 Colvin was forced to retire because of his actions and the deacon found him a new job working with a sociologist in studying the prevention of repeat violent offender behavior.In his youth Melvin Williams, the actor who plays the Deacon, was a real-life drug kingpin who was arrested by series writer Ed Burns in 1984 when the latter was a Baltimore city police officer.Creator David Simon was responsible for covering the arrest for "The Baltimore Sun" at the time.