Drugs & Alcohol

Former NFL star Henry Ruggs has been sentenced to 3-to-10 years in prison over the 2021 car crash that resulted in the death of 23-year-old Tina Tintor and her dog.

The ex-Raiders wide receiver learned his fate just minutes ago inside a packed Las Vegas courtroom.

Ruggs, 24, showed up to the Wednesday morning proceedings in a navy suit and tie ... and issued an apology to Tintor's family right at the outset of the hearing.

"To the parents and family of Ms. Tintor, I sincerely apologize for the pain and suffering my actions the morning of Nov. 2, 2021 have caused you, your family and those who knew Ms. Tina and Max," he said.

"I let my family, my teammates and those who believed in me down with my actions and hurt so many."

He added that there was "no excuse" for his actions.

A statement from Tintor's family was also read inside the courtroom ... before the judge made her ruling. Ruggs was then immediately remanded into custody.

Ruggs was initially facing more than 50 years behind bars in the case after authorities accused him of drunkenly slamming his Corvette into the back of Tintor's Rav-4 in Vegas ... killing her and her golden retriever.

But, the former football player reached a deal with prosecutors back in May, agreeing to plead guilty to one felony count of DUI resulting in death and one misdemeanor count of vehicular manslaughter in exchange for a prison sentence that would not exceed 3-to-10 years.

Ruggs, who will now be eligible for parole following his third year in prison, was picked by the Raiders in the first round of the 2020 NFL Draft ... and had started 19 games in his two seasons with the team. The org. released him following the accident.

A woman on a family fishing trip in the Florida Keys sniffed out 70 pounds of cocaine floating in the coastal waters.

But this wasn't your average woman ... turns out the Mayor of Tampa made the shocking discovery with her loved ones off the Middle Keys City of Marathon.

Mayor Jane Castor, her brother, her son and his girlfriend spotted the package layered with bricks of cocaine bobbing in the water on July 23, according to a report Tuesday in the Tampa Bay Times.

Castor knew immediately what it was, thanks to her years of narcotics training as an ex-cop. She was also the former Tampa police chief.

Castor and her family lifted the bundle of blow onto their boat and transported it back to a dock near their vacation rental home.

The mayor then called the Monroe County Sheriff's Office, prompting deputies to immediately respond with two U.S. Border Patrol agents to seize the drugs.

Ric Flair was not saying "WOOOO!!!!" after smoking weed with Mike Tyson -- the former WWE Superstar says he got so high with the boxing legend ... he thought he croaked!!

The Nature Boy opened up on the time he got super faded with Iron Mike in the Hamptons during his appearance on the "This Past Weekend" podcast with Theo Von ... explaining he wanted to go hit for hit with Tyson, and it ended up being a huge mistake.

In fact, Flair -- who spent 11 days in a medically induced coma in 2017 -- compared his high to his medical emergency ... admitting, "I actually thought I died."

Naitch said once he got back to his room, he wasn't able to move ... so he kept asking those around him to squeeze his hand, and everything was in a delayed process.

"I said to myself ... 'Did I die? Have I just died?'" Flair told Von. "I feel like I did when I was in my coma. But I can think, and I don't think I could think when I was in my coma. That's the way I was talking to myself."

Luckily, Ric finally snapped out of it around 3 AM ... and he had to call someone on the phone to make sure he was still kickin'.

Ric and Mike are partners in the weed biz now ... and they've never shied away from sharing footage of their smoke sessions in the past.

Robert De Niro's grandson died from a lethal combination of illicit drugs, including fentanyl ... TMZ has learned.

According to New York City's chief medical examiner, Leandro De Niro Rodriguez died from the toxic effects of fentanyl, bromazolam, alprazolam, 7-aminoclonazepam, ketamine, and cocaine.

The Medical Examiner is ruling Leandro's death an accidental overdose.

