Proof That Crime Does Pay: Little Melvin Williams #AmericanGangster

Melvin Williams

Little Melvin was one of the 1st criminals featured on American Gangster.  He was born and raised in Baltimore.  In a desperate bid to help his cab driving daddy, Little Melvin dropped out of high school in the 11th grade.  Eventually, he became a drug king pin who ruled the streets along Pennsylvania Ave.  Son of a nurse’s aid, Federal prosecutors accused Little Melvin of ruling a drug trade that grossed over $1 million a day.

LA Times
David Simon, who co-created “The Wire,” covered Williams as a reporter for the Baltimore Sun. Later, Simon was having a meal with Williams at a restaurant when they met a former homicide detective who had built a successful case against Williams and was collaborating at the time with Mr. Simon on “The Wire.”

“They shared some very funny moments,” Simon said. Afterward, he said, the pair offered Williams the role of the deacon on “The Wire,” which ran from 2002 to 2008. He appeared in episodes in Seasons 3 and 4.

“Melvin did a lot of damage — and he’d be the first to admit it,” Simon said. “He was a fascinating man in terms of Baltimore and what the drug war was going to do to this country.”

Little Melvin Williams only served 22 years of a 4 year sentence before going to Hollyweird.  Williams told the judge:  “Sometime in my 50s, I became aware that there was a God in charge, and not a Melvin.”  He died a legend last Christmas.

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