Baltimore Police Department (Major Crimes Unit | Homicide Unit | Police Commanders | Western District) | Baltimore Underworld (The Barksdale Organization | Omar and Associates | The Greeks | The Stanfield Gang | New Day Co-Op) | Courthouse | Baltimore Docks | City Hall | The Baltimore Sun | Other Characters (Homeless People and Addicts | The Next Generation)
State's Attorney Ilene Nathan: Mr. Little, how does a man rob drug dealers for eight or nine years and live to tell about it?
Omar Little: Day at a time, I s'pose.
Omar Little: Day at a time, I s'pose.
A notorious "stick-up boy" — an armed robber who robs drug dealers of money or product — Omar Little naturally attracts people looking for excitement, adventure, or a quick buck. His small but efficient criminal organization changes composition over the show, sometimes consisting of a small band of merry outlaws and sometimes consisting of just Omar and his rather large gun collection... which is all you need when you are West Baltimore's most outstanding badass.
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Omar Devon Little
Played by: Michael K. Williams
Don't get it twisted, I do some dirt, too, but I ain't never put my gun on nobody who wasn't in the game.
Robber who targets drug dealers. Omar is successful in this dangerous trade because he not only has the fearlessness that the job requires, but is also a meticulous planner, an effective leader, and is willing to spend long hours on surveillance work, the sort of endless hours that even many dedicated cops would balk at. Also, he cultivates a reputation that discourages most of his victims from even thinking about putting up a fight.
- Affably Evil: He's as friendly and polite as a thief and murderer can be. He intimidates and steals from street dealers, but has a code of honor, takes his grandmother to church, refuses to swear, treats his boyfriends well and refuses to hurt those not involved in "the game".
- Anti-Hero: He robs drug dealers, has killed others and his actions have lead to other's deaths. But he lives by a strict code and will never harm someone who is not in the game. Hell, he never curses in a show filled with foul mouths.
- Anti-Villain: He's a criminal who only steals from other criminals. He's extremely personable, witty, badass, a Friend to All Children, and lives by a strict code of conduct that includes never swearing and never stealing from or harming anyone not involved in the criminal underworld, not even when they see him committing a crime and it could possibly result in him being arrested or convicted as a result. He even spreads around some of the profits of his robberies to others in the neighborhood. He's still a thief who has killed or crippled many of his targets during the course of his thefts, and, as the show points out, is part of Baltimore's Vicious Cycle of crime and decay, especially since the children that Omar is so charitable towards idolize him and aim to imitate him, which will someday get them caught in the cruel world of The Game.
- Arch-Enemy: Eventually becomes one to Stringer Bell, who, as Omar later discovers, was the one to order Brandon's brutal torture and murder. While the rest of the Barksdale Organization have good reason for wanting Omar dead, seeing as he regularly targeted them even before Brandon's death, the enmity between him and Stringer becomes deeply personal on both sides. Stringer even goes so far as to ignore Baltimore's venerated Sunday truce to try and assassinate Omar, a move out of step with his usual pragmatism and one which stuns even Avon and Slim Charles.
- Badass Boast:
- "'Ey, yo, lesson here, Bey: You come at the king, you best not miss!"
- "Omar don't scare."
- "You workin' a Stanfield corner, which means you workin' for a straight up punk! Ya' feel me? I'm out here in these streets every day, me and my lonesome, and where he at? Huh? A'yo, ya'll put it in his ear, Marlo Stanfield is not a man for this town, ya' digg?"
- "Now you make sure you tell ol' Marlo I burned the money. Cause this ain't about that paper, it's about me hurtin' his people, messin' with his world. Tell that boy he ain't man enough to come down to the street with Omar!"
- Badass Longcoat: He uses a duster to conceal his kevlar vest and double-barreled shotgun while robbing drug dealers.
- Battle Couple: With each of his boyfriends.
- Breakout Character: Initially slated to appear in only seven episodes before being killed off, Omar proved so popular with fans and critics alike that the writers changed his arc to make him a major character throughout the show's run. Although David Simon denies that there was ever any plan to kill him off in season 1
- Broken Pedestal: Kenard's, who is first seen wanting to play Omar in a game with some other kids; when he eventually meets him face-to-face, Omar is smashed up and limping on a crutch after his Super Window Jump, and Kenard seems decidedly unimpressed and disappointed. He then trails him to a shop and shoots him in the back, looks shocked at what he's done, and runs away.
