Grieving Robert De Niro is joined by daughter Drena and his friend Harvey Keitel at wake for the actor’s 19-year-old grandson – who died after taking fentanyl-laced pills at his $1M Wall Street home
- Leandro De Niro Rodriguez was found dead in his Wall Street apartment on Sunday, and his mother said he had been sold pills laced with fentanyl
- On Thursday a wake was held at an Upper East Side chapel where the lives of Jackie Kennedy Onassis, John Lennon and Heath Ledger were celebrated
- Robert De Niro was accompanied by his Taxi Driver co-star and friend of 50 years Harvey Keitel
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Robert De Niro on Thursday attended the wake for his 19-year-old grandson Leandro, who died after taking fentanyl-laced pills.
The teenager’s lifeless body was found sitting in a chair beside white powder inside a $950,000, one-bedroom apartment in the Cipriani Club Residences on Wall Street, New York, on Sunday.
His mother Drena De Niro – an American actress adopted by De Niro after the actor married her mother, Diahnne Abbott in 1976 – announced his death on Monday, saying: ‘I wish that love alone could have saved you’.
On Thursday the family held a wake in New York City at the Frank E. Campbell Funeral Chapel, in Manhattan’s Upper East Side. The funeral chapel has also tended to the corpses of Judy Garland, Heath Ledger, John Lennon and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis.
The 79-year-old Oscar-winner was supported by Harvey Keitel, his Taxi Driver co-star and friend of 50 years, and Keitel’s wife, Canadian film director Daphna Kastner.
Robert De Niro is seen at his grandson Leandro’s wake in New York City on Thursday
Drena De Niro is seen hugging Harvey Keitel after Thursday’s ceremony
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Drena De Niro, 51, announced the tragic loss of her son Leandro on Monday, saying: ‘I wish that love alone could have saved you.’ Leandro is pictured with his mother Drena and grandfather
Robert De Niro covered his face with a newspaper as left his home to travel to the funeral chapel.
Drena De Niro arrived hand in hand with her ex-husband, Carlos Rodriguez, a 51-year-old artist and Leandro’s father.
The actor, who became a father of seven when he welcomed a daughter with his girlfriend in April, said in a statement issued earlier this week that he was ‘deeply distressed by the passing of my beloved grandson Leo.’
He added: ‘We’re greatly appreciative of the condolences from everyone. We ask that we please be given privacy to grieve our loss of Leo.’
Drena is Robert De Niro’s eldest child.
He is also father to Raphael, a 46-year-old real estate broker; twin sons Aaron and Julian, an actor, both 27; Elliot, a 25-year-old with autism who has competed in the Special Olympics in tennis; and Helen, aged 11.
On April 3 this year the actor welcomed daughter Gia Virginia Chen-De Niro with his partner, Tiffany Chen, 45.
