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*David Simon, co-creator of “The Wire,” wants a Manhattan judge to show leniency to the drug dealer who sold actor Michael K. Williams a fatal dose of heroin laced with fentanyl.
As The New York Times reports, Simon penned a three-page letter to Federal District Court Judge Ronnie Abrams urging for a light sentence for Carlos Macci. Macci, Irvin Cartagena, and two other men were charged with being part of a drug trafficking organization that sold deadly fentanyl-laced heroin to Williams. We reported previously via CNN that Cartagena pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute fentanyl, heroin, and other drugs.
As CNN reports, prosecutors allege that Cartagena was the person who conducted “the hand-to-hand transaction” with Williams just before the actor, best known for his role as Omar Little on HBO’s “The Wire,” died of an accidental overdose.
Williams was found dead in his New York City apartment in 2021 in what the New York City Medical Examiner’s Officer ruled an accidental overdose. He was 54. According to Simon, the actor is more responsible for his death.
“What happened to Mike is a grievous tragedy,” Simon wrote in the letter. “But I know that Michael would look upon the undone and desolate life of Mr. Macci and know two things with certainty: First, that it was Michael who bears the fuller responsibility for what happened.”
Simon continued, “No possible good can come from incarcerating a 71-year-old soul, largely illiterate, who has himself struggled with a lifetime of addiction.”
Simon went on to call Williams “one of the finest actors with whom I have had the honor to collaborate and one of the most thoughtful, gracious, and charitable souls I could ever call a friend.… I never failed to see him take responsibility for himself and his decisions.”
Macci and Cartagena along with Hector Robles and Luis Cruz were arrested in February 2022 in connection to Williams’ death. In April, Cartagena was sentenced to 24 to 30 years imprisonment.
Macci pleaded guilty to a narcotics conspiracy charge and will be sentenced this month. According to Complex, Robles and Cruz have pleaded not guilty.
READ MORE: Man Who Sold Late Actor Michael K. Williams Fentanyl-laced Heroin Pleads Guilty
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