Five alleged drug dealers are facing felony charges for their involvement in the death of Leandro De Niro-Rodriguez, the grandson of acting legend Robert De Niro.
A federal grand jury in New York indicted the quintet on Tuesday, each on a single felony count of conspiracy to distribute controlled substances resulting in death, according to court documents filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. Prosecutors allege the men were “members of a criminal network that distributed thousands of counterfeit prescription pills laced with fentanyl, among other drugs” to young adults and teenagers living in New York City.
The men arrested by New York officials this week — identified as Grant McIver, Bruce Epperson, Eddie Barreto, John Nicolas and Roy Nicolas — allegedly used social media to sell the drugs. Prosecutors underscored that the men’s “drug dealing had deadly consequences: over a three-month span in the summer of 2023,” alleging their drugs led to the deaths of three 19-year-olds.
Though the indictment did not disclose the victims’ identities, law enforcement confirmed the deaths include De Niro-Rodriguez’s in July 2023, according to severalreports. At the time of her son’s death, actor-producer Drena De Niro — the Oscar winner’s eldest daughter with ex-wife Diahnne Abbott — said “someone sold [Leandro] fentanyl-laced pills that they knew were laced yet still sold them to him.”
A month after the young “A Star Is Born” actor’s death, the New York City Office of the Chief Medical Examiner confirmed De Niro-Rodriguez died of an accidental drug overdose, noting he succumbed to the toxic effects of fentanyl, bromazolam, alprazolam, 7-aminoclonazepam, ketamine and cocaine.
Akira Stein, daughter of Blondie co-founder Chris Stein, was also an alleged victim. Stein announced his daughter’s death in July 2023, months after she died “at the end of May to an overdose.”
“The DEA and US Attorney folks from the NYC Southern District have been really very sympathetic and respectful all through this process and I can’t thank them enough for this hope of some justice for her,” Stein wrote in reaction to news of the arrests Thursday. “Please be careful.”
Shortly after De Niro-Rodriguez’s death, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York confirmed that law enforcement had arrested a woman, an alleged drug dealer known as the “Percocet Princess,” for her suspected connection with his death. She was arrested on charges of selling drugs to De Niro-Rodriguez.
In a July 2023 statement, “Killers of the Flower Moon” and “Raging Bull” star De Niro said, “I’m deeply distressed by the passing of my beloved grandson Leo.”
“We’re greatly appreciative of the condolences from everyone,” he said. “We ask that we please be given privacy to grieve our loss of Leo.”
Owen Cooper has made history with his Primetime Emmy Award nomination, as Netflix’s surprise hit of 2025 has been smashing records again
Netflix’s unexpected smash hit of 2025 continues to shatter records, a full four months after its initial release on the streaming giant.
The buzz is palpable as the complete roster of Primetime Emmy Award nominations was unveiled this Tuesday (15th July).
Set for this September, television’s most prestigious night will witness titans like Severance, The Last of Us, and The Bear vie for top honours.
In a historic moment, Adolescence’s young sensation Owen Cooper has become the youngest nominee ever in the Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series category, surpassing a record that stood for over half a century, previously held by Scott Jacoby who was nominated at 16 for the 1972 TV movie That Certain Summer.
In the gripping Netflix series, Cooper delivers a compelling performance as Jamie Miller, a 13 year old boy detained under suspicion of murdering a female classmate, reports the Express.
Owen Cooper is the youngest person to ever be nominated in this category(Image: NETFLIX)
Stephen Graham, Cooper’s co-star, hailed him as a “rare talent” on The One Show, comparing the prodigious actor to the legendary Robert De Niro.
Graham himself has been acknowledged with a nomination for Best Lead Actor in a Limited Series and received accolades for his role in penning the acclaimed drama alongside Jack Thorne.
Ashley Walters, another cast member, earned recognition in the supporting actor category for his portrayal of DI Luke Bascombe.
