History Characters / TheWire

* [[Characters/TheWireDowntownCharacters Downtown Characters]][[note]]Courthouse (Rhonda "Ronnie" Pearlman, Daniel Phelan, Maurice Levy, Ilene Nathan, Gary [=DiPasquale=], Rupert Bond), City Hall (R. Clayton "Clay" Davis, Thomas "Tommy" Carcetti, Clarence Royce, Coleman Parker, Norman Wilson, Nerese Campbell, Michael Steintorf, Andy Krawczyk, Odell Watkins, Theresa "Terry" D'Agostino, Anthony "Tony" Gray), ''The Baltimore Sun'' (Augustus "Gus" Haynes, Alma Gutierrez, Scott Templeton, Michael "Fletch" Fletcher, Thomas Klebanow, James Whiting)[[/note]]

** [[Characters/TheWireBarksdaleOrganization The Barksdale Organization]][[note]]Leadership (Avon Barksdale, Russell "Stringer" Bell, D'Angelo Barksdale, Brianna Barksdale, Sean "Shamrock" [=McGinty=]), Soldiers and Dealers (Roland "Wee-Bey" Brice, Preston "Bodie" Broadus, Malik "Poot" Carr, Wallace, Marquis "Bird" Hilton, Anton "Stinkum" Artis, Savino Bratton, Wintell "Little Man" Royce, Sapper and Gerard, Country, Bernard, Chipper), Others (Wendell "Orlando" Blocker, Donette, Squeak, Devonne, De'londa Brice)[[/note]]

** [[Characters/TheWireStanfieldOrganization Stanfield Organization]][[note]]Marlo Stanfield, Chris Partlow, "Snoop" Pearson, Monk Metcalf, Old Face Andre, Vinson, Little Kevin, Fruit[[/note]]

* [[Characters/TheWireBaltimorePoliceDepartment Baltimore Police Department]][[note]]Others (Bobby Brown, Randall Friezer, Claude Diggins, Kenneth Dozerman, Anthony Colicchio, Eddie Walker, Brian Baker)[[/note]]

* [[Characters/TheWireBaltimoreUnderworld Baltimore Underworld]][[note]]"Lex" Anderson Pooh Blanchard[[/note]]

** [[Characters/TheWireBarksdaleOrganization The Barksdale Organization]][[note]]Leadership (Avon Barksdale, Russell "Stringer" Bell, D'Angelo Barksdale, Brianna Barksdale, Sean "Shamrock" [=McGinty=]), Soldiers and Dealers (Roland "Wee-Bey" Brice, Preston "Bodie" Broadus, Malik "Poot" Carr, Wallace, Marquis "Bird" Hilton, Anton "Stinkum" Artis, Savino Bratton, Wintell "Little Man" Royce, Dennis "Cutty" Wise, Sapper and Gerard, Country, Bernard, Chipper), Others (Wendell "Orlando" Blocker, Donette, Squeak, Devonne, De'londa Brice)[[/note]]

* [[Characters/TheWireOtherCharacters Other Characters]][[note]]Family Members of Police Officers (Cheryl, Marla Daniels, Elena [=McNulty=], Shardene Innes, Michael and Sean [=McNulty=]) Other Characters (Terrance "Fitz" Fitzhugh, Brother Mouzone, The Deacon, David Parenti)[[/note]]

* [[Characters/TheWireBaltimorePoliceDepartment Baltimore Police Department]][[note]]Others (Bobby Brown, Randall Friezer, Claude Diggins, Kenneth Dozerman, Anthony Colicchio, Eddie Walker, Brian Baker), Family Members of Police Officers (Cheryl, Marla Daniels, Elena [=McNulty=], Shardene Innes, Michael and Sean [=McNulty=])[[/note]]

* [[Characters/TheWireOtherCharacters Other Characters]][[note]]Other Characters (Terrance "Fitz" Fitzhugh, Brother Mouzone, The Deacon, David Parenti)[[/note]]

** [[Characters/TheWireTheNextGeneration The Next Generatione]][[note]]Duquan "Dukie" Weems, Randy Wagstaff, Namond Brice, Michael Lee, Kenard, Donut[[/note]]

* [[Characters/TheWireOtherCharacters Other Characters]][[note]]Homeless people and addicts (Reginald "Bubbles" Cousins, Johnny Weeks, Sherrod, Walon, Dee-Dee, Larry), The Docks (Beatrice "Beadie" Russell, Frank Sobotka, Nick Sobotka, Chester Karol "Ziggy" Sobotka, Louis Sobotka, Johnny "Fifty" Spamanto, Thomas "Horseface" Pakusa, Nat Coxson, Vernon "Ott" Motley, Maui), The Next Generation (Duquan "Dukie" Weems, Randy Wagstaff, Namond Brice, Michael Lee, Kenard, Donut), Other Characters (Terrance "Fitz" Fitzhugh, Brother Mouzone, The Deacon, David Parenti)[[/note]]

** [[Characters/TheWireBarksdaleOrganization The Barksdale Organization]][[note]]Leadership (Avon Barksdale, Russell "Stringer" Bell, D'Angelo Barksdale, Brianna Barksdale, Sean "Shamrock" [=McGinty=]), Soldiers and Dealers (Roland "Wee-Bey" Brice, Preston "Bodie" Broadus, Malik "Poot" Carr, Wallace, Marquis "Bird" Hilton, Anton "Stinkum" Artis, Savino Bratton, Wintell "Little Man" Royce, "Slim Charles", Dennis "Cutty" Wise, Sapper and Gerard, Country, Bernard, Chipper), Others (Wendell "Orlando" Blocker, Donette, Squeak, Devonne, De'londa Brice)[[/note]]

** [[Characters/TheWireNewDayCoOp New Day Co-Op]][[note]]Joseph "Proposition Joe" Stewart, Calvin "Cheese" Wagstaff, Drac, "Fat-Face Rick" Hendrix, Nathaniel "Hungry Man" Manns, Kintel Williamson[[/note]]

* [[Characters/TheWireBarksdaleOrganization The Barksdale Organization]][[note]]Leadership (Avon Barksdale, Russell "Stringer" Bell, D'Angelo Barksdale, Brianna Barksdale, Sean "Shamrock" [=McGinty=]), Soldiers and Dealers (Roland "Wee-Bey" Brice, Preston "Bodie" Broadus, Malik "Poot" Carr, Wallace, Marquis "Bird" Hilton, Anton "Stinkum" Artis, Savino Bratton, Wintell "Little Man" Royce, "Slim Charles", Dennis "Cutty" Wise, Sapper and Gerard, Country, Bernard, Chipper), Others (Wendell "Orlando" Blocker, Donette, Squeak, Devonne, De'londa Brice)[[/note]]
* [[Characters/TheWireOmarAndAssociates Omar and Associates]][[note]] Omar, Associates (Brandon Wright, John Bailey, Blind Butchie, Dante, Tosha Mitchell and Kimmy, Renaldo, Donnie), Omar's relatives ("No heart" Anthony Little, Josephine)[[/note]]
* [[Characters/TheWireOtherDrugDealers Other Drug Dealers]][[note]]Prop Joe's Organization (Joseph "Proposition Joe" Stewart, Calvin "Cheese" Wagstaff, Drac), the Greeks ("The Greek", Spiros "Vondas" Vondopoulos, Sergei Malatov, George "Double G" Glekas, Eton Ben-Eleazer, "Sailor Sam"), the Stanfield Organization (Marlo Stanfield, Chris Partlow, Felicia "Snoop" Pearson, Monk Metcalf, Old Face Andre, Vinson, Little Kevin, Fruit), Other drug dealers (Ricardo "Fat-Face Rick" Hendrix, Nathaniel "Hungry Man" Manns, Kintel Williamson, Curtis "Lex" Anderson Pooh Blanchard)[[/note]]

** [[Characters/TheWirePoliceCommanders
Police Commanders]][[note]]Bill Rawls, Ervin Burrell, Stanislaus Valchek, Commissioner Frazier, Raymond Foerster, Howard "Bunny" Colvin, Dennis Mello, Jimmy Asher, Charles Marimow[[/note]]

* [[Characters/TheWireBaltimorePoliceDepartment Baltimore Police Department]][[note]]The Major Crimes Unit (James "Jimmy" [=McNulty=], Cedric Daniels, Shakima "Kima" Greggs, Thomas "Herc" Hauk, Ellis Carver, Lester Freamon, Roland "Prez" Pryzbylewski, Leander Sydnor, Augustus Polk and Patrick Mahon, Caroline Massey), Police Commanders (William "Bill" Rawls, Ervin Burrell, Stanislaus Valchek, Commissioner Frazier, Raymond Foerster, Howard "Bunny" Colvin, Dennis Mello, Jimmy Asher, Charles Marimow), Homicide (Bunk Moreland, Jay Landsman, Michael Santangelo, Ray Cole, Edward Norris, Vernon Holley, Frank Barlow, Michael Crutchfield, Winona, Christeson), Others (Bobby Brown, Randall Friezer, Claude Diggins, Kenneth Dozerman, Anthony Colicchio, Eddie Walker, Brian Baker), Family Members of Police Officers (Cheryl, Marla Daniels, Elena [=McNulty=], Shardene Innes, Michael and Sean [=McNulty=])[[/note]]

* [[Characters/TheWireDowntownCharacters Downtown Characters]][[note]]Courthouse (Rhonda "Ronnie" Pearlman, Daniel Phelan, Maurice Levy, Ilene Nathan, Gary DiPasquale, Rupert Bond), City Hall (R. Clayton "Clay" Davis, Thomas "Tommy" Carcetti, Clarence Royce, Coleman Parker, Norman Wilson, Nerese Campbell, Michael Steintorf, Andy Krawczyk, Odell Watkins, Theresa "Terry" D'Agostino, Anthony "Tony" Gray), ''The Baltimore Sun'' (Augustus "Gus" Haynes, Alma Gutierrez, Scott Templeton, Michael "Fletch" Fletcher, Thomas Klebanow, James Whiting)[[/note]]
* [[Characters/TheWireOtherCharacters Other Characters]] (Port of Baltimore, school kids, homeless and addicts, assorted others)

* [[Characters/TheWireBarksdaleOrganization The Barksdale Organization]][[note]]Leadership (Avon Barksdale, Russell "Stringer" Bell, D'Angelo Barksdale, Brianna Barksdale, Sean "Shamrock" McGinty), Soldiers and Dealers (Roland "Wee-Bey" Brice, Preston "Bodie" Broadus, Malik "Poot" Carr, Wallace, Marquis "Bird" Hilton, Anton "Stinkum" Artis, Savino Bratton, Wintell "Little Man" Royce, "Slim Charles", Dennis "Cutty" Wise, Sapper and Gerard, Country, Bernard, Chipper), Others (Wendell "Orlando" Blocker, Donette, Squeak, Devonne, De'londa Brice)[[/note]]

* [[Characters/TheWireDowntownCharacters Downtown Characters]] (Courthouse, City Hall, ''The Baltimore Sun'')

* [[Characters/TheWireOtherDrugDealers Other Drug Dealers]] (Prop Joe's Organization, the Greeks, the Stanfield Organization, other drug dealers)

* [[Characters/TheWireBarksdaleOrganization The Barksdale Organization]]
* [[Characters/TheWireOmarAndAssociates Omar and Associates]]

* [[Characters/TheWireBaltimorePoliceDepartment Baltimore Police Department]][[note]]The Major Crimes Unit (James "Jimmy" McNulty, Cedric Daniels, Shakima "Kima" Greggs, Thomas "Herc" Hauk, Ellis Carver, Lester Freamon, Roland "Prez" Pryzbylewski, Leander Sydnor, Augustus Polk and Patrick Mahon, Caroline Massey), Police Commanders (William "Bill" Rawls, Ervin Burrell, Stanislaus Valchek, Commissioner Frazier, Raymond Foerster, Howard "Bunny" Colvin, Dennis Mello, Jimmy Asher, Charles Marimow), Homicide (Bunk Moreland, Jay Landsman, Michael Santangelo, Ray Cole, Edward Norris, Vernon Holley, Frank Barlow, Michael Crutchfield, Winona, Christeson), Others (Bobby Brown, Randall Friezer, Claude Diggins, Kenneth Dozerman, Anthony Colicchio, Eddie Walker, Brian Baker), Family Members of Police Officers (Cheryl, Marla Daniels, Elena McNulty, Shardene Innes, Michael and Sean McNulty)[[/note]]

* [[Characters/TheWireBaltimorePoliceDepartment Baltimore Police Department]]

* [[Characters/TheWireOtherDrugDealers Other Drug Dealers]]
* [[Characters/TheWireDowntownCharacters Downtown Characters]]
* [[Characters/TheWireOtherCharacters Other Characters]]

[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/thewirecharacters2_2826.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"It's all in the game, yo"'']]

* [[Characters/TheWireOmarAndAssociates Omar and associates]]

----

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder: Prop Joe's Organization]]

-->''"I got motherfuckin' nephews and in-laws fucking all my shit up all the time and it ain't like I can pop a cap in their ass and not hear about it Thanksgivin' time. For real, I'm livin' life with some burdensome niggers."''
-->--'''Joseph "Proposition Joe" Stewart'''

Whilst the Barksdale's hold the Westside, ''The Wire'' features a number of other important drug organizations, the most significant of which belongs to "Proposition" Joe. Joe's organization has an excellent supply of drugs in the form of the Greek's criminal organization, but suffers from a small territory and a critical competence deficit thanks to Joe's tedious inlaws forcing him to promote family members to important posts within it. Despite this, Joe has grander ambitions, and eventually leverages his first-rate drug supply to unite the various Baltimore drug organizations in a mutually-beneficial "Co-op", designed to eliminate competition and maximize profits...but being dependent on Prop Joe's supply. Eventually, Marlo takes over the Co-op, and tries to fold it into his own organization.

!"Proposition" Joe Stewart
->'''Played by''': Robert F. Chew

[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/propostion_joe_stewart_9921.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"A proposition might fall kindly on your ear."'']]

-->''Wanna know what kills more police than bullets and liquor? Boredom. They just can't handle that shit. You keep it boring, String. You keep it dead fucking boring.''

East-side drug kingpin. Has a mellow temperament. Dislikes common squabbling and turf wars (and the ensuing police attention), preferring instead to arrange alliances and cut deals between rival gangs. His group is the first to fill the vacuum left by the disruption of the Barksdale Organization in Season 2, chipping away at their territory and influence. An alliance between the two groups, the New Day Co-Op, is eventually formed. He keeps Stringer Bell powerless and under his control, but he can't contain the ascendant Marlo Stanfield, nor his mercenary-in-all-but-name, Omar Little. He is murdered by Chris Partlow as he is packing his bags to flee Baltimore.

* AffablyEvil: Joe is quite friendly and cordial as long as you don't interfere with his business. In that case he'll play up his FauxAffablyEvil side, as his bark is worse than his bite.
-->'''[To Omar]''': [[WeDoNotKnowEachOther Don't believe we've met]] ; Proposition Joe. You ever steal from me, [[DisproportionateRetribution I'll kill your whole family]].\\
'''[To Nicky]''': Fool, if it wasn't for Sergei here, you and your cuz both would be cadaverous motherfuckers.
* AnyoneCanDie
* BatmanGambit: To try and persuade Marlo of the security benefits of the Co-Op, he gets Omar to rob the poker game Marlo attends to show Marlo how he needs the extra security. This backfires by setting in motion a chain of events leading to Joe's downfall and death.
* BriefAccentImitation: He uses ''three different accents'' during the course of one phone call to the [=BPD=] while trying to gather information on Herc.
* CatchPhrase: "I've got a proposition for you."
* TheChessmaster: Joe is always engineering conflicts and events that are favorable to him, at least in the short run.
* DealWithTheDevil: Faced with an incursion of New York drug dealers into the East Side in Season 4, he turns to Marlo to get rid of them. This does not end well.
* EtTuBrute: He is betrayed by Cheese, his ambitious nephew. Ironically Joe reveals his connection with the Greek to prove his innocence regarding Omar's robbery.
* EvilPowerVacuum: The first to profit from the decay ot the Barksdale Organization, but he's not powerful enough and seeks the help of Stanfield.
* FaceDeathWithDignity
* {{Foil}}: To Stringer. Both are pragmatic businessmen, but while Stringer wants to be sophisticated and to rise above a life in the underworld, Joe is his own boss, is happy with being a simple druglord, is content to work and use a dingy appliance store as his headquarters and has no desire for legitimacy.
* GenreSavvy: Many of the druglords are already ProperlyParanoid but Joe is the one who learns the most from others' experiences, mistakes and weaknesses, and he passes on his knowledge. He even brings up the case of Charlie Sollers, a pragmatic, low-profile druglord and thus a successful Westside businessman. Stringer knows nothing about the man.
* {{Hustler}}: He outsmarts and cons Avon in a basketball game by witholding his best assets until a bet has been raised high enough.
** Season 5 DVD extras show he was a HighSchoolHustler back in the day, he would sell test answers to his classmates, then when they underpaid him and threatened him, he sold the teacher information about who would be cheating on the test! Clearly, not much has changed in the years since.
* InternalReformist: Co-founder and chairman of the "[[ThievesGuild New Day Co-op]]".
-->Got to say I'm proud of y'all for putting aside petty grievances. For a coldass crew of gangsters you carried it like Republicans and shit.
* LargeAndInCharge: He just does managerial tasks but he is probably the heaviest player of the game.
* {{Mentor}}: He schools the unsophisticated Marlo in the ways of "the game". It backfires, leading to YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness and MentorOccupationalHazard.
* {{Nepotism}}: He suffers from it, Cheese being the worst example. His organization is not depicted in much detail but it is suggested he suffers from being SurroundedByIdiots.
-->I got motherfucking nephews and in-laws fucking all my shit up all the time, and it ain't like I can pop a cap in their ass and not hear about it Thanksgiving day. For real, I'm livin' life with some burdensome niggas.
* NobleDemon: One of the most relatively innocuous drug lords out there, his pragmatic villainy makes him quite reasonable and sensible. "Buy for a dollar, sell for two", everything else attached to the drug trade is just unwanted bad business.
* PragmaticVillainy: He prefers to avoid violence and confrontation when he can, as it's bad for business. Unfortunately for him, he's not able to convert his protege Marlo Stanfield to this viewpoint.
* SmartPeopleWearGlasses: Joe is very clever and his need for glasses reflect this.
* SophisticatedAsHell: He frequently speaks like this.
* TheSvengali: For Marlo Stanfield, with unexpected results for Joe... "It ain't easy, civilizin' this motherfucker."
* TeamSwitzerland: Mediates between Omar and the Barksdales, "doing like one of them marriage counselors"

!Calvin "Cheese" Wagstaff
->'''Played by''': Method Man
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/cheese_wagstaff_1570.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"Where my cheese at?"'']]

-->''There ain't no back in the day, nigga. Ain't no nostalgia to this shit here. There's just the street, and the game, and what happen here, today.''

Co-op lieutenant. Has gotten to where he is by virtue of being Proposition Joe's nephew, though Cheese's mercenary nature overrides any blood loyalty he might have to Joe. He defects to Stanfield's crew after selling out both Omar Little and Proposition Joe, and is later murdered by Slim Charles. WordOfGod is that he is Randy Wagstaff's biological father, though the two never come in contact with each other.

