Philip Seymour Hoffman was not on a
deadly new brand of heroin sweeping the US it emerged late Tuesday
night, as police arrested the men they believe supplied him with the
drugs that ended his life.
However,
although the heroin found near the Oscar-winning actor's dead body
didn't contain the powerful additive fentanyl, which has been linked to
22 suspected overdose deaths in western Pennsylvania, it could have been
tainted with another deadly ingredient.
The
news comes after some of Hollywood's biggest stars, including Ethan
Hawke and Joaquin Phoenix, visited the West Village home of Hoffman's
former partner, Mimi O'Donnell, Tuesday, to pay their respects.
Visitation: Actor Ethan Hawke arrives on Tuesday
evening at the house that his friend Philip Seymour Hoffman used to
share with Mimi O'Donnell in New York City
Respects: Joaquin Phoenix arrives at the
apartment of Mimi O'Donnell to offer his condolences following the death
of Philip Seymour Hoffman
Co-stars: Joaquin Phoenix, who worked closely
with Hoffman in The Master, is pictured leaving O'Donnell's apartment
after his visit Tuesday afternoon
Actors Bobby Cannavale, Justin
Theroux, Cate Blanchett and Legendary photographer Annie Leibovitz were also among the friends and well-wishers
who have come by the Jane Street apartment to offer their condolences to
the distraught mother-of-three, who spent 14 years
with the actor.
The
visits from A-listers, all of whom looked tearful and some of whom
brought gifts for Hoffman's children, Cooper, 10, Tallulah, 7, and
Willa, 5, came as a police official revealed heroin recovered at
Hoffman's $10,000-a-month apartment, where his body was discovered
Sunday, has tested negative for the powerful additive fentanyl.
The
official, unauthorized to talk about the evidence and insisting on
anonymity, said samples taken from Hoffman's apartment didn't contain
the potent synthetic morphine.
Late Tuesday night, police made four arrests in connection with Philip Seymour Hoffman's death, law enforcement sources told TMZ.
According
tot he website, the NYPD obtained a search warrant and raided a New
York apartment after getting tipped off that two individuals who they
believe sold Hoffman heroin would be at the location.
A
fellow heroin user reportedly called police and gave them the names and
addresses of the alleged drug dealers and said he regularly saw Hoffman
in the dealer's apartment where he would show up twice a week and buy
'bundles' of the drug at a time.
A-list friends: Some of the biggest names in
Hollywood, including Cate Blanchett, pictured, visited Mimi O'Donnell's
West Village home to pay their respects
Bearing gifts: Cate Blanchett arrived at the
West Village home of Mimi O'Donnell with presents for the children of
Philip Seymour Hoffman on Monday
Leaving: Actress Cate Blanchett leaves Mimi O'Donnell's apartment after visiting for three hours
According
to sources, a private wake for Hoffman's family and friends will be
held at the Frank E. Campbell Funeral home from 5pm to 9pm on Thursday.
As police go through his cellphone
records and computer, new details have emerged of how the actor bought
the drugs which ended his life and how O'Donnell desperately tried to
save him.
Bank
records allegedly show the 'Capote' star made six transactions for
$1,200 inside a supermarket near his Manhattan home the day before his
death.
They
are also searching for the surveillance footage from the store, which
allegedly shows a 'very sweaty' Hoffman withdrawing the cash and handing
it to two men carrying messenger bags.
Sources
with law enforcement have revealed that no cash was found in side
Hoffman's West Village apartment on the Sunday he was found dead
surrounded by 70 bags of heroin and 20 used syringes.
The
New York Post has spoken to a witness who said that Hoffman secured his
fix from two men outside of a D'Agostino's a stone's throw away from
his rental home on Saturday night.
Friends: Third Watch star Bobby Cannavale
outside the West Village apartment where Mimi O'Donnell lives as he
arrived to offer his condolences for the loss of her dead partner,
Philip Seymour Hoffman
Good friends: Philip Seymour Hoffman, Cate
Blanchett and Bobby Cannavale, pictured at the 'Blue Jasmine' film
luncheon in New York last October, were co-stars and friends
The informant told police, according
to TMZ, that sometimes the dealers would run out of their supply and
palm off an inferior product that they'd get from a secondary dealer.