As we reported ... Robert's 19-year-old grandson was found dead of a suspected overdose last month ... with cops saying investigators found one bag of cocaine, one straw with residue, two blue pills and seven rectangular tablets believed to be Xanax.

Police said Leandro bought counterfeit oxycodone and Xanax just days before his death ... and the fake oxycodone pills were laced with fentanyl.

The official cause of death also lines up with what Leandro's mother, Drena De Niro, has said on social media, "Someone sold him fentanyl-laced pills that they knew were laced yet still sold them to him."

Former child star Austin Majors died as a result of a fentanyl overdose ... in a trend that's become all too common.

The ex-"NYPD Blue" actor's autopsy results were released Tuesday by the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner's Office -- and his cause of death is attributed to fentanyl toxicity. The manner is listed as accidental, and the place of his death reads ... "residence."

Remember, Majors passed away while staying at a homeless housing facility in L.A. back in February -- and we were told at the time that fentanyl was suspected to be in play.

It's a tragic end to Majors' story ... who was a successful actor in the early years of his life. He famously played Theo Sipowicz on the famed ABC drama series, starring in 48 episodes.

In addition to "NYPD Blue," Majors had worked on other big shows like "Providence," "How I Met Your Mother," "ER," "Hercules," "Threshold," "According to Jim," 'NCIS,' "American Dad!," "Desperate Housewives" and others. He'd also been in a handful of memorable movies.

His acting career appears to have slowed down in the late 2000s ... Majors doesn't have credit post-2009. The family released an emotional statement at the time of his death, remembering the best parts of his life.

The statement read, in part ... "Austin was the kind of son, brother, grandson, and nephew that made us proud and we will miss him deeply forever."

Majors was just 27.

Tekashi69's claim the tattoo artist who inspired his name used to be on heroin is costing that man dearly ... at least according to the ink master himself, who says his wife left him over that drug abuse allegation.

Takashi Matsuba spells it out in his ongoing civil suit against the rapper -- and in the new legal docs, obtained by TMZ, he says he's entitled to a default judgment because Tekashi's old lawyer withdrew from the case and Tekashi's failed to retain new counsel.

But, in re-explaining the alleged harm he's endured, Matsuba makes this startling confession -- "I lost a number of friends, but by far the most important one is my dear wife. We divorced last year, because she no longer trusted me after Hernandez's false statements about me were broadcast on Hulu and Showtime."

Matsuba goes on to explain that his tattooing business has essentially collapsed by "the false suggestion that I may be a drug user."

You'll recall ... Matsuba was pissed over a couple 6ix9ine documentaries that name-dropped him -- one on Hulu, and another on Showtime. While he seems pissed about the Hulu reference, it's the Showtime doc that's in his legal crosshairs ... they're defendants too.

Boosie Badazz was caught in 4K acting brand new at this year's BET Awards, and has zero shame in his game about it!!!

As we reported back in June, Boosie was released from jail on a $100k bond for illegal gun possession, just a day before the BET Awards -- an occasion he treated like Christmas, he tells DJ Vlad in their latest sit-down.

Boosie says his legal issues this summer left him drained and BET provided him with the perfect pick-me-up ... but they also tried to kill his vibe by not letting him bring a full bottle of Casamigos into the venue!!!

The Louisiana rapper says the bottle he was sneaking in was actually the 2nd one he consumed that day ... and a quick-thinking Boosie says he grabbed a towel from outside and used it to drape over his shoulder ... perfectly concealing the contraband!!! 😈

Once inside the awards, Boosie couldn't contain his excitement watching Latto perform "Put It On Da Floor Again" -- and did just that when he fell outta his chair!!!

Boosie says all the women in the venue looked good and he had the time of his life.

The heir to the Anheuser-Busch fortune is appalled the company that bought his family out used a transgender person to advertise Bud Light ... saying, "My ancestors would have rolled over in their graves."

