Two years after his passing, one of four men has been sentenced in relation to the death of actor Michael K. Williams (The Wire, Breaking). Deadline reports Carlos Macci was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison for the drug-related death of Williams. Arrested on drug trafficking charges, Macci pleaded guilty to distributing narcotics and conspiring to possess.
According to Deadline, 72-year-old Macci will serve an additional three years of supervised release with the first year spent living in drug treatment facility. Irvin Cartagena pleaded guilty earlier this year to “one count of conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute fentanyl analogue, fentanyl, and heroin,” via Deadline. Cartagena faces up to 40 years in prison and will be sentenced later this year. The other two men arrested were Hector Robles and Luis Cruz.
Williams was found in his Brooklyn home by a nephew in September 2021 shortly after purchasing heroin from Cartagena. According to the NYC Officer of the Chief Medical Examiner, the cause of death was “acute intoxication by the combined effects of fentanyl, p-fluoro-fentanyl, heroin, and cocaine,” as reported by Deadline. The Wire actor had struggled in the past with substance misuse.
Earlier this month, Williams’ friend and The Wire creator David Simon submitted letter asking for leniency in Macci’s sentencing. In the three-page letter, Simon detailed how “no possible good can come from incarcerating a 71-year-old soul, largely illiterate, who has himself struggled with a lifetime of addiction, but rather as someone caught up in the diaspora of addiction himself.”
Simon also stated how Williams always took responsibility for his actions when it came to his drug use and that he’d bear “the fuller responsibility for what happened.”
According to Deadline, Williams’ nephew Dominic Dupont was present at the hearing and spoke in support of Macci’s lesser sentence. “It weighs heavy on me to see someone be in a situation he’s in. I understand what it is to be system impacted,” Dupont said.
The five-time Emmy nominee was known for his breakthrough role as Omar Little on HBO’s The Wire. He also starred in the network’s Prohibition Era series, Boardwalk Empire, and the historical science-fiction drama, Lovecraft Country. Williams was 54 years old.