* AssholeVictim: After Slim Charles kills him, the various drug lords and such can be heard saying things like "Motherfucka had it coming" in the background.
* BloodyHilarious: His last scene is something to [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rWuJ3eD6Qc behold]]. Twitching and everything
* BoomHeadshot: Comically provides the ''Head'' when he's executed by Slim after Cheese reveals his treacherous nature.
* ChronicBackstabbingDisorder
* DumbMuscle
* {{Jerkass}}: Cheese is hostile and unfriendly by default.
* JerkassHasAPoint: Makes a good case against nostalgia and shames the other druglords for lacking enough cash despite dealing in a captive market. "We're selling coke and dope in B-more [...] There's no back in the day shit."
* KilledMidSentence: By Slim, after denouncing Joe and Marlo.
* NegatedMomentOfAwesome: Close to become the head of the Co-op, Slim puts and end to his stint before it starts... short as it was.
* {{Nepotism}}: Coattail riding nephew of Prop. Joe
* OpportunisticBastard: Calvin "Cheese" Wagstaff is defined by his ambition and his utter lack of loyalty to anyone. Cheese starts out as an enforcer and lieutenant of his uncle, the notorious drug kingpin "Proposition Joe." When Marlo Stanfield begins his rise to power, Cheese promptly aligns with him for a bigger slice of the pie and betrays his uncle to his death. When Marlo is no longer in the picture, Cheese tries to seize control of the loose alliance of Drug Dealers, basically admitting his shifting loyalties and opportunism in front of them.
* ShutUpHannibal: Gets executed in the middle of a speech by Slim.
* SmallNameBigEgo: Explicitly tells Mouzone that his name rings around like Avon Barksdale's.
* SmugSnake: Not a single season goes by without him being completely owned by ''someone.''
* SophisticatedAsHell: Provides one of the more memorable examples: "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLBRbwnSRvE Shit was unseemingly, man]]"
* TheStarscream
* ThirdPersonPerson: Cheese indulges in this from time to time.

!Drac

-->''No, no, the other thing, the good good, the other thing my nigga... cocaine nigga you feel me now?! Goddamn, are you ignorant?''

Another of Prop Joe's nephews, and a horrifically incompetent dealer. He speaks so openly about drugs on the phone that the Major Crimes squad tries to engineer him getting a promotion in the hopes that his loose lips would give them a way to bring down Joe's organization. Unfortunately, Joe was far too GenreSavvy for that one.

* {{Nepotism}}: Subverted. Joe may be forced to support his family more than he'd like, but apparently there are limits.
* NotSoDifferent[=/=]ShadowArchetype: Daniels casually evokes his case as an analogy for dysfunction, which the Commissioner [[ActuallyPrettyFunny finds funny]].
-->'''Burrell:''' What makes you think they'll promote the wrong man?\\
'''Daniels:''' We do it all the time.
* OpenMouthInsertFoot: Completely incapable of talking in code.
* RankUp: Lester comes up with the idea of busting his superior so that Drac would be promoted and give them a way to crack the organization.
-->'''Kima:''' Our lest best hope.\\
'''Lester:''' Talkingest motherfucker I ever heard on a wiretap. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5BG-81hsH8 Listen]]
* StupidCrooks
* TooDumbToLive: Listening to him makes it easy to understand Joe's frustration with his relatives. Only the fact that he's too low ranking in Joe's organization to be worth the cops' time saves him.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: The Docks]]

-->''"We're here through [[UsefulNotes/RobertFKennedy Bobby Kennedy]], [[UsefulNotes/RichardNixon Tricky Dick Nixon]], [[UsefulNotes/RonaldReagan Ronnie "The Unionbuster" Reagan]] and half a dozen other sons-a-bitches. [[BadassBoast We'll be here through your weak bullshit, no problem!]]"''
-->--'''Frank Sobotka'''

OnceUponATime, Baltimore was a thriving port-city, and served as one of the main hubs for commerce on the Eastern Seaboard. Sadly, those days are over. Amid the wreckage of old industrial America, the local stevedores union under their Treasurer, Frank Sobotka, tries to eke out a living protecting what's left of Baltimore's docks from "urban renewal", for which we can read "ending poor peoples' jobs to build condos for rich people", and fighting a rearguard action against the encroaching death of America's industrial working class. Desperate, Frank and the union turn to smuggling to try and drum up the money to lobby for a new grain pier and for their canal to be dredged. It all goes to hell in a handbasket, kicking off the events of season 2.

[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/beadie_rusell_7882.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"There are different kinds of wrong."'']]
!Beatrice "Beadie" Russell
->'''Played by''': Amy Ryan

-->''What they need is a union.''

Officer for the Port Authority and single mother of two. She discovers thirteen dead women in a shipping container, kicking off the events of Season 2. While at first she treats the job as little more than a paycheck, as the investigation progresses she develops a knack for policework and becomes invested in the case. She reappears late in season 3, when she and [=McNulty=] begin a romance, though his behavior in season 5 tests Beadie's patience.

* ActionMom: Eventually.
* DemotedToExtra: After season 2.
* HeroesWantRedheads
* NothingExcitingEverHappensHere: She initially views working as a port cop as a good gig because the pay is decent and it doesn't involve much actual policework, though she proves pretty good at the latter when major criminal activity ''does'' start happening at the port.
* SingleWomanSeeksGoodMan: She gets together with [=McNulty=] after he stops drinking and gets his act together, but their relationship is strained when he falls off the wagon in season 5.
* TookALevelInBadass: When she's introduced at the beginning of season 2, she doesn't take her job very seriously. By the end of the season she's developed into "real police".

!Frank Sobotka
->'''Played by''': Chris Bauer
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/franksobotka_5154.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"I know I was wrong. But in my head, I thought I was wrong for the right reasons."'']]

-->''You know what the trouble is, Brucey? [[AmericanDream We used to make shit in this country, build shit.]] [[RonaldReagan Now we just put our hand]] [[TheEighties in the next guy's pocket.]]''

Treasurer for the stevedore's union in Baltimore. Needing to keep his workers paid in the face of declining port traffic and the juggernaut of gentrification, he arranges to lobby and bribe local politicians in exchange for projects to keep the docks alive. He gets the money by an arrangement with The Greek, who uses the port for smuggling. He runs afoul of Major Valchek, who starts investigating into his finances. Things start unraveling when thirteen dead prostitutes are found in a shipping container, and he has to deal with both the police and The Greek. When his son, Ziggy, murders the Greek's fence, and the plans for expanding the docks collapse, he agrees to inform on The Greek to the police. The Greek gets word of this, and has him killed.

* AmbitionIsEvil: One prominent unionist insists they should settle for the more modest goal of the grain pier, but Sobotka aims higher with the dredging of the canal (not for personal gains but for the well-being of the workers). This implies a closer criminal collaboration with The Greek.
* AntiVillain
* DartboardOfHate: Has one on his wall.
* DealWithTheDevil: He's in league with The Greek to get the funds needed to lobby for the expansion of the ailing docks.
* FatalFlaw: Being too proud to compromise with Valchek, and then insulting him to make it [[ItsPersonal worse]].
* AFatherToHisMen: Takes good care of his workers and all of his schemes are for their benefit.
* HonorBeforeReason: He starts an EscalatingWar with Valchek, an influential police officer. A lot of drama could've been [[KnowWhenToFoldEm averted]] with a compromise over a stained-glass window.
* IDidWhatIHadToDo
* TheInformant: Decides to become one, and is killed for it.
* JobStealingRobot: He is horrified by the upcoming trend of mechanical automatization rendering stevedore manual labor obsolete.
* ParentalNeglect: consistently shows little affection or consideration towards his (admittedly irritating) son Ziggy.
* PerpWalk: Invoked by Valchek, whose sole purpose in the case is to ruin Sobotka. The agents who arrest Sobotka are told to wait until he's at the union office, and once they've gone in they wait until a suitably sizeable press gang has assembled before Valchek personally walks him out to the car.
* RaisedCatholic: Frank is a regular churchgoer who pays more than lip service to the Church, but when Father Lewandoski suggest a confession, Sobotka scoffs at the idea.
* ShootTheShaggyDog: His story is a heavy-hitting tragedy. In the end he's killed by the Greeks, the work of his life goes down the drain, the union gets busted, the docks are mortally wounded and his family is damaged beyond repair. All for naught.
* SiblingYinYang: He's crooked and active while his brother Louis is straight and retired.
* SlaveToPR: His well-paid political backers run for cover as soon as Frank's shady deals get exposed.
* SuspiciousSpending: While he repeatedly warns Ziggy and Nick about this and seems to generally avoid it (until you look closely at it, his union seems to have constant financial issues, he generally pays his personal bills late, etc.) he initially attracts Valchek's suspicion by making an extravagant donation for a church window which he shouldn't be able to afford.
* SympatheticCriminal
* TragicHero
* WellIntentionedExtremist
* WhenYouComingHomeDad: His commitment to protecting the union came at the cost of time with his family.
-->'''Ziggy:''' You were always too busy dredging up the canal, making sure the right bum got elected, buying another round for the house. I always used to think you were working, all them hours you spent away.
-->'''Frank:''' It was all work, Zig. Even when it wasn't.
* WorkingClassHero: He has a discussion with his fancy lobbyist about this, but the lobbyist points out his once humble family just climbed the social ladder. Sobotka also delivers [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-j5XWo1fPI a poignant analysis]] on America's industrial decay.
-->We used to make shit in this country, build shit. Now we just put our hand in the next guy's pocket.

!Nick Sobotka
->'''Played by''': Pablo Schreiber
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/nickysobotka_3007.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"Seniority sucks."'']]

-->''I don't know how to tell you this without hurting you deeply, but first of all, you happen to be white...''

Nephew of Frank Sobotka and cousin of Ziggy. He acts as a go-between for his uncle towards Vondas, often bringing Ziggy along. Seeking a steady income so he can support his girlfriend, he makes an arrangement with The Greek to obtain chemicals used for drug processing. He is paid in heroin, which he sells to local dealers in lieu of Ziggy. The police catch on and send out a warrant for his arrest, and he turns himself in after Frank's murder. In exchange for identifying The Greek, he is sent into the witness protection program.

He is seen briefly in Season 5, jeering the opening of the Granary condominiums.

* BetterLivingThroughEvil: Begins turning to crime to make ends meet because he can't get enough honest work.
* BigBrotherMentor: Tries to be this to his cousin Ziggy, but Ziggy is too ChaoticStupid to take his (or anyone's) advice.
* {{Foil}}: to D'Angelo Barksdale. Both come into life of crime thanks to their uncles, both try to break away from it, both are young fathers. The differences in class and race form the contrast between them.
* HeKnowsTooMuch: The Greeks end up deciding this about him.
* PutOnABus: Despite supposedly [[WitnessProtection being sent away from Baltimore for his own protection]], he reappears in season 5 as a heckler at Carcetti's harborside photo-op.
* SiblingYinYang: With Ziggy (the two are brotherly cousins rather than siblings).
* TheSmartGuy: Of the Sobotka family.
* SympatheticCriminal
* TraumaCongaLine: Finds out his cousin has killed a guy and turned himself in. [[DrowningMySorrows Goes drinking with cousin's old girlfriend. Wakes up in bed with her. Does the walk of shame to his own place and finds out the cops raided it and are running him up on drug charges, to his family's surprise. Oh, and his uncle's murdered the next day.]]
* UnableToSupportAWife: his desire to afford a place for himself and his girlfriend/baby mama Aimee is one of the reasons he becomes entrenched in a life of crime.
* WitnessProtection: Where he ends up, but according to [[WordOfGod David Simon]], he opted out of it after a while.

!Chester Karol "Ziggy" Sobotka
->'''Played by''': James Ransone
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ziggysobotka_1186.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:μαλάκας]]

-->''Let me show you old gents some bulk cargo that none of you could ever handle. Who says they don't make 'em like they used to?''

Son of Frank Sobotka. He is stupid and impulsive, failing at both legitimate work in the docks, as well as drug dealing. He convinces his cousin Nick to make a deal with The Greek to sell drugs. Nick's success where he failed sends him into a depression, which drives him to kill one of The Greeks' frontmen when a deal goes sour. He is apprehended and sent to prison. Both the police and the Greek try to use Ziggy's situation to apply leverage to Frank and Nick.

* BoisterousWeakling: Talks quite a lot about taking down Cheese, Maui, and anyone else he thinks has wronged him, but generally gets punked whenever he actually tries anything.
* BondOneLiner: "Malaka."
* ButtMonkey: Played for laughs at first, later not so much.
-->I got tired of being the punchline to every joke.
* ChaoticStupid: Tends to act this way.
* ConspicuousConsumption: $2000 on a new coat. After Nick advises him not to flash too much money around to avert SuspiciousSpending.
* TheDogBitesBack: Snaps and kills Glekas after being humiliated and ripped off one too many times.
* DontYouDarePityMe: He very much resents his cousin helping him.
* EstablishingCharacterMoment: Among the first things he does is flash his penis at a room full of bar patrons.
* FearlessFool: Makes decisions that any moron should see are ''really bad ideas'' because of a combination of shortsightedness, being too brave for his own good, and SmallNameBigEgo.
* GagPenis
* InferioritySuperiorityComplex: His personality is centered around trying to look tougher and more important than he is in reality, probably to hide his low self-esteem.
* {{Jerkass}}: Ziggy is obnoxiously annoying to virtually everyone around him. He's not completely unpleasant, but his good parts are few and far between.
* LeeroyJenkins
* TheLoad: Managing to get a better deal on some stolen cameras is about all he manages to help his uncle or cousin with.
* MaleFrontalNudity: On a couple of occasions.
* MoneyToBurn
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Has this reaction crossed with a VillainousBSOD after killing Glekas and shooting the kid working in the shop.
* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname
* ThePreciousPreciousCar: His Camaro, Princess, which first gets stolen, then ''torched''.
* PuppyDogEyes
* RageBreakingPoint: His entire arc during the season is him inevitably moving to the breaking point at a bad place and time.
* SiblingYinYang: With his cousin Nick.
* SmartBall: While he is an abject failure at ''everything'' else, when it comes to being a thief he has his moments. Interestingly, he seems to pick this up whenever he ''isn't'' trying to be the center of attention - the only time he gets anything close respect or affection is when he isn't acting up for them.
* WhatAnIdiot: [[InvokedTrope Invoked]]. Just about everyone who interacts with him comes to think this.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: The Greeks]]

-->''"The world is a smaller place now."''
-->--'''The Greek'''

Globalization doesn't just affect the legit economy, it opens up many exciting new possibilities for the discerning crimelord too. "The Greeks" ( they're not even Greek) are a multinational crime syndicate that seems to be based out of southeastern Europe and the Levant, and which includes members from the Ukraine, Russia, and Israel. Their primary criminal enterprise seems to be smuggling Afghan heroin into Europe and the United States, but they are also involved in the cocaine business and have connections to [[TheCartel Colombian narcoterrorists]]. They also operate prostitution rings, which becomes the focus of the second season. It is to them that Frank Sobotka turns when he needs money for the redevelopment of the grain pier, smuggling contraband and stealing from other shipments, and it is their pure heroin that Proposition Joe peddles in East Baltimore. They escape justice, and are seen again dealing with Joe, Marlo, and finally, in the last episode, with Fat Face Rick and Slim Charles.

!"The Greek"
->'''Played by''': Bill Raymond
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/thegreek_642.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"Lambs go to the slaughter. A man learns to walk away."'']]

-->''Business. Always business.''

Head of a smuggling operation running out of the Port of Baltimore, specializing in drugs, prostitues, and stolen goods. Tends to hide in plain sight, sitting at the bar while his NumberTwo ostensibly takes care of business. He is the main supplier for Proposition Joe, and later, Marlo Stanfield. The port investigation almost manages to arrest him, but a tip from an agent within the Department of Homeland Security (which the Greek is an informant for) gives him the time needed to shut down operations and flee the country, along with Vondas. No relationship, as far as we know, to "The Greek's", the restaurant in season one, where Brandon Wright played pinball.

The police [[OnlyKnownByTheirNickname just know him as "The Greek"]], and [[FakeNationality he's not even Greek]].

* AffablyEvil
* BigBad: For season 2. Given his return in season 4, arguably for the whole series as well.
** BiggerBad
* CoolOldGuy
* CunningLinguist: Can speak English, Greek, Portuguese, Farsi and probably Turkish too.
* DevilInPlainSight: Everyone who meets with Spiros wonders who his mysterious boss is, few people ever find out that it's the quiet elderly gentleman who sits at the diner's counter drinking coffee while Spiros does the talking.
* TheDon
* FakeNationality: He's not actually Greek in-universe, but he's clearly foreign, (the fact that he's expected to dislike Turks may indicate he's from Cyprus) the actor who plays him, Bill Raymond, is American.
* KarmaHoudini: Thanks to a tip from his [=FBI=] connection, he and his NumberTwo manage to flee just before the police arrive to arrest them, and while the remaining members of his organization are arrested or killed and his smuggling, drug-running, and prostitution activities are shut down temporarily, he's able to resume business as usual in season 5.
* KnowWhenToFoldEm: He makes a pragmatic exit as soon as he learns he is under scrutiny, forsaking a valuable last container.
* NothingPersonal: One of the connotations of his philosophy "Business, always business".
* TheManBehindTheMan
* MistakenNationality
* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: Even Spiros only ever refers to him as "The Greek". His real name is never revealed.
* OutsideContextVillain: The Greek's empire is a serious international crime syndicate very different from the petty kingdoms of the local drug gangs. Even the most competent police officers have to learn how this new threat operates.
* TheSpook
* VillainousFriendship: He and Vondas seem genuinely close. He even fusses over Vondas' lack of appetite at one point when Vondas is worried, and when he sees Vondas taking a fatherly interest in Nick Sobotka, he fondly tells Vondas "You should have been a father, Spiros."
* YouAreTooLate: He's just a step ahead of the police several times, thanks to a mole he has inside the FBI who also works on antiterrorism. All hail TheWarOnTerror.

!Spiros "Vondas" Vondopoulos
->'''Played by''': Paul Ben-Victor
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/spirosvondas_8834.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"In business, you learn to appreciate a dependable man."'']]

-->''They have my name. But my name is not my name.''

The Greek's soft-spoken right hand man who oversees his operations in Baltimore, which most notably includes acting as the wholesaler who supplies Prop Joe with drugs. He takes a liking to Nick Sobotka, facilitating the young man's descent into a life of crime.

* AffablyEvil
* TheDragon: To The Greek.
* EvilMentor: To Nick Sobotka.
* FakeNationality: Spiros' actual in-universe nationality is unknown, but he's not American. Paul Ben-Victor, the actor who plays him, is. (Although judging by his name, he, unlike his boss, may actually be Greek, and he at least claims to be Greek when Ziggy first meets him.)
-->'''Ziggy:''' So, uh, you must be The Greek.\\
'''Vondas:''' [Long pause] Well, I'm Greek, anyway.
* GoodSmokingEvilSmoking: Evil, clearly; he rarely appears without a cigarette in his hand.
* IHaveManyNames: As he says himself, "many names, many passports".
* KarmaHoudini: Along with his boss, he escapes punishment entirely.
* MouthOfSauron: Serves as the spokesperson for the Greek's organization.
* NumberTwo
* PragmaticVillainy: He prefers to avoid violence if he can, not out of moral conviction but because it tends to make a mess and draw attention from the police. When it becomes necessary, he is perfectly willing to cut a throat or two, as Frank Sobotka learns.
* VillainousFriendship: He and The Greek seem genuinely close.

!Sergei Malatov
->'''Played by''': Chris Ashworth

[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sergei_8852.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350: ''"In this country, supermarkets are cathedrals."'']]

-->''Did he have hands? Did he have a face? Yes? Then it wasn't us.''

A Ukrainian (''not'' Russian) who serves as a driver and enforcer for the Greek's organization. He's first seen waiting in a truck for the shipping container in which the dead girls are later found, and after committing several brutal crimes becomes a primary target of the police's investigation as season two goes on. When the combined police/FBI operation moves on the Greek's operation, he is arrested. He later agrees to inform on the Greek, but by this time his former boss has already escaped. In season 5, he makes a brief reappearance in prison, in which he facilitates a connection between the Stanfield gang and the Greek's organization.

* BadAss
* TheBrute
* HuskyRusskie: Close enough.
* TheMafiya: It's not stated explicitly that he's a member, but with his brutality and penchant for cutting off the hands and faces of his victims he clearly fits the trope.
* MotherRussiaMakesYouStrong: He mentions that he spent four years in prison in the Ukraine, and that American prisons are nowhere near as harsh.
* NeverHeardThatOneBefore: "Boris. Why is it ''always'' Boris?"

!George "Double G" Glekas
->'''Played by''': Teddy Cañez

-->''Twenty percent was last week. Today the quote is ten.''

