A heroin dealer who sold a fatal dose to Michael K. Williams, the actor who shot to fame with his powerful portrayal of a fearsome drug-world figure in the series “The Wire,” pleaded guilty to a narcotics conspiracy charge in Manhattan federal court on Wednesday.
The defendant, Irvin Cartagena, known as “Green Eyes,” was accused of running a trafficking operation that sold fentanyl-laced heroin from a Brooklyn apartment with three co-defendants.
He was arrested in Puerto Rico early last year, and originally charged with narcotics conspiracy resulting in death.
The famed actor, 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 the heroin from Cartagena on a Brooklyn sidewalk in a deal that was recorded by a security camera.
U.S. Attorney Damian Williams, who is not related to the actor, said in a statement that the sale occurred in “broad daylight in New York City, feeding addiction and causing tragedy.”
“In doing so, he dealt the fatal dose that killed Michael K. Williams,”
Williams said.
Prosecutors said Cartagena and his alleged co-conspirators continued to sell fentanyl-laced heroin around residential apartment buildings in Brooklyn and Manhattan even after they learned of the actor’s death. Another defendant in the case pleaded guilty Tuesday.
Williams’ death came despite an investigation by the New York Police Department that placed a paid informant making controlled heroin buys on the same block where Williams bought drugs.
The day after, the informant went back to buy more drugs from the same group and recorded a conversation in which some of them talked about Williams’ overdose. One denied selling any drugs containing fentanyl.
