NEW YORK — Robert De Niro’s grandson Leandro De Niro Rodriguez died of a fentanyl overdose after buying laced pills, according to his mother.
Drena De Niro, the adopted daughter of the actor and his first wife, Diahnne Abbott, announced De Niro Rodriguez, 19, had died Monday, a day after his body was found at an apartment in the Financial District.
Police sources and a doorman told the Daily News that cocaine and prescription pills were found strewn around the short-term rental. Investigators are now trying to determine if any of those drugs were spiked with fentanyl and if others are in danger of the same fate if a larger batch is circulating through the city.
The teen’s mom herself indicated on Instagram that the tainted drugs were willingly and knowingly sold to her son, according to a TMZ report.
“Someone sold him fentanyl laced pills that they knew were laced yet still sold them to him,” she wrote in a reply on Instagram. “So for all these people still f—ing around selling and buying this s—, my son is gone forever.”
“None of this is right or fair, and my heart hurts in a way I never knew possible while still breathing and barely functioning,” she captioned a previous post.
The two-time Oscar-winner issued a short statement about his grandson on Monday.
“I’m deeply distressed by the passing of my beloved grandson Leo,” De Niro, 79. “We’re greatly appreciative of the condolences from everyone. We ask that we please be given privacy to grieve our loss of Leo.”
An official cause of death has not been released by the medical examiner.