The Greek's fence, also in charge of smuggling stolen goods. His retail shop and warehouses are the front, storage facility, and transit line for stolen goods. He works with Nick and Ziggy Sobotka on several deals but rips Ziggy off on the last one. After an altercation where he beats and verbally abuses Ziggy, Ziggy comes back with a gun and kills him, causing a major breakdown in the relationship between the Greek's organization and the Sobotkas.

* TheEvilGenius: He's the man with the plan in the Greek's organization for moving stolen goods, smuggling, etc.
* ForWantOfANail: The docks investigation might have ended completely differently if he hadn't felt the need to rip Ziggy off and get into a fight about it.
* MovingTheGoalposts: Which gets him killed when Ziggy doesn't like it and it turns into a physical confrontation.
* RageBreakingPoint: After Glekas calmly endures Ziggy getting in his face for a bit, Ziggy calls him a cunt. [[DisproportionateRetribution Glekas promptly begins beating down Ziggy and cursing him out in Greek]].
* RasputinianDeath: Is still alive after a half dozen bullets to the back, then gets shot in the face to finish him off.
* SmallRoleBigImpact: Has little screen time, but his death throws the Greek's organization into chaos and gives the cops the break they need to blow the case open.
* SmugSnake
[[/folder]]

[[folder: The Stanfield Gang]]

-->'''Vinson''': ''"The prisons and the graveyards are full of boys who wore the crown."''
-->'''Marlo Stanfield''': ''"[[{{Power}} Point is: they wore it.]]"''

An up-and-coming gang of drug dealers who are dealt a mighty hand when the Barksdale Organization's prime real estate is demolished by the City, leaving them with all the new best territory. Led by the ambitious and utterly ruthless Marlo Stanfield, the Stanfield Gang gradually work their way through the West Baltimore drug hierarchy. When Avon is locked up and Stringer is murdered at the close of season 3, they end up the new masters of West Baltimore, controlling nearly the whole district. Prop Joe's scheming manages to convince Marlo to join the Co-op, a decision which backfires spectacularly when Marlo murders him and takes over the Greek drug connect. By season 5, the Stanfield Gang are the center of the entire Baltimore drug trade... at least until [=McNulty=] and Freamon get on their case.

* DarkerAndEdgier: The generational shift in Season 3 is represented this way, with Marlo representing a darker and edgier amalgamation of Stringer's conservative and calculating nature, and Avon's brutality and pride. Similarly, Chris Partlow is a darker and edgier version of Wee Bey Brice with just a few parallels to Stringer Bell as well, while the Stanfield bit players also seem to be a little rougher around the edges than their Barksdale counterparts.

!Marlo Stanfield
->'''Played by''': Jamie Hector
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/marlostanfield_265.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"You want it to be one way... but it's the other way"'']]

-->''I wasn't made to play the son.''

Up-and-coming west-side drug kingpin, head of the eponymous Stanfield Organization. He starts out small-time, operating in the vacuum left by the Barksdale Organization, and fights his way to supplant them and merge with Proposition Joe's New Day Co-Op. He works to eliminate his enemies and anyone who would betray him. A repeated theme in Marlo's characterization is his demand for respect, which trumps all other concerns. He frequently kills those who show him disrespect, or undermine his name on the streets however unwittingly. Marlo's obsession with respect ultimately proves to be his downfall.

* AsskickingEqualsAuthority: His backstory has him rising his way up after murdering a witness and other people. On screen, most of his killings are by proxy and he gains the crown via KlingonPromotion after [[MobWar outlasting his competition]]. While he doesn't look very menacing and never has to get physical, he shows his {{badass}}ery when he easily bests two young punks during a petty street brawl.
* BerserkButton: Though generally an [[DissonantSerenity eerily]] [[TheStoic calm]] personality, Marlo does ''not'' take kindly to anyone questioning his street cred.
-->[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCaBYEEFTKE MY NAME IS MY NAME!]]
* BigBad: In seasons 4 and 5. The X in XMustNotWin, as Freamon and [=McNulty=] put their own careers on the line to avoid his victory.
-->'''Jimmy:''' Marlo is an asshole. He doesn't get to win. WE get to win.
* DissonantSerenity
* EvilPowerVacuum: The decay of the Barksdale organization and some luck are big factors in his rising; under normal circumstances he'd had [[MobWar been killed by Slim Charles]].
* FromNobodyToNightmare
* TheGoodTheBadAndTheEvil: His ascendancy steers ''The Wire'' towards BlackAndGrayMorality, he's a greater evil than Bell & Barksdale.
* InSeriesNickname: Also known as "Black".
* KarmaHoudini: Ambiguously. He manages to avoid going to jail in the end, and keeps his money, but he's not allowed to go back to drug dealing. Which is all he wants to do.
* KickTheDog: Many, many times.
* LackOfEmpathy
* MeanCharacterNiceActor: Hector was moved by his experience on the show to start a charity to improve inner city schools.
* MurderIsTheBestSolution: Displays some cunning beyond immediate violence during his ascension, but time and again he prefers to take the deadliest route when dealing with perceived problems. Only Chris raises some minor objections to that.
* NotSoHarmlessVillain: When he first came on the scene in early season 3, he was viewed by many as a glorified punk and a wannabe. After he identifies Stringer's peaceful strategy as a sign of weakness he proves his detractors ''very'' wrong. Meanwhile, the cops almost universally viewed him as a two-bit nuisance, until the bodies start showing up.
* PetTheDog: Keeps a roof coop for pigeons and even hires a guy to take care of them. In his case, his unique affection for animals is an indicator of sociopathy.
* ProperlyParanoid: Very good at counter-vigilance, Stanfield has a network of spotters in place that promptly tips him if a camera has been planted in the park where he holds court or if the police have climbed up to a rooftop to do surveillance. Marlo makes sure Chris is on top of these kind of things, and in a broader sense, his murderous nature alo prevents the appearance of potential [[HeKnowsTooMuch witnesses or leaks]]. Proposition Joe schools him to be even more careful, and while late in the series he goes back to using a cellphone - provided by The Greeks - he doesn't become sloppy despite Lester's expectations.
-->'''Sydnor:''' Marlo's been the hardest to follow. Too paranoid, too much counter-surveillance.
* TheSociopath: A remorseless, power-hungry tyrant with ego issues.
-->[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Id8My4ib6dM You want it to be one way, but it's the other way]].
* RecruitTeenagersWithAttitude: He's on the lookout for local talent and recruits Michael for this reason.
* SerialKiller: Repeatedly called this by Jimmy and Lester, after ordering dozens of murders. Problem is, guetto victims are dead where it doesn't count.
* SignatureMove: Apparently had one in he used to use on people to testified and we see him use it on Devon: Two shots to the chest and one in the mouth
* TheStarscream: Ultimately succeeds in killing Prop Joe and taking his place as head of the co-op.
* TheStoic
** NotSoStoic: Goes absolutely ballistic when he finds out about Omar bad-mouthing him on the street.
* TranquilFury: Actor Jamie Hector comments on striving for a performance of "power and economy" using "minimalist movement and speech".
* TyrantTakesTheHelm: Deposes the old order with violence and some luck, dismantles the Co-Op and its assembly, assuming an autocratic rule over the drug trade and mirroring the classic takeover executed by many tyrants in the history of mankind.
* TheUnfettered
* VictoryIsBoring. Despite getting away with facing charges and keeping his millions, Marlo quickly finds out that the straight-and-narrow life isn't for him.
* VillainousFriendship: Cold as he is, he has a rare but somewhat affectionate relationship with Chris.

!Chris Partlow
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/chrispartlow_1808.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"Don't fret boss, I got you covered."'']]
->'''Played by''': Gbenga Akinnabwe

-->''Don't matter who he is, or what he's done. You can look him in the eye now.''

Marlo Stanfield's NumberTwo and chief enforcer. It's hinted that they are long time allies, as the enormously paranoid Marlo trusts Chris completely and Chris is the only one who seems to be able to question Marlo's orders and decisions without repercussions, although he only does so rarely. Although he is much less bloodthirsty than his boss, under orders he murders many, many people for Marlo, and is a major reason why the Stanfield gang is so feared on the streets.

Chris takes the lead in Marlo's attempts to recruit the young Michael Lee into the Stanfield gang, and Michael winds up coming to Chris to slay his abusive stepfather. After that he and Snoop are responsible for tutoring Michael in the ways of the Game and turning him into muscle for the Stanfield gang. He is eventually sentenced to life without parole, and quickly makes friends with Wee-Bey Brice in prison.

* AffablyEvil: Chris isn't particularly outgoing or charming, but he's always quite polite and pleasant even when committing a murder, always making an effort to comfort his victims and ease them through the process. Ironically for someone who's killed as much as he has, Chris is probably the most reluctant to commit violence of the higher-ups in Marlo's crew, and takes little pleasure in his work. When Marlo decides to have Bodie and later Michael killed, Chris is the only one to speak against it, albeit only briefly.
-->'''Victim:''' Please, Chris!\\
'''Chris:''' Don't fret boss, I got you covered. Clean and quick. (Chris shoots him)
* BadassBeard
* BerserkButton: He ''does not'' like child molesters, as evidenced by his flipping out and beating Michael's stepfather to death. WordOfGod confirms it was because he was molested as a child himself.
* BoomHeadshot: He trains his soldiers to shoot either for the head or the groin in order to counter a BulletProofVest.
* TheDragon: To Marlo Stanfield.
* TheDreaded: Just the sight of Chris makes Lex realize he should PrepareToDie. The boys also speculate that Chris might be a "Zombie Master."
* EvenEvilHasStandards: He'll kill innocent people without batting an eyelash, but child molesters absolutely disgust him.
* EvilMentor: With Snoop, teaches Michael the ways of the game.
* FamilyValuesVillain: He takes good care of his family, even after he is arrested and sent away to prison for life.
* TheGrimReaper: In a series full of deaths, Chris is responsible for more on- and off-screen deaths than any other character in the series.
* KickTheSonOfABitch: Kick the ''shit'' out of him.
* NeighborhoodFriendlyGangsters: He's too feared around the community for this to be in effect for him, but he did try to invoke this at one point for Marlo's benefit. Early in season 4 Marlo's enforcers and dealers approach children before the first day of school, giving them money for clothes and books. We then cut to Marlo and Chris watching the scene, where Marlo looks unhappy at just giving away money while Chris tries to convince Marlo that it'll "make his name ring out".
* NumberTwo
* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: All of his kills are quick, clean and unemotional except for Devar, Michael's pedophile stepfather, who he beats to death.
* PetTheDog: Takes a few minutes in the middle of a brutal gang war with Omar and his associates to visit his girlfriend and his kids, to whom he is warm and affectionate.
* RedOniBlueOni: Blue to Snoop's Red.
* ScaryBlackMan: Not the only one, but as perhaps the most brutal killer in the entire series he deserves special mention. Because he doesn't look like the stereotypical scary black man, he is occasionally able to interact with normal society without anyone being any wiser.
* SpitefulSpit: To Michael's stepfather. It comes back later as a [[ChekhovsGun Chekhov's smoking gun]].
* UndyingLoyalty: The vicious and paranoid Marlo trusts him completely, and when Chris is rounded up by the police Marlo says that Chris will refuse to talk as long as Marlo takes cares of Chris' family.
* VerbalTic: Addressing victims as "boss."
* VillainousFriendship: Treats Marlo with affect and it's clear that they go way back.

!Felicia "Snoop" Pearson
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/snooppearson_4760.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"Deserve got nothing to do with it. It's his time, that's all."'']]
->'''Played by''': Felicia Pearson

-->''We will be brief with all you motherfuckers. I think you know.''

Soldier under Marlo Stanfield. She devises a plan along with Chris Partlow to have people killed inside vacant houses, pour quicklime on their bodies, and seal them back up. When Marlo suspects Michael may be an informant, she is dispatched to assassinate him. Instead, Michael kills her.

* AxCrazy
* BloodKnight
* BlueAndOrangeMorality: Besides being a sociopath, the quote underneath her picture hints that she holds an atypical view on death: it's a natural order of life, and it doesn't matter who's killing whom and why. If it's someone's time to die they'll die regardless of whether they deserve it, and whoever does the killing is just fate's instrument.
* TheBrute: Of the Stanfield Organization, despite her small size.
* ButchLesbian: in both personality and looks.
* TheDanza: Snoop is played by Felicia Pearson, who was herself [[ActorSharedBackground a member of a drug gang when she was young]].
* DissonantSerenity: Part of what makes her such a terrifying villain.
* TheDreaded: Along with Chris.
* EvilCannotComprehendGood: Her conversation with a hardware store clerk shows she has no comprehension of life outside the drug trade.
* EvilSoundsDeep: Has the same husky voice of the real Snoop Pearson. Mistaken for a man on some occasions.
* FaceDeathWithDignity: "How my hair look?"
* RedOniBlueOni: Red to Chris's Blue.
* TheSociopath: Absolutely no comprehension of right and wrong; she simply things that death comes to people at their "time", and has no realization that it might be immoral to be "time"'s instrument.
* ViewerGenderConfusion: Both {{in-universe}} and out.

!Monk Metcalf
->'''Played by: ''' Kwame Patterson

A top lieutenant in the Stanfield organization. Works as an enforcer, coordinates the drug trade, the phone communications and several details unrelated to violence.

!Old Face Andre

[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/oldfaceandre_7628.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350: ''Shoulda gone to New York or Philly...'']]
->'''Played by: ''' Alfonso Christian Lover

-->"Problem with niggers today, they always see the narrow view..."

A West side convenience store owner whose store serves as a stash house for Marlo Stanfield. After Marlo is robbed, Andre is included in a plan to get revenge on Omar. Chris Partlow murders a delivery woman in Andre's shop and Andre has to tell the police that Omar did it.

* ButtMonkey: The poor guy is pinballed around between Omar, Marlo, the police and Proposition Joe in a tragic game afer Omar robs his stash.
* FalseReassurance: Joe betrays him, and then Slim delivers him to Chris.
-->'''Andre:''' Prop Joe said you was my escort out.\\
'''Slim: '''[[FromACertainPointOfView In a manner of speaking that be true]].
* MacGuffin: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpKpMtLioUU His ring changes owners]] a lot, but it has no actual relevance in the end.
* NeverFoundTheBody: The guy is mortified by this prospect. His anguised voice and denied plea not to be killed in a vacant, where his people won't find him, makes his demise rather poignant.
* ThePawn: Used and abused by Marlo and Proposition Joe.
* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: Attempts to but makes the mistake of taking refuge in East Baltimore under Proposition Joe, who points out he should have gone to New York or Philadelphia, and then sells Andre down the river to Marlo.
* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: Finally walked down an alley by Chris and Snoop.
-->'''Proposition Joe:''' You know the problem with these here machines? They too cheap to begin with. Some people think for what it's worth to fix it, make the shit work right, you might as well dump 'em and get another.

!Vinson

->''The prisons and the graveyards are full of boys who wore the crown.''

Advisor and fence of Marlo Stanfield. He runs a rim shop used by the Stanfield gang as a meeting place.

* TheConsigliere: Counsels Marlo during his turf war with the Barksdales.

!Little Kevin

A young hopper working for Bodie and his independent operation, later absorved by the Stanfield gang.

* AscendedExtra: A background dealer briefly seen during season 3 and in the pilot, he becomes a regular character in season 4.
* IronicName: The guy is anything but little. His obesity fools Herc when he comes to his corner looking for him.
* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: Killed in a vacant after he tells Marlo that he used Randy to deliver the message to Lex, instead of telling Lex directly.



[[/folder]]

[[folder: The Next Generation]]

[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/boysofsummer_9132.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350: ''Boys of Summer'']]

-->'''Dukie''': ''Remember that day one summer past...?''\\
'''Mike''': ''[[InnocenceLost I don't]].''

A collection of [[TemptingFate adorable children]] from West Baltimore's projects and rowhouses, who the show uses to examine the school system and how it utterly fails in the struggle with "the corners" for the futures of Baltimore's children. Each child follows a different path, and each one ends up at a different conclusion - although, sadly, it is not always the ending they or the audience hope for.

!Duquan "Dukie" Weems
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/duquan_1787.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350: ''There ain't no special "dead". Just "dead".'']]
->'''Played by''': Jermaine Crawford

-->''How do you get from here to the rest of the world?''

Eighth-grade student. Living in dire poverty, he is bullied by everyone, including his friends Randy and Namond, and especially Namond's "friend" Kenard. The clothes he is given by the school get stolen and then sold by his parents to feed their drug addictions. He is the one who shows Randy and Michael the bodies in the vacants.

He comes to depend on his teacher, Mr. Pryzbylewski, who does his best to try to help Dukie through his troubles. Eventually he is compelled to graduate by the school bureaucracy even though he is not ready for and incapable of dealing with the abuse he will get at the high school level, so he drops out and starts dealing alongside Michael. When this falls through, he tries to find work, only to end up with a junkie scrap metal thief. We last see him asking Pryzbylewski for money, and then shooting up in the final montage, with heavy implications that he's set down the road that Bubbles is escaping.

* HistoryRepeats: A likeable guy victimized by others on the street who winds up a junkie and working by selling aluminum scraps? Sure does sound like Bubbles.
* ICouldaBeenAContender
* ThePigPen: Dirt-poor. Kindly reconstructed by Mr. Prez., who noticing how unkemptness and marginalization go together, takes meassures to ammend it.
* APupilOfMineUntilHeTurnedToEvil: His relationship with Mr. Prez, his kind mentor, gets terminated when the teacher realizes all too well that Duquan has been deceiving and swindling him for money. A genuine tear jerker both in and out-universe.
* ShrinkingViolet
* WiseBeyondTheirYears: Due to a hard life. While Namond, Randy and others come up with elaborate stories of how Chris Partlow is a voodoo master who bewitches people and controls them, Dukie knows the cold truth that Chris simply murders them and leaves their bodies in abandoned buildings.
* WithFriendsLikeThese

!Randy Wagstaff

[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/randywagstaff_2764.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350: ''You promise?'']]
->'''Played by''': Maestro Harrell

--> ''You gonna look out for me?''

An eighth-grade student who is an earnest and mostly warmhearted entrepreneur being raised by a tough but fair foster mother. Friends with Namond, Michael, and Dukie. Because he always has his ear to ground about ways to make a buck, he hears about Marlo's fondness for pigeons and traps several so he can sell them to Marlo. The Stanfield gang later use him as a patsy to lure a disobedient dealer to his death. This, combined with the revelation by Dukie that the slain are sealed in abandoned rowhouses, eventually lead to him talking to the police.

Unfortunately when Herc is questioning a suspect he gives away that Randy is his source of information and the Stanfield gang spreads the word that Randy is a snitch, which causes him to be ostracized by his peers and makes him a target for retribution. Carver attempts to give him police protection, which isn't enough to stop his house from being firebombed, hospitalizing his foster mother for the foreseeable future. Carver fights to find him another foster parent, even offering to adopt him himself, but nothing can be done to keep him from a group home. As we see in Season 5, the bullying and abuse break him until he is just another anger filled thug.

* BreakTheCutie
* DemotedToExtra
* [[HighSchoolHustler Middle School Hustler]]
* HistoryRepeats: A kid who loses his mother figure early in life, whose talents go mostly overlooked and unappreciated, is repeatedly screwed over by the system, and winds up adopting a thug attitude. Sounds like Bodie, although we don't see if he ends up the same way.
* TookALevelInJerkass: By the time we see him in season 5.
* TraumaCongaLine: Starts off mild. Taken UpToEleven in the WhamEpisode.
* YoungEntrepreneur

!Namond Brice
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/namondbryce_3151.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350: ''"I love the first day, everybody all friendly and shit."'']]
->'''Played by''': Julito [=McCullum=]

--> ''We do the same thing as y'all, 'cept when we do it, it's "oh my God these kids is animals!" Like it's the end of the world coming. Man that's bullshit, alright? That's like, what's it...hypocrit-''hypocritical.

An eighth-grade student and the son of Wee Bey and De'londa Brice. Friends with Randy, Michael, and Dukie. The money given by the Barksdale Organization as a reward for Wee-Bey taking the fall means he is (relatively) well off... until his mother spends it all, because she is sure that there will always be more money coming from the Barksdales. When the Barksdale organization disintegrates, however, Brianna cuts De'londa off and as a result De'londa promptly begins trying to push Namond into the game as a drug runner. When placed in Bunny Colvin's experimental classroom, he is one of the most disruptive students, but is soon recognized to be considerably smarter than he acts.

