A New York City drug dealer was sentenced to 10 years in prison for selling actor Michael K. Williams fentanyl-laced heroin, causing his 2021 death.Photo:Arturo Holmes/Getty for ABA
Arturo Holmes/Getty for ABA
A New York City drug dealer was sentenced Friday to 10 years in prison for selling fentanyl-laced heroine to actorMichael K. Williams, causinghis September 2021 death.
Irvin Cartagena, 40, of Aibonito, Puerto Rico, also received an additional five-year sentence of supervised release for conspiring to distribute heroin, fentanyl and fentanyl analogue, the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York said ina news releaseFriday.
“Although their product had already claimed one life, Cartagena and his co-conspirators continued to sell potentially lethal fentanyl-laced heroin,” the attorney’s statement continued. “This Office will tenaciously continue our enforcement efforts against unscrupulous drug dealers who distribute poison and exacerbate the scourge of the fentanyl epidemic.”
Michael K. Williams was found dead in his Brooklyn apartment in September 2021.Jeff Vespa/WireImage
Jeff Vespa/WireImage
Addressing the court before his sentence was announced, Cartagena, who is also known as “Green Eyes,” expressed remorse. “I am very sorry for my actions,” he said, according toNBC News. “When we sold the drugs, we never intended for anyone to lose their life.”
U.S. District Judge Ronnie Abrams, who sentenced Cartagena, noted that those who know him describe him as “helpful and humble and hard-working” when he’s sober. “I’m hopeful that with treatment … it will help you move forward on a more productive and law-abiding path,” Abrams said, per the outlet.
Cartagenahad pleaded guiltyin April to conspiring to distribute the drugs. He was one of four men charged with being part of a drug-trafficking organization known as the DTO that sold the deadly fentanyl-laced heroin to Williams sometime around Sept. 5, 2021, according to the news release. Cartagena was arrested February 2022 after fleeing to Puerto Rico following Williams' death.
Last month,co-conspirator Carlos Macci, 72, was sentenced to 2.5 years in prison and ordered to serve three years of supervised release, with the first year in an inpatient drug treatment facility,according to NBC News. Like Cartagena, Macci and the two other men — Hector Robles and Luis Cruz — all took guilty plea deals. Robles and Cruz are scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 26, per the outlet.
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Williams was found dead at age 54 of an accidental fentanyl overdose in his Brooklyn, New York, penthouse apartment on Sept. 6, 2021. At Cartagena’s April plea hearing, D.A. Williams cited the dealer’s hand-to-hand transaction with the late actor, explaining it was Cartagena who “dealt the fatal dose that killed Michael K. Williams.”
Williams was best known for his roles onThe Wire,Boardwalk EmpireandLovecraft Country. He also appeared in films, includingAssassin’s Creedand12 Years a Slave.
The actor talked candidly over the years about his addiction struggles. In 2017, he toldThe New York Timesthat he’d relapsed multiple times throughout his showbiz career. “Addiction doesn’t go away,” he said at the time. “It’s an everyday struggle for me, but I’m fighting.”
“I was playing with fire,” he toldNJ.comin 2012. “It was just a matter of time before I got caught and my business ended up on the cover of a tabloid or I went to jail or, worse, I ended up dead.”
Williams spoke about keeping his drug habit a secret and hitting rock bottom before seeking treatment. “I had to slip away to do drugs. I had to hide it. I’d be gone for days at a time. I was lonely in that part of my life. I was broke, broken and beat up. Exhausted. Empty,” he explained. “I finally said, ‘I can’t do this no more.’ I didn’t want to end up dead.”
source: people.com
