Investigators have made progress in the overdose case of Leandro De Niro-Rodriguez, Robert De Niro’s 19-year-old grandson, who was found dead in his New York apartment on July 2, 2023. Authorities revealed that five men — Bruce Epperson, Eddie Barreto, Grant McIver, John Nicolas, and Roy Nicolas — were charged with distributing fentanyl-laced pills that caused multiple teen deaths.

Leandro had just moved into his apartment two days earlier to start a Broadway internship after graduating from high school in Aspen. The medical examiner ruled his death accidental, citing toxic effects from fentanyl, cocaine, and other substances.

His mother, Drena De Niro, shared a heartbreaking tribute: “My beautiful sweet angel… I have loved you beyond words or description… I wish I was with you right now.” She later condemned the dealers: “Someone sold him fentanyl laced pills that they knew were laced yet still sold them to him.”

Robert De Niro said, “It’s just a shock. [I] never thought it would happen,” adding that he constantly replays what he “could have, should have done.”

Another victim of the same drug network was Akira Stein, daughter of Blondie co-founder Chris Stein, who also died from a fentanyl-laced pill in 2023.