- But Not Too Gay: He never gets a sex scene and over three boyfriends and five seasons, only has three on-screen kisses. However, he does have a fairly steamy make-out scene with Dante, which goes beyond what almost any other show was depicting at the time, and he does very frequently appear shirtless; also, Episode 3 of Season 4 opens with him waking up naked in bed with Renaldo, and yes, you do get a (brief) shot of his front.
- Byronic Hero: Reflective, smart, ruled by his tailor-made code yet often suffers at the hands of the game, causes problems for the (good and bad) police and is a morally grey character. Whether he's an anti-heroic or anti-villainous example is up in the air, which is kinda the point.
- The Casanova: He apparently has boys everywhere.
- Catchphrase: Downplayed with "Indeed" and "No doubt."
- Characterization Marches On: In an issue of Early-Installment Weirdness, he casually curses in his very first scene in the series. After a scene in episode three where he chides his lover Brandon for using "ugly language," it becomes a character trait that he never swears.
- Chastity Couple: Omar and Renaldo are not shown so much as holding hands, in comparison to Omar's being shown as affectionate with his first two boyfriends. The fact that they were tortured to get to him probably has something to do this detachment.
- Clear My Name: After the Stanfield organization frames him for murder. The exoneration process is more difficult for Bunk since Omar is guilty of other murders.
- Deadpan Snarker: He's witty and sarcastic.
- "Bird, really know how to bring it out in people". On hearing Bird receive a no holds barred beatdown from Daniels, Landsman and Greggs.
- "Do tell!". When told he is on Barskdale territory during a raid.
- Death Seeker: One interpretation of his Roaring Rampage of Revenge against Marlo Stanfield in the final season. In the earlier seasons, Omar could be reckless, but he was also very methodical and cool-headed. At this point, however, Omar has been hurt both physically and psychologically to a point where he's thrown all sense of caution to the wind and seems more focused on inflicting as much damage on the Stanfield gang as possible despite this approach painting him as an easy target. This uncharacteristic behavior persists right up until the point where Omar is finally killed by Kenard. It's as if he was just waiting for someone to put him down for good.
- Don't Tell Mama: His grandmother thinks he works at an airport cafeteria.
- The Dreaded: Hearing his whistling makes dealers run in fear. He's so feared he can walk down the streets unarmed and criminals still flee in terror from him or just toss him their drugs and money.
- Dropped a Bridge on Him: Done deliberately. He's such an epic badass that other hardened criminals are terrified of him, so of course he'll get a Dying Moment of Awesome where he goes down in a blaze of glory, right? Wrong. Shot from behind by an eleven year old while trying to buy a pack of cigarettes.
- Dying Clue: At the scene of his death, Bunk finds Omar's hit list, which gives the police a list of names as to who composes Marlo's crew.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: He's a remorseless stickup man who goes to church with his grandmother and goes ballistic whenever his loved ones or Butch is killed.
- Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas: He got his strict moral code from his grandmother and goes to church with her once a month.
- Everyone Has Standards: He may be stick-up man, but he has a strict moral code that involves not hurting anyone who is "not in the game" and not using profanity.
- "A man got to have a code."
- Expository Hairstyle Change: He has short, braided hair in the first three seasons. In the latter two, he's bald.
- Fatal Flaw: Wrath, as well as his vengefulness. When someone does something to hurt him or his loved ones, he just can't let it go. It ultimately leads to his death.
- Framing the Guilty Party:
- Comes forward as a key witness against Bird, in retaliation for what happened to Brandon. Word on the street is that Omar was "in the Eastside sticking up some Ashland Avenue niggas" when Bird was killing a former witness.McNulty: You really see him shoot the man?
Omar: You really asking? - Marlo has Chris kill a delivery woman in Old Face Andre's store and has Andre "identify" Omar to the police. Bunk is given a hard time by his peers when he tries to exonerate Omar, because as Bunk himself pointed out in the past, Omar is guilty of other unsolved murders (which were part of the game but made children glorify his violent ass and continue the game's vicious downward spiral.)
- Comes forward as a key witness against Bird, in retaliation for what happened to Brandon. Word on the street is that Omar was "in the Eastside sticking up some Ashland Avenue niggas" when Bird was killing a former witness.
