Andrea Zamperoni Cipriani Dolci head chef reported missing found dead at ‘seedy’ Queens hostel. Cause of death remains unconfirmed as celebrated chef is mourned.
The missing head chef at NYC’s upmarket Cipriani Dolci restaurant has been found dead in a Queens hostel, police said Thursday.
Andrea Zamperoni, 33, was found at the Kamway Lodge & Tavern in Elmhurst circa 8:30 p.m. Wednesday after cops responded to a call of an unconscious man. He was found to be unresponsive and declared dead at the scene, the NYPD said. The cause of death remained unclear.
Zamperoni was last seen by his roommates after his Saturday night shift at the chic eatery. Co-workers called police when he didn’t show up for work on Monday.
Sous chef Manuel Ignacio Albo told WNBC-TV that Zamperoni’s roommate said the chef went home to his apartment in Flushing, Queens, after his Saturday shift only to be seen stepping outside and getting into a car.
What happened from there remained a mystery, including who the Cipriani Dolci head chef had driven off with and when Zamperoni arrived at the hostel – and what led to him going to the rooming house.
Missing Cipriani Dolci chef Andrea Zamperoni is found dead in this Elmhurst rooming house. Neighbors complain the Kamway Lodge is a place for prostitutes and drug use. ME to determine cause of death for 33 yr old chef. pic.twitter.com/rIuHHPM6cm
— Al Jones (@aljoneswins) August 22, 2019
Queens hostel facilitating drug use and prostitution:
The Kamway, located near LaGuardia Airport, offers double room for $89 a night according to booking site, Travelocity.com.
The hostel is known as a venue facilitating drug use and prostitution.
Upon officers arriving at the hostel, a naked woman directed responding officers to his body- ABC7 reported.
Police said the cause of death is pending an autopsy by the medical examiner, and that the investigation into Zamperoni’s death is ongoing.
ABC7 cited officials saying that the cause of death appeared to be ‘suspicious.’
NBC New York reported Zamperoni’s mother in Italy being distressed when he missed their daily call Sunday.
The chef, who lived in Woodside, Queens, had worked at Cipriani’s Grand Central Terminal restaurant for more than a year, but had been with the company for more than a decade, including at a company restaurant in London — where his brother works as a chef.
‘Chefs are known for being temperamental. This guy’s a sweetheart,’ Cipriani’s manager, Fernando Callorso, told the nypost. ‘He’s a family man. He’s got a brother in London and a mother in Italy.’
‘It’s very heartbreaking,’ he said. ‘He’s very respected here. He climbed very well in the corporation.’
‘Andrea was a responsible, good-hearted, kind and very hard-working individual who will be deeply missed by all of us,’ Cipriani said in an Instagram statement.
Cipriani Dolci is one of seven Big Apple restaurants owned by Cipriani S.A., an international restaurant corporation with restaurants throughout Europe and in Asia and South America as well as Miami Beach and Los Angeles.
