Two men in Brooklyn are facing charges in connection to the death of a prominent transgender activist and actress in New York City, prosecutors announced.

During an arraignment at federal court in Brooklyn, 44-year-old Michael Kuilan and 52-year-old Antonio Venti were accused of supplying the heroin laced with fentanyl that killed Cecilia Gentili on Feb. 6. Investigators said cellphone data and text messages show Gentili bought the drugs the night before she died from Venti — who originally got them from Kuilan. 

Gentili, 52, died from an overdose at her home in Marine Park. According to prosecutors, the NYPD found hundreds of small bags of fentanyl in Kuilan's Brooklyn apartment, along with a handgun. 

Gentili's death serves "a reminder of the dangers of illicit drugs have on all communities, including the LGBTQ+ community," said Frank Tarentine, a special agent with the New York division of the Drug Enforcement Administration.

The activist's death was met with widespread mourning and grief, as her life was honored by top city and state lawmakers. The Argentinian immigrant's funeral at Saint Patrick's Cathedral made headlines when some mourners were criticized for the nature of their comments at the church.

The archdiocese later denounced the event. In a written statement, the Rev. Enrique Salvo, pastor of Saint Patrick’s, thanked people he said had informed the church that they “share our outrage over the scandalous behavior” at the funeral.

“The Cathedral only knew that family and friends were requesting a funeral Mass for a Catholic, and had no idea our welcome and prayer would be degraded in such a sacrilegious and deceptive way,” Salvo said in the statement in February.

Videos of Gentili's funeral mass show an estimated audience of more than 1,000 celebrants, including transgender people and other friends and supporters chanting her name, applauding, singing and offering praise of her stature as a leading light of the city's LGBTQ+ community.

“Except on Easter Sunday we don’t really have a crowd that is this well turned out,” said Father Edward Dougherty, who presided over the mass.

Conservative group CatholicVote condemned fellow “Pose" actor Billy Porter, whose singing performance during the funeral was characterized by the group as a mockery of the “Our Father” prayer. “This is just unbelievable and sick,” CatholicVote said on X.

In a statement before the song, Porter called Gentili a leader among “an entire community of people who transformed my life forever.”

The cathedral held a Mass of Reparation following the funeral at the direction of Cardinal Timothy Dolan, archbishop of New York, Salvo said.

But Gentili's loved ones denounced that denouncement, saying the service was meant to be welcoming to people from all walks of life. 

At the time, Gentili's longtime partner called her "an angel" who tirelessly advocated for immigrants, the transgender community, sex worker rights and people living with HIV.

A former sex worker who suffered addiction and was jailed at Rikers Island, she became a transgender health program coordinator, a nonprofit policy director for an established gay men's health organization, GMHC, and a lobbyist for health equality and anti-discrimination legislation, among other advocacy work.

Gentili founded the COIN Clinic, short for Cecilia’s Occupational Inclusion Network, a free health program for sex workers through the Callen-Lorde community health organization in New York.

“New York’s LGBTQ+ community has lost a champion in trans icon Cecilia Gentili," New York Gov. Kathy Hochul posted on X, formerly Twitter, following Gentili's death.

Gentili acted in the FX television series “Pose,” about the underground ballroom dance scene in the 1980s and 1990s. She also performed two one-woman stage shows.

Brian P. D. Hannon of The Associated Press contributed to this report.