Speaking to Deadline, Cooper confessed “it’s crazy” upon receiving one of his first significant awards nominations.
“It’s been the best year of my life,” he continued. “Now it’s over a little bit, I’m going back to a bit of normality. School has been perfectly fine.”
Having caught the eye of Hollywood bigwigs, Cooper is lined up to appear alongside Jacob Elordi and Margot Robbie in the forthcoming Wuthering Heights adaptation by Saltburn director Emerald Fennell.
His co-star Stephen Graham compared the young actor to Robert De Niro(Image: NETFLIX)
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Sky is giving away a free Netflix subscription with its new Sky Stream TV bundles, including the £15 Essential TV plan.
This lets members watch live and on-demand TV content without a satellite dish or aerial and includes hit shows like The Last of Us and Black Mirror.
During filming, Cooper disclosed that Adolescence was gaining such traction on Netflix that his fellow actors couldn’t ignore it.
“They were all saying how big the show’s gone,” he shared with a grin.
“And they were sick of seeing me on TV and stuff. That’s what Jacob said. Margot said that she was dying to watch it.”
Both audiences and critics have unanimously hailed Adolescence as a “masterpiece” making it an essential addition to your watchlist if you’ve yet to discover this gem.
Celebrities and the world’s toddlers adore the long-running Aussie children’s TV entertainers, but now in it’s third reincarnation, the punishing schedule has taken its toll on the kiddie supergroup
(Image: Getty Images)
Robert De Niro, Dolly Parton and Jessie J are fans, they’re worth millions and play sell-out concerts around the world. The Wiggles – aka The Beatles for toddlers – are a preschooler’s entertainment juggernaut that has taken over the world.
They’ve got a new country album out, Wiggle Up Giddy Up, featuring two songs with the rhinestone queen herself, Dolly Parton. And tickets to their current world tour are hotter than an Oasis reunion gig.
They have previously sold out Madison Square Garden in New York for 12 days in a row and, ahead of this week’s show in the US, Hollywood legend De Niro, 81, was granted a backstage pass with his two-year-old daughter, Gia, to meet her idol – founder member, Anthony Field (Blue Wiggle).
Like most people over the age of five, De Niro didn’t have a clue about this global phenomenon until he had Gia with professional martial artist girlfriend Tiffany Chen, 45.
The Wiggles sang their classic banger Rock-A-Bye Your Bear for the veteran actor’s family, which drew a rare smile. And De Niro admitted: “I didn’t know of them until I started seeing them and my daughter loves to watch them… but they’re great!”
Jessie J and son Sky meet The Wiggles and Tree of Wisdom at their Bouncing Balls Tour in Croydon in May 2025(Image: Mike Marsland/Getty Images for T)
With the advent of YouTube and the arrival of their shows on Netflix, a new British audience is embracing The Wiggles.
When they came to the UK recently, Jessie J met them with her son Sky and was treated to some of the Tree of Wisdom’s viral TikTok dance moves.
They’re also part of a wave of Australian children’s TV, like Bluey, that is captivating British kids, giving them Aussie accents and pushing CBeebies off the map.
Borkowski PR’s Gregor Cubie expects his 19-month-old to join the fan club soon, and wonders if ‘Aussie-ness’ is the magic ingredient wooing international audiences.
“In the same way that Bluey is almost universally popular and accessible, The Wiggles’ sheer Aussie-ness might work in their favour when it comes to their reputation,” he says.
But, scratch the surface, according to Gregor, and you’ll find a long-running supergroup, dogged by controversy, ill health and accusations of “going woke”.
The Wiggles’ original line-up Jeff Fatt, Anthony Field, Greg Page and Murray Cook perform in Sydney in December 2012(Image: Getty Images)
One of Australia’s most successful exports, The Wiggles take it in turns with pop sensation Kylie Minogue and Hollywood actor Russell Crowe to top the Aussie rich list.
Majority owner Anthony is estimated to be worth £25m, on top of the £10 million a year the band rakes in from tours, TV shows, new releases, merchandise and sponsorships.
