A drug dealer has pleaded guilty to selling fentanyl-laced heroin to 'The Wire' actor Michael K. Williams, leading to his death
ADVERTISEMENTA drug dealer has pleaded guilty to selling fentanyl-laced heroin to The Wire actor Michael K. Williams, leading to his death, a US district attorney said.
Irvin Cartagena "sold fentanyl-laced heroin in broad daylight in New York City" and "dealt the fatal dose that killed Michael K. Williams", said Damian Williams in a statement.
Cartagena, who also went by "Green Eyes", faces a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in prison, with the possibility of up to 40 years behind bars, after signing a plea agreement stipulating the mix he sold caused the actor's death.
The Emmy-nominated actor, who starred as Omar Little in the acclaimed television series The Wire and Albert "Chalky" White on the HBO series Boardwalk Empire, died of an accidental drug overdose in September 2021. The 54-year-old was open about his personal struggles with addiction and was found dead in his apartment in New York. He died from "acute intoxication by the combined effects of fentanyl, p-fluorofentanyl, heroin and cocaine," New York's chief medical examiner ruled.
Cartagena, 39, was among four men charged in February with conspiracy to distribute the tainted heroin that killed Williams.
Prosecutors said the co-conspirators "continued to sell fentanyl-laced heroin in broad daylight" for several months near residential apartment buildings in Brooklyn and Manhattan, even after they learned of the actor's death.
Fentanyl is a synthetic and extremely potent opioid, about 50 times stronger than heroin. The US Drug Enforcement Administration has called it the "deadliest drug threat facing this country."