The
heroin user described the secondary supply, which he said Hoffman would
also get, as 'cheap s**t heroin' that was dangerous. The suspects are still in custody.
On Tuesday afternoon, O'Donnell visited an
Upper East Side funeral home to start planning Hoffman's funeral,
scheduled for Friday at St. Ignatius of Loyola.
O'Donnell was wearing a long black
coat when she arrived at the funeral parlor and was helped by a
bodyguard who told reporters to give her space as she walked inside.
Also
Tuesday, Hoffman's grieving mother, Marilyn O'Connor, arrived in
Manhattan to be with her grandchildren. Hoffman and O'Connor were
extremely close and her even dedicated the 2005 Academy Award he won for
'Capote' to her.
The
alleged dealers stood next to the troubled actor as he withdrew money
from inside the store on Greenwich Street at approximately 8pm.
'That's when the drug transaction took place,' law-enforcement source said according to the New York Post.
The
exchange was just one of many drug deals the Oscar winner is said to
have made in New York City over the past several months as his addiction
spiraled out of control.
A witness, who remained unidentified
for personal legal reasons, told the New York Post that he personally
witnessed Hoffman buying heroin from a drug den in Manhattan.
Condolences: Philip Seymour Hoffman's good
friend Justin Theroux leaves the home of Mimi O'Donnell on Tuesday after
the Oscar winning actor's drugs death on Sunday
Low profile: Theroux arrived covering his face
in a black scarf, black hat and dark sunglasses and carrying a large
white bag. He left as it began to snow
'I saw Philip Seymour Hoffman there,' the man told police.
So
seriously did police take the information that they rushed to the den, a
nearby apartment, Monday night, one day after Hoffman was found dead.
Once
there, the police arrested someone walking out of the apartment, who
they suspected could have been buying, or selling heroin.
However,
the police did not find any tainted, 'Ace of Spades' stamped drugs -
which are suspected of providing the deadly high to the star.
'Clearly, Hoffman could have been buying drugs at other locations, too,' a source said.
However, as he began to fall apart last year, O'Donnell battled to get him help.
'She clearly wanted him around, but she
wanted him healthy,' a source close to both the dead star told The Daily
News on Tuesday.
It has
been claimed that Hoffman's addiction caused O'Donnell to kick him out
of the $4.4 million New York City family home he shared with her and his
three children around three months ago.
Friends
of the pair confirmed that Hoffman had been asked to leave for the sake
of children, Cooper, 10, Tallulah, 7 and Willa, 5, as he battled his
demons.
Distraught: Mimi O'Donnell arriving to Frank E.
Campbell funeral home for arrangements for Phillip Seymour Hoffman's
wake with the actor's British personal assistant Isabella Wing-Davey
Arrival: Philip Seymour Hoffman's mother Marilyn
O'Connor arrived at the $4.4 million home her son used to share with
Mimi O'Donnell, the mother of his three children in the West Village
Longtime lovers: Philip Seymour Hoffman and Mimi O'Donnell, pictured in an undated photo, had been lovers for many years
'It was known that he was struggling
to stay sober, and girlfriend Mimi O'Donnell had given him some tough
love and told him he needed some time away from the kids and to get
straight again,' a Hollywood source said according to the New York Post.
Hoffman
went into rehab and was released just before Christmas. He started
going to Alcoholics Anonymous meetings on Perry Street in the upmarket
Manhattan neighborhood of the West Village.
'He was a gentleman,' said 58-year-old Eddie Donohoe, a regular at the meetings to the New York Daily News.
'He was like a regular guy. He'd be
polite, well-dressed, very sociable to people. Have his coffee, hang out
with the guys across the street, answering the guys' questions.'
But then suddenly, just before Christmas he stopped going to AA and instead started frequenting the Automatic Slims bar.
