Williams was a notorious drug kingpin in Baltimore who was brought to justice by Ed Burns. In his youth Melvin Williams was a real-life drug kingpin who was arrested by "The Wire" TV-series writer Ed Burns in 1984 when the latter was a Baltimore city police officer. The HBO's show creator David Simon was responsible for covering the arrest for The Baltimore Sun at the time. Williams received a 34-year sentence for his crimes and much of the evidence against him came from a wiretap investigation like the one featured in the first season of the TV show "The Wire." David Simon, who co-created the television series "The Wire," covered Melvin Williams as a reporter for the Baltimore Sun. Later, Simon was having a meal with Melvin Williams at a restaurant when they met Ed Burns, 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. Afterwards, Simon said, the pair offered Williams the role of "the Deacon" on "The Wire," which ran from 2002 to 2008. Williams appeared in the television series episodes in Season 3 and 4. The show's character -- "D'Avon Barksdale" -- is loosely based on Melvin Williams. Melvin Williams joined Simon's HBO TV series "The Wire" as "the Deacon" in season 3. "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".