- Famed In-Story: Omar is the most fearsome stickup man in the projects and is still glorified even in death.
- Friend to All Children: The first sign we get of him being more than the average criminal is him showing affection to the child of a dope fiend
who has come to him seeking a free fix. On the streets of Baltimore, Omar walking down the street triggers cries of, "Omar's coming!" from the hoppers, but this is inverted in season five when we see him in retirement in Puerto Rico, giving neighborhood kids (who joyfully run up to him, shouting, "Omar!") some candy. Indeed, the fact that he believes Children Are Innocent leads to his death, when he dismisses eight-year-old Kenard as Just a Kid. - From Nobody to Nightmare: "Anthony, man, your brother ain't cut out for this shit."
- Fun T-Shirt: "I am the American Dream."
- Gayngster: One of the most famous in all media.
- Good Scars, Evil Scars: Has a pretty distinctive antihero scar running down the left side of his face, which goes a long way towards solidifying him as a badass. Interestingly, that scar isn't a prosthetic—Michael K. Williams actually has a scar like that, which he got from a bar fight.
- Gosh Dang It to Heck!: The only character who doesn't like to use profanity.
- Gossip Evolution: The story of his death makes the rounds through the streets getting bigger and more epic each time it's told. When Michael tries to correct someone and tell what really happened, no one believes him. The result is that Omar becomes even more of a legendary figure and more Shrouded in Myth than he was when he was alive.
- Guile Hero: While he can handle himself in a fight, Omar mostly survives on his intelligence, his tough nature, and often dumb luck.
- Guns Akimbo: He wields two guns when he robs Marlo's poker game.
- Handicapped Badass: For the latter half of season five. Deconstructed in he can't do as many badass feats against the Stanfield Gang when compared to before he jumped out of the window.
- Heartbroken Badass: Omar twice suffers this condition in the series.
- Hidden Depths: He's clearly a lot smarter than he lets on. Shows a good knowledge of Greek mythology, which he recalls from middle school, and he has fond memories of his student years. He was likely an intelligent boy who had no chance to pursue further education.
- Horrifying the Horror: Drug dealers scare the bejesus out of normal people, for good reason. Omar scares the drug dealers.
- I Shall Taunt You: He purposely tries to push Marlo's Berserk Button to provoke Marlo into reckless action. Unfortunately Chris could see the ploy at work and made sure Marlo didn't learn about it.
- Important Haircut: He shaves off his cornrows between seasons three and four: right after he kills Stringer Bell and puts an end to his quest to avenge Brandon.
- It's Personal: Against the Barksdales organization (Stringer and Avon in particular) and later against Marlo Stanfield.
- Ignored Epiphany: After a hit on a Barksdale stash house resulted in Tosha's death, Omar was gonna stop going after the Barksdales and let sleeping dogs lie. But then Stringer made the grave mistake of sending "discount hitmen" after him, while he was escorting his grandmother to church. Omar's decision to let go of his vendetta with the Barksdale gang goes out the window after that.Omar: [To Dante and Kimmy] Y'all know I was gonna to walk away, right? Y'all know that, right?! I mean, after Tosha, I was gonna let those people be!Dante: Avon home now.Omar: Oh, Barksdale got to go! Stringer too! This thing got to end, man!
- It Will Never Catch On: In one of the prequel shorts, we see a young Omar robbing a civilian at a bus stop with his older brother Anthony and a friend. When Omar is disgusted with the robbery and forces the older boys to return the man's money, the friend rolls his eyes and says to Anthony "Your brother not cut out for this shit." Yeah...
- Just a Kid: Omar dismissed Kenard as a threat because he's a kid. Huge mistake.
- Just Like Robin Hood: Partially, he robs for himself but shows generosity to those around him, including random junkies and their kids. His friendly-neighbourhood policy also works against any bounty put on his head, as he has silent and willing lookouts everywhere.
- Karmic Thief: He steals exclusively from drug dealers and other criminals, refusing to harm or threaten anyone who isn't involved in the criminal underworld. The prequel focusing on him shows that this goes all the way back to when he was a Street Urchin, as he was so disgusted by a robbery that he and his older brother Anthony took part in, (stealing a few dollars from an ordinary working man at a bus stop) that he made Anthony give the money back at gun point.
- Killed Mid-Sentence: "And give me one of them..."
