5 accused of causing the overdose death of Robert De Niro’s grandson
The DEA, NYPD, Homeland Security and the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York today announced the indictment of five suspects in the overdose deaths of Leandro De Niro Rodriguez, the 19-year-old grandson of actor Robert De Niro, and two other teens.
The New York City Medical Examiner revealed last August that Rodriguez died on July 2 from the toxic effects of a drug combination that included fentanyl, bromazolam, alprazolam, 7-aminoclonazepam, ketamine and cocaine.
Today’s indictment charges Bruce Epperson, Eddie Barretto, Grant McIver, John Nicholas and Roy Nicholas with participating in a conspiracy to distribute fentanyl and other drugs that caused the overdose deaths of De Niro Rodriguez, a second unidentified victim, and Akira Stine. All the victims were 19 years old. The charges carry a mandatory minimum sentence of 20 years in prison and a maximum penalty of life in prison.
According to Manhattan U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton, the defendants operated a fentanyl distribution network that sold pills to teens and young adults “and relied heavily on social media to target young drug users.” Specifically, they are accused of distributing “mixtures and substances containing 400 grams or more of fentanyl, mixtures and substances containing a detectable amount of parafluorofentanyl, and mixtures and substances containing a detectable amount of alprazolam.”
The documents allege that during one three-month period in the summer of 2023, the pills distributed by the defendants caused the deaths of at least three people.
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On or about May 30, 2023, Stein — identified in the indictment as Victim 1 — died in her family’s apartment in midtown Manhattan after taking fentanyl-laced pills that she had purchased from John Nicholas and Roy Nicholas a day earlier. Over the six months leading up to her fatal overdose, John Nicola and Roy Nicola repeatedly sold various pills containing fentanyl to Stine. Stein suffered multiple non-fatal overdoses as a result of taking those pills.
Approximately two weeks after Stine’s fatal overdose, on or about June 13, 2023, a second victim — identified in the indictment as Victim-2 — died in his family’s apartment in midtown Manhattan after inhaling a crushed pill that was laced with fentanyl and a more potent fentanyl analogue supplied to him by CC-1, which CC-1 obtained from McIver.
Less than a month after Victim 2’s death, on or about July 2, 2023, De Niro Rodriguez — identified in the indictment as Victim 3 — died of a fatal overdose inside a friend’s apartment in midtown Manhattan after ingesting a fentanyl-laced pill he had purchased from CC-1 the day before. At that time, CC-1 was selling grain provided to CC-1 by McIver, Epperson, and Barreto.
De Niro Rodriguez, an actor who appeared in the 2018 Bradley Cooper film A star is born. Robert De Niro said at the time of the young man’s death that he was “deeply saddened by the death of my beloved grandson Leo.”