As De'londa increasingly pushes him into dealing despite the fact that he has no operation to protect him and is surrounded by vicious factions like the Stanfield gang, it becomes understood by all who know him that the game will take his life. Cutty, Carver and Colvin all begin to try to help him, culminating with Colvin going to Wee Bey to plead for another life for Namond. When Wee Bey hears how De'londa turned Namond out of their home, he agrees to allow Colvin to adopt Namond. After this Namond abandons street life entirely and becomes an excellent student.

* AbusiveParents: His mother forces him to play the mortal game to maintain her lifestyle.
* DemotedToExtra: Is a central character in season 4 but only appears briefly in one episode of season 5.
* FreudianExcuse: The only kid able to escape the doomed background of a troubled childhood, a dysfunctional family -at best- and the notion that crime is the only way to earn a living. Sadly, it only happens thanks to a remarkable, extremely unusual or non repeateable White Knight named Howard Colvin.
* HappilyAdopted: From the end of season 4 onwards.
* HeelFaceTurn: When we see him in season 5 Namond has turned his life around and become a good student, winning an urban debate championship.
* HiddenDepths: Colvin notices an intellectual potential below his obnoxiousnesses and overcompensation.
* HistoryRepeats: He comes from a family noted for their connection with the drug trade and it's assumed that he will take up that mantle as well despite having no heart for the game. Sounds like D'Angelo, but he gets a rare happy ending because Wee-Bey realizes the drug trade isn't right for him and allows Namond to be adopted by Colvin instead.
** [[AlternativeCharacterInterpretation Alternatively]], Namond is a clever opportunist who says that "I'll take any motherfucker's money if he's giving it away" and shows an interest in politics. He could wind up as the next Clay Davis.
* IAmNotMyFather
* {{Jerkass}}
* JerkassFacade: He acts tough due to feeling pressured to live up to the reputation of his father Wee-Bey.
* SignificantHaircut: He is enormously fond of his huge, frizzy ponytail, but is repeatedly encouraged to cut it because it will make him easily identifiable to the police. He tries to make himself do it but ultimately can't, choosing instead to restyle it into cornrows. After being adopted by Colvin, he returns to the frizzy ponytail style.
* TheScrappy: Arguably he is this InUniverse. He's kind of TheLoad of the Barksdale organization; he's not a very good dealer, but Wee-Bey's influence is still strong enough to see him taken care of by Bodie, and his friends put up with him partly (if not entirely) because he seems well off in comparison.

!Michael Lee

[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/michaellee_5189.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350: ''"Everything so serious now."'' ]]
->'''Played by''': Tristan Wilds

-->''Yo look, I'm not tryin' stand around and let some chump ass niggas think I'm shook, I ain't.''

Another eighth-grade student. Friends with Dukie, Randy, and Namond. Deeply introverted, he lives with his junkie mother and little brother, who he has to take care of because his mother isn't up to the task. Shortly into season 4 his stepfather gets out of prison and moves back in, and it is strongly implied that his stepfather sexually abused Michael when he was younger.

Michael starts boxing in Cutty's gym where he shows promise, but he is uncomfortable being the target of Cutty's fatherly attentions. It's not long before he starts dealing and focuses less on boxing. Increasingly fearful that his stepfather will abuse his brother Bug the same way he did Michael, Michael contacts Chris Partlow and asks Partlow to kill the stepfather for him. Partlow agrees, on the condition that Michael begin working for the Stanfield gang. Michael agrees, and is taken under the wings of Chris and Snoop, who train him to be a soldier.

Michael works for Marlo as both muscle and the head of his own corner in large part so he can take care of his brother and Dukie. He soon finds himself feeling out of place, as he frequently questions the necessity of the many murders that Marlo orders and finds the street life undermining his attempts to look after Bug and Dukie. When Marlo is arrested Michael's frequent questioning of his boss places him under suspicion of having talked to the police, and Snoop is sent to assassinate him. He recognizes what's going on and kills her first. He is last seen on the run from Marlo's people, having been forced to split from Dukie and his brother permanently, and become a stick-up boy like Omar.

* {{Badass}}: A middle school student who stares down ''Marlo Stanfield''. Marlo is suitably impressed and starts looking to recruit Michael afterward.
* BewareTheNiceOnes
* ChekhovsSkill
* CombatPragmatist
* HatesBeingTouched: A consequence of having been molested by his step-father.
* HistoryRepeats: Becomes a stick up man like Omar. In fact, the last thing we see him do is shoot someone in the knee during a robbery, just like we saw Omar do during Omar's first robbery in Season 1.
* [[IJustWantMyBelovedToBeHappy I Just Want My Brother To Be Happy]]: After the Stanfield Organization turns on him, he sends his brother Bug off to their aunt along with all the money he has, (with the promise of more to come) so that Bug will be safe and away from the game.
* JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope
* KickTheDog: Kenard may be a little shit, but seeing Michael pound on a kid half his size over and over again is still disturbing.
* NervesOfSteel: Despite the many stressful situations he's put under he only shows fear once in the series, when Omar visits his corner for a friendly chat at gunpoint. (He is nervous that Omar will recognize him from being part of a Stanfield ambush and likely is also fearful about forced into close contact with a Gayngster due to his childhood molestation.) Still doesn't break, though.
* NoHoldsBarredBeatdown: On Kenard, when Namond catches Kenard trying to steal Namond's drug package. Namond is so disturbed by the sight that he refuses to take the package from an unconscious Kenard afterward.
* PetTheDog: Diligently takes care of his little brother and Dukie, and he stands up for Randy when a couple of kids accuse Randy of being a snitch.
* PromotionToParent
* StaringDownCthulhu: Stares down Marlo in one of his earliest scenes.
* TheStoic
* UnwinnableTrainingSimulation: Part of his training is facing off with experienced professional killer Chris and Snoop with realistic paintball guns. Despite his complete lack of experience at that point, he wins anyway.
* YoungGun

!Kenard

[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/kenard_3013.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350: ''"Ain't no school can hold me if I wanna leave."'']]
->'''Played by''': Thuliso Dingwall

--> ''It's my turn to be Omar!''

Very young "friend" of Namond Brice. Torments Dukie every chance he gets. He joins the Stanfield Organization as a dealer in Season 5, and goes on to assassinate Omar Little. Last seen in the final montage of the series being arrested by the police, presumably for Omar's murder.

* BoisterousWeakling: Talks a lot of shit and has a lot of attitude, but whenever the show sets him up for a fistfight, he either gets his ass kicked or needs someone else to step in for him. Of course, size doesn't matter if he has a gun in his hand...
* BrattyHalfPint: Rare ''genuinely evil'' variant.
* EarlyBirdCameo: Albeit unintentionally - the actor who plays Kenard, Thuliso Dingwall, first appears as one of the children re-enacting the shootout outside the Barksdale stash house in season 3.
* EnfantTerrible
* HistoryRepeats: He shows the text-book signs of being a sociopath. Has dreams of becoming a great street legend like Omar. Sounds like Marlo Stanfield, who himself, is a sociopath that had dreams of becoming a street legend and saw his chance to act on it, after the Barksdale crew was brought down. Kenard saw his chance by killing Omar Little, knowing the Stanfield crew was looking for him. However, it's unknown if he was arrested for Omar's murder, or if he'll get charged as an adult if he was. Given that he's very young, there's a chance he might just get sent to a behavior correctional center, which in a way is a KarmaHoudini example, just like Marlo.
* {{Jerkass}}: An irredeemable little shit who deserves every beating he takes.
* KidsAreCruel: His treatment of Dukie, not to mention a scene where he is [[MoralEventHorizon dousing a cat with lighter fluid]] until Omar passing by distracts him and allows the cat to get away.
* SirSwearsALot
* TheSociopath: Strongly hinted to be one.
[[/folder]]


[[folder: The Courthouse]]

-->''"I wouldn't wipe my ass with a Baltimore lawyer."''
-->--'''[=McNulty=]'''

Once the cases the BPD brings in go to trial, they are in the capable - or not as the case may be - hands of the Baltimore City legal profession. The show focuses mainly on the State's Attorney's office in Baltimore, and their stable of prosecutors and grand jurors, as well as Judge Phelan, an old friend of [=McNulty's=] whose complaints to Burrell start the investigation into the Barksdale Organization in season 1. The prosecutors at the courthouse are generally portrayed as quite morally upstanding, especially for Baltimore, but sadly the same cannot be said of drug lawyer Maurice Levy, who commits violation after violation of just about every rule of lawyers' professional ethics.

!Rhonda "Ronnie" Pearlman
->'''Played by''': Deidre Lovejoy
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rhondapearlman_9022.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"The front office is going to go ''batshit''!"'']]

-->''Your client walks away now, or the both of you don't walk at all.''

Assistant State's Attorney. She handles the cases brought in by Daniels' department. Rhonda tries to walk a fine line between bringing in quality casework and protecting/advancing her own career, and a few times gets blindsided by Lester (and his tendency to issue subpoenas against politically connected individuals, like her boss) and Jimmy (who browbeats Maurice Levy in defiance of the professional deference that Rhonda wishes to show him). She had an affair with [=McNulty=], which is part of what caused his marriage to end, though by the start of the series, the romance has cooled off. Later in the series, she starts a relationship with Cedric Daniels after he and his wife separate; the romance is still ongoing as of the series finale, in which Rhonda avoids being scapegoated for [=McNulty's=] plot and becomes a judge.

* AmbitionIsEvil: Averted for the most part, although [=McNulty=] confronts her about the implications of her ambitions when she points out that pushing too hard against Levy would mean antagonizing the whole profession, a terrible thing for her career.
-->'''Jimmy:''' If only half you motherfuckers at the district attorney's office didn't want to be judges, didn't want to be partners in some downtown law firm... If half of you had the fucking balls to follow through, you know what would happen? A guy like that would be indicted, tried and convicted. And the rest of 'em would back up enough, so we could push a clean case or two through your courthouse. But no, everybody stays friends. Everybody gets paid. And everybody's got a fucking future.
* HelloAttorney
* HeroesWantRedheads: [=McNulty=], Daniels and Judge Phelan all certainly do.
* IronLady: A firm and unwavering attorney who often takes difficulties in stride or talks down allies and foes alike.
* MatzoFever: Provokes this reaction frequently, though her Jewishness is never especially emphasized.
* ScrewTheRulesIMBeautiful[=/=]ShowSomeLeg: She uses Judge Phelan's attraction to her to get favorable rulings out of him in a few cases with weak probable causes.
-->'''Daniels:''' Quite the legal mind
* SingleWomanSeeksGoodMan
* WhereDaWhiteWomenAt: She and Daniels must initially keep their relationship a secret because it becoming known that Daniels was divorcing his wife Marla and dating a white woman instead would harm Marla's political career.
* WorkingWithTheEx: She and [=McNulty=] are carrying on a discontinuos affair at the start of the show, which causes some awkwardness later in their professional relationship.

!Daniel Phelan
->'''Played by''': Peter Gerety
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/judgephelan_6917.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"See you at sentencing."'']]

-->''Mr. Hilton, are you the second coming of our savior?.''

The judge who presides over D'Angelo Barksdale murder case. After a witness changes her statement, leading to a non-guilty verdict, Phelan summons [=McNulty=] to enquire about it, only to discover the Barksdales are not being investigated at all. The judge takes this very seriously and makes it a priority, opening a can of worms as the police chiefs are clueless. Grudgingly, the Major Crimes detail ensues to appease him and the media.

* BigGood: He kickstarts the Barksdale case (flying under the radar until then) and by extension the Major Crimes detail (the series itself). Despite he is not above political maneuvering, he is the man to go when the chain of command is locked or obstructive and takes personal offense when criminals get away.
* ChivalrousPervert: His attraction towards Pearlman is both notorious and exploited.
* DeadpanSnarker: If you are a murderer seeking parole, His Honor [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_zJDJGJ82M will ask]] (and get you off the hook) if you are the SecondComing of Jesus.
* GrammarNazi: Justifiably so. Jimmy knows no better than to present an official affidavit full of mistakes.
* HangingJudge: He does ''not'' like the drug trade or its dealers one bit. Notable at the end of Bird's trial, where he brushes right over Maurice Levy's (truthful) assertions that the state's key witness (Omar) has perjured himself. Admittedly, Bird ''did'' do the crime.
* HistoryRepeats: Shown heeding Sydnor's lamentations in the finale, like he used to do with [=McNulty=]'s.
* TheJudge
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Almost always willing to help the police and to prosecute the drug dealers, shaming the obstructive chiefs if necessary.
* SlaveToPR[=/=]NotSoAboveItAll: He invokes the PR angle by leaking murder details to the media in order to put pressure on the police. In turn, his big good crusader status takes a dent when he panicks after being excluded from the electoral ticket, coming across as another self-serving bigwig to [=McNulty=]. The judge continues to be a very possitive character after his re-election, however.
* ToxicFriendInfluence: He's a supportive old friend of Jimmy's, but his demands for actual police work and leaks of insider information to the press practically kill [=McNulty=]'s career, if it existed. The support wanes in the middle of his re-election bid, but they eventually reconcile.

!Maurice Levy
->'''Played by''': Michael Kostroff
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mauricelevy_5385.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"You don't say anything, you don't do anything, you don't write anything!"'']]

-->'''Maurice Levy:''' ''You are amoral, are you not? You are feeding off the violence and the despair of the drug trade. You are stealing from those who themselves are stealing the lifeblood from our city. You are a parasite who leeches off...''\\
'''Omar Little:''' ''Just like you, man.''\\
'''Maurice Levy:''' ''...the culture of drugs. Excuse me? What?''\\
'''Omar Little:''' ''I've got the shotgun, you've got the briefcase. It's all in the game though.''

Drug lawyer for the Barksdale organization, and later, Marlo Stanfield. Very good at his job, getting cases scuttled and sentences reduced for his clients. Based on several real life Baltimore drug lawyers who happen to be jewish. David Simon, jew himself, remarked he was not willing to pull a punch just to avoid a stereotype.

* AmoralAttorney: An unapologetic drug-lawyer who also doubles as counselor to his criminal clients outside of the court and the interrogation rooms.
* DangerouslyGenreSavvy: He knows his trade very well, is very experienced and quickly recognizes threats or tricks aimed at his clients.
* EvilGenius: Functions as this for the Barksdale and Stanfield crews, helping them set up fronts and side businesses to hide their activities from the police and evade prosecution.
* GreedyJew: At one point he gleefully remarks that he likes seeing his clients busted by the cops, because it means more billable hours for him.
* KarmaHoudini: Although thanks to Freamon's work Pearlman does hold a sword over his head in the form of evidence with which she can charge him with grand jury tampering.
* OnlyInItForTheMoney
* PsychoticSmirk
* SmugSnake
* SpottingTheThread: He realizes there is something fishy in the Stanfield case.
* YiddishAsASecondLanguage

!Ilene Nathan

Head of the violent crimes unit, tasked with prosecuting homicides in Baltimore, later promoted to Assistant State's Attorney.

* GetOutOfJailFreeCard: Provides Mr. Little with one after he testifies against Bird. Nathan has him transferred to a safer prison when Omar uses the card after he's framed.
* IronLady: Firm and tough.



!Rupert Bond
->'''Played by''': Dion Graham.

Candidate running for the office of Maryland State's Attorney.

* GlorySeeker: Combined with other factors, his decision to keep the Davis case in the local court in order to achieve a high profile conviction eventually sinks the case thanks to a [[CommonNonsenseJury gullible jury]].


[[/folder]]

[[folder: City Hall]]

-->''"Money launderin'!? They gonna come talk to me about Money launderin'!? In West Baltimore?! Sheeeeit, where do you think I'm gonna raise cash for the whole damn ticket!? From laundromats and shit!? From some tiny-ass Korean groceries?! You think I got time to ask a man why he given me money or where he gets his money from?! I'll take any motherfucker's money if he's givin' it away!"''
-->--'''Maryland State Senator Clayton Davis'''

At the root of why nothing can ever get done in Baltimore, and, by extension, America, City Hall tells the story of Baltimore's political leaders and their Byzantine efforts at backstabbing and career advancement. City Hall is explored through the eyes of Democratic Councilman Tommy Carcetti, who achieves a feat most of the Democratic Party think impossible by winning election as the white mayor of a majority black city. Despite his initial idealism, he is unable to leverage his electoral success into political success, being forced to back up on his promises for the sake of his career. The City Hall storyline is an examination of the corruption at the heart of Baltimore political system and how internal reformers are either forced into resignation, acquiescence, or corruption.

!R. Clayton "Clay" Davis
->'''Played by''': Isaiah Whitlock Jr.
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/claydavis_3096.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"Sheeeeeeeit"'']]

-->''Fool, what do you think? That we know anything about who gives money? That we give a damn about who they are or what they want? We have no way of running down them or their stories. We don't care. We just cash the damn cheques, count the votes and move on.''

Maryland state senator. Corrupt doesn't begin to describe him. He takes bribes from many sources, including the Barksdale organization under Stringer Bell, and does patronage and fundraising in return, when he doesn't simply fleece them. Two simultaneous investigations, one by the Major Crimes department of the Baltimore Police, the other by the FBI, are focused on him. Neither succeeds in bringing him down.

* AffablyEvil
* {{Catch Phrase}}: "Sheeeeeeeeiiiiiiit."
* ChewbaccaDefense
* ConMan: In all but name. A real shakedown artist.
-->'''Norman:''' He's slick, apologizes for the short con and in the next breath setting us up for the long.
* CorruptPolitician: "Corrupt" doesn't begin to describe him.
* EverythingIsRacist: Spins the investigation into his corruption into an inspiring narrative of his own victimization at the hands of villainous whiteys and Uncle Toms in the State's Attorney's office. Depressingly, it works.
-->'''Gus Haynes''': 45 inches of Clay Davis playing not just the race card but the whole deck, coming at ya.
* KarmaHoudini
* ManipulativeBastard: When he is put on in Season 5, he easily charms the Baltimore jury into believing that his theft of money from his charity organizations was for a good cause, and is acquitted.
* PlayingTheVictimCard: In the stairs of the courtroom and then inside of it. He portrays himself as a man of the people who is the victim of a greek tragedy.
* {{Rainmaking}}
* SleazyPolitician: In addition to his criminality, he's pretty scummy in his personal life as well.
* SlimeBall: An amalgamation of everything that's wrong inside the political machine.
* SmugSnake
* VerbalTic: Addressing his victims as "partner". An intentional, reassuring pet word.
* VillainousBreakdown: Delivers angry rants to his political cronies whenever he's under scrutiny. He loses it during Carcetti's term when he begins to realize he's sinking with no rope or allies in reach, but he quickly pulls himself together to present his usual slimy public persona.
* VillainWithGoodPublicity: So good that it helps him get acquitted of fraud charges.

!Thomas "Tommy" Carcetti
->'''Played by''': Aidan Gillen
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tommycarcetti_3234.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"I wake up white, in a city that ain't."'']]

-->''Yummy, my first bowl of shit.''

City Councilman. He dreams of supplanting the current mayor, Royce, and cleaning up Baltimore. He gets his chance with the rise in violent crime, and when a key witness is killed due to the lack of proper witness protection. When Hamsterdam is exposed, he starts campaigning in earnest, pulling off an upset and becoming mayor. Once in office, with his advisors Norman and Steintorf, he seeks out people he can trust within city government, particularly the police force. Promising a reduction in crime, he is undermined by the revelation that financial legerdemain had been used to to hide a massive deficit in the school budget. Deciding not to seek the Maryland governor's help in bailing out the schools, he takes the money from the police force instead. He is unable to fulfill most of the promises he made to his allies and constituents, but manages to get elected governor by attacking his Republican opponent's positions on homeless and the poor, which works as a high-profile issue due to [=McNulty=]'s fake serial killer.