Billy Busch (not the host of "Extra") appeared on "TMZ Live" Friday to discuss his new book, "Family Reins: The Extraordinary Rise and Epic Fall of an American Dynasty," when Harvey asked him about the Bud Light ad featuring Dylan Mulvaney -- a move which triggered a massive boycott.

Busch believes the company that succeeded his family should never have put a transgender person on a Bud Light can, arguing beer drinkers "want their beer to be truly American," adding, "I just don't think the audience that drinks beer is into transgenders."

He went on, saying, "People who drink beer care about wholesome things."

Busch argued being a transgender person is a sexual preference, and Harvey shot back, "It's a matter of identity, not sexual preference."

That triggered a whole argument about prejudice, but Busch was adamant -- he feels the successors to Anheuser-Busch screwed up royally.

Johnny Manziel is opening up on his serious mental health battles following his NFL career ... revealing he purchased a gun and intended to use it on himself.

The former Heisman Trophy winner addressed his suicidal thoughts in Netflix's "Untold: Johnny Football" documentary, which drops next week ... saying he had his demise all mapped out -- he would blow all his money, and then take his own life.

"I think I was just running from problems," Manziel said. "It was probably a $5 million bender. Direct self-sabotage, trying to burn this thing down."

Manziel's issues on and off the field were well-documented at the time ... and he said he burned so many bridges that he felt "the ride was over."

"I had planned to do everything that I wanted to do at that point in my life. Spend as much money as I possibly could and then my plan was to take my life. Months prior, I went and bought a gun I knew I was going to use. I wanted to get as bad as humanly possible to where it made sense and it made it seem like an excuse and an out for me."

It's unclear if Manziel actually attempted suicide ... but he said "the gun just clicked on me."

Johnny appears to be doing much better now ... and he's even opening his own bar near his old college campus at Texas A&M this fall.

"Euphoria" star Javon Walton is remembering his late costar Angus Cloud as one of the most genuine people he's ever met ... telling us there's not a lot of folks like Angus out there.

Javon and Angus played brothers on the hit HBO series for two seasons ... but their brotherly bond runs deeper than the "Euphoria" script. Javon says Angus had "the purest soul ever" and it's still tough to process just how suddenly Angus died.

Javon, who recently signed with Jake Paul's Most Valuable Promotions, tells us Angus took him under his wing from the beginning, and always wanted to see him thrive and succeed.

TMZ broke the story ... Angus died Monday at his family's home in Oakland, CA, where his mom called 911 to report a potential overdose.

Some of Angus Cloud's pals in Oakland came together to honor their late friend in a pretty spectacular way ... working with a local artist to create an awesome tribute.

The local artist is Darin Balaban. He and a group of Angus' friends collaborated and chose 3 photos of the "Euphoria" star as inspiration for a new mural. Darin mashed up the 3 pics to create the artwork, painted on a 9-foot high wall of a car wash in Oakland, Angus' hometown.

Darin knew Angus and says he was always "smiling and calm," and the artist wanted that reflected on the wall.

One of Angus's best friends -- Kalani -- is also an artist who helped Darin create the work. A bunch of other friends were there to help ... Kalani said it turned out to be good therapy as they all dealt with their loss. Another artist friend M27 helped paint the portrait.

It ended up being a community event, with pizza, beer and candles as they told stories about their good friend.

Darin's surprised the mural has become the central gathering place for people who wanted to pay their respects ... fans, friends and strangers. There were tears, laughter and lots of hugging.

The mural is located on Park and E. 19th St. not too far from where Angus lived.

As we reported, Angus died at his Oakland home on Monday ... his mom reported a possible overdose, and he was pronounced dead at the scene.

Diddy will have to find another cannabis company to capitalize on, as the Bad Boy mogul's intended $185 million purchase to acquire a pair of marijuana operations is no longer going down.

Sources with direct knowledge tell us Diddy waited in the wings as Cresco Labs and Columbia Care planned their proposed merger that was agreed upon last year.

