NEW YORK (1010 WINS/WCBS 880) — A Brooklyn drug dealer was sentenced to five years in prison on Tuesday in Manhattan federal court due to his ties with a crew that sold Michael K. Williams fentanyl-laced heroin leading to his overdose death.
Luis Cruz, 58, who also goes by “Mostro” pleaded guilty to drug conspiracy in April for dealing heroin and fentanyl-laced heroin and was sentenced to five years by Manhattan federal court Judge Ronnie Abrams.
Prosecutors said that the crew of four sold drugs from at least August 2020 and through February 2022.
Cruz admitted to selling narcotics to finance his own addiction and cover basic expenses. He confessed to knowing some of the drugs he sold contained the deadly synthetic opioid, fentanyl, which is 50 -100 times stronger than heroin.
Williams, played Omar Little on HBO’s “The Wire” and died from drug overdose on Sept. 5, 2021. Surveillance footage from a day prior to his death showed Williams purchasing drugs from another crew member, Irvin Cartagena, near Havermeyer Street.
Cartagena, 40, who attempted to flee to Puerto Rico in February 2022, was caught, returned to New York, pleaded guilty, and received a ten-year sentence.
Other crew members faced varying sentences. Carlos Macci, 71, was sentenced to two and a half years. Hector Robles, after pleading guilty to a narcotics conspiracy, could face between five to 40 years in prison.