* AmbitionIsEvil: Played with. When forced to choose between helping the city he was elected to save and his own political ambitions, he chooses the latter, by deciding not to take money to cover the city's budget deficit from the state because doing so will hurt his chances of being elected governor. However, the series makes the argument that it is the [[InherentInTheSystem political system which corrupts politicians]] rather than the other way around.
* BeleagueredBureaucrat: For a while and also a consequence of his own ambition; he has good intentions but not the political clout or the funds to implement them.
** ObstructiveBureaucrat: He increasingly become something of this status as the show went on.
* BigGood: At first he's set up as possibly being this, but it's ultimately subverted.
* CorruptTheCutie: Starts out as something of an idealist, but is fast sucked into the dirty world of politics.
* EstablishingCharacterMoment: In the end of the third episode in which he appears Carcetti committs adultery with an unnamed woman he meets at a political event, staring at himself in the mirror as he does so. Though it seems at the time to be a throwaway scene, it actually serves to highlight Carcetti's narcissism and willingness to break promises for personal gain, both character traits which play a role in his later tenure as mayor. The scene actually receives a CallBack in season five, when Carcetti watches news coverage of himself making a grandstanding political speech with a similarly rapturous expression on his face.
* FaceHeelTurn: Mildly and realistically so. He doesn't so much go from good to evil as go from an [[CorruptTheCutie idealistic crusader]] to just another self-interested politician.
* HeWhoFightsMonsters
* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: He bears some resemblances to real-life former Baltimore mayor Martin O'Malley, though Simon has said the character was based on a number of Baltimore politicians, most of whom are too obscure to be recognizable to viewers.
* PetTheDog: On an epic scale during his Baltimore cleaning spree.
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: At first.
* RousingSpeech: He gives a few of them, usually of the self-serving variety.
* SirSwearsalot: While everyone except Omar swears a lot in this show, Tommy is particularly foul-mouthed.
* SleazyPolitician: Eventually turns into one.
* TookALevelInJerkass: He becomes more and more of a {{Jerkass}} as the stress of campaigning and then running the city wears on him.

!Clarence Royce
->'''Played by''': Glynn Turman
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/clarence_royce_6732.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"Nobody here wants to do a real job."'']]

--> ''Next year? For some things, that's a long time to wait.''

Deeply corrupt mayor of Baltimore. His administration has seen a dramatic rise in violent crime, which he seeks to patch over as best he can. Major Colvin's experiment in establishing drug-free zones causes crime to drop, and he makes the mistake of delaying action in bringing them to an end. When exposed, Carcetti campaigns against him for allowing them, and beats him in the mayoral election.

* CulturalPosturing: During the Democratic primary campaign against the white Carcetti his staff prints up posters using African colors in an effort to appeal to racial solidarity.
* GracefulLoser: After losing the primaries, Royce invites Carcetti to the office, has a friendly chat with him and makes him try the mayoral chair.
* InterruptedIntimacy: His affair with an assistant is witnessed by Herc.
* MayorPain: Subverted; at first he's presented as too venal and incompetent to do anything about Baltimore's problems but Carcetti's arc reveals that it's the system rather than the person at the top of it that's most responsible for the city's plight.
* SlaveToPR: His reaction to Hamsterdam comes off as self-serving [[PetTheDog but somewhat redeeming]], but once it is exposed on television and becomes a major [=PR=] disaster he quickly shuts it down.
* SleazyPolitician: Not nearly as bad as [[CorruptPolitician Clay Davis]], but still pretty unethical.

!Norman Wilson
->'''Played by''': Reg E. Cathey
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/normanwilson_1435.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"I wish I was still at the newspaper so I could write on this bullshit."'']]


-->''Everybody's gettin' what they need behind some make believe.''

Tommy Carcetti's deputy campaign manager, and later, his right hand man. He is brutally honest, keeping Carcetti in line and his feet on the ground.

* [[invoked]] ActuallyPrettyFunny: Laughs his ass off when the true nature of the serial killer is exposed, despite Carcetti calling up DudeNotFunny!
* BrutalHonesty: Speaks his mind quite freely.
* TheConsigliere
* CynicalMentor: Shows Carcetti the ropes in a very realistic, almost jaded way.
* DeadpanSnarker
* HonestAdvisor: To Carcetti. Norman has no problem criticizing the mayor.
-->'''Carcetti:''' Say it, Norman, you're thinking it. Truth to power, Norman. Isn't that what I keep you around for?
* IntrepidReporter: His backstory. He laments he can't publish the sordid but juicy stuff that he experiences as a City Hall insider.
* KnightInSourArmor: Becomes disillusioned by Carcetti putting his ambitions ahead of the city, but keeps working for him to speak truth to power and to do what he can to make sure he fulfills his campaign promises.
* ServileSnarker

!Nerese Campbell
->'''Played by''': Marlene Afflack

[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/neresecampbel1l_7830.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"It was supposed to be my turn!"'']]

-->''Clay, it is what it is.''

President of the Baltimore City Council. When Carcetti is elected mayor, she is immediately hostile to him because she was understood to be next in line after Royce. He proves to be pliable, and she comes around to pulling strings for him, though she scuttles many of his planned projects. She is elected mayor after Carcetti.

* {{Blackmail}}: Burrell hands over the dossier on Daniels to her, a card she uses to coerce the Commissioner.
* ChangingOfTheGuard: She finally succeeds Royce when Carcetti becomes governor.
* {{Foil}}: As the last surviving councelor from Royce's administration, her role is to be the opposition leader during Carcetti's term.
* InformedAttractiveness: "Council President's hot as balls!"
* KarmaHoudini: Another schemer who doesn't get any major comeuppance.
* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: Based on the very shady Baltimore mayor Sheila Dixon, city council president when O'Malley moved to Maryland.
* ObstructiveBureaucrat
* PassedOverPromotion[=/=]PassedOverInheritance: She is not happy about Carcetti's rising, as it was assumed she would be Royce's heir apparent.
* SleazyPolitician: Another morally flexible politician, very good at intrigue.

!Michael Steintorf
->'''Played by:''' Neal Huff

-->''Kids don't vote.''


Mayor Carcetti's chief of staff. A realist, he lets Carcetti know that many of his plans are infeasible. Later, he pressures Daniels to alter crime statistics.

* TheConsigliere: A less principled and more Machiavellian version of Normal Wilson.
* GenreSavvy: Immediately recognizes that Rawls has political leverage, and consequently cuts a deal with him to protect the mayor.
* TheManBehindTheMan: Regularly behind the scenes making deals or implementing shady policies to protect and insulate the mayor.
* ObstructiveBureaucrat: Reintroduces the infamous stats game in the fight against crime.


!Andy Krawczyk
->'''Played by:''' Michael Willis


-->'''Rawls:''' Mayor's office already called twice, worried sick about the man. That's a whole lotta campaign contributions sitting on the back of that ambo.


President of the Baltimore City School Board, property developer and political fund raiser, implied to be corrupt. Consultant to Stringer Bell.

* CorruptCorporateExecutive: Not portrayed openly corrupt à la Clay Davis, but his familiarity with the political machine all but states it.
* TheRival: To the stevedores, as his grain pier condominium project competes against the remodelation of the docks.
* SuspectIsHatless: Helps the police with a gloriously useless definition of Omar.
-->I told you I saw only the one. I know he was black. Big, I thought. With a large weapon


!Odell Watkins

State Delegate. A longtime major Baltimore political figure and and a member of the influential State Appropriations Committee, he's a moral voice of authority within Baltimore politicians as he has full support of the religious leaders, looks to address the concerns of the citizens in a decent way and is most critical of politicial corruption. Wheelchair user.

* TheConscience: Tries to keep the Royce administration morally balanced.
* TheFettered: One of the more principled members of Royce's camp.
* KingmakerScenario: Thanks to his influence and resources, any candidate who gets his endorsement receives more than a big boost in a close race.
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: One of the few public figures who genuinely cares about and works for his constituents. A true leader of the community who provides actual help to Colvin and Cutty.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: The Homeless]]

-->'''Bodie''': ''"He's a drug addict man!"''
-->'''D'Angelo''': ''"And you're a goddamn drug dealer."''
-->'''Bodie''': ''"So? So, what, the customer is always right?"''

The drug trade would, of course, be nothing without the people who actually buy drugs. The various homeless characters of ''The Wire'' are the show's way of exploring these often-ignored individuals. The main homeless character is Bubbles, a drug addict who, whilst prepared to go pretty damn low for his fix, is nevertheless one of the more human and morally upright characters on the show. The show charts his struggles with addiction and the world around him, especially the desperation and fear of the day-to-day life of one of the War on Drugs' refugees.

!Reginald "Bubbles" Cousins
->'''Played by''': Andre Royo
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/reginaldbubbles_2640.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"You equivocating like a motherfucker!"'']]

--> ''How y'all do what y'all do every day and not wanna get high?''

A homeless heroin addict. He mentors Johnny Weeks from seasons 1-3, and Sherrod in season 4, teaching them the life of scheming and scrounging that's necessary to support a life on the streets. When Weeks is attacked by members of the Barksdale crew, Bubbles renews his duties a police informant, providing critical information to Greggs and [=McNulty=]. In season 4, Bubbs is repeatedly beaten and robbed by another drug addict, but as :Kima and [=McNulty=] are no longer working drugs, Bubbs must settle for snitching for the considerably less reliable Herc, who twice fails to come to Bubbles's aid. Bubbles pays Herc back for his incompetence by feeding him bad information that gets him in some trouble with his superiors, but his plan for dealing with the robber backfires, resulting in Sherrod's death. He attempts to turn himself in, and attempts suicide, but is the recipient of an uncharacteristic bit of mercy from Jay Landsman.

By the fifth season, he has moved into his sister's basement, weaned himself off drugs, gotten a job selling papers, and begun attending Narcotics Anonymous. In the final montage of the series, he is finally allowed up into the house to have dinner with his family.

* AntiHero: Of the original, hero without heroic characteristics type.
* BlueOni: To Johnny Weeks', and later Sherrod's, RedOni. It keeps him alive while both of them end up dead.
* ButtMonkey: Played for drama.
* EarnYourHappyEnding: Over the course of the series he endures as much hardship as any other character, and he's one of only a few "street" characters who doesn't die, go to prison, or appear to be headed for one of those two fates in the end.
* GuileHero: He manages to inform on various drug dealers for the better part of five seasons without ever being suspected of being a snitch, mostly because he's very clever in his information-gathering.
* TheInformant: Partially earns his living working as one for the [=BPD=].
* InterruptedSuicide: After Sherrod's death.
* TheMentor: Does his best to school his green protégés.
* MobileKiosk: Starts telling t-shirts and other items from a shopping cart to support himself in season 3.
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: After Sherrod takes the "hot shot" Bubbles had prepared for his tormentor and dies.
* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: His real name is revealed only through incidental references to legal documents and the like; he's almost always called "Bubbles" or "Bubbs" in conversation.
* ThePunishmentIsTheCrime: The reason Landsman drops his prosecution. Bubbles has to live with the guilt over Sherrod's death, but eventually he overcomes the grief and is able to move on.
* StreetSmart
* ThoseTwoGuys: With Johnny Weeks.
* TraumaCongaLine: Until his happy ending.
* TropaholicsAnonymous: Bubbles drifts in and out of various recovery programs and addiction support groups until he finally sobers up for good in season 5.

!Johnny Weeks
->'''Played by''': Leo Fitzpatrick

--> ''I'm brown.''

A homeless addict, taken under the wing of Bubbles. A counterfeiting operation brings down the wrath of Bodie and Poot, leaving him in the hospital, where he learns he has HIV. Bubbles' informing the police produces a rift between the two, and Weeks leaves and goes to Hamsterdam. He is found dead by overdose some time later.

* BusCrash: Dies off-screen.
* ConMan: Participates in several with Bubbles. But he's much less successful when he tries to run them on his own.
* {{Expy}}: Johnny is an extension of Leo Fitzpatrick's character from ''Film/{{Kids}}''.
* NoHoldsBarredBeatdown: Suffers one after he gets caught trying to scam the Barksdale crew in the Pit.
* NothingPersonal: His attitude about getting beat by Bodie and company. He's shocked and even somewhat disturbed when Bubbles reveals that he has been informing on the Barksdales in revenge for Johnny's beating.
* RedOni: Unlike Bubbles, who is [[BlueOni more restrained and cautious in his drug use]], he uses impulsively and recklessly. It leads to his death by overdose.
* WhiteGangbangers: Comes off as one at times.

!Sherrod
-> '''Played by''': Rashad Orange

A young dealer who is taken in by Bubbles. Bubbles tries to get him to go back to school, but Sherrod does not, and starts using. When they are attacked by another junkie, Bubbles puts poison in a dose of heroin, in the hopes that the junkie would rob them, use, and die. Sherrod takes the dose by accident.

* SacrificialLion

[[/folder]]

[[folder: The Baltimore Sun]]

-->''"...as I look back over a misspent life, I find myself more and more convinced that I had more fun doing news reporting than in any other enterprise. It is really the life of kings."''
-->--'''HLMencken'''

''[[http://www.baltimoresun.com/ The Baltimore Sun]]'' is Baltimore's local broadsheet and newspaper of record. However, like most of the institutions of ''The Wire'', it has fallen on hard times of late, losing money at a prodigious rate and suffering from a staff brain drain, as ambitious reporters use it as a springboard for careers with the ''New York Times'' or ''Washington Post''. In addition, it is now run by an unnamed company from Chicago, who are less interested in local journalism than they are with doing gltizy "state of the nation" feature pieces with one eye on a Pulitzer Prize. The ''Sun'' storyline is largely used as a vehicle for David Simon to reflect on journalism, contrasting his own no-nonsense, context-rich style in the form of Gus Haynes with the more essay-like, narrow-focused journalism of the ''Sun'''s owners. [[{{Anvilicious}} It's fairly obvious which one he prefers.]]

!Augustus "Gus" Haynes
->'''Played by''': Clark Johnson
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/gushaynes_2700.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"[[PunctuatedForEmphasis We! Cannot! Run! This! Shit!]]"'' ]]

-->''Our job is to report the news, not to manufacture it.''

Editor for The Baltimore Sun, who does his best to keep the paper alive and relevant during bad times for the industry.

* AuthorAvatar: Runs into many of the same problems David Simon dealt with during his time at the Sun.
* DaEditor
* DramaticIrony: After [=McNulty=] gives credibility to the first phone call by the "serial killer", completely made up by Templeton.
-->Well, 10 minutes ago I'd' have said this whole thing was complete bullshit. Shows what I know, I guess.
* TheFettered: A principled editor.
* GenreSavvy: Zigzagged. He knows his trade and knows about many cases of fabricated stories, but Gus doesn't anticipate the higher-ups would sweep the truth under the rug.
* HumbleHero: He's content with reporting the local news with integrity and has no ambition or desire for a higher, flashy profile.
* TheLastDJ: Alongside a few other colleagues from the paper, he's a member of the old guard that is bent on maintaining its integrity.
* ReassignedToAntarctica: His fate after the higher-ups side with Templeton's sensationalized drama pieces.


!Alma Gutierrez
->'''Played by''': Michelle Paress

-->''Evacuate?''

A young Hispanic reporter who has the bad luck to come onto The Baltimore Sun as it is downsizing.

* AmbitionIsEvil: averted; she's ambitious but principled.
* BreakTheCutie
* IntrepidReporter
* ReassignedToAntarctica
* TokenMinority: Baltimore has a sizeable Hispanic population, yet Alma and Omar's boyfriend Renaldo are the only two Hispanics on the series.
* WideEyedIdealist

!Scott Templeton
->'''Played by''': Thomas [=McCarthy=]
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/scotttempleton_202.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"Fuck you Gus!"'']]

-->''Every last word is in my notes!''

A young reporter who falsifies his stories. He is roped into the fake serial killer story, and ends up winning a Pulitzer while his more scrupulous colleagues are demoted.


* AmbitionIsEvil: An unprincipled careerist.
* ConsummateLiar
* KarmaHoudini: Arguably the worst in the series, as his unethical practices win him a Pulitzer Prize.
* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed[=/=]CompositeCharacter: Based on Jim Haner, David Simon's co-worker in the Sun who invented quotes and events without punishment from his editors. Templeton shares traits with other fabulists such as Stephen Glass, Jayson Blair and Jack Kelley, who are all name-checked by Haynes when he's trying to convince the editors of Templeton's guilt. His status as a Pulitzer winner who fabricated his story has shades of Janet Cooke too, although she was caught. He also has shades of Walter Duranty, one of the most abhorrent journalistic fabricators, who won a Pulitzer Prize despite regurgitating Stalinist propaganda about how there was totally no famine in Ukraine. Nope. [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holodomor None at all.]]
* NotSoDifferent: [=McNulty's=] self-loathing comes to a head when he compares himself to Templeton.
* ProtagonistJourneyToVillain: He starts out as just another writer trying to get by, until he's driven by a combination of frustration (due to the mounting pressure from the paper for big stories) and fear (the paper keeps downsizing and Scott doesn't have the work history to get hired by a bigger name paper) to start fabricating stories. Eventually hits it big by pretending to witness a kidnapping attempt by [=McNulty=]'s nonexistent serial killer.
* ProtectionFromEditors: In-universe, his stories are too flashy and profitable to be hampered by the guardians of the truth.
* SmugSnake
* TheUnfettered

!Michael "Fletch" Fletcher
->'''Played by''': Brandon Young

A general assignments reporter at the Sun who writes a character piece on Bubbles. He enjoys a promotion to senior line editor when Gus is demoted at the end of the series.

* BrilliantButLazy / TheSlacker: on the one hand, he's a talented writer; on the other, he repeatedly fails to meet deadlines.
* CharacterAsHimself
* ChangingOfTheGuard: his piece on Bubbles is topical and true-to-life, and he might well be the next Haynes.
* EarnYourHappyEnding: his promotion at the end. This plot development is significant in the larger context of the series: the point of season 5 was to demonstrate that the newspapers miss the important stories of the city, but the quality and depth of Fletcher's article (and its warm reception) shows that the situation with the press isn't hopeless.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Other Characters]]

!Terrance "Fitz" Fitzhugh
->'''Played by''': Doug Olear

[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/agentfitz_4167.jpg]]

-->''[[FBIAgent We]] may be assholes, but on the upside, there's an awful lot of us.''

A special agent with the FBI, friend and major ally of Jimmy [=McNulty=]. He inspires [=McNulty=] to use modern electronic surveillance against the Barksdale organization by showing live surveillance during the bust of a drug production ring. He tells Jimmy it would be the last major bureau drug investigation in Baltimore because they are shifting resources to counter-terrorism.

* ButtMonkey: His lack of familiarity about how two cars should be placed during an unofficial meeting in the middle of nowhere - with adjacent driver's windows - is turned into a RunningGag at his expense by Jimmy and Lester, who joins in the joke eventually.
* CowboyCop: His extracurricular, personal assistance is not sanctioned or known by the bosses most of the time. In season 3, he expedites a wiretap by registering Stringer Bell as a homeland security threat named "Ahmed".
* FBIAgent: FBI agent working from the Baltimore field office.
* FriendOnTheForce: Jimmy usually goes to him for assistance because the overwhelming resources and prowess of the Bureau make him a real law enforcer working for a real agency, unlike the guys from the Baltimore Police Department.
* KnightInSourArmor: He's not very happy with the TheWarOnTerror monopolizing the resources of the FBI and is bitter about it. Still finds the time and need to help [=McNulty=] with the so called war on drugs.
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Regularly goes out of his way to help the struggling BPD. He even apologizes to Daniels as he reveals that a greater success in the Sobotka case was prevented by [[TheMole a mole inside the FBI]], and later makes up for it.

!The Deacon
->'''Played by''': Melvin Williams

A well connected West Side church figure involved in many community projects.

->''A good church man is always up in everybody's shit. It's how we do.''

* TheConscience: Gives Colvin a WhatTheHellHero because Hamsterdam has been conceived as a wild zone that needs some regulation, safety messures and social assistance.
* MetaCasting: Melvin Williams, a former gangster arrested by Ed Burns, is one of the inspirations of Avon Barksdale.
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: A pillar of the community.


!Ricardo "Fat-Face Rick" Hendrix

->''Shit, nigga, we was good when your uncle had it. You had to go ahead and put up with Marlo...''

