The playboy ex of Britain’s Princess Beatrice had a deadly new street drug in his system when he overdosed in a Miami hotel room, DailyMail.com can exclusively reveal.
Paolo Liuzzo, 41, tested positive for ketamine, cocaine, fentanyl and bromazolam, a powerful new depressant linked to a series of deaths across the United States, according to his autopsy report.
Traffickers are increasingly combining fentanyl and bromazolam to produce ‘benzo-drugs’, according to a 2022 report from the US Department of Justice.
The potent mixture proved too much even for seasoned substance abuser Liuzzo, who succumbed to the “acute toxicity of the combined drugs,” the autopsy states.
Princess Beatrice’s “first love,” Paolo Liuzzo, was found dead inside a Miami hotel room of a suspected overdose at age 41 after a long battle with drugs, gambling and violence. The couple appears together in Paris.
The New York native was best known for dating Queen Elizabeth II’s granddaughter Beatrice between 2005 and 2006. She was 17 at the time and he was 24.
Three years before their relationship, he was charged with the 2002 manslaughter of Jonathan Duchatellier, a fellow student at the College of the Holy Cross.
It was alleged that he killed the 19-year-old with his fists, but the charges were downgraded to assault and battery and Liuzzo served just 100 hours of community service.
In 2009 he faced new charges in Australia for crashing a $90,000 Audi into a traffic light, possessing cocaine and failing to pay for food and accommodation at a casino.
In recent years, Liuzzo had become an art consultant and lived in a $3,700-a-month condo in downtown Miami.
On Feb. 7, staff found him unresponsive inside his $140-per-night 10th-floor room at the CitizenM Miami Worldcenter hotel and pronounced him dead at 3:34 p.m.
‘Police confiscated a large amount of drug paraphernalia at the scene. According to police, there were no signs of trauma or crime,” the medical examiner’s report stated.
‘I drank alcohol from time to time. It was known that she used drugs, but it was unknown what he used.
It was during his college days that Liuzzo had his first serious run-in with the law. In 2002, Liuzzo was convicted in connection with a fight that left a fellow student, 19-year-old Jonathan Duchatellier, dead.
Liuzzo was initially charged with involuntary manslaughter, but later pleaded guilty to one count of assault and battery.
Beatrice, her mother Sarah Ferguson and sister Princess Eugenie attended a charity auction for cancer treatment in London on May 14.
Beatrice is now married to British property developer Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi, who is descended from a noble Italian family.
Liuzzo was found dead on February 7 in a room at the CitizenM Miami Worldcenter hotel at 3:22 p.m., according to Agent Michael Vega of the Miami Police Department.
The report noted that Liuzzo had a history of depression but had never previously expressed suicidal thoughts or attempted suicide, according to his mother. Her death was determined to be an accident.
Bromazolam, a synthetic benzodiazepine, was created in 1976 as a sedative, muscle relaxant, and possible treatment for epilepsy.
It reemerged as a designer drug in Sweden about a decade ago, being sold in powder, pill or gummi form, causing delirium, hallucinations and even coma in users.
It has not yet been classified at the federal level, but several US states have placed it on schedule one drugs.
Traffickers are increasingly combining bromazolam with fentanyl to produce ‘benzo-drugs’, according to a 2022 report from the US Department of Justice.
In June 2022, the Department of Justice reported that seizures of bromazolam were increasing nationwide and that it was frequently laced with fentanyl on the streets.
An April study linked the nascent drug to 44 deaths in San Francisco alone in 2023.
In January, Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody warned: ‘It is imperative that Floridians understand how dangerous bromazolam is on its own.
‘It is also said to be mixed with fentanyl, causing adverse health conditions, overdoses and even deaths, including here in Florida. Please never use an illicit substance. A single pill can kill.’
Liuzzo, from Woodbury, New York, was considered a handsome young socialite at the time of his romance with Beatrice.
They kept the relationship secret for almost a year, but broke up in May 2006 when reports of the manslaughter charge surfaced, causing a sensation.
However, her parents, Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York, did not oppose the union; the latter she said: “We all have our own journeys and have to learn our way, but Beatrice is a sensible girl, who will soon be 18.” her, with many friends, including Paolo.
It turned out that Liuzzo had broken the conditions of his parole to spend a family vacation in the exclusive Swiss ski resort of Verbier in 2006.
Liuzzo appears here with his ex-girlfriend Arianna Pappas, who captioned the photo ‘Beach kiss with my baby!’ @paolo.liuzzo’
Liuzzo shared this photo of himself with a friend on his personal Facebook account in 2023.
“Police confiscated a large amount of drug paraphernalia at the scene,” Liuzzo’s autopsy report says.
The toxicology report lists several drugs, including cocaine, fentanyl, bromazalom and ketamine.
American courts extended her three-year probation as punishment, forcing Beatrice to end their budding romance.
A year later, he embarrassed the Royal Family by claiming that he smoked marijuana in the presence of Beatrice, her sister Eugenie and her mother, while they were all on vacation together in Jamaica in 2005.
The self-proclaimed playboy also confessed to cheating on Beatrice during their relationship and said he wanted to introduce her to the Queen.
‘I am not a bad person. But it’s like putting heroin in front of Pete Doherty. Women are my weakness,” he boasted, comparing himself to the Libertines musician.
Summing up his sad passing, a former acquaintance told DailyMail.com: ‘Paolo really pushed the image that he was half gangster, half playboy and somehow 100 per cent of both.
‘He had a lot of energy and a lot of volume. Larger than life and quite charming, but quick to turn and with a nasty temper.
‘He was quick to pick a fight, make a scene and then went back to being “charming” as if nothing had happened. With him it was always about the show.
He spent days drinking bottles of Patrón tequila and loads of cocaine. The bigger and louder the better, but there was always something desperate about it, that’s the truth.