However, we're told the shareholders never reached an agreement, and Diddy's deal was terminated earlier this week as a consequence. Diddy's team tells us he and his Combs Global empire still have a vested interest in pursuing opportunities to diversify the cannabis industry ... they just have to find the perfect fit.

The move would've made Diddy the owner of 9 stores throughout New York, Massachusetts and Illinois, with each having its own production facility ... effectively making him the biggest Black cannabis business owner.

New York Yankees star Domingo German -- who threw a perfect game earlier this season -- is heading to rehab for alcohol abuse, the team announced.

The Yankees said in a statement Wednesday the pitcher will be placed on the restricted list while he's away from the diamond. New York officials added the submission to the inpatient treatment program was voluntary.

"It is critical that Domingo completely focuses on addressing his health and well-being," the team said. "We will respect his privacy as he begins this process."

German had been having an up-and-down season before leaving the team Thursday ... while he threw a perfect game in June, he was also just 5-7 with a 4.56 ERA.

This is not the first time German will be away from the Yankees for a period of time ... you'll recall, the 30-year-old was also suspended 81 games in 2020 after MLB officials said he violated the league's domestic violence policy in 2019.

Devonte' Graham will be out for the first two games of the Spurs' season ... after the NBA suspended the 28-year-old guard days after he pleaded guilty to DWI, stemming from his arrest last year.

"San Antonio Spurs guard Devonte' Graham has been suspended for two games without pay for pleading guilty to a charge of impaired driving, in violation of the law of the State of North Carolina," the NBA announced on Wednesday.

The league continued ... "Graham’s suspension will commence with the next NBA regular season game that he is eligible and able to play."

We broke the story last week ... the 28-year-old was sentenced to unsupervised probation for 12 months after he had admitted to driving while impaired (a misdemeanor) back on July 7, 2022. The incident happened in Raleigh, N.C. when Graham -- a member of the Pelicans at the time -- had been pulled over for allegedly going 63 MPH in a 40 MPH zone at around 3 AM.

Cops said his blood alcohol content at the time was above the legal limit ... claiming he blew a .11.

So Johnny Manziel walked into a bar ... 'cause he owns the place!!!

The former Texas A&M football superstar is getting into the hospitality industry ... opening up his very own watering hole in his old stomping grounds of College Station.

The place is called Johnny Manziel's Money Bar ... which is a clear nod to the famous nickname he was given after getting suspended for selling his autograph.

Of course, the business move makes perfect sense -- Johnny hasn't been shy about his love for having a good time ... and recently revealed in his upcoming Netflix project he once went on a $5 million bender.

"I thought I played better the harder I partied," Manziel said in the 'Untold' documentary.

He also previously opened up on his NFL experience ... saying he felt bad for losing the respect of his teammates for his off-field lifestyle during his time in Cleveland.

Manziel -- who had a stint in rehab in 2015 -- is content with how his career played out ... and appears to be in good spirits post-football.

Angus Cloud may have been struggling ahead of his surprising death, but it didn't affect his mood while with his closest friends ... and he was actually offering them support before he passed.

The "Euphoria" star was outwardly celebratory and uplifting to his pals at the MacArthur Maze album release party 3 days before his death, according to group members D.Bledsoe and Champ Green.

As we reported, Angus seemed to be in great spirits at the event, and the rappers tell us he was congratulating everyone involved in the album. We're told Angus was getting a lot of attention from partygoers ... but he wasn't there for attention, he just wanted to show love.

D.Bledose says Angus had to soothe his lips with lip balm mid-conversation that night at the party, and Angus laughed and apologized for making things awkward. It was a funny interaction, and one D is remembering fondly today.

A few weeks ago, Angus gave the rap group a big endorsement by sharing one of their music videos on his IG page. We're told Angus slid into the group's DMs and offered to shoot a music video for them -- alongside MacArthur Maze's videographer, who was close friends with Angus.

Of course, everyone involved with the group is now just in complete shock about his death.