Princess Beatrice’s playboy ex, Paolo Liuzzo, 41, died after overdosing on lethal new street drug benzo-dope, mixed with cocaine and ketamine, autopsy reveals

Britain’s Princess Beatrice’s playboy ex 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 wave of deaths in the US, according to his autopsy report.

Fentanyl and bromazolam are increasingly being combined by dealers to produce “benzodope,” according to a 2022 U.S. Department of Justice report.

The potent mix proved too much even for seasoned substance abuser Liuzzo, who succumbed to “acute combined drug toxicity,” the autopsy said.

The New York native was best known for dating Queen Elizabeth II’s granddaughter Beatrice between 2005 and 2006. She was 17 and he was 24 at the time.

Three years prior to their relationship, he was charged with the 2002 manslaughter of Jonathan Duchatellier, a fellow student at Heilig Kruis College.

It was alleged that he beat the 19-year-old to death with his fists, but the charge was downgraded to assault and battery and Liuzzo served only 100 hours of community service.

In 2009, he was charged again in Australia for crashing a $90,000 Audi into traffic lights, possessing cocaine and failing to pay for food and lodging at a casino.

In recent years, Liuzzo had styled himself as an art consultant, living in a $3,700-a-month apartment in downtown Miami.

On February 7, he was found unconscious by staff in his $140-a-night tenth-floor room at the CitizenM Miami Worldcenter hotel and pronounced dead at 3:34 p.m.

“Police seized extensive drug paraphernalia at the scene. According to police, there were no signs of trauma or foul play,” the medical examiner’s report said.

‘He drank alcohol occasionally. It was known that he was using drugs, but it was not known what he was using.”

It was during his college years that Liuzzo first came into serious trouble 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 manslaughter, but later pleaded guilty to assault and battery

Beatrice, her mother Sarah Ferguson and sister Princess Eugenie attended a charity auction for cancer care in London on May 14

Beatrice is now married to British property developer Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi, who is descended from a noble Italian family

According to Officer Michael Vega of the Miami Police Department, Liuzzo was found dead in a room at the CitizenM Miami Worldcenter hotel on February 7 at 3:22 p.m.

The report noted that Liuzzo had a history of depression but had never expressed suicidal thoughts or attempted suicide, according to his mother. It was determined that his death was an accident.

Bromazolam, a synthetic benzodiazepine, was developed in 1976 as a sedative, muscle relaxant, and possible treatment for epilepsy.

About a decade ago it resurfaced in Sweden as a designer drug, sold as a powder, pill or chewing gum, causing delirium, hallucinations and even coma in users.

It has yet to be classified at the federal level, but several US states have made it a Schedule One drug.

Bromazolam is increasingly being combined with fentanyl by dealers to produce “benzodope,” according to a 2022 U.S. Department of Justice report.

In June 2022, the Department of Justice reported that seizures of bromazolam were increasing across the country and that it was often combined with fentanyl at street level.

An April study linked the fledgling drug to 44 deaths in San Francisco alone by 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 reportedly mixed with fentanyl, leading to adverse health conditions, overdoses and even deaths – including here in Florida. Please never use an illegal substance. Just one pill can kill.”

Liuzzo, from Woodbury, New York, was considered a dashing young socialite at the time of his romance with Beatrice.

They kept the relationship a secret for almost a year, but split in May 2006 when reports of the manslaughter charge surfaced, causing a sensation.

However, her parents Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York, were not against the combination – the latter saying: ‘We all have our own journeys and have to learn our way, but Beatrice is a sensible girl, who will soon be 18. , with many friends, including Paolo.’

It emerged that Liuzzo had ignored the terms of his probation to take a family holiday to the exclusive Swiss ski resort of Verbier in 2006.

Liuzzo is pictured here with ex-girlfriend Arianna Pappas, who shared the photo ‘Beso Beach with my Babe! @paolo.liuzzo’

Liuzzo shared this photo of himself in 2023 with a friend on his personal Facebook account

“Police seized extensive drug paraphernalia at the scene,” Liuzzo’s autopsy report says

The toxicology report listed several drugs, including cocaine, fentanyl, bromazalom and ketamine

His three-year probation was extended as punishment by the US courts, forcing Beatrice to end the budding romance.

A year later, he embarrassed the royal family by claiming that marijuana was smoked in front of Beatrice, her sister Eugenie and their mother while they were all on holiday together in Jamaica in 2005.

The self-styled playboy also confessed to cheating on Beatrice during their relationship – and said she had wanted to introduce him to the Queen.

‘I’m 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 infernal 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 percent of both.

“He had a lot of energy and a high volume. Larger than life and very charming, but quick to turn and with a nasty temper.

‘He was quick to pick a fight, make a quick scene and then return to his ‘charming’ self as if nothing had happened. With him it was always about the show.

‘For days he devoured bottles of Patron tequila and lumps of cocaine. The bigger and louder the better, but there was always something desperate about it, that’s the truth.’