- Leitmotif: Yo, Omar's comin'!. Omar whistles "The Farmer In The Dell" in a way that resembles a marching music. The tune sounds like the very relevant 'A-Hunting We Will Go'.
- Let Off by the Detective: When Omar kills Stinkum, McNulty and Bunk quickly realize what happened. Since the murder charge would taint Omar's testimony against Bird, they lie to Cole, the investigator assigned to Stinkum's murder, about Omar's involvement so the case stays unsolved. At one point, they are turning a blind eye so blatantly that McNulty wonders out loud if they are still cops.
- Living Legend: On the streets of Baltimore, Omar the Terror is simultaneously hated, feared and respected by everyone of note in the drug game. His reputation is so fearsome that even walking around unarmed in a silk robe has people fleeing for their lives, shouting warnings of his approach.
- Lovable Rogue: He makes his living ripping off drug dealers and is constantly killing people. But he has a moral code of "all in the game" and he is just too lovable for the audience not to, well, love.
- Magnetic Hero: Inspires fierce loyalty from a wide range of people, several of whom refuse to inform on him despite the threat of torture and death.
- Manly Gay: Can't get much more manly then robbing drug dealers for a living. The series would actually accentuate this. Whenever Omar was about to have a big action moment, the makeup artists would cover Michael K. Williams in sweat.
- Manly Tears: Omar cries a lot, and yet he is still never less than manly.
- Never Hurt an Innocent: Drug dealers and street punks are fair game but taxpayers, aka civilians are strictly off limits in his code. According to a DVD extra, this is something he's been doing since he was a child, when his reaction to his older brother Anthony and Anthony's friend robbing a regular working man of the few dollars the guy had on him was to force them to give the money back at gun point.
- Noble Demon: A man has to have a code, after all. Still, he is an unrepentant criminal.
- "Not So Different" Remark: When Omar appears in court to testify against Bird, Levy tries every trick he can think of to get the jury to discount and doubt Omar's (admittedly false) testimony, including trying to undermine the sympathy the jury has for Omar being a "good criminal" who only robs drug dealers and other criminals by claiming that Omar is just as much a part of the city's underworld and Baltimore's downward spiral as any "bad criminal". Omar is quick to retort that all of Levy's comments apply just as well to Levy himself, blowing a massive hole in Levy's attempts to malign Omar's character. Even Judge Phelan responds with a look that says that he believes Omar is right.Levy: You are amoral, are you not? You are feeding off the violence and the despair of the drug trade. You're stealing from those who are stealing the life blood from our city. You are a parasite who leeches off-
Omar: Just like you, man.
Levy: -the culture of drugs... excuse me? Wha-
Omar: I got the shotgun. You got the briefcase. It's all in the game though, right? - Not Quite the Right Thing: It's a humanising moment when he shows affection to the baby of a dope fiend but giving free drugs to said dope fiend is still feeding into her addiction.
- Obfuscating Disability: He's able to get into a Barksdale stash house by pretending to be an old man in a wheelchair (with one of his crew pretending to be a nurse).
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: After 4 seasons of making a point of eschewing profanity, we know he's playing for keeps when he tells Fat-Face Rick to spread the word that Marlo Stanfield is "a bitch."
- Pet the Dog: He shows affection to the adorable baby of a dope fiend hitting him up for a free fix is the first sign that he's more than just a criminal. In season three, it's revealed that he also takes his grandmother to church once a month.
- Put on a Bus: McNulty puts Omar on a bus to New York at the end of season 1 to get him away from Barksdale retribution, and stays out of the story for several episodes. This adds some complications to find him again when Bunk needs to get in touch with Omar so he can testify against Bird.
- Real Men Wear Pink: He can walk to the supermarket in blue silk pyjamas, completely unarmed, and people will still run away and give him their drugs.
- Retirony: Comes out of retirement to avenge Butchie, which gets him killed in a random incident unrelated to Marlo.
- Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Omar always goes in these when one of his peoples gets killed.
- Rugged Scar: Sports a large one across his face, which only serves to make him more intimidating. Though this is more of a coincidence rather than a deliberate choice as the scar is genuine and one Michael K Williams got years before the series.
- Sawed-Off Shotgun: His signature weapon.
- Scary Black Man: He's so scary that some drug dealers throw their stash to him as he takes a smoke outside, while unarmed and wearing pajamas.
