Four Arrested for Providing Drugs That Killed Michael K. Williams

Four men were arrested this week in connection with actor Michael K. Williams’s fatal drug overdose. Williams, best known for his critically acclaimed turn as Omar Little in HBO’s “The Wire,” died in September at 54. The men were part of a drug trafficking group based in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn, the Justice Department said. All four were charged with conspiracy to distribute fentanyl and heroin, which carries a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in prison and a maximum of 40, the Washington Post reports. The man seen handing Williams the fentanyl-laced heroin in surveillance footage was also charged with causing his death. “This is a public health crisis. And it has to stop,” said U.S. Attorney Damian Williams. “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." Williams, praised for his roles in shows such as “Boardwalk Empire” and “Lovecraft Country,” was found dead Sept. 6 in his Brooklyn apartment. The New York City chief medical examiner’s office ruled his death accidental “The Wire” co-creators David Simon and Ed Burns hadn’t intended for Omar to figure into the Baltimore-set show for as long as he did, but kept him on because of Williams’s powerful performance. Simon wrote in an essay published after Williams’s death that he “gave us an astounding gift — an act of faith from a magnificent actor who could have played his hand very differently.”