The air was heavy with grief on a brisk, rainy, Friday morning, as hundreds of mourners came together at St. Andrew Avellino Roman Catholic Church in Flushing to show their respects for the late Paul Vallone, a former councilmember who died over the weekend.
The church was packed with a standing-room-only crowd as guests poured inside to pay homage to Vallone, who died of a heart attack on Saturday night at the age of 56. The crowd rose from their seats as a procession led Vallone’s coffin, draped with a satin white cloth with a prominent red cross, to the front of the church.
