Five people have been charged in connection with the 2023 overdose death of Robert De Niro’s grandson and two other 19 year olds.

New York authorities accuse the suspects, Bruce Epperson, Eddie Barreto, Grant McIver, John Nicolas, and Roy Nicolas, of running a fentanyl distribution network that sold counterfeit prescription opioid pills through social media to teenagers and young adults in the city.

Authorities link the network to the overdose deaths of Leandro De Niro-Rodriguez, Akira Stein – daughter of Blondie co-founder Chris Stein – and a third unnamed victim.

The five are each charged with conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute.

“Through their alleged actions, these defendants left behind a trail of irreversible loss that cut short the lives of three teenagers who held boundless potential and who had already made profound, immeasurable impacts on those who knew them,” said Homeland Security Investigations New York special agent in charge Ricky Patel in a statement on Thursday.

Prosecutors allege the five used social media and encrypted messaging apps to sell thousands fentanyl-laced pills in New York between January and July 2023.

They allege that over that summer, the drugs they sold led to at least three deaths.

Stein was found dead 30 May after taking fentanyl-laced pills she allegedly purchased from John and Roy Nicolas. The unnamed victim, who died 13 June, allegedly purchased pills through an intermediary from Mr McIver.

Authorities say De Niro-Rodriguez, who died 2 July, got pills from a dealer who allegedly obtained them from Mr McIver, Mr Epperson, and Mr Barreto.

Separatedly in 2023, a woman was arrested for allegedly selling De Niro-Rodriguez three counterfeit oxycodone pills containing fentanyl – the drugs believed to have led to his death – and tablets of Xanax.

In a statement after the death of his grandson, Academy-Award winner De Niro said he was “deeply distressed” by the passing of his “beloved grandson”, who was the only child of his daughter Drena.

In a statement on Instagram on Thursday, Chris Stein noted the arrests in his daughter’s case and thanked officials “for this hope of some justice for her”.

If found guilty, the charges carry a mandatory minimum sentence of 20 years in prison and a maximum sentence of life in prison, officials said.