Melvin Williams, whose legendary life as a West Baltimore drug czar in the 1960s later earned him a place in HBO's "The Wire," died Thursday morning at the University of Maryland Medical Center. He was 73.
Known as "Little Melvin," he was a complicated figure who once ruled the illegal drug trade along Pennsylvania Avenue, severing many years in federal penitentiary before eventually reforming. In later years he swore off crime and worked with local pastors.
He was called upon to help quell the 1968 Martin Luther King riot.
"He was West Baltimore's man child, quick witted and calculating, a prodigy from Pennsylvania Avenue's pool halls and juke joints, where the hustler's game was played night after night," read a 1987 Baltimore Sun profile written by David Simon, who went on to co-create The Wire.
His death was confirmed by his mortician, Al Wylie, of the Wylie Funeral Home on Mount Street. No cause of death was given.
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