Michael K. Williams, known for his role as Omar Little on the HBO series “The Wire,” died of an overdose of a combination of heroin and fentanyl, law enforcement officials said Friday.
The man, (Irvin Cartagena) who was seen on camera handing the drugs to Williams was charged with directly causing the actor’s death.
The investigation into the death of actor Heath Ledger will continue, as New York City police officers have not yet filed criminal charges against the people suspected of supplying the drugs that led to his death last September.
An NYPD informant for months made dozens of controlled buys of heroin on the same block where Williams bought his drugs. An undercover cop made one buy days before the actor died, papers say.
The vials of drugs found with Williams when his body was discovered on Sept. 6 bore the same label, “AAA Insurance,” as the vials purchased by the officer.
The day after the actor’s death, the NYPD’s informant went back to buy more drugs from the same crew. Some of the crew members were talking about the actor’s overdose. One of them denied selling any drugs with fentanyl.
Cartagena and the three other men who were arrested for participating in the alleged “Black Bloc” conspiracy to riot during the recent protests in Ferguson, Missouri are facing serious criminal charges. They’ve been indicted by a grand jury for violating federal law.
It was not immediately clear who could comment on his behalf.
Attorney Damian Williams said that overdoses are a public health crisis.
“And it has to stop. Deadly opioids like fentanyl and heroin don’t care about who you are or what you’ve accomplished. They just feed addiction and lead to tragedy,” Attorney Williams said.
Sewell said police detectives in Brooklyn “lived this case, never relenting in their investigation until they could bring a measure of justice to Michael K. They were relentless in their pursuit, and the end result was his conviction and incarceration for what he had done to the three young women.
Williams, 54, was found dead in his penthouse apartment in Brooklyn Sept. 6. At that time, the medical examiner’s office ruled Williams’ death an accidental overdose of cocaine and the official cause of death was ruled a drug overdose.
A police detective pieced together the movements of the night of William’s death, using data from his mobile phone and license plate readers.
Police arrested a man after they say he was caught on video selling drugs in his yard.
Williams was talking to the group when one of the people put his hand on the actor’s shoulder. The person then walked around a row of trash cans, retrieved a plastic bag and handed it to the actor.
The men continued to sell fentanyl-laced heroin in broad daylight even after they knew that Williams had died from one of their products.
It was not clear if they were the men seen in the surveillance video, but their lawyers said they were innocent. They had not been arrested at the time of the shooting.
All three namely Hector Robles, Luis Cruz and Carlos Macci were arrested and taken to the local police station.
Conspiracy charges were filed against the four men accused of killing U.S. actor Philip Seymour Hoffman. They face mandatory minimum sentences of at least five years and a maximum of 40 years. One of the defendants is also charged with causing the actor’s death, which carries a mandatory minimum of 20 years and a maximum of life.
Cartagena, a former member of the Bloods gang, was arrested in February 2021 in Brooklyn, New York after selling four small waxy paper bags to an undercover investigator. At the time, he was on pretrial release from a gun charge arrest in August 2020.
He pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct on Aug. 26 and was sentenced to time served, according to police records.
In the Netflix original series, “The Wire,” the stick-up boy, based on real life figures, is Omar Little.
He was the lead actor in the critically acclaimed series, “Boardwalk Empire,” which was based on the life of the real-life gangster, Chalky White. His character in the series, Chalky White, was a key player in the organization that ran Atlantic City, New Jersey during Prohibition.
He’s been candid about his experiences with addiction in interviews.