Four people have been arrested in connection with the overdose death of actor Michael K. Williams.
The actor was found dead at the age of 54 in his New York apartment in September 2021. Weeks later, a medical examiner determined that Williams died of an accidental overdose.
On Wednesday, the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Southern District of New York announced that Irvin “Green Eyes” Cartagena, Hector “Oreja” Robles, Luis “Mostro” Cruz and Carlos “Carlito” Macci were arrested in connection with the death.
Per an online statement, Cartagena, 39, “was charged in a criminal complaint unsealed yesterday in Manhattan federal court with a narcotics conspiracy in which he distributed the fentanyl-laced heroin that resulted in” Williams’ death.
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Four people have been arrested in connection with actor Michael K. Williams’ accidental overdose death.
(Evan Agostini/Invision/AP, File)
In another criminal complaint unsealed on Wednesday, Robles, 57, Cruz, 56, and Macci, 70, were charged as members of the fentanyl and heroin conspiracy.
Cartagena was detained by authorities in Puerto Rico on Tuesday and is expected to appear in federal court on Thursday, per the statement. The three others were also arrested on Tuesday and will be presented Wednesday in Manhattan federal court.
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The complaint alleges that “since at least in or about August 2020,” a drug trafficking operation had been operating in Brooklyn and allegedly sold Williams fentanyl-laced heroin in early September. Cartagena executed the hand-to-hand transaction, alleges the complaint, citing surveillance footage.
Michael K. Williams died of an accidental overdose in early September 2021.
(Rodin Eckenroth/FilmMagic)
“Despite knowing that Williams died after being sold the DTO’s product, Cartagena, Robles, Cruz, and Macci continued to sell fentanyl-laced heroin, in broad daylight, amidst residential apartment buildings, in Brooklyn and Manhattan,” said the complaint, per the statement.
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Each of the men has been “charged with conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute fentanyl analogue, fentanyl, and heroin, which carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 5 years in prison and a maximum sentence of 40 years in prison,” read the statement.
Four men have been charged with selling fentanyl-laced heroin to actor Michael K. Williams, and continuing to sell it after his death.
(Reuters/Caitlin Ochs)
Additionally, Cartagena has also been charged with causing Williams’ death “in connection with the narcotics conspiracy, which carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 20 years in prison and a maximum sentence of life in prison.”
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The office’s Narcotic’s Unit is overseeing the case, while assistant U.S. attorneys Micah Fergenson and David Robles have been tasked with prosecuting.
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