- The Scream: Omar's reaction after viewing the mutilated body of his lover Brandon at a Baltimore morgue. The camera cuts to McNulty's sons (who are waiting in the main lobby for their father) freezing in shock when he screams.
- Screw the Money, I Have Rules!: His code matters more to him than money, and when he's going after Marlo, he steals Marlo's money and product, then light it on fire or throws it away. As he says the first time he does this:Now you make sure you tell ol' Marlo I burned the money. Cause this ain't about that paper, it's about me hurtin' his people, messin' with his world. Tell that boy he ain't man enough to come down to the street with Omar!
- Second Episode Introduction: Introduced in the third episode of the series, going on to become a major character.
- Shotguns Are Just Better: His weapon of choice, though he occasionally uses a pistol.
- Shrouded in Myth: After his death, the story makes the rounds through the streets getting bigger each time it's told. When another character who knows the truth tries to correct someone, no one believes him. 'The bigger the lie, the more they believe.'
- Sinister Whistling: Downplayed. While he's a better person than the vast majority of the cast, Omar Little of is still a vicious criminal who exploits this trope, whistling "The Farmer and the Dell" as he robs (usually even worse) people.
- Sir Swears-a-Lot: Inverted. On a show where almost everyone drops f-bombs at the slightest provocation, he's the only one who refuses to swear and complains when others do. If anything, this only enhances his "force of nature in a duster" status.
- Smoking Is Cool: He has a tendency to be filmed at least once every season lurking in the shadows of a back alley smoking a cigarette.
- Spanner in the Works: Omar's revenge sprees has messed up MCU's investigations more than once.
- Stealing from Thieves: He robs the dealers who steal from the city and redistributes the wealth to the people.
- Straight Gay: He's a physically imposing and violent stick-up man who robs drug dealers. He is very openly homosexual, but displays no camp traits at all. His various boyfriends tend to be either twinks or Straight Gay as well.
- Suspect Is Hatless: "Black. Big. With a large weapon" Courtesy of Andy Krawczyk, who gets in the middle of his feud with Stringer. As Bunk puts it, "BNBG": Big Negro, Big Gun.
- Theme Music Power-Up: Whistling "The Farmer in the Dell".
- Third-Person Person: From time to time... "Omar's listening."
- Trademark Favorite Food: Honey Nut Cheerios. His attempts and failures to get them is a minor Running Gag.
- In a variant, he regularly smokes Newport cigarrettes.
- Tragic Hero: Omar could have lived happily ever after if he hadn't tried to avenge Butchie.
- Trauma Conga Line: Season 5 is this for him. First, his friend and mentor Butchie is killed. Then, his revenge assault on Marlo ends with him having to jump out of a 5 story window, breaking his leg. After this, he can only do minimal damage to Marlo's operation by killing a few of his guys and robbing a few stash houses. He tells Marlo's people to put word out that he's calling Marlo out, but Marlo will not come out to the street to face him. His last stash house robbery ends with him hollering out insulting Marlo to an empty corner. Then he goes into a store and gets unceremoniously shot in the head by Kenard. To add final insult to injury, he becomes nothing more than a statistic after his death, with only the hood caring who he was at all.
- Übermensch: Analyzed as such, due to being and independent but principled personal-code warrior.
- Undignified Death: He is one of the biggest badasses in the show and he gets one of the most worthless deaths in the show: blindsided by a Young Gun who's twelve years old at most and blows Omar's brains out from behind. Further salt is rubbed in the wound in that his death is ignored by the Baltimore Sun due to a lack of space and a coroner nearly mixes up his information with someone else. Omar goes from a legend of the streets to just another statistic of the criminal world within less than a day.
- Villainous Breakdown: Omar is the lesser of two evils when compared to Marlo but he counts when he shows signs toward the end of season 5 as his physical condition deteriorates and his unsubtle Roaring Rampage of Revenge becomes more and more disastrous for him. It ends with him capped in the head by Kenard when out at a corner shop.
- Villainous BSoD: Bunk's "The Reason You Suck" Speech about how his violence does harm the community despite he's only targeting bad guys makes Omar recapacitate, leading to Butchie's "conscience do cost" speech.
- Walking Shirtless Scene: A downplayed version; he wears shirts (and body armor) when he's out and about, but at home he tends to go shirtless (displaying his impressive if scarred physique).
