Carlos Macci, a 72-year-old New Yorker who was one of four men linked to the fentanyl-laced drugs that killed actor Michael K. Williams in 2021, was sentenced to 30 months in prison on Tuesday.
“I would like to say, your honor, I’m sorry for what has happened,” Macci said before his sentence was read, according to NBC.
Along with the 2.5-year sentence, Macci receive three years of supervised release, the first of which to be spent in an inpatient drug treatment facility. Prosecutors had sought 10 years.
Williams died at age 54 on Sept. 6, 2021, of an overdose due to a combination of fentanyl, heroin and cocaine. Macci, alongside Irvin Cartagena, Hector Robles and Luis Cruz were arrested in 2022 in connection to his death. All four pled guilty; Macci specifically pled guilty to possessing and distributing narcotics.
Macci has been in jail since his arrest, and his attorneys sought to have him sentenced to time served, citing Macci’s impoverished upbringing and the fact he is functionally illiterate and has spent most of his life struggling with addiction. As part of that effort, David Simon, creator of the HBO series “The Wire,” which launched Williams to stardom, filed a letter asking the court to show Macci leniency.
“What happened to Mike is a grievous tragedy. But I know that Michael would look upon the undone and desolate life of Mr. Macci and know two things with certainty: First, that it was Michael who bears the fuller responsibility for what happened,” Simon wrote.
“No possible good can come from incarcerating a 71-year-old soul, largely illiterate, who has himself struggled with a lifetime of addiction,” Simon added.
