Blurring Good and Bad: 'Little' Melvin Williams

David Simon is renowned for blurring the lines of morality between good and bad; giving ‘good guys’, like McNulty, a ‘rough’ womanizing and alcohol-abusing edge. Equally, the ‘bad guys’, like Avon Barksdale, have a ‘good’ side, caring about community involvement. A magisterial and subtle tour de force, Simons takes this a step further by involving real-life criminals in the production of The Wire.

Little Melvin Williams is a classic example of this. Playing ‘The Deacon’ in The Wire, his character is a religious leader in the community, trying to bring about positive change and offering an alternative source of action from the official City authorities, for example in supporting the development of Cutty’s boxing gym.

Yet, in real life, Little Melvin Williams is an exceptionally controversial individual. A major drugs player in Baltimore for many years, akin to the fictional Avon Barksdale, he was eventually sentenced to 22 years in prison in late 2000. Serving just three of those years, he was then invited by Simon to play the role of The Deacon. Simon had previously written extensively on Williams while still a reporter at the Baltimore Sun.

However, some have claimed that Little Melvin’s miraculous transformation from kingpin to law-abiding citizen is not as it seems.

Writing in 2008, in Baltimore City Paper, Van Smith accuses Wiliams of still being involved in illegal gambling rackets and drug dealing. Williams, unsurprisingly, boots the reporter out of his warehouse in fury.

Melvin William’s involvement in The Wire helps make it the incredible show that it is. He undoubtedly adds authenticity, and, although subtly, further adds to Simon’s argument that the distinction between ‘good’ and ‘bad’ is not always clear.