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Michael Kuilan and Antonio Venti have pleaded guilty to supplying the drugs that caused Gentili's death.
Both men accused of supplying the drugs that caused the death of transgender activist Cecilia Gentili have now pleaded guilty.
Gentili died February 6 in her New York City home after overdosing on fentanyl-laced heroin. Michael Kuilan and Antonio Venti were charged with distributing the drugs. Kuilan pleaded guilty Monday in federal court in New York to a charge that he distributed heroin and fentanyl and possessed the drugs with intent to distribute, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York. Kuilan also pleaded guilty to a charge of being a felon in possession of a firearm. Venti pleaded guilty July 30 to the same drug offense. Both were charged in April.
Gentili was an advocate for the rights of trans people, immigrants, and sex workers. Born in Argentina, she came to the U.S. to live a safer life as a trans woman, according to her biography on the website for Transgender Equity Consulting, which she founded in 2019. The firm provides diversity, equity, and inclusion consulting. She had founded several other organizations as well, and she worked for a time at GMHC, where her efforts included pushing for the passage of New York State’s Gender Non-Discrimination Act, which became law in 2019.
She appeared as an actress onPose, portraying Miss Orlando, and in a solo stage show based on her early life, Red Ink, which was due to be revived in April. She was author of the memoir Faltas: Letters to Everyone in My Hometown Who Isn’t My Rapist; it was published in 2022 and won the Stonewall Book Award from the American Library Association in 2023.
Kuilan is scheduled to be sentenced in January, The New York Times reports. The maximum possible prison sentence for him is just over 27 years. Sentencing for Venti is set for October; he faces a maximum possible prison sentence of just over 17 years.
“The perpetrators of the tragic poisoning of Cecilia Gentili, a prominent leader of the New York transgender community, have now both admitted their guilt in selling the lethal drugs that have caused this heartbreaking death,” U.S. Attorney Breon Peace said in the press release. “These drugs, heroin and fentanyl, have caused so much pain throughout our community. I hope this case will bring a sense of closure to Gentili’s family and serve as a warning that this office will be relentless in holding fentanyl dealers accountable.”