- Weapon Specialization: The moment shotgun shells are found in a game-related crime scene, the police know Omar was there. He also favors large caliber pistols: he's seen using a .44 Magnum (Desert Eagle or Colt Anaconda), .45 ACP semi-automatics, and .50 Action Express.
- Zipping Up the Bodybag: His final fate. We see Omar's body bag being zipped up in the morgue at the end of an episode. Furthermore, in this scene, it's shown that there was a mistake with the ID tags, which the ME has to correct, which further emphasize the point: he's no longer a character or a feared legend of the underworld, just another statistic.
Associates
Brandon Wright
Played by: Michael Kevin Darnall
I'm the king of this shit.
Omar's boyfriend and fellow thief. Drives the white van that their crew use for recon in season one. After the crew robs a Barksdale stash house, he is spotted by Wallace and captured, tortured and killed by Stringer Bell's crew, but he does not give Omar up.
- Badass in Distress: Despite being tortured to death, he never gives Omar up.
- Battle Couple: Teams up with his boyfriend Omar to battle and rob dealers and other street criminals.
- Cold-Blooded Torture: Subjected to it by Wee Bey, Bird, and co., though he doesn't crack.
- Cruel and Unusual Death:
Sickeningly so. This is actually what makes Omar so angry about it; if Brandon had simply been gunned down, he would have accepted it as part of the game. - Cynicism Catalyst: His role ultimately is to be Omar's love interest who is brutally killed to set Omar on a path of revenge.
- Dead Guy on Display: His eventual fate - his corpse is left on the hood of a car in The Pit.
- Forgotten Fallen Friend: Notably averted. Omar is still actively thinking about him, mourning him and trying to get his revenge for his torture and demise until at least the end of season 3.
- Idiot Ball: First, he uses Omar's name in front of people he's robbing. Then, he goes out to play pinball alone despite there being a bounty on his head, and one of his crewmates having just been killed.
- The Lost Lenore: To Omar. His death leads to Omar starting a war with the Barksdale Organization to find his killers and continues to affect him throughout the series.
- The Millstone: Brandon's not as good at robbing as Omar, he even namedrops Omar during a robbery which leads to Wee-Bey and his underling shooting Bailey and torturing him to death.
- Small Name, Big Ego: Clearly brags about his skills, despite that his numerous mistakes lead to his untimely demise.
- Undying Loyalty: Refused to give up any information about Omar despite extreme torture.
John Bailey
Played by Lance Williams
A member of Omar's original crew at the beginning of the series. First guy to be killed in the Barksdales' retribution for hitting their stash.
- Asshole Victim: Implied. Omar comments that Bailey had many, many enemies. So many in fact that Omar doesn't initially conclude that Bailey's death was the work of the Barksdale gang because it could have been any one of Bailey's old enemies that caught up to him.
- The Friend Nobody Likes: Omar and Brandon aren't fond of Bailey despite working with him and are not surprised by his death.
- Killed Offscreen: We only hear about his death after the fact.
- No Kill like Overkill: 39 shell casings are found around his body, none of them fired by him.
- Rasputinian Death: Wearing a Bulletproof Vest turns out to be not much use when they shoot you enough.
- Who Murdered the Asshole: While his death is not a mystery to the audience, Omar comments that he has plenty of old enemies that might want him dead.
Blind Butchie
Played by: S. Robert Morgan
"Ain't no other way that I can see..."
- Conscience do cost.
A bar owner and quiet drug dealer who serves as a bank and go-between for Omar Little. Legally blind. He is tortured and killed by Chris Partlow and Snoop in Season 5, to draw Omar out of hiding. It works.
- Bad Guy Bar: He runs a bar that also works as a meeting place for various criminals looking to talk and a front for his own drug shipments.
- Blind Black Guy: He lost his sight to a gunshot wound and was once a feared enforcer who got (mostly) out of the drug game after losing his sight. He acts as a mentor figure to Omar and his crew.
- Boom, Headshot!: Finally realizing that Butchie won't give away Omar, Chris puts the man out of his misery with a bullet to the head.
- Cold-Blooded Torture: Subjected to a lengthy torture session by Chris and Snoop, who tie him in a chair, beat him, and shoot him repeatedly in the legs to try to get him to tell them where Omar is. Eventually Chris gives up trying to get an information from Butchie and just kills him, believing that when word gets back to Omar about Butchie's death, he'll come back to Baltimore for revenge.