Drug lord from Veronica Avenue, on the East Side of Baltimore. Founding member of the New Day Co-Op, he becomes a co-representative in the finale.

* CigarChomper: Usually seen smoking a cigar.
* GenreSavvy: He's not fooled by Marlo's lies about Omar killing Joe and Hungry Man, obviously aware that's not Omar's style.
* RealEstateScam: Makes the local news when it's exposed that the city council is going to relocate him to redevelop the land where his club stands. He's being offered more than what his club is worth and a better council owned property elsewhere, so he will net a million dollars for moving. Not by coincidence, Rick has a history of campaign donations.


[[/folder]]

[[folder: Baltimore Police Department]]
-->''"Ever wonder what it'd be like to work in a ''real'' police department?"''
-->--'''Several characters'''

Baltimore's Finest, the BPD is Baltimore's first and last line of defence against the hordes of dealers, fiends, and yos who present a grave and terrible threat to the civil society of the good, upstanding citizens of this fair city of neighbourhoods. Or at least, that's how they see themselves.

In reality, the BPD is dysfunctional and unwieldy. Decades of political obsession with producing good statistics and the War on Drugs have resulted in a department that is more concerned with massaging arrest figures and which has community relations which can be best described as "abysmal". Of all the institutions critiqued in ''The Wire'', the BPD comes in for the most extensive criticism, as it forms the backbone of the show. Whilst various police officers and units - such as the Homicide Unit, the Daniels-led details and later Major Case Squad - demonstrate great technical competence and integrity, by and large the department is clunking, bureacratic and brutal. Over the course of the series, various potential reformers step up and are in turn crushed by the inertia of the drug war and the political system.

!James "Jimmy" [=McNulty=]
->'''Played by''': Dominic West
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/jimmy_mcnulty_7473.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"What the fuck did I do?"'']]

-->'''Bunk''': Jimmy [=McNulty=], when he ain't policing he's a picture postcard of a drunken, self-destructive fuck-up. And when he is policing... he's pretty much the same motherfucker. But on a good case, he runnin' in front of the pack. That's as close as the man comes to bein' right.

The closest thing to a main character in ''[=The Wire=]''. A detective in Homicide, [[ArsonMurderAndLifesaving he is an alcoholic womanizer, something of a deadbeat, insubordinate toward his supervisors, and known for coming up with creative solutions to hard cases]]. His disrespect for the chain of command makes him many enemies, while his self-destructive behavior alienates his peers and friends. He is reassigned to remote positions in the Baltimore police department a couple times over the course of the series, most notably in the second season when he's "put on the boat".

Keep in mind, he never actually receives a [[ArsonMurderAndLifesaving [=McCloud=] Speech]] to his face during the show (well, with the exception of Landsman's eulogy at his mock detective's wake), but other characters give descriptions of him that almost fit the trope.

* ActuallyPrettyFunny: Jimmy usually takes with a smile many of the numerous jabs he receives.
* TheAlcoholic: It has been observed that he's one of the most realistic portrayals of a high-functioning alcoholic on television. His job is so important that he manages to be a FunctionalAddict outside of his private life.
* AntiHero: A very complex case: His methods are deplorable, to the point where he burns almost every bridge he's ever crossed throughout the show. And his motivations are murky; while he passionately speaks about the injustice of allowing murderers to remain at large simply because investigation of them would be time consuming and difficult, it's hard not to think he's primarily motivated by the vain desire to show off his own intelligence.
* {{Badass}}: [=McNulty=] rarely gets into a fight, but he regularly and casually stares down dangerous criminals. When the [=SWATs=] are ready to perform a full out assault, he simply strolls into the Barksdale lair, like a walk in the park, arrests Avon nonchalantly and delivers a BadassBoast to Stringer: "Catch you later."
* BunnyEarsLawyer: DiscussedTrope at length. Especially at his mock funeral in the finale.
-->'''Landsman''': Natural police, but Christ what an asshole!
* ByronicHero: Hot-blooded, alcoholic, workaholic [[TheCasanova womanizer]] with quite a reputation. This is his ironic answer to Landsman about his previous whereabouts in the very first episode.
-->Drinking. Crack smoking. Whoring myself on the streets of Baltimore.
* CatchPhrase: [[WhatHaveIDone "What the fuck did I do?"]] Played for laughs [[ItsAllMyFault and drama]]. Frequently used sarcastically (i.e. "What the fuck did ''I'' do?"), to demonstrate [[NeverMyFault his inability to acknowledge his own stupid mistakes]].
* TheChainsOfCommanding: In season 5 he's trusted with some managerial duties and responsabilities, with varying and ironic results
-->'''[To Lester:]''' You're a supervisor's nightmare.
* CharacterDevelopment: Played with. After he settles down with Beadie he moves away from investigation quests, along with boozing and womanizing, "Good"-ol'Jimmy [[HesBack is back]] in Season 5, not before earning quite a few [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness incredulous remarks]] about his domesticated state.
-->'''Lester:''' World is on its hole when Jimmy Mcnulty is the most qualified to drive.
* ChronicBackstabbingDisorder: Toward his superiors.
-->Fuck the bosses!
* CommutingOnABus: in season 4, when he resigns from MCU, works as a patrolman and gets his personal life back together.
* CowboyCop: {{Deconstructed|Trope}}. [=McNulty=] plays by his own rules and goes against his superiors, and while he backs it up by being a brilliant detective, his antics end up destroying both his career and his family life.
** Also, on multiple occasions Jimmy bends and breaks rules to get information because he doesn't have the patience for doing things according to the rules... and gets exactly the same information that other good detectives like Bunk and Lester got by following procedure.
** He may also be seen as a [[ReconstructedTrope Reconstruction]] of the trope. He has the traits, but he's smart enough to gather evidence through surveillance and isn't one for hotheaded violence.
* DeadpanSnarker: He usually voices his objections in a sardonic way.
* DefectiveDetective: {{Lampshade}}d; Freamon observes that despite his excellent police work, the rest of his life is a train wreck.
* DrinkingOnDuty: Multiple examples. Prominent ones during season 5 ([[http://blog.nj.com/alltv/2008/01/large_wireep2-mcnulty.jpg pictured]]) and in his prequel segment.
* DrinkOrder: A Jameson. Not that he has much of a problem with Protestant whiskey anyway.
* DrowningMySorrows: Doesn't need much of an excuse to prop up the bar, but he always does it if he's distraught.
* DrunkDriver: [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URupBZbfbJg At times]].
* FallenHero: By the end of the show. And despite his fake serial killer plan being somewhat successful, he is driven out of the force in the end. The ending does suggest that he's on a path to becoming a better person since he rekindles his relationship with Beadie and brings the homeless man he stashed in Virginia back to Baltimore, but he has a long way to go.
* FootDraggingDivorcee: Jimmy needs a lot of time to understand that Elena wants to move on with her life. He ends paying $3000 per month as alimony, and he can't afford it.
* GoodIsNotNice: Unlike many in the Baltimore Police Department, he has a deep emotional investment in bringing the bad guys to justice. He's also, as Rawls puts it, a [[{{Jerkass}} gaping asshole]].
* HandsomeLech: A drunken womanizer prone to banging floozies in bar parking lots.
* HeelRealization: It took him five seasons, but he does eventually come to see that ignoring good police procedural work and just doing his own thing without regard to the consequences ultimately causes more problems than it solves. Too bad he'll never work as a policeman again after the end. See HeWhoFightsMonsters below.
* HeroicBSOD: Briefly goes into one in the first season after Kima gets shot including acting out the VomitingCop trope. Rawls of all people snaps him out of it.
* HeroicWannabe: His desire to be a cop is driven by this persona.
* HiredToHuntYourself: In Season 5, he is the lead investigator on the SerialKiller case. He's so overwhelmed with resources that he quite capably diverts them to actual police work. Eventually he's given a right-on-the money [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vn0ylNZhOJI FBI profile about himself.]]
* HeWhoFightsMonsters: In his quest against Marlo, [=McNulty=] becomes a prosecutable criminal by inventing a fake case, technically embezzling money and being indirectly responsible for the death of two vagrants. A [[WellIntentionedExtremist mild]] version of the trope in that he keeps his morals after all it's said and done in the Stanfield case, as illustrated by his last scenes.
* HowsYourBritishAccent: Crickey, bloody ''[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XBL2Wq5YjSw orrible]]''
* InferioritySuperiorityComplex: For all his arrogance and abrasiveness, [=McNulty=] believes deep down that if he isn't a detective his life is basically pointless.
* ItsAllAboutMe: Self-confessed. Jimmy doesn't lack empathy, but when he sets his mind to something, nothing will interfere with his quest, come hell or high water.
-->'''Landsman:''' Jimmy is an addict, sir. [To] himself. It's not funny, it's a fucking tragedy.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: He may be a womanizing asshole, but he does care about being a good cop, and his screw-ups hit him VERY hard.
* JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope: The fake serial killer in Season 5.
* KnightTemplar: His pals suggest it sometimes, due to the [[NiceJobBreakingItHero mayhem he causes]]. Jimmy himself wonders if they are right.
-->You start to tell the story, you think you're the hero, and then when you get done talking...
* TheLastDJ: Doing actual police work is a sure way to harm your career.
* LastNameBasis: Even Russell's kids call him [=McNulty=]. Bunk and Freamon do use Jimmy, especially when they want to talk him out of something.
* MakingLoveInAllTheWrongPlaces: Less wrong when you can flash a badge to the patrolmen and then [[CoitusUninterruptus continue about your business]].
* ManChild:
-->'''[=McNulty=]''': You know what they call a guy who pays that much attention to his clothes, don't you?
-->'''Bunk''': Mm-hmm, [[InsultBackfire a grown-up]].
* MarriedToTheJob: As Freamon says in [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4QEHlxICU3I this]] get-a-life scene.
-->'''Lester''': Oooh, you need somethin' outside of this here. The job won't save you Jimmy.
* MenCantKeepHouse: The status of his apartment is reflective of the status of his wrecked life.
* MistakenForRacist: Played with; he poses as a bigot with a sheriff, assuming the man would be a prejudiced hick. He has to backpedal when he learns that [[OhCrap the guy's wife is black]].
* NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished: He is demoted at the end of season 1 for his role in bringing the Barksdales to justice.
* OfficerOHara: Averted - he's of Irish descent (and possesses a couple of stereotypical traits), but he is a competent detective and doesn't have a comedy accent.
* TheOnlyOneAllowedToDefeatYou: The way he sees his enemy, Stringer. He is the only one who is moved by his death soon after the latter was killed.
* OffTheWagon: In season 5.
* ParentalNeglect: [=McNulty=] loves his kids Sean and Michael but won't be up for any father-of-the year awards.
** Loses sight of his children when they are made to play-tail Stringer in a market.
** He doesn't really know the first thing about his kids' education or whether Sean is in sixth or seventh grade.
** He leaves the kids alone in the house to have a quickie in a hotel, in the middle of the night.
* PetTheDog:
** Goes out of his way in the case of the thirteen "Jane Does" (unidentified dead women) and involves himself in a personal, humane level when nobody from Homicide gives a damn about'em. This shows Beadie that deep down, [=McNulty=] is a decent guy.
** Going to pick up the homeless man he stashed in Virginia as part of his scheme, the implication being that he's going to get him help.
* PoisonousFriend: To Bunk in season 5 because of his scheme and many other times, Jimmy is a dangerous chum.
-->'''Lester:''' You put fire to everything you touch [=McNulty=], then you walk away while it burns!
* PoliceBrutality: Averted; he's basically the only character affiliated with the police who's never seen beating a suspect.
* PhraseCatcher: His ''assholism'' is referenced by almost every character, often. He's also a magnet for "My office, now!"
* RaisedCatholic: Makes the sign of the Cross before tampering with the vagrants and Bunk theorizes his background is the reason behind Jimmy giving a damn about a random dead woman.
-->'''Bunk''': How does that matter? You see, this is that Catholic shit, Jimmy. This is that little altar-boy-guilt talking.
* ReassignedToAntarctica: Twice. The second time he actually prefers it though.
** ReassignmentBackfire: Rawls puts him on the boat. Jimmy still finds a way to get back at Rawls and shove one major case up his jurisdiction, for the lulz.
--->'''Rawls''': ''([[ActuallyPrettyFunny laughing]])'' Fuckin' Jimmy. Fuckin' with us for the fun of it. I gotta give the son of a bitch some credit for wit on this one. Cocksucker.
* RedOni: To Bunk's BlueOni (alternatively, to Kima's or Lester's Blue).
* SexWithTheEx: Just the once, leading Jimmy to think DivorceIsTemporary. It isn't.
* ShirtlessScene: Several.
* ShotgunWedding: He dropped out of college and married Elena after she got pregnant.
* SympatheticPOV: The narrative shows how some of his twisted shenanigans stem from an odd sense of justice and personal righteousness.
* TallDarkAndHandsome: Lean, black-haired and good-looking.
* ThreeWaySex: Jimmy is bloody [[http://cosmodromemag.com/files/still.png outnumbered]] in a bordello, [[HilarityEnsues with sexy results]]. Other characters are still talking about it [[NeverLiveItDown several seasons later]].
* TooCleverByHalf: He's too competent for his own good. It speaks volumes that his only period of stability happens when he is away from investigative tasks.
* VitriolicBestBuds: With Bunk.
* WhatTheHellHero: Receives these, in tandem with TheReasonYouSuckSpeech, on a regular basis.
-->'''Bunk''': There you go. Givin' a fuck when it ain't your turn to give a fuck.
** Subverted in season 5 when Bunk brings Lester to the loop, hoping to end the serial killer scheme. Lester objects because [[DoWrongRight the lie needs more wings to fly]].
--->'''Lester''': Shit like this actually goes through your fucking brain?
* WorkingWithTheEx: Has an affair with Rhonda at the beginning of the series. They keep working together occasionaly after the break-up. He's very cool about Daniels dating her.
* WorthyAdversary: Intellectual vanity is one of his motors. He is proud to be chasing Avon and Stringer, on the basis that stupid criminals make stupid cops.
* YourCheatingHeart: Chronic, although his condition does undergo a short-lived remission.
-->'''Lester''': Ain't he married or some shit now?

!Cedric Daniels
->'''Played by''': Lance Reddick
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/cedric_daniels_8405.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"Bend too far and you are already broken"'']]

--> ''Comes a day you're gonna have to decide whether it's about you or about the work.''

Lieutenant in charge of the Narcotics Unit of the western district who spends most of the series in charge of the special details that would become the model for the Major Case Unit. He is fiercely loyal to those under his command and demands similar loyalty in turn. He works to rein in the excesses of [=McNulty=], Herc, Carver, and Pryzbylewski, while resisting the bureaucratic rot that has corrupted the district command. There is only so much he can do, given his superiors' impatience for in-depth police work, and the existence of a dossier implicating him in past corruption that Ervin Burrell holds over his head.

He begins the series as a career-minded officer who is pliant to the demands of his superiors, but when he's confronted with the deeds and scale of the Barksdale drug crew, realizes the inefficacy of the limited investigative measures that his bosses will allow, and is pressured by [=McNulty=], Greggs and Freamon to commit to the case, ultimately he jumps in with both feet. Daniels's renewed commitment to quality police work costs him much throughout the series (including his marriage), but in seasons 4 and 5, he receives a series of rapid promotions that ends with a gig as Police Commissioner. Daniels soon resigns after earning this top spot, since keeping the job would entail manipulating the crime statistics for the mayor, or a fight to keep the job which would put the lives and careers of his friends in jeopardy. At the end of the show he's become a prosecutor, finally making use of the law degree he'd earned before his police career.

* {{Badass}}: Not explicitly shown, but he's obviously a tough guy. [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XaysD0qByUo Behold]] his peacefull arrest of Avon inside the Barksdale compound, taking over a [=SWAT=] operation.
* BadassBaritone: A deep voice that commands respect.
* BaldBlackLeaderGuy: Begins to sport a shaved head in season 3.
* TheBeard: A non-sexual-orientation version; after he and his wife split up in the third season he keeps up the act of them still being married so as not to damage her public image while she's running for office. This includes pretending to come home when she has company over, and he explains that after all she gave up to help his career it's the least he can do.
* BlackmailIsSuchAnUglyWord
* {{Catchphrase}}: Downplayed with "This is (some) bullshit."
* TheChainsOfCommanding: Daniels is always struggling between the politics of the higher-ups, his own judgement and the pressure and CowboyCop antics from some of his more uncontrollable but competent detectives.
* ChekhovsGun: His law degree. This is TruthInTelevision, as one of the detectives David Simon shadowed when writing ''Homicide'', Terry [=McLarney=][[note]] Who [[Series/HomicideLifeOnTheStreet Detective Steve Crosetti]] was loosely based on[[/note]], was a law school graduate. Another gun of a much higher caliber is the corruption investigation in his past.
* CharacterDevelopment: He begins the series as a company man observant of the chain of command, but grows tired of the chronic obstructionism and he gradually becomes a reformist, it's not about him, but about the job.
* DaChief: Becomes a justified case in mid-season 3 when Jimmy and Kima abuse his confidence, force his hand and derail his investigation with their extracurricular activities, but is still willing to have [=McNulty=] in his unit after telling him that he's done.
* DeadpanSnarker: From time to time.
-->So one thieving politician trumps 22 murders. Good to know.
* AFatherToHisMen: Tries to protect his subordinates after their numerous displays of incompetence or disloyalty, even when this reflects bad on him.
* GuileHero: After being burned a few times, he becomes relatively adept at playing office politics indirectly and/or without openly antagonizing other powerful officials.
* HonorBeforeReason: Several times, particularly toward the end of the series.
-->You bend too far and you are already broken.
* InternalReformist: Tries to transform the "stats game" into real police work.
* LargeAndInCharge: Usually the tallest police officer in any room.
* TheLastDJ
* MarriedToTheJob: Cedric literally tells his wife Marla that he loves the job, which eventually leads to the end of their marriage.
* TheMentor: He's not merely a commanding officer, he likes to give advice to his subordinates whenever he can. Carver pays good heed to it.
* TheMissusAndTheEx: A male example. He expects [=McNulty=] to not be very happy about his dating of Rhonda, but the two men have a friendly chat over it and everything goes fine and dandy.
* NotSoAboveItAll: At work, he cracks fewer jokes than the rest of the team. [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kE9-u26NOWI&feature=channel&list=UL At home,]] he's one of the few guys who can skewer Lester. And even he joins in on the asskicking when Bird refers to Kima as a [[CountryMatters cunt]].
* NoodleIncident: The precise nature of the corruption allegation he faced earlier in his career is never revealed, though it is implied to have been something along the lines of skimming drug money.
* OutOfCharacterIsSeriousBusiness: His joining in on the asskicking of Bird shows how much Bird has it coming.
* PassedOverPromotion: Burrell implies that Daniels will get the command of the next available district. The promise is nullified after their fallout over the Barksdale detail and the post goes to a more manageable officer.
* PerpetualFrowner: His typical expression borders on DeathGlare territory.
* RankUp: A rising star under Carcetti's New Day. He's too good to last. He's proud to be promoting Carver face to face in one of his last acts as policeman.
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Eventually revealed to be one.
* ReassignedToAntarctica: After the first Barksdale detail is wrapped up, Burrell sends him to the basement to handle evidence control.
* ScrewThisImOuttaHere:
** Subverted in Season 2; he grows tired of all the bullshit inherent in the BPD, sends in his resignation papers and is days aways from leaving the force, but he changes his mind after the Major Crimes Unit and actual police work become plausible.
** Played straight in Season 5 when he's put between a rock and a hard place.
* ShirtlessScene: Several during his private life. The man is really ripped.
* TheStoic

!Shakima "Kima" Greggs
->'''Played by''': Sonja Sohn
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/kimagreggs2_407.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"Don't tell me we're the same kind of asshole?"'']]

-->''I mean, I know you don’t like it. But shit, I was proud.''