They have their own TV series Ready, Steady, Wiggle, have produced 62 studio albums, sold 40 million books, CDs and DVDS, and attracted more than 5 billion views on YouTube and 3 billion streams across various music services.
They’ve been making ear-worm sing-a-long pop since 1991, when kindergarten teaching students Anthony and Jeff Fatt, who were members of the R&B pop band the Cockroaches, and got together with two fellow students – Murray Cook and Greg Page – in Sydney, to make an album of simple, catchy songs for pre-schoolers
After Anthony’s infant niece tragically died from sudden infant death syndrome, the Cockroaches disbanded.
Founder Blue Wiggle Anthony performs at Falls Festival Melbourne in December 2022(Image: Getty Images)
One of the songs Anthony wrote, Get Ready to Wiggle, inspired the new band’s name because they thought “wiggling” describes how children dance.
“We met at university doing a course in early childhood – this connection with music and teaching is what became The Wiggles,” explains Anthony.
While The Wiggles has evolved since those early days, the four original members hold a special place in people’s hearts – Anthony and Jeff Fatt (Purple Wiggle), Murray Cook (Red Wiggle) and Greg Page (Yellow Wiggle). And their hits like Hot Potato and Fruit Salad, were toddler dance floor fillers for the next two decades.
While members have changed, the primary colours of red, yellow, blue and purple that they wear is no doubt the secret of the Wiggles’ success with the ankle biters.
In Hot Potato: The Story of the Wiggles 2023 documentary, Anthony says: “It doesn’t matter who wears the skivvies, as long as we reflect our audience and communicate with children.”
The Wriggles with stand-in Sam Moran after he replaced Yellow Wriggle Greg Page who had to leave the band due to illness in 2006(Image: Getty Images)
Like any band, they had to break America to go truly global – and when the Disney Channel played them four times a day to their 85 million subscribers, their success was meteoric. All of a sudden, they were playing 10,000 seater arenas.
PR, Gregor puts their success down to a “combination of their prolific output with its ceaseless ability to hypnotise toddlers”.
He adds: “Also, a less extreme version of the Royal Family’s ‘never complain, never explain’ approach. Instead of saying nothing, they say the bare minimum and carry on as if nothing happened.
“You rarely see naval-gazing and the consistency and popularity of their work keeps generations of kids coming back for more.”
While there aren’t many skeletons to rattle in The Wiggle cupboards, behind their happy faces and signature finger point, members have been dogged by setbacks.
Jeff Fatt, Murray Cook, Greg Page and Anthony Field attend the Hot Potato: The Story Of The Wiggles world premiere in Sydney in October 2023(Image: Getty Images for SXSW Sydney)
Controversies include the Hot Potato incident two years ago, when a council in Western Australia played their famous song on loop to deter anti-social behaviour at a homeless shelter.
The Wiggles complained, saying their music should only be used to “spread joy and happiness” but the damage was done.
But the fact De Niro was happy to be pictured with The Wiggles is a massive endorsement.
“Robert De Niro seems increasingly like the kind of guy who considers how his every public appearance and utterance might affect his legacy, so it’s a pretty major stamp of approval that he’s happy to be publicly associated with the Wiggles. Fundamentally they are free of reputation risk,” says Gregor.
“The irony is that the Wiggles have had a few controversies which are fairly stereotypical of long-running bands – walkouts, inter-band marriages and divorces; allegations that a song is racially insensitive, accusations of going ‘woke.’ They’ve been ruthlessly parodied on 30 Rock and, of course, the Hot Potato incident was unpleasant.”
Robert De Niro meets Captain Feathersword aka Paul Paddick of The Wiggles on June 28, 2025 in New York City(Image: Getty Images)
For members of The Wiggles, the squeaky clean expectations can be tricky.
“During my time in The Wiggles, I was out at a gig one night and I was having a drink, and the next day a newspaper reported: ‘The Wiggles member caught having a beer’, and that was a shock. I am an adult!” says Murray.
