The drug dealer responsible for actor Michael K. Williams’ overdose death was given a 2 1/2 year prison term.
According to federal prosecutors, Carlos Macci, 71, was a member of a four-person gang that distributed drugs in Brooklyn, including the ones that killed the actor in 2021.
According to U.S. District Judge Ronnie Abrams, who handed down Macci’s punishment on Tuesday, selling heroin and fentanyl “not only cost Mr. Williams his life, but it’s costing your freedom,” in part because Macci continued to do so even after Williams passed away. Macci was given a 2-year prison term.
Macci entered a plea of guilty to the drug distribution and possession conspiracy.
One of four people detained in connection with the September death of “The Wire” is the 71-year-old.
Macci wasn’t charged specifically in the actor’s death, but Hector Robles, Luis Cruz, and Irving Cartagena, all of whom were involved in the case, have.
In accordance with court records, Cartagena carried out the hand-to-hand transaction on or around September 5, 2021, when the defendants sold Williams the heroin that was tainted with fentanyl and a fentanyl analog.
Dominic Dupont, Williams’ nephew, advocated for the defendant’s mercy throughout the sentencing.
“It weighs heavy on me to see someone be in a situation he’s in,” Dupont said. “I understand what it is to be system impacted.”
David Simon, the co-creator of the popular HBO series “The Wire,” filed a letter to the judge earlier this month pleading for compassion in the punishment.
Simon stated in the three-page letter that Macci was a victim of the same circumstance that took his friend’s life.
“I miss my friend,” he wrote. “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. And second, no possible good can come from incarcerating a 71-year-old soul, largely illiterate, who has himself struggled with a lifetime of addiction.”