Detective in Narcotics. One of the more competent cops on the team, she does much work in surveillance and recruiting informants, particularly Bubbles. She is shot in the first season, but recovers and returns to duty in a desk job (under pressure from her girlfriend, who doesn't like Kima's dangerous job). Ultimately, Daniels lures her back into the fray and she eventually earns an assignment to Homicide. Beholden to her conscience and strong sense of ethics ([[GoodIsNotNice which doesn't make her nice]]; while she'd never look the other way at a crime or lie to her superiors, she doesn't think twice about beating the crap out of a suspect), in the fifth season, she is the one who reports [=McNulty=] and Freamon's fake serial killer to Daniels.

* ActionGirl
* AllLesbiansWantKids: Averted; Kima is much more interested in her career than in being a mom.
* BabiesMakeEverythingBetter: Averted; Kima's girlfriend having a baby makes their relationship worse, and eventually contributes to their breakup. Kima does come to care for her son however.
* BloodKnight: She doesn't find police work satisfying unless she has the chance to forcefully confront and bust criminals face-to-face.
* BruiserWithASoftCenter: The soft center comes out when children are involved.
* ButchLesbian: Personality-wise.
* ByTheBookCop: The closest thing to one on this show, as evidenced by her refusal to testify that she saw that Wee-Bey was the second gunman when she gets shot in Season 1 and her blowing the whistle on Freamon and [=McNulty=] in season 5; however, she still gets in on a little extracurricular brutality and other inappropriate conduct at times.
* CliffHanger: Whether she'll survive after her shooting in season 1 is in doubt for awhile.
* ConsummateProfessional
* [[HenpeckedHusband Henpecked Girlfriend]]: A consequence of being the masculine half of her relationship. Lampshaded by Herc.
* TheFettered
* HonorBeforeReason: Her refusal to falsely testify that she knows for a fact that it was Wee-Bey who shot her.
* TheLadette: She enjoys drinking, screwing, and busting heads as much as any of her male co-workers; conversely, she doesn't have much interest in "feminine" activities like shopping or homemaking.
* MarriedToTheJob: Her partner begins to resent her dedication to policework when it detracts from her willingness to be a parent to their child.
* NaiveNewcomer: When she lands in homicide, she experiences a number of novice-related pranks from the veteran cops. The audience surrogate part is downplayed, as this happens in season 4.
* NotSoDifferent: A minor story arc has Kima realizing she's following in Jimmy's [[CowboyCop foot]][[MarriedToTheJob steps]].
-->Don't tell me we're the same kind of asshole...
* SheCleansUpNicely: The sting.
* TwoferTokenMinority: As a mixed black/Korean lesbian, she ought to count as a threefer, but in this case it's an aversion since the show realistically portrays the demographic makeup of Baltimore and she's not the only black, the only lesbian, or the only female detective around.

!Bunk Moreland
->'''Played by''': Wendell Pierce
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bunkmoreland2_2714.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"You happy now, bitch?"'']]

-->''A man must have a code.''

Highly competent detective in Homicide. Bunk has a dry sense of humor, is almost always dressed in pinstripes, and enjoys his cigars. Bunk and [=McNulty=] often partner up to drink and cruise for women -- in spite of the fact that they are both married. As a detective, Bunk is generally perfectly happy to work within the confines of the system in Homicide. In the fifth season, his tolerance for [=McNulty=]'s cowboy antics is put to the test when [=McNulty=] fakes several serial murders, which puts a deep strain on their friendship.

* BlueOni: To [=McNulty=]'s RedOni.
* CantHoldHisLiquor: He has some relative control, but Bunk vomits once in front of Daniels and several times offscreen. Lampshaded by Kima.
* CatchPhrase: [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sv063nzZIEk You happy now, bitch?]]
* CigarChomper: A [[SmokingIsCool cool, classy]] cigar aficionado.
* ConsummateProfessional: Compared to [=McNulty=] anyway, as Bunk reminds him.
-->I'm a murder police. I work murders. I don't fuck with no make-believe. I don't jerk shit around. I catch a murder, and I work it.
* DeadpanSnarker
* DeathGlare: Prominent in Season 5, the non verbal part of his WhatTheHellHero rebukes to [=McNulty=].
* GayBravado: Time for you to show the Bunk some love...
-->'''Bunk:''' You're my ''real'' partner, Lester. My life partner.
-->'''Lester:''' Don't tease, bitch.
-->'''Bunk:''' Look at that bow-legged motherfucker. I made him walk like that.
* NiceHat: a staple of his wardrobe.
* OneLinerEcho: "Giving a fuck when ain't your turn to give a fuck", originally coined by [=McNulty=].
* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: Moreland is just called "Bunk" most of the time. His first name, William, is hardly used, if ever.
* MrViceGuy: Women and booze, mild vices if compared to Jimmy, who has them by the metric ton.
* RealMenWearPink: Shown wearing a pink bathrobe after an intoxicated escapade and also a pink shirt at work. He is above Jimmy's jabs about PinkIsForSissies.
* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Gives an armor-piercing one to Omar and many to [=McNulty=]. Here's a representative example of the latter:
-->You've lost your fucking mind, Jimmy. Look at you. Half-lit every third night, dead drunk every second. Nut deep in random pussy. What little time you are sober and limp-dicked, you're working murders that don't even exist!
* SecretKeeper: The serial killer's identity.
* SharpDressedMan. The man "was born in pinstripes". The one time he is in casual wear - in season 2, when he is briefly working outside Homicide - it is to make a point about [=MCU=] not being his natural habitat.
-->'''Bunk''': [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVW34_gnxu4 The Bunk is strictly a suit-and-tie motherfucker]].
* SpellMyNameWithAThe
* ThirdPersonPerson: "The Bunk."
* ThisIsForEmphasisBitch
* VitriolicBestBuds: With [=McNulty=].
* YourCheatingHeart: He's generally a good guy, but has issues staying faithful to his wife.

!Thomas "Herc" Hauk
->'''Played by''': Domenick Lombardozzi
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/hercthomas_5483.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"Think I locked him up once...Avon whatsisface..."'']]

--> ''I say we go down to the terrace and fuck some people up.''

One of {{Those Two Guys}} in Narcotics. Herc is probably the dumbest working detective on the show. To him, the job is all about the "rip and run" and banging heads on the corners (often literally). What little active detective work he does do often involves cutting corners (such as placing bugs and pulling a surveillance camera without proper authorization) or bumbling his way through ineffective interrogations. He's also not above stealing confiscated drug money. He is forced to resign in Season 4 after acting on bad information and wrongfully arresting an influential black minister. He kicks around various private security agencies before settling into Maurice Levy's firm as a private investigator, where his friendships within the department and dumb luck earn him a bright future.

* AesopAmnesia: At the end of season 1 he's seen lecturing a couple of rookies on the importance of "smart" detective work as opposed to haphazard violent busts. This lesson is all but forgotten in the next seasons.
* BoisterousBruiser
* CowboyCop: Like [=McNulty=], a deconstruction; in his case of the "cut corners and rough up the suspects" variety.
* TheDitz

* EveryoneHasStandards: Appalled by the downward spiral of Hamsterdam with events such as the police having to hide a murder committed inside of the free zone, he blows the whistle and informs a reporter.
* FaceHeelTurn: After taking a job as an investigator with Levy.
** AntiVillain Type IV/ PunchClockVillain
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Crass and blunt, but not without decency.
** Apologizes to Bodie's grandmother for the inconvenience after the police come blazing into her house.
** For all his failings, when Internal Affairs descends on his department, he takes the fall himself, without implicating Sydnor or Dozerman.
* TheLoad: At the beginning of the show he and Carver are far and away the least competent detectives among the major characters; Daniels only trusts them to do surveillance work and half the time they can't even manage that. Carver eventually gets better, Herc doesn't.
* ManChild: At times even more immature that some of the hoppers.
* NiceJobBreakingItHero: More than once, but his interrogation of Little Kevin, in which he lets slip that Randy talked to the police and thereby ruins his life, is the worst.
* NotEvenBotheringWithTheAccent: His Bronx accent sticks out like a sore thumb; in season five he finally acknowledges he's originally from New York.
* PoliceAreUseless: You could fill several pages detailing his many screw-ups over the course of the show.
* PoliceBrutality: Most of the cops on the show engage in at one point or another, but Herc deserves special mention - brutality complaints are one of the main reasons he's not promoted to sergeant despite scoring well on the exam.
* RankUp: He scores ''ok'' on the Sergeant exam, but does not get a promotion until the mayor [[KickedUpstairs kicks him upstairs]] after Herc witnesses him in a [[InterruptedIntimacy delicate situation]].
* ThoseTwoGuys: With Carver.

!Ellis Carver
->'''Played by''': Seth Gilliam
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/elliscarver_5569.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"[[WhatYouAreInTheDark It all matters. Everything we do.]]"'']]

--> ''I don't need to chase these fucking knuckleheads. I know half of 'em. Shit, I know where they hang.''

The other of {{Those Two Guys}} in Narcotics. He starts out almost as stupid and corrupt as Herc, but begins to mature under the tutelage of Daniels, and later, Bunny Colvin. He is instrumental in keeping Hamsterdam running in Season 3. He tries to help out Randy Wagstaff, but makes the mistake of trusting Herc, out of guilt for maturing past his ex-partner. In one of the series' biggest {{Tear Jerker}}s, he cannot save Randy from the group home. Later, he is shown to regret the cavalier attitude towards policework that he and Herc had taken earlier in his career, and proves himself a competent commander with a strong sense of ethics. He is promoted to lieutenant in the finale, showing a strong resemblance to his early mentor, Daniels.

* BadassBoast: When he procures Marlo's number (courtesy of Herc actually), to an impressed Lester.
-->Police work detective, police work.
* BaldBlackLeaderGuy: On his way of becoming one, just like his two mentors before him.
* TheChainsOfCommanding: After he's promoted to sergeant, most notably when he's forced to write up Officer Colicchio for police brutality in season 5.
* ChangingOfTheGuard: He is the implied successor of both Colvin and Daniels.
* CharacterDevelopment: Goes from a [[HotBlooded hot-headed]] and [[NaiveNewcomer inexperienced]] rookie to a seasoned, streetwise veteran cop over the course of five seasons, and the transformation is entirely believable.
* DudeWheresMyRespect: Gets tired of doing lowly surveillance jobs after he has been promoted to Sergeant and asks for a transfer to another district.
* FairCop: Perlman dismisses him as an inside man on the brothel sting because he doesn't look like he'd have to pay for sex. He takes the compliment.
* HeroicBSOD: Has a truly heartbreaking one after what happens to Randy.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Evolves into this in Seasons 3 and 4.
* LockedOutOfTheLoop: Has a hilarious moment of this in Season 2, when he and Herc are left watching a townhouse all day for a guy that had already turned himself in.
* TheMole: In Season 1, he feeds Burrell with inside information of Daniel's detail.
* RankUp: To Sergeant, with the implication that he's promoted because he was Burrell's mole, as Carver scored worse than Herc. Finally to Lieutenant, in one of the few meritorious and trully deserved promotions in the whole show.
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: He follows Colvin's advice and becomes a reference in the neighbourhood, a policeman close to the citizen and not a perpetual antagonist to the street felon.
* ThoseTwoGuys: With Herc.
* TookALevelInBadass: He starts out incompetent but develops into a genuinely good cop by the end of the show.
** TookALevelInKindness

!Lester Freamon
->'''Played by''': Clarke Peters
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/lesterfreamon_1711.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350: ''"Cool Lester Smooth"'']]


-->''...and all the pieces matter.''

Detective transferred in to Daniels' unit from the Pawnshop Unit. At first he keeps to himself, spending much of his time applying his meticulous nature to making miniature furniture instead of doing police work, causing [=McNulty=] and others to write him off as a worthless hump. After watching the other detectives fail to secure so much as a photograph of the detail's intended target, Freamon comes off the bench and shows himself to be true "natural police" (in fact, he is a former Homicide detective), proving himself knowledgeable and adept at many of aspects of running a wiretap investigation (including an understanding of the legal and political nuances that even the other competent detectives lack), and serves as a mentor to Kima, Prez and Sydnor.

He is almost as insistent as (and at times, MORE insistent than) [=McNulty=] when it comes to pressing an investigation beyond what the department brass has tolerance for, but has more wisdom about how and when to fight for a case. While he's not above crossing his superiors and manipulating his coworkers, and goes along with Jimmy's 5th season serial killer scheme, he still lacks Jimmy's more self-destructive tendencies.

* AwesomenessByAnalysis: In Daniels' words, he is by himself ''the'' Major Crimes Unit.
* {{Badass}}: Natural police. Occasionally mounts up and shows his prowess during field operations, for instance when he punks Bird with a bottle.
* BadassBoast: Near the end of the show, he wags a clock to Marlo's face to point out he has triumphed over the drug lord and cracked the code.
-->Me? I'm just the police.
* BunnyEarsLawyer: Eccentricities such as his habit of painting dollhouse furniture at his desk lead the others to assume he's a hump; he's anything but.
* TheChessmaster: Probably the smartest of the police on the whole show.
* ConMan: He plays the role of one to fool a savvy street felon and further his wiretapping operation in season 3.
* CoolOldGuy: "Smooth Lester Cool".
* CowboyCop: Though he's much smarter and more careful about it than [=McNulty=] or Herc.
* DoWrongRight: When he learns of [=McNulty=]'s scheme, he apparently reacts with a WhatTheHellHero, but what Lester means is the plot is weak and needs to be sensationalized.
* ForensicAccounting: One of his specialities, usually met with a stern opposition from the higher-ups, since drug money funds political campaigns. The few times he can use it, he compares it to a BoomHeadshot.
-->You follow drugs and you find drug addicts and drug dealers, you follow the money and you don't know where the fuck it's gonna take [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7M71wmwWRo you]].
* GuileHero
* InsistentTerminology: Worked the pawn shop unit for 13 years.
-->''and 4 months''
* {{The Last DJ}}
* MayDecemberRomance: Starts up a relationship with the much younger Shardene which continues through the end of the show.
* TheMentor: to Prez and (to a lesser extent) Kima.
* {{Obfuscating Stupidity}}
* ReassignedToAntarctica: Pawnshop unit after charging a politically connected fence in 1989 while working at Homicide. Thirteen years [[InsistentTerminology (and four months)]].
* SherlockScan: He figures out how Marlo is disposing of his victims immediately when he notices unusual nails in the boarded-up doorway of a vacant house.
* SmartPeopleWearGlasses: His glasses help to underscore that he's one of the smartest detectives out there.
* WellDoneSonGuy: [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kE9-u26NOWI Daniels jokes]] about how Lester invokes this, exploiting his TeamDad status to have his way by exploiting the guilty feelings of his younger protegees/disciples.
-->'''Daniels''': He stares at you over the top of his reading glasses, with that look that says ''I'm the father you never had, and I don't want to be disappointed in you ever again.''

!Roland "Prez" Pryzbylewski
->'''Played by''': Jim True-Frost
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/prezbaluski_2959.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"I was a police...up in the city..."'']]

-->''You juke the stats, and majors become colonels. I've been here before.''

Roland begins the series as dead weight that's dumped on the Barksdale detail from Auto, who only still has a career in the department thanks to the aid of his father-in-law, Major Stanislaus Valchek. Prez is unhappy in his job and has a hard time keeping his head while in the street. Early in the series he accompanies Herc and Carver on an ill-conceived recon mission in the high-rise projects, where he pistol-whips a youth (which results in permanent blindness in one eye for the kid). Daniels coaches Prez on how to answer IID's questions, and he is removed from street duty.

While indoors, he takes to Freamon's wiretapping, showing a real knack for codebreaking, deciphering the street talk through the tinny audio of the wiretap, following the paper trail and organizing the accumulated info on their targets. In the third season, when responding to a distress call while out making a food run, he accidentally shoots a plainclothes officer, and resigns. He becomes a middle school teacher in season four, helping out Randy and Dukie as best he can.

* AuthorAvatar: Series co-creator Ed Burns was also a Baltimore cop who later retired from the force and became a middle school teacher.
* BadassBeard: in season 5. Also a literal case of GrowingTheBeard, since he's become a pillar of authority at his school.
* CallingTheOldManOut: With violence, when he snaps after Valchek pushes him around too far.
* CharacterDevelopment: He's initially incompetent, but he gets better.
* CoolTeacher: Season 4 onwards.
* DeskJockey: he becomes this at the beginning of season 1 and proves to be a valuable player in the position, in contrast to his ineptitude as a beat cop.
* EstablishingCharacterMoment: A hopeless case of RecklessGunUsage -luckily against a wall- in his very first scene.
* AFatherToHisMen: The [[ReasonableAuthorityFigure teacher]] version, from season 4 onwards.
* FriendOrFoe: He mistakes a fellow cop for a gangster and shoots him to death by mistake in season 3.
* HiddenDepths: He becomes a gifted data analyst and paper chaser under Lester's wing.
* IJustShotMarvinInTheFace
* LeeroyJenkins: One of the reasons he's a poor street cop is his tendency to panic and rush in without a plan in dangerous situations. This flaw ultimately ends his police career when he accidentally shoots a fellow police officer to death during a firefight.
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: After he accidentally shoots and kills Officer Waggoner.
* {{Nepotism}}: His career in the force exists because he is Valchek's son-in-law. He eventually grows tired of this and decides not to put a defense after his last accident and to pursue a new career..
* PrecisionFStrike: His pleased reaction to the pieces coming together in the Sobotka case. [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMKjPRPcqw4 "Fucking A"]]
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: After becoming a teacher.
* ReassignmentBackfire: twice in the series - first when he becomes a DeskJockey instead of a beat cop, which allows him to bring his decoding skills to the table and aid the Barksdale investigation; then when he's kicked off the police force and becomes a teacher, a profession he turns out to be very well-suited for.
* RecklessGunUsage
* TheSmartGuy: He's not much good as a street cop, but he turns out to be highly adept at cracking the Barksdale gang's various codes and figuring out how their organization fits together.
* TookALevelInBadass: Twice - first as a cop although he later backslides, then as a teacher.
* TheUnpronounceable: {{Lampshade}}d.
* WhatAnIdiot: In-universe. Practically the CatchPhrase of anyone working with him. He eventually gets better.
** Used rather painfully after his accidental shooting of Officer Waggoner in season 3. All the other police present are talking about how much of a fuck-up Prez is based off of his record prior to joining the MCU, not having seen the way that he's grown in the years since. [=McNulty's=] expression as he listens to Landsman lambaste the guy says it all: Prez's mistake is so huge [=McNulty=] can't really refute the talk, but at the same time he knows just how unfair it is that no one outside the unit will ever understand the true quality Prez has demonstrated to his comrades.

!William Rawls
->'''Played by''': John Doman
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/williamrawls_1781.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_X4tdPa1iU These are for you [=McNulty=]]]"'']]

-->''You, [=McNulty=], are a gaping asshole.''

An intelligent, hardass police commander and bureaucrat, once described by a fellow police commander as being "as ruthless a fuck as we have in this department." He begins the series as a major in charge of the Homicide department, and over the course of the series enjoys promotions to colonel, deputy commissioner, commissioner and state police superintendent. Rawls achieves this by mainly by doing everything in his power to produce good stats (murder clearances, lower crime rates, etc) -- though what looks good on paper doesn't necessarily shine so bright in reality. For example Rawls is not above making an arrest that has no real prayer of producing a conviction, even though it means severely compromising a major investigation -- all to make the crime stats look better on paper. While serving as a colonel and deputy commissioner, he applies severe pressure on subordinate officers, much of which is quite deserved, that causes most of his colleagues to "juke the stats" by reclassifying crimes (felonies are downgraded to misdemeanors, etc) -- a practice that he strongly encourages without actually being explicit about it.

Rawls has no patience for insubordination, or anything that might threaten his stats. As a result, [=McNulty=] makes himself an enemy of Rawls, who orders another cop to spy on him (in an attempt to get him fired), kicks him out of homicide and blocks his transfer to another, more desirable unit that could put [=McNulty=]'s skill as a detective to work. Still, there are limits to Rawls' animosity towards [=McNulty=]; when [=McNulty=] feels responsible for another cop getting shot, Rawls steps in to assure him that his guilt is misplaced.

