A New York City drug dealer was found guilty of providing the fentanyl-laced heroin that killed transgender activist Cecilia Gentili. The man was sentenced on Tuesday to 10 years in federal prison.
Gentili was found dead from a drug overdose in her New York City home on February 6th, 2024. She was 52.
Related
Pedro Pascal shares powerful video of trans activist: “We cannot be stopped”
Pascal is known for being incredibly supportive of his trans sister.
According to the coroner’s office, the drugs found in her system were fentanyl, heroin, xylazine, and cocaine.
Never Miss a Beat
Subscribe to our newsletter to stay ahead of the latest LGBTQ+ political news and insights.
Subscribe to our Newsletter today
2 men were charged on April 1st, 2024, in connection with supplying the drugs that led to Gentili’s death. Michael Kuilan of Brooklyn, 45, and Antonio Venti of Long Island, 53, faced charges related to possession of drug paraphernalia with the intent to distribute.
Venti pleaded guilty on July 30th of last year to drug distribution charges. He was sentenced to 5 years in a federal prison and ordered to pay $24,432 in restitution.
Prosecutors claimed that text messages, cell site data, and other miscellaneous evidence showed that Kuilan provided Venti with the drugs that he sold to Gentili. The prosecutors, however, still argued that Venti should receive a lighter sentence as he had expressed remorse over the death of Gentili, whom he considered a close friend.
Kulian pleaded guilty on September 23, 2024. Unlike Venti, Kulian faced a harsher sentence due to his 3 prior state-level felony convictions for drug offenses related to the sale of heroin and because he was also found to be in possession of an unlawful firearm as a convicted felon. Kulian was sentenced to 15-20 years in federal prison and ordered to pay $24,482 in restitution and forfeit $30,000 and a seized firearm.
“Cecilia Gentili was tragically poisoned from fentanyl-laced heroin,” U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York Joseph Nocella said in a statement. “Today, the perpetrators who sold the deadly drugs to Gentili are being held accountable.”
Gentili was an advocate for the rights of trans people, sex workers, and immigrants. Born in Argentina, she came to the United States to live a safer life as a transgender woman. She founded multiple advocacy groups and firms, including Transgender Equity Consulting in 2019, a firm that provides diversity, equity, and inclusion consulting.
She also founded Decrim NY, which works toward the decriminalization, decarceration, and destigmatization of sex workers. Her efforts helped develop state legislation to provide relief for survivors of sex trafficking and repeal “loitering” laws often used by law enforcement to harass transgender people under suspicion of being sex workers.
Gentili co-founded COIN, which stood for Cecilia’s Occupational Inclusion Network, in collaboration with Callen-Lorde Community Health Center, to provide free health care to sex workers.
She also appeared as an actress on the FX show Pose, a drama following the lives of trans people of color during the AIDS crisis in 1980s New York. Gentili portrayed Miss Orlando. She authored a memoir entitled Faltas: Letters to Everyone in My Hometown Who Isn’t My Rapist, which was published in 2022 and won the Stonewall Book Award from the American Library Association in 2023.
Subscribe to the LGBTQ Nation newsletter and be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.