Five men have been arrested in connection with the accidental 2023 drug overdose of 19-year-old Leandro De Niro Rodriguez, the grandson of acting legend Robert De Niro, the Drug Enforcement Administration announced Thursday in a press conference.
“Today we recognize that justice was sought and served in the tragic overdose deaths and poisonings of our most vulnerable — our children,” said New York DEA special agent in charge Frank Tarentino. “Bailey Shaw, 18. Akira Stein, 19. Leandro De Niro Rodriguez, 19.”
“Taken from us far too soon,” he continued.
According to court documents obtained by HuffPost, the defendants were part of a “criminal network that distributed thousands of counterfeit prescription opioid pills laced with fentanyl, among other drugs” to New York City teenagers and adults.
The defendants — Grant McIver, Bruce Epperson, Eddie Barreto, John and Roy Nicolas — each face one count of conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance resulting in death. The DEA notes this carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 20 years in prison.
Rodriguez was found dead in a Manhattan apartment on July 2, 2023, from the “toxic” combination of fentanyl, alprazolam, 7-aminoclonazepam, ketamine, bromazolam and cocaine, an autopsy confirmed.
Rodriguez isn’t named in the indictment, though his age and date of death align with the document’s description of “Victim-3.” The subsequent press conference Thursday confirmed the five new arrests were made in connection with his and two other deaths.
“Victim-1” appears to be Stein, the late daughter of Blondie co-founder Chris Stein, who was also 19 when she overdosed in May 2023. “Victim-2,” potentially Shaw, died the next month. Sophia Marks, then 20, was arrested in July 2023 in connection with Rodriguez’s death.
Dubbed the “Percocet Princess,” she was booked on federal drug distribution charges.
Tarentino said Thursday, “While no verdict, sentence or ruling can ever truly erase the pain of these losses, these … operations affirm that accountability matters. Today … we’re able to provide these families … some answers to their long-awaited question: ‘Why?’”
De Niro said in a statement one day after his grandson was found that he was “deeply distressed” and asked for privacy. Rodriguez was the only child of the Oscar winner’s oldest daughter, Drena De Niro — who published an emotional Instagram post at the time.
“I have loved you beyond words or description from the moment I felt you in my belly,” she wrote in a caption accompanying his photo. “You have been my joy my heart and all that was ever pure and real in my life. I wish I was with you right now. I wish I was with you.”
De Niro told People in 2024, “It’s just a shock.” [I] never thought it would happen.”
“And I just then started thinking about all the things I could have, should have done maybe with him,” he continued at the time. “I don’t know if that would’ve made a difference. And so that’s always playing through my mind. It shouldn’t have happened.”
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