5 folks have been arrested in reference to Robert De Niro's grandson Leandro De Niro-Rodriguez's deadly drug overdose in 2023.
ABC News reported on Thursday, October 30, that Grant McIver, Bruce Epperson, Eddie Barreto, John Nicolas and Roy Nicolas have been detained on prices of promoting counterfeit prescription opioid drugs laced with fentanyl and different medicine to prosperous youngsters in New York Metropolis. The 5 new defendants have been allegedly a part of a felony community that distributed hundreds of the contaminated drugs, based on prosecutors.
The indictment didn't immediately identify the group's victims however regulation enforcement sources confirmed to the outlet that Leandro and the late Akira Stein — daughter of Blondie cofounder and guitarist Chris Stein — have been amongst those that died from the counterfeit prescribed drugs.
Sophia Marks was previously charged in September 2023 with three counts of distribution of narcotics in reference to Leandro's demise. She was reportedly given the nickname “Percocet Princess” for her alleged drug connections previous to her arrest.
Us Weekly has reached out to Robert's spokesperson for remark.
Based on the New York Metropolis health worker's workplace, Leandro died at age 19 from a deadly mixture of fentanyl, bromazolam, alprazolam, 7-aminoclonazepam, ketamine and cocaine in July 2023. NYPD officers discovered the 19-year-old unresponsive once they answered an emergency name in Decrease Manhattan and later pronounced him lifeless.
Robert De Niro in June 2025. Michael Loccisano/Getty Photos for Tribeca Competition
Robert and his ex-wife Diahnne Abbott's daughter Drena De Niro launched a heartwrenching assertion to verify the demise of her solely son on the time.
“My lovely candy angel. I've cherished you past phrases or description from the second I felt you in my stomach. You might have been my pleasure, my coronary heart and all that was ever pure and actual in my life,” Drena, 58, wrote by way of Instagram in July 2023. “I want I used to be with you proper now. I want I used to be with you.”
She continued. “I don't know learn how to stay with out you however I'll attempt to go on and unfold the love and lightweight that you simply so made me really feel in attending to be your mama. You have been so deeply cherished and appreciated and I want that love alone might have saved you 😞.”
The next day, Robert, 82, mentioned that he was “deeply distressed” in his first public feedback about his grandson Leandro's tragic demise.
Leandro De Niro-Rodriguez Courtesy Instagram / Drena De Niro
“We're vastly appreciative of the condolences from everybody. We ask that we please be given privateness to grieve our lack of Leo,” he requested.
In February 2024, the Meet the Mother and father actor mirrored on his “disbelief” over Leandro's overdose, acknowledging that it was “only a shock” for his total household.
“[I] by no means thought it could occur,” he advised Folks.
The 2-time Academy Award winner admitted that he usually puzzled whether or not he'd finished sufficient to assist his grandson.
“I simply then began enthusiastic about all of the issues I might have, ought to have finished perhaps with him,” Robert mentioned. “I don't know if that may've made a distinction. And in order that's at all times enjoying by my thoughts. … It shouldn't have occurred.”
Robert De Niro is expressing his love for his daughter Airyn, who not too long ago got here out as transgender. “So long as they're not hurting themselves, doing something that's harmful or something like that, it's important to assist them. Interval,” the Oscar winner, 81, mentioned in an interview with Leisure Tonight on Wednesday, June 4. Airyn, 29, […]
Robert is a father of seven kids. He shares eldest daughter Drena and son Raphael De Niro from his 12-year marriage to Abbott, which led to divorce in 1988. Throughout his eight-year relationship with mannequin Toukie Smith, the couple welcomed twins Julian and Airyn.
The Taxi Driver star additionally shares two kids — Elliot and Helen — from his second marriage to Grace Hightower, which lasted from 1997 to 2018. Robert grew to become a father once more at 79 when he and his girlfriend Tiffany Chen welcomed daughter Gia Virginia Chen-De Niro in April 2023.
In the event you or somebody you already know is scuffling with substance abuse, please contact the SAMHSA helpline at 1-800-662-HELP.
