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.
“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.
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.
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.
𝗖𝗿𝗲𝗱𝗶𝘁𝘀, 𝗖𝗼𝗽𝘆𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 & 𝗖𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘁𝗲𝘀𝘆: nypost.com
𝗙𝗼𝗿 𝗮𝗻𝘆 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗶𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝗿𝗲𝗴𝗮𝗿𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗗𝗠𝗖𝗔,
𝗣𝗹𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗲 𝘀𝗲𝗻𝗱 𝘂𝘀 𝗮𝗻 𝗲𝗺𝗮𝗶𝗹 𝗮𝘁 dmca@enspirers.com