'He
was drinking liquor, always alone, sitting in the window,' a source
said. Other times he would drink in the White Horse Tavern - famed for
being poet Dylan Thomas' favorite watering hole.
'He'd
come in late at night alone, sit at the bar and have a cocktail and not
really talk to anyone,' said playwright Marc Spitz.
A
few blocks away from O'Donnell's house, and a few blocks further from
where Hoffman died, sits the 50 Perry St Workshop, which hosts AA and NA
meetings, many of which Hoffman attended.
One-time Sopranos actress Lola Glaudini arrives
to see the family that Philip Seymour Hoffman left behind following his
tragic drugs death on Sunday in Manhattan
Media: Media have remained outside the family home since Hoffman's death
In fact, an AA member told FOX411 he
spotted Hoffman at a meeting just about a week before the actor died.
The source told us the actor came to an 8:30 p.m. meeting and didn't
appear to be drunk or high.
(Hoffman told the group) 'I'm doing OK. Little situation in life. Life still shows up,' the source recalled.
Eddie Donohoe, 58, said he used to see the star at meetings as well.
Eddie Donohoe, 58, said he used to see the star at meetings as well.
'He
used to come to meetings, I guess he was trying,' Donohoe said.
'Usually people don't come to meetings if they pick up, because people
will know if they're high.'
Donohoe,
who said he was in meetings with Hoffman at least a dozen times, said
the actor seemed like a nice guy when he came to the center.
'He
was regular guy, he was polite and well dressed, very sociable with
people,' he said. 'He would come in daytime or evening. Last time I saw
couple months ago. People surrounded him. He had his own clique.'
Donohoe said you don't have to say anything in the meetings, but Hoffman would often speak to the group.
'He
would speak. Sometimes he would share. He might raise his hand and say
something, what he was going through that day,' Donohoe said.
Hoffman's death hit the group hard, according to Donohoe.
'Everybody [at the meeting] was sad about him dying,' he said.
Sad city: Flowers built up Tuesday outside the actor's apartment
Flowers: A passerby photographs the flowers
placed outside the apartment building of actor Phillip Seymour Hoffman,
in New York, on Tuesday
As members of Hoffman and O'Donnell's
families arranged to fly in from across the country to attend the
service, it is widely expected that police will confirm that the actor
died as a result of his heroin addiction.
'We still think it's going to be an overdose,' an NYPD source said.
The
46-year-old actor was found dead in the bathroom of his apartment
Sunday. His door was double-locked when his body was found around 11:30
a.m. by his assistant and a friend, law enforcement officials have said.
Besides
the bank records, investigators discovered buprenorphine, a drug used
to treat heroin addiction, at Hoffman's apartment and are examining a
computer and two iPads found at the scene for clues, two law enforcement
officials said.
A
spokeswoman for the medical examiner's office said Tuesday there has
been no official determination made on what killed Hoffman. Police have
said the medical examiner's ruling on his cause of death will determine
whether there is any criminality but they suspect it was an overdose.
Dozens
of small plastic envelopes of heroin were recovered in Hoffman's
apartment along with syringes, a charred spoon and various prescription
medications, including a blood pressure drug and a muscle relaxant, law
enforcement officials have said.
Some of the packets were variously stamped with the ace of hearts and others with the ace of spades, they said.
The
New York Police Department's intensive effort to determine the source
of the drugs in an apparent accidental overdose is unusual. Courts have
found in past rulings that under state law drug dealers can't be held
liable for a customer's death.
Addiction
specialist Dr. Louis Baxter, a former president of the American Society
of Addiction Medicine, said Tuesday that addicts, especially those who
have built up high tolerances, can use as much as two bundles of heroin,
or about two dozen packets, per day.
'Addicts
with financial means will actually stockpile their drug,' he said.
'Someone who has developed tolerance, who is seeking to develop a high,
may need to inject every two hours or so.'
The
Frank E. Campbell Funeral Home, which has orchestrated the funerals for
celebrities including Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and James Cagney, said
it was arranging Hoffman's service.
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