- Cool Old Guy: An old-school, wise, fatherly, and affable player.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: One of the more extreme cases in this show. He's beaten within an inch of his life, shot repeatedly (including one that appears to be in the groin) and only put out of his misery after what is implied to be hours of suffering.
-
Disabled Character, Disabled Actor: Butchie is blind due to a gunshot wound from his youth, while actor S. Robert Morgan lost his sight due to macular degeneration. - Due to the Dead: Proposition Joe honors his memory and speaks highly of Butchie after his demise.Joe: Have it say: "Butchie. Woe to them that call evil good and good evil." Sign it, "your true and loyal friend, Proposition Joe."
- Hyper-Awareness: Having lost his sight, he greatly developed other senses. For instance he's easily aware when Omar is coming and somehow knows what kind of beer is in a crate when it's put over the counter of his bar.
- It's All My Fault: Blames himself for the chain of events started by Prop. Joe that leads to Omar having a parley with Stringer which in turn led to Omar attacking Brother Mouzone. He realizes something is fishy the moment Joe comes with the proposal, and Butchie later laments that he should have shielded Omar altogether from the business.
- Mentor Occupational Hazard: He's tortured and killed by Chris and Snoop to bring Omar out of hiding.
- Parental Substitute: He's more than a mentor to Omar. He worries about Omar's well-being, and Omar reciprocates.
- Retired Badass: Proposition Joe reveals that he was once a feared enforcer who got (halfway) out of the drug game after losing his sight due to a gunshot wound.
- Undying Loyalty: Refuses to give any information about Omar under torture. (Torture that includes being shot multiple times.) Chris eventually gives up getting the information and kills Butchie, since Butchie's death will be sure to lure Omar back to Baltimore.
Dante
Played by: Ernest Waddell
Just you and me, then. Like we was.
Omar's first boyfriend after Brandon, he and Omar hook up sometime in the year after Brandon's murder. He joins his stick-up operation, but is shown to have a problem with jealousy, and there is a noticeable rift between him and Omar's other associates, which worsens when he accidentally shoots Tosha during a failed raid.
- Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Vanishes between seasons three and four without explanation. It is probable that Omar dropped him after he sold him out to Mouzone, but this is never made explicit.
- Club Kid: After he and Omar split, he's seen drinking a Cosmopolitan in one of the most extravagant gay bars in town.
- Green-Eyed Monster: He is jealous of anyone who has any relationship with Omar besides himself, even those that aren't romantic rivals, like Kimmy and Tosha.
- I Just Shot Marvin in the Face: Looking where you're shooting is generally advisable, Dante. Not doing so results in things happening like accidentally shooting one of your crew in the head.
Tosha Mitchell and Kimmy
Played by: Edwina Findley and Kelli R. Brown
I'm in it for the money. There's easier out there than that.
The other two members of Omar's crew, whom he picks up in season two. There is a substantial rift between these two and Dante, as Dante is openly jealous of their relationship with Omar; made worse when Dante accidentally shoots Tosha during a failed raid. Kimmy blames Omar for putting them in the situation in the first place, eventually leaving the crew because his obsession with the Barksdale gang has become too risky. Kimmy apparently later forgives Omar — or at least, tolerates him well enough to participate in the theft of Prop Joe's heroin resupply at the end of season 4.
- Battle Couple: The pair are lesbian lovers who pull off crimes together and stand side by side in gun fights.
- Butch Lesbian: Kimmy, who is in a relationship with another woman (Tosha), and is tougher and more physically imposing than the more feminine Tosha.
- Dirty Harriet: Non-police version - Kimmy poses as a cheap whore in order to distract one of Prop Joe's soldiers during a raid.
- Defeat Means Friendship: Join Omar after he robs them.
- Face of a Thug: Notably averted in Tosha's case, which is one reason she was very good at being a distraction, as she could get right up close to drug dealers and soldiers without them suspecting her of anything. This was even true of the police, who find her body in the wake of a shootout and due to her appearance and clothing initially believe her to be an Innocent Bystander.
- Only in It for the Money: In contrast to Omar, who insists on robbing the increasingly fortified Barksdale stash houses because It's Personal. After Omar insistence on raiding the Barksdales gets Tosha killed, Kimmy decides that she's had enough and leaves the group soon afterward.
