Spinell died in his apartment located off Greenpoint Avenue in Sunnyside, Queens, New York on January 13, 1989, at the age of 52. Sometime during that morning, he cut himself badly on his glass shower stall door after apparently slipping in the bathtub while showering. Soon afterward he fell asleep on his living room couch instead of calling for help, and his hemophilia caused him to bleed to death. Spinell was buried in Calvary Cemetery, Queens near his home.
