Among the many iconic HBO dramas, one in particular, "The Wire," while with an enormous cult following, never got the attention it truly deserved when it was time for critics to award it - now, nearly a decade after the show ended in 2008, the main protagonist's real-life version, Melvin Williams from "The Wire," has unfortunately passed away.
Between the 1960s and 1970s, Williams was a major figure in the organized crime and drug trafficking scene in Baltimore, Maryland, later going through a "redemption" and becoming an actor, not only serving as inspiration for the character of Avon Barksdale (played by Wood Harris) but also having a smaller Melvin Williams "The Wire" role.
According to The Baltimore Sun, Melvin Williams from "The Wire" passed away last Thursday at the University of Maryland Medical Center at 73, his family has told the press; unknown to the media, he had been battling cancer for a while.
Vulture reports that, ahead of Melvin Williams' "The Wire" role, he was known as "Little Melvin" (also "Slim" or "Black") at the height of his criminal career decades back, and he spent years in and out of prison before finally seeing the error in his ways and publicly speaking against gang culture and drug use.
Still, Melvin Williams' "The Wire" time was more than profitable: at the height of his criminal career, he ran a drug empire grossing almost $1 million a day, organized similarly to how Barksdale's network on the show.
In his later years, though, Williams reached out to the community in Baltimore after having turned into a symbol of the city's organized crime, even playing the role of a church figure in the West Side who helps people find better opportunities.
According to Variety, the creator of "The Wire," David Simon, took to Twitter to bid the former kingpin and actor farewell.
"RIP to Melvin "Little Melvin" Williams, 73, who made me begin to rethink the drug war," tweeted Simon on Melvin Williams' "The Wire" passing. "You ended it free, brother."