- Put on a Bus: Kimmmy leaves after Tosha's death. However... she returns for One Last Job with Omar.
- Retired Outlaw: Kimmy plans to retire after successfully stealing Prop Joe's shipment.
- Sassy Black Woman: Both of them are black women who enjoy pulling capers and have no problem showing it.
- We Need a Distraction: Their most common role on heists is being the distraction.
Renaldo
Played by: Ramon Rodriguez
They no have the Honey Nut?
Omar's boyfriend after Dante. The first major Hispanic character on the show, he seems fairly new to the stick-up game, as he is unused to the amount of time Omar spends in reconnaissance. Because he isn't know to the drug dealers the way Omar is, he can go places Omar can't in order to pick up information. He owns a taxi, which the two use for surveillance.
- Gratuitous Spanish: He has a tendency to mix Spanish words and phrases into sentences that are otherwise entirely in English.
- Latin Lover: A handsome, smooth man of Latin descent.
- Only One Name: He's only ever referred to by his first name, and his last name is not revealed in the show.
- Revenge Before Reason: Averted, he doesn't return to Baltimore to help Omar try to get revenge on the Stanfield crew.
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Renaldo fills a very similar story role to his predecessor Dante (and though it is implied, the reason for this replacement is never explicitly stated), despite having a rather different personality.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: His whereabouts at the end of the series are unknown and he's never seen again after he tells Omar about Butchie's death.
Donnie
Played by: Donnie Andrews
A friend of Butchie's who acts as muscle for him. When Omar is arrested, Butchie sends Big Guy and Donnie to protect him, and their help contributes to Omar surviving a hit attempt in prison. Donnie is back out of prison after a short time and later joins Omar in an attempt to avenge Butchie's death. He's killed in an ambush that the Stanfield gang lays for him and Omar.
- Boom, Headshot!: How he's killed.
- Meta Casting: Donnie Andrews's real life exploits inspired much of the character of Omar. He also worked as a consultant.
- Old Soldier: The criminal underworld's equivalent.
- Undying Loyalty: His loyalty to Butchie is unquestionable, and even after Butchie's death Donnie is more than willing to embark on a dangerous, high risk attempt to avenge Butchie.
Omar's relatives
"No heart" Anthony Little
Older brother of Omar. Locked up in the 90s for robbing a jewelry store
- Bungled Suicide: Facing capture by the police, he put a gun to his chest and pulled the trigger, but survived, only receiving a contact wound... and a new alias.
- Famed In-Story: To the point that Bubbles is ashamed that Kima hasn't heard of "No heart" Anthony.
- The Ghost: He gets talked about several times but is not seen in the series itself, only in the DVD extras.
- Ironic Nickname: "No heart" sounds like it should mean heartless, in the sense of being merciless/ruthless and having no feelings. Anthony got his nickname from a failed suicide attempt, where he failed to shoot himself in the heart. Of course if one uses street slang, it could also count as a Meaningful Name, because on the street "heart" means having courage, fortitude, the toughness to take whatever life throws at you, and Anthony didn't have the heart to deal with being captured by the police and tried to take an out through his attempted suicide.
- Never Going Back to Prison: To the point that he tried to kill himself when he saw that his capture was imminent.
- Sibling Team: A DVD extra segment set in 1985 shows him robbing a civilian with his younger brother and another friend... until Omar reverses the deed.
Josephine
Omar's Grandmother and main parental figure of his life. She's taken to the church regularly by him.
- Don't Tell Mama: She thinks that Omar works on a cafeteria by the airport.
- Hat Damage: Her church crown falls victim to Sapper and Gerard. Avon makes them send a new one to repair their infamous act.
- Parental Substitute: She raised Omar in lieu of his parents.
- Proper Lady: Slim Charles says it best:Slim: A bona fide colored lady. Do you know what a colored lady is? Not your moms, for sure. 'Cause if they was that, y'all would've known better than that bullshit.
- Small Role, Big Impact: Omar was ready to bury the hatchet and let the dogs of war sleep until she's caught up in the crossfire when a couple of Barksdale soldiers make an attempt on Omar's life. Stringer ultimately pays with his life for harming the old lady during the Sunday truce, as it fills Omar with a new determination to kill him.
