Melvin Douglas "Little Melvin" Williams (December 14, 1941 – December 3, 2015) was an African-American actor, author, entrepreneur, public speaker, educator, community activist, gambler and reformed

drug trafficker The illegal drug trade or drug trafficking is a global black market dedicated to the cultivation, manufacture, distribution and sale of prohibited drugs. Most jurisdictions prohibit trade, except under license, of many types of drugs through ...

. Considered a

drug kingpin A drug lord, drug baron, kingpin or narcotrafficker is a high-ranking crime boss who controls a sizable network of people involved in the illegal drug trade. Such figures are often difficult to bring to justice, as they are normally not directly ...

in the 1960s, Williams was known for trafficking

heroin Heroin, also known as diacetylmorphine and diamorphine among other names, is a potent opioid mainly used as a recreational drug for its euphoric effects. Medical grade diamorphine is used as a pure hydrochloride salt. Various white and brow ...

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

before he was sentenced to prison in 1985. After his release he began working as a community activist to help reform the lives of underprivileged minorities and youth. He later appeared as “The Deacon” in the HBO series ''

The Wire ''The Wire'' is an American Crime film, crime drama Television show, television series created and primarily written by author and former police reporter David Simon. The series was broadcast by the cable network HBO in the United States. ''The ...

'' and served as an inspiration for the show.

Early life

Williams was born in

Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

. His father worked as a

cab driver "Cab Driver" is a song written by Carson Parks and performed by The Mills Brothers featuring Sy Oliver, Sy Oliver and His Orchestra. It reached #3 on the Adult Contemporary (chart), Easy Listening chart, #21 on the ''Cashbox (magazine), Cashbo ...

, while his mother worked as a nurse's assistant.

Drug trafficking

Williams was heavily involved with drug trafficking throughout the 1970s and early 1980s. In the FX documentary ''Tapping the Wire'' about the

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...

show ''

'', Williams volunteers the information that he made at least "a couple hundred million ollars through heroin trafficking. During that time, Williams was a gambler and states that he was framed by Baltimore police for possession of narcotics. He was periodically arrested on minor charges culminating in federal agents, along with the

Baltimore Police Department The Baltimore Police Department (BPD) is the municipal police department of the city of Baltimore, Maryland. Dating back to 1784, the BPD, consisting of 2,935 employees in 2020, is organized into nine districts covering of land and of waterway ...

, launching an investigation into his activities in the early 1980s. One of the

investigators working on the case was

Ed Burns Edward P. Burns (born January 29, 1946) is an American screenwriter, novelist, and producer. He has worked closely with writing partner David Simon. For HBO, they have collaborated on ''The Corner,'' ''The Wire,'' ''Generation Kill'', ''The Pl ...

. 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 The United States Penitentiary, Lewisburg (USP Lewisburg) is a medium-security United States federal prison in Pennsylvania for male inmates. It is operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, a division of the United States Department of Justice. ...

. In May 1987, the

Internal Revenue Service The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is the revenue service for the United States federal government, which is responsible for collecting U.S. federal taxes and administering the Internal Revenue Code, the main body of the federal statutory ta ...

assessed taxes in the amount of $425,055. While still in prison, his life story was featured in a series of articles written by future ''The Wire'' creator

David Simon David Judah Simon (born February 9, 1960) is an American author, journalist, screenwriter, and producer best known for his work on ''The Wire'' (2002–08). He worked for ''The Baltimore Sun'' City Desk for twelve years (1982–95), wrote '' Hom ...

. "Easy Money: Anatomy of a Drug Empire", a series of five articles, was published in the ''

Baltimore Sun ''The Baltimore Sun'' is the largest general-circulation daily newspaper based in the U.S. state of Maryland and provides coverage of local and regional news, events, issues, people, and industries. Founded in 1837, it is currently owned by Tr ...

'' in 1987. During his sentence Melvin became extremely knowledgeable about the law and helped other inmates with their cases. Williams was released on parole in 1996. In March 1999, he was convicted of a new offense. Williams, who at the time was on parole was sentenced to 22 years in prison in December 2000 after one mistrial. However, he appealed his sentence and it was overturned due to the sentence being outside of the mandatory guidelines. He was released from prison in September 2003.

Acting career

Williams began to appear on the

show ''

'' during the show's second season. He played the role of

the Deacon Dagger Dagoth Dagoth is a demon who has clashed with Doctor Strange. Daken Dakimh the Enchanter Damballah Daniel Whitehall Daniel Whitehall is a British intelligence agent also known as the Kraken. An elite assassin and member of the ...

starting in the third season. The

BET Black Entertainment Television (acronym BET) is an American basic cable channel targeting African-American audiences. It is owned by the CBS Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global via BET Networks and has offices in New York City, Los A ...

show '' American Gangster'' profiled Williams in one episode. In the 1999 film ''

Liberty Heights ''Liberty Heights'' is a 1999 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Barry Levinson. The film is a semi-autobiographical account of his childhood growing up in Baltimore in the 1950s. Portrayed are the racial injustices experienced bot ...

'', the character Little Melvin portrayed by actor

Orlando Jones Orlando Jones (born April 10, 1968) is an American stand-up comedian and actor. He is known for being one of the original cast members of the sketch comedy series ''MADtv'', for his role as the 7 Up spokesman from 1999 to 2002, and for his role a ...

is loosely based upon Williams in the early stages of his career. Other appearances include his cameo in Baltimore hip hop duo Dirt Platoon's video for the song "Pennsylvania Avenue" in 2010.

Death

Williams died on December 3, 2015, at the

University of Maryland Medical Center The University of Maryland Medical Center (UMMC) is a teaching hospital with 806 beds based in Baltimore, Maryland, that provides the full range of health care to people throughout Maryland and the Mid-Atlantic region. It gets more than 26,000 inpa ...

References

External links

*
Amazon Book
"Fruit of the Forbidden Tree," (Little Melvin's Autobiography) * {{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Melvin 1941 births 2015 deaths Male actors from Baltimore African-American male actors African-American gangsters American gangsters American drug traffickers American crime bosses Deaths from cancer in Maryland 21st-century American male actors Criminals from Maryland 20th-century American criminals 20th-century African-American people 21st-century African-American people