Overview
- Authorities detained Grant McIver, Bruce Epperson, Eddie Barreto, John Nicolas and Roy Nicolas this week after a multiagency probe in New York City and Long Island.
- Court documents cite charges of distribution of controlled substances resulting in death, and federal sources told People the case is being pursued as homicide by sale of narcotics.
- Prosecutors allege the group sold thousands of fentanyl-laced counterfeit Xanax and Percocet pills marketed through social media platforms.
- The network is linked in the indictment to at least three deaths of 19-year-olds in summer 2023, including Leandro De Niro Rodríguez and Akira Stein.
- The medical examiner previously ruled Leandro’s death an accidental intoxication involving fentanyl and other substances, and an earlier defendant, Sophia H. Marks, remains separately charged as the wider investigation continues.