'The Wire' creator David Simon calls for leniency for man charged in actor Michael K. Williams' overdose death

BALTIMORE -- The co-creator of HBO's "The Wire" is asking for leniency from the judge for the sentencing of a man convicted in the overdose death of actor Michael K. Williams, famous for his role as Omar Little in the hit show. 

David Simon, a Baltimore native and former Baltimore Sun reporter posted his call for leniency in an open letter posted Friday to his website. 

Carlos Macci, 71, pleaded guilty in April to selling Williams the fentanyl-laced heroin that killed him. Simon said he wrote the request, addressed to federal Judge Ronnie Abrams, at the request of Macci's defense attorney.

In the letter, Simon referenced his time working with "The Wire" co-creator Ed Burns to "chronicle the drug war at ground zero" in West Baltimore, saying prosecution never seemed to stop overdose deaths. 

"Too many of the people we met in that year are no longer with us; addiction devoured so many in the neighborhood," he said. "But of course, all of that happened despite my city's aggressive prosecution of the drug war in all respects. "

In interviews, Williams had spoken about his battles with addiction. Simon detailed the actors' struggle during the production of "The Wire," and how Williams held himself accountable. 

"Michael always declared that he was responsible for himself, that the decision whether to use, or to cease using, would always be his own," Simon said. "When one of his previous sources of supply – not a dealer, but a co-user — was discovered to have some proximity to our film sets, Michael insisted that the matter was to be addressed by changes in his own behavior, rather than anything punitive to anyone else." 

Williams, who also starred in films and other TV series including "Boardwalk Empire," overdosed in his Brooklyn penthouse apartment in September 2021. Authorities said he died hours after buying fentanyl-laced heroin on a Brooklyn sidewalk in a deal that was recorded by a security camera.

"It is this attitude – coupled with Michael's publicly stated opposition to mass incarceration and to the drug war as well, which he detailed in a multitude of film projects and personal commitments – that convinces me that he would want me to write this letter," Simon continued. 

Williams' "stick-up boy" character Omar — a fictionalized look at the underpinnings of Baltimore that ended in 2008 but remains popular in streaming — was based on a real-life figure.

He created another classic character as Chalky White in HBO's "Boardwalk Empire" and also appeared in "12 Years a Slave," "Assassin's Creed" and other films.

"I am proud to write to you now and honor the work that we did together, and the further work that Michael did on his own," Simon wrote in conclusion. "He believed in redemption. He fought hard for his own, and for everyone in Baltimore and Brooklyn and everywhere else that he encountered. He would fight for Mr. Macci."