement said he was "a responsible, good-hearted, kind and very hard-working individual who will be deeply missed by all of us," per Grub Street. In a decade, a colleague said, Zamperoni had not missed a day of work. (More fentanyl stories.)