Two men have been charged with providing fentanyl-laced heroin that killed Cecilia Gentili, a prominent transgender activist and actress who was found dead in her Brooklyn home in February.
The indictment accused Michael Kuilan, 44, and Antonio Venti, 52, of supplying Ms. Gentili with the drugs, according to an announcement Monday by federal prosecutors in New York. It was the first time that officials have disclosed Ms. Gentili’s cause of death.
Ms. Gentili was a well-known community leader, activist and actress on the critically acclaimed television show “Pose.” Her death, at age 52, was met with an outpouring of grief from the L.G.B.T.Q. community, and she was mourned by New York elected officials, including Gov. Kathy Hochul, Mayor Eric Adams and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
Her life was celebrated with an energetic and politically charged funeral at St. Patrick’s Cathedral, the seat of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York, which subsequently denounced the event after fiery backlash from conservative news media over the comportment of some of the mourners.
Breon Peace, United States attorney for the Eastern District of New York, said in a statement on Monday that Ms. Gentili had been “tragically poisoned in her Brooklyn home from fentanyl-laced heroin.”
“Fentanyl is a public health crisis,” he added. “Our office will spare no effort in the pursuit of justice for the many New Yorkers who have lost loved ones due to this lethal drug.”
