Drug dealer gets 2.5 years in Michael K. Williams overdose case

One of the drug dealers tied to the overdose death of “The Wire” actor Michael K. Williams was sentenced to just two-and-half years in prison Tuesday after the HBO show’s co-creator David Simon asked the judge to show him mercy.

Carlos Macci, 71, had faced decades behind bars after pleading guilty to narcotics conspiracy for being part of the Brooklyn crew that sold Williams the lethal bags of fentanyl-laced heroin.

“Selling drugs like heroin and fentanyl not only cost Mr. Williams his life but is costing you your freedom,” Manhattan federal Judge Ronnie Abrams told Macci at his sentencing.

The judge said she “struggled with the decision I had to make today” and factored in the need for treatment and rehab for the septuagenarian.

“I don’t think people need to be defined by the worst mistake they made,” she said.

Simon earlier this month asked Abrams to go easy on Macci, saying that Williams “bears the fuller responsibility” and noting his actor pal’s opposition to mass incarceration and the failed war on drugs.


Michael K. WIlliams
Carlos Macci one of the drug dealers who sold Michael K. Williams the drugs that killed him was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison.
Getty Images

Michael K. Williams.
WIlliams, an actor on “The Wire” died of an overdose in September 2021.
Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP

“No possible good can come from incarcerating a 71-year-old soul,” Simon wrote in a July 7 letter.

Macci is “largely illiterate,” and dealt drugs because he was “caught up in the diaspora of addiction himself,” Simon noted.


Surveillance of the drug deal with WIlliams.
Four men who ran a drug operation in Williamsburg, Brooklyn were charged and admitted to selling the lethal drugs to Williams.
DOJ

Williams’ nephew, Dominic Dupont, 45, told Abrams in court Tuesday that his uncle was “a person who believed in love, believed in an opportunity for people to get themselves together.”

“Today is a sad day … there are no winners here,” Dupont said after the hearing.

Macci’s lawyer Benjamin Zeman had been seeking a sentencing of time-served for his client.

Macci, who has 23 prior drug convictions, has been locked up for about a year-and-a-half.


Irving Cartagena.
Irving Cartagena was caught on surveillance making the hand-to-hand deal with Williams the day before he died.
SDNY

David Simon and Michael K. Williams
“The Wire” creator David Simon asked for the judge to be lenient with Macci.
SDNY

He was one of four men who allegedly ran a drug-dealing operation that sold in broad daylight in Williamsburg charged over Williams’ death. All four have taken guilty pleas.

Co-defendant Irving Cartagena, who is set to be sentenced Aug. 18, was caught on surveillance footage handing over the drugs to Williams, 54, the day before he was found dead in his apartment on Sept. 6, 2021.

Williams — who played the character Omar Little on “The Wire” — was open about his struggles with crack and cocaine.

The two other co-defendants in the case, Hector Robles and Luis Cruz, are set to be sentenced on Sept. 26.