And doing 400 to 500 shows a year – cramming up to three gigs into a single day – took its toll on the original members, with Jeff, Murray and Greg retiring for health reasons in 2012.
A mystery illness forced Greg to leave in 2006. He was replaced by Sam Morans, but came back in 2012. Then he suffered a heart attack on stage during a 2020 reunion show. That same year, Murray had open heart surgery.
Revealing his own struggles, Anthony released a memoir Out Of The Blue last year, detailing the years of mental and physical health problems he’s suffered, including depression, undiagnosed ADHD and chronic pain.
The second Wiggles line-up, left to right, Simon Pryce, Emma Watkins, Lachlan Gillespie and Anthony in New York in 2015(Image: Getty Images)
Yet Field created a second generation of Wiggles with Simon Pryce (Red Wiggle), Lachlan Gillespie (Purple Wiggle) and the first female, Emma Watkins (Yellow Wiggle).
“We might be responsible for their first experience of music,” says Emma, speaking about their responsibility to their tiny fans
Sadly, trouble soon upended their paradise, as shortly after Yellow Wiggle Emma married Purple Wiggle Lachie, they divorced and she left the group not long after.
Another shake-up in 2021 saw 15-year-old Tsehay Hawkins becoming Yellow Wiggle.
Now 62, Anthony is the only remaining original Wiggle, in a group of eight performers – Tsehay, Lachlan, and Simon, as well as Caterina Mete, Lucia Field, Simon Pryce, Evie Ferris, John Pearce – who are as gender-diverse and racially-diverse as their millions of fans.
The new extended Wiggles crew at Croydon meeting Jessie J in Croydon in May 2025(Image: Mike Marsland/Getty Images for T)
Costumed characters, played by the more junior Wiggles, include Dorothy the Dinosaur, Henry the Octopus, Wags the Dog, and Captain Feathersword.
While some of the newer members say their estimated £72,000 earnings are a fraction of the big bucks of the original members, they have given the group a bigger presence on social media, where the Tree of Wisdom (played by Anthony’s nephew, Dominic Field) regularly goes viral on TikTok, with his exuberant dance moves.
And, in recent years, they’ve been noticing something new – a generational crossover, as kids grow up, but remain fans.
Dorothy the Dinosaur is also now a DJ, who remixes the original Wiggles classics for the older audience. And they’ve been getting down with the cool kids – covering songs by Fatboy Slim, White Stripes and Tame Impala’s Elephant.
“We’re bringing back happy memories,” says Anthony. “And it’s a real privilege to do that.”
Altogether now, kids, wiggle, wiggle, wiggle!
Classic kids TV groups down the years:
The Monkees, 1960s – Four cute surfer boys Davy Jones, Mickey Donlenz, Peter Tork and Michael Nesmith running around in zany plots to brilliant pop tracks, in a sitcom that captured the spirit of the era.
The Banana Splits, 1970s – Four costumed animal characters who’d perform songs and comedy skits in a psychedelic world, was just as weird and fun as it sounds. The makers had clearly been on the wacky baccy.
The Teletubbies on their 25th anniversary in 2022(Image: PA)
Rainbow, 1980s – Presenter Geoffrey and his camp puppets Zippy, George and Bungle and hippy singers Rod, Jane and Freddy took us “Up above the streets and houses, Rainbow climbing high” every week. I still miss them.
Teletubbies, 1990s – Some called it the most disturbing children’s show on TV – but even now millions of babies are glued to repeats of these four tubby aliens, Tinky-Winky, Dipsy, Laa-laa, and Po, with coat hangers on their heads living on a mini golf course.
Zingzillas, 2000s – Puppet monkey band Zak, Tang, Panzee and Drum lived on a tropical island and made real music together and introduced tots to rock, soul, jazz and samba styles – along with some dodgy titles like Do You Didgeridoo?
