Melvin Williams (actor)

Melvin D. Williams (born 1941), known as Little Melvin, is a former drug trafficker and organized crime figure in his native Baltimore, Maryland. Williams is widely known for his involvement in heroin trafficking in Baltimore in the 1970s and 1980s. Williams also appeared as an actor in the HBO series The Wire, which explores many Baltimore related subjects including narcotics trafficking and served as the inspiration for Avon Barksdale.

Early life

Melvin Williams was born in 1941 in Baltimore, Maryland. His father worked as a cab driver while his mother worked as a nurse's assistant. In the 1960s Williams was a well known gambler and pool player in Baltimore. He gained notoriety in Baltimore for his role in quelling rioting in the city in the wake of the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr in early April, 1968. By that time Williams already had an extensive criminal record and was involved in heroin and cocaine trafficking.

Drug trafficking

Melvin Williams was actively involved with drug trafficking throughout the 1970s and early 1980s. During that time Williams was periodically arrested on minor charges. In the early 1980s federal agents along with the Baltimore Police Department launched an investigation into his activities. One of the investigators working on the case was Ed Burns. On December 6, 1984 Williams was arrested on cocaine trafficking charges. On February 7, 1985, he was convicted and sentenced to 34 years in prison. He served part of his sentence in the Lewisburg Federal Penitentiary. In May 1987, the Internal Revenue Service assessed taxes in the amount of $425,055 and seized the Williams home. While still in prison his life story was featured in a series of articles written by future The Wire creator David Simon. "Easy Money: Anatomy of a Drug Empire" a series of five articles was published in the Baltimore Sun in 1987. Williams was released on parole in 1996.

In March 1999 he pistol whipped a man over a $500 debt. Williams, who at the time was on parole and had an extensive criminal record, was sentenced to 22 years in prison in December 2000 after one mistrial. However his sentence was reduced by the same judge who imposed the original 22 year term. He was released from prison in September 2003.

TV appearances

Williams began to appear on the HBO show The Wire during the show's third season. He played a part referred to as The Deacon during the third and fourth seasons. The BET show American Gangster profiled Williams in one episode.^[1] In the 1999 film Liberty Heights, the character Little Melvin portrayed by actor Orlando Jones is loosely based upon Melvin Williams in the early stages of his career.

References

1. ^ Redemption Song and Dance Baltimore City Paper - 3/19/2008

External links

• "American Gangster: Melvin Williams & The Baltimore Hustle" by Alan Kurtz (Blogcritics)

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Name	Williams, Melvin
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Date of birth	1941
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