* AmbiguouslyGay: Appears in the background in a scene at a gay club, among other hints such as "[[BathroomStallGraffiti Rawls Sucks Cock]]". Confirmed by WordOfGod.
* BadassBureaucrat: Say what you will about Rawls, but the guy usually has his way and often wins his political or jurisdictional battles in a decisive, overwhelming fashion. When he initially dodges the case of the 13 Jane Does, his relieved subordinates look at him with admiration and Landsman remarks that "the man is a God."
* BadBoss: Loves to verbally demolish and threaten his underlings at the police department.
* DaChief: [=McNulty=]'s archnemesis, Rawls will thwart any policeman who shows any iniciative or steps over the line.
* DeadpanSnarker: The man has an abrupt but poignant sense of humour.
* FlippingTheBird: His EstablishingCharacterMoment. [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_X4tdPa1iU These are for you McNulty]]
* GenreSavvy: He's quite competent, if cynical and nefarious, knows his trade and quickly recognizes special situations before other officials do, due to his great experience. Too bad he devotes all the efforts in a wrong direction.
* HaveIMentionedIAmHeterosexualToday: Some of his crass jokes have this vibe. His sarcastic hope that Major Colvin has a stripper waiting behind the door to present more optimistic crime stats has a whiff of this.
* {{Jerkass}}: Abrasive and hardass most of the time. He's given a [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold few comforting moments]] to show that he's not completely horrible.
* ObstructiveBureaucrat: Another enforcer of "the stats game".
* PetTheDog: His speech to [=McNulty=] where he tells him that Kima getting shot wasn't his fault. Done with Rawls' usual bluntness, of course, and an explanation that if it was Rawls would be the first to lay into him for it.
* RankUp: Starts as the Major of the homicide unit. Enjoys a series of promotions, mostly political, and ends up as Superintendent of the Maryland State Police.
* TheStarscream: Burrel views him as a traitorous number two after Rawls makes a failed move for the top spot.
* StraightGay: If he's in the closet, then it's a pretty rare case of being neither armored nor transparent - no obviously-false-front of homophobia or anything remotely camp. TruthInTelevision, since there are a lot of gay cops in real life whose sexuality is basically a non-issue in their professional lives.
* WordOfGay: His sexual orientation is strongly hinted at in the show, but David Simon has confirmed it in interviews.

!Ervin Burrell
->'''Played by''': Frankie Faison
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/burrell_8402.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"MAJOR! MY OFFICE! NOW!"'']]

-->''It's Baltimore, gentlemen. The gods will not save you.''

Deputy commissioner (later, commissioner). Burrell is a career-minded officer, more skilled at playing politics than actual police administration. He proves to be a major roadblock time and again for Daniels' unit, which has a tendency to run investigations that could implicate Burrell's politically connected friends. Eventually, when Carcetti is elected mayor, his fixing of crime statistics gets him forced to retire, though he is savvy enough to make sure he gets a golden parachute.

* BookDumb: Described as "stone stupid" by fellow Dunbar High School alumnus Prop Joe. Still smart enough to play the connections game.
* DaChief: As deputy ops, he puts a stop on Daniel's several times and finally punishes him when the lieutenant stops acting on his dictates. Taken to obstructive bureaucrat levels later in the series.
* {{Jerkass}}
* JerkassHasAPoint: At the very end of his time in the BPD, as he is getting ready to leave his office for the last time he points out that no other public service/department gets completely interfered with by politicians the way that police do, and that the fickle nature of those politicians makes it impossible for the police to actually accomplish anything they're set to, and it's all compounded by the ''utter'' lack of knowledge that politicians have about the nature of policing. It doesn't change the fact that he's an ObstructiveBureaucrat who would rather make himself look good with rigged numbers than actually improve the city, but he ''definitely'' [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lt0xkap-m6Y has a point]].
* ObstructiveBureaucrat
* OfficeGolf: He's quite fond of it.
* PetTheDog: A minor one, and perhaps only done because he misunderstands their relationship, but when Commissioner Frazier refuses to talk to Kima's partner Cheryl when Kima is shot and in danger of dying, Burrell goes ahead and does so alone.
* SlaveToPR
-->'''Daniels:''' There ain't nothing you fear more than a bad headline, now, is there? You'd rather live in shit than let the world see you work a shovel.
* SleazyPolitician: It's politics that got him to his current rank, and Burrell definitely knows how to play that game. Give him credit, he is good at using politics, for example the way he used InternalAffairs to get Herc fired for Carcetti without making it look as though Carcetti was caving to the deacons was a very effective piece of work.

!Jay Landsman
->'''Played by''': Delaney Williams
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/jaylandsman_1237.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"No red on the board!"'']]

--> ''It's all about self-preservation, Jimmy. Something you never learned.''

Sergeant in Homicide who enjoys his pornography and food. Like Rawls, he has little patience for anything that threatens his squad's clearance rate, and spends much of his time belittling [=McNulty=]. While he appears aloof, he truly does care about his subordinates, and he demonstrates when he lobbies Rawls on [=McNulty=]'s behalf (although this partially comes from Jay's desire to keep the clearances that Jimmy brings in) and when he gives [[MeaningfulFuneral wakes to fallen officers]].

* BigEater: Often seen eating in his workplace.
* DeadpanSnarker: Most or the time, he's equal parts sardonic and overbearing.
* FatBastard: Unattractive, crass and lecherous. Oddly enough his poignant sense of humor also makes him a BigFun.
* AFatherToHisMen: The above mentioned wakes.
* HiddenDepths: A good orator and apparently a caring father, judging by the photos of his children he keeps in his desk.
* InSeriesNickname: Jaybird.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Though he is often overbearing and obnoxious to his subordinates, he genuinely does care about them and attempt to protect them whenever the homicide unit comes under attack.
* NamesTheSame: He's emphatically not based upon the real-life Jay Landsman, who plays Lt. Mello.
* TheNicknamer: He calls [=McNulty=] "The Prince of Tides" and "[[SilenceOfTheLambs Clarice"]], and Lester "Madam Curie" when he is pestered and burdened by their ''overdiligent'' police work.
* PornStash: More often than not seen reading a girlie mag.
* ThePunishmentIsTheCrime: His reason for letting Bubbles off the hook and [[PetTheDog "fuck the clearance"]].
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Downplayed, but considering that Rawls uses him as an attack dog to breath down the necks of the detectives and watch over the clearance rate, he's sometimes more supportive and agreeable than expected.

!Leander Sydnor
->'''Played by''': Corey Parker Robinson
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/leandersydnor_353.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"Low bottom enough for you?"'']]

--> ''This is the best work I ever did. I never did a case like this. But it's not enough. I gotta go back to Auto tomorrow morning. I just feel like this just ain't finished..''

Young detective assigned to Daniels' unit early on. Does surveillance and undercover work alongside Greggs and Bubbles. He agrees to help Freamon work his illegal wiretap in season 5, and in the finale, is shown going to Judge Phelan to get a case worked on, demonstrating his willingness to disregard the rules and chain-of-command to bring in a good case.

* DressCode: Suits ''down'' to plausibly go undercover as a dope-fiend, but Bubbles still points out that his costume needs work.
-->Torn cammies by Versace, stained sweatshirt by Ralph Lauren. Haven't showered in two days, haven't shaved in four. I am one ripe, nasty son-of-a-bitch.
* TheGenericGuy: Probably the least distinctive and well-developed among the police of the cast.
* HistoryRepeats: In the finale, he asks Judge Phelan to help him circumvent the rules to advance a case in a way that [[CallBack closely echoes]] a similar scene featuring [=McNulty=] in season 1.
* OnlySaneMan: More or less becomes one by default in Season 4 when the MCU is made up of only himself, Herc, and Dozerman.
* OutOfFocus: Even when he is around, he gets less screen time and character development than most of the other cops.
* PutOnABus: For pretty much all of season 2. {{Lampshade}}d when Sydnor reminds the other detectives that he doesn't remember the details of the port case because he didn't work it with them.
* TheReliableOne: Stays in the background, but is always doing decent work, and aside from Season 2, he is part of the [=MCU=] for its entire existence. This makes his CharacterDevelopment into the next [=McNulty=] very unexpected.

!Michael Santangelo

[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/michaelsantangelo_7238.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350: ''"Jesus Christ..."'']]

->'''Played by:''' Michael Salconi

-->''No disrespect to your appendix, but if them terrorists do fuck up the Western, could anybody even tell?''

A bumbling detective of the Homicide Unit.

* CluelessDetective: He's terrible at the job, having less than 40% clearance rate. His excuse for his performance is the lack of "dunker" (easy) cases.
* DeadpanSnarker: At times, for instance when he points out the futility of counter-terrorism training in a crime-ridden city like Baltimore.
* DemotedToExtra: Rawls demotes him to patrol officer. He's happy with the less demanding job.
* TheDriver: Responsible for driving the arrest van in the Western District.
* TheMole: Subverted. Rawls sends him to the detail because he's one of the unit's more inept detectives. He can spy on [=McNulty=] or be expelled from Homicide. But when Bunk and Jimmy solve a case for him, he clues [=McNulty=] in.
* ThePeterPrinciple: Discussed with [=McNulty=] and Greggs. He realizes after Rawls busts him back to patrol that he was always much happier and more competent there, which is ultimately what gives [=McNulty=] the idea of going back too.

!Polk and Mahon

Two old-timer detectives of the Homicide Unit.

* TheAlcoholic: Infamously notorious for it. Polk shows up drunk at 9am.
-->'''Daniels:''' Between the two of them, I don't have a designated driver.
* TheBusCameBack: Polk appears in Season 2 as one of the many humps of the first Sobotka detail and in Season 5 vegetating in the evidence control unit.
-->Yeah, beats working.
* BilingualBonus: "Póg mo thóin" (pronounced Pogue Mahone and source of ThePogues' band name) is Irish for "Kiss my ass."
* CluelessDetective: Up to pathetically comical levels, they are tasked with putting a face to Barksdale and come up with a photo of a middle-aged white man.
-->'''Greggs:''' Maybe he's white. ([[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uqbr_fNiMcI laughs]])
* FatBastard: Cantankerous, sloven and with a beer gut.
* LazyBum: Two horrible "humps". They are allergic to any kind of work.
* OfficerOHara: Two terrible dumb flatfeet of Irish extraction.
* PoliceAreUseless: Oh, yes.
* PutOnABus: Mahon takes early retirement following his injury, and is last seen encouraging Polk to do the same.
* ThoseTwoGuys: They hang around together, doing very little until their shift is over. Probably for the best.

!Ray Cole
->'''Played by: '''Robert F. Colesberry

[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/raycole_1100.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"Nobody ever thinks they are stupid. [[IgnorantOfTheirOwnIgnorance It's part of the stupidity]]."'']]

-->'''Landsman:''' He wasn't the greatest detective and he wasn't the worst. He put down some good cases and he dogged a few bad ones. But, the motherfucker had his moments.

A veteran homicide detective.

* BluffingTheMurderer: Cole attempted to do this to Bodie after the shootout between a Barksdale crew and another gang resulted in an innocent boy being killed by a stray bullet. Bodie calls his bluff and gets Cole to make a mistake that shows that the cops have no hard evidence.
* ButtMonkey: Many jokes are made at his expense and is always getting stone-cold whodunit hard cases.
* CharacterDeath: Actor/Producer Robert F. Colesberry died before Season 3. Cole suddenly dies after collapsing at the gym exercising in a stairmaster.

!Edward Norris
->'''Played by: ''' Edward Norris

[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ednorris_5083.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350: ''"Americans are a stupid people by and large. We pretty much believe everything we're told."'']]

-->''So our guy's dead because a bullet misses a bleach bottle and this fuck Carcetti gets to be the mayor behind the stupidity. I fucking love this town.''

A homicide detective.

* DeadpanSnarker: Always making ironic remarks about the sorry state of the Baltimore police department.
* MetaCasting: Det. Ed Norris is played by Edward Norris, former Baltimore Police Commissioner who had a somewhat...controversial career (that ended in indictment). His lack of respect for the current Commissioner is a running gag.

!Michael Crutchfield

->''Did he fuck you?''

A veteran homicide detective

* {{Malaproper}}: "The victim was ''prostate'' on the floor. That's a victim alright, that hurt [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1QbqyArOTdI bad]]."
* NiceJobBreakingItHero: In revenge for Bunk fucking with his clearance rate by exonerating Omar, Crutchfield doesn't pass on news that Randy has information on his case, which means poor Randy is left in Herc's less than capable hands - the cause of life-changing troubles.


!Vernon Holley

Seasoned homicide detective.


!Stanislaus Valchek
->'''Played by''': Al Brown

[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/stanvalchek_7012.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"Make nice or invest heavily in petroleum jelly."'']]
--> ''You want to do it your way, fine. But you ain't gonna use my people to fuck me.''

Commander of the Southeastern district. Father-in-law of Pryzbylewski, he uses his connections to get him out of trouble several times. Gets into a feud with Frank Sobotka over a stained glass window, leading to the theft of a security van by dockworkers, and an investigation into the stevedore's union's finances that brings them down. Later, he becomes a supporter of Carcetti. In the series finale, after Burrell has left, Rawls has been bribed into a state position and Daniels quits rather than juke the stats, he is promoted to Commissioner by virtue of being the last man standing.

* AntagonistInMourning: Not quite, but still notable by his callous standards after Sobotka's demise.
-->Almost feel sorry for the son of a bitch.
* DarkHorseVictory: He is the ''last'' character that people would expect to wind up as Commissioner, but in the last episode he becomes the last prominent member of the police hierarchy left...
* ItsAllAboutMe: Concerned about petty personal schemes most of the time. Ironically some of those lead to actual police work when they spiral out of his control.
* ItsPersonal: Unsurprisingly, his feud with Frank Sobotka becomes personal after Frank gives Valchek a nasty TheReasonYouSuckSpeech:
-->'''Sobotka:''' What's right would be for you to come down here to my house like a decent human being and ask a common courtesy. But that's not you, it's not your way. My old man always said you were a half-ass punk over at Holy Redeemer as a kid. My sister said you were a pain in the ass pest at all them CYO dances where none of the girls would even look at you. Damn near everyone at the Point said when you got your badge it was too much for anybody named Valchek to have a patrolman's drag. And sure enough, you've been an official asshole every day since.
* {{Jerkass}}: The man seems to have "screw politeness" as some kind of motto, partly because he knows he is a necessary evil, as Burrell describes him.
* KarmaHoudini: No matter what he does or how much of a jerkass he is, he always gets away with it and winds up ''rising'' in the ranks.
* KickedUpstairs: Carcetti has to reward him with a promotion, so he makes sure it's one that strips Valchek of any real influence, Deputy Commissioner of Administration.
* MeanBoss: Verbally abusive towards his underlings.
* TheMole: Is Carcetti's mole inside the police force for much of Carcetti's primary run against Royce.
* ObstructiveBureaucrat: Quite possibly the worst example of this in the entire show, which is saying something.
* PoliceAreUseless: He's far more concerned with furthering his own career and pursuing petty personal vendettas than he is with doing a good job policing the city.
* RaisedCatholic: Father Lewandowski scolds him because at Sunday mass, Valchek can't be found but then he donates a window and a big sum of money in order to be perceived as a pillar of the church.
* SmugSmiler: Valchek is always too pleased with himself and finds amusement in many of the -admittedly ironic- events around him.
* SurroundedByIdiots: Vocally complains that the first Sobotka detail under Lieutenant Grayson is full of humps, and [[JerkassHasAPoint he's right]].
* VillainousBreakdown: In season 2, when the detectives and Rhonda tell him they can't charge Frank Sobotka in connection with drug smuggling because it would scuttle their broader investigation.
* YouHaveFailedMe: He views the police officers under his command as ''tools'', and won't hesitate to fire them when they didn't follow exactly what he's telling them to do.

!Raymond Foerster
->'''Played by''': Richard De Angelis

Veteran Major in command of the Baltimore narcotics division.

* CharacterDeath: The character and the actor died of cancer during Season 4. They receive an InMemoriam wake at Kavanaugh's Pub.
* RankUp: Promoted to Colonel and head of the Criminal Investigations Division after Rawls leaves the post.

!Howard "Bunny" Colvin
->'''Played by''': Robert Wisdom
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/howardbunnycolvin_1767.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"There's never been a paper bag for drugs. Until now.''"]]

-->''The city's worse now than when I started this job. Now what does that say about me?''

Colvin is the Major in command of the Western District. He's a reasonable commander who is sincerely devoted to protecting the community and has become jaded after witnessing the corruption of Baltimore in general and its police department in particular for many years. Sick of seeing so much death related to the drug game, he comes up with the "Hamsterdam" free-zone experiment in Season 3. He forced to retire in disgrace because of it. Afterward he goes on to try to rehabilitate delinquent middle school children and keep them from joining gangs. He find success in Namond Brice, whom he adopts.

* BaldBlackLeaderGuy
* CompassionateCritic: Most prominent when he explains the difference between soldiering and policing to a still green Carter.
-->You're a good man sergeant. You got good instincts, and as far as I can tell, you're a decent supervisor. But from where I sit, you ain't shit when it comes to policing. Oh, don't take it personal, it ain't just you, it's all our young police. Whole generation of y'all. You think about it; you've been here over a year now, and you got nobody on the street looking out for you, nobody willing to talk to you.
* CoolTeacher: In Season 4.
* FallenOnHardTimesJob: His initial plan for a new job after retiring from the police was a position at the prestigious and powerful Johns Hopkins University, which would have also paid him very well. Once he is forced to retire in disgrace due to Hamsterdam, that job offer is withdrawn and Colvin instead winds up as the head of a hotel security team. And ''that'' job only lasts until the hotel management tell him to turn a blind eye to a businessman patron physically assaulting a prostitute in the hotel...
* AFatherToHisMen: To [=McNulty=] and Carver in particular.
* GoodCounterpart: Stringer's good counterpart; they both try to rationalize the drug trade by breaking the old patterns and are both screwed over by the bosses for their trouble. This is lampshaded by Stringer himself when he says he went to Colvin because they were "both just trying to make sense out of this game." Later on he uses the same CurseCutShort (Just get on with it mother-) to Rawls and Burrel as they are cashiering him that Stringer used an episode earlier to Omar and Mouzone.
* HappilyMarried: We don't see a great deal of his home life, but he and his wife appear to be this.
* HistoryRepeats: Colvin is all too aware of this trope, and thus does his best to help avoid it once he starts working with school kids.
-->Every single one of them know they're headed back to the corners. Their brothers and sisters, shit, their parents. They came through these same classrooms. We pretended to teach them, they pretended to learn and where'd they end up? Same damn corners. They're not fools, these kids. They don't know our world but they know their own. They see right through us.
* IDidWhatIHadToDo: His reason (in a nutshell) for creating 'Hamsterdam' in Season 3.
* InternalReformist: Fed up with the "statistics-game" and related bullshit, he tries a new approach in the so-called war on drugs.
* {{Mentor}}: The policeman who broke Jimmy's ass in when "Bushy Top" was a rookie. In addition to his stint as a teacher and his tutelage of Namond, he kindly gives a TheReasonYouSuckSpeech to Carver regarding his policing style which makes a deep, positive impact on Carver's career and helps him to become a caring public servant. [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BA5za4VsskM Watch]]
* NiceGuy: Compassionate, empathic, friendly and fatherly. In a show like ''The Wire'' this is a TraumaCongaLine waiting to happen.
* NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished: His reward for cutting the felony crime rate in his district by 14% and improving the general quality of life for its citizens is to be busted down to lieutenant, fired in disgrace, blacklisted and vilified to the media as an "amoral" and "incompetent" man who "buckled under the pressure" of his command. It also does significant damage to his plans for what to do when he retires from the police.
* ParentalSubstitute: To Namond.
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: One of the few police officers willing to solve problems and help underlings in need.
* SarcasticConfession: When asked how he plans to lower the crime rate in his district:
-->"I thought I might legalize drugs."
* SaveOurStudents: Makes this his goal once he takes a job doing research work with the troubled "corner kids" at the school in season 4. He has some success.
* ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight: In season 3, he goes against police department policy and essentially legalizes drugs in his district because he believes it will reduce the amount of violent crime and make it easier for social services to reach out to addicts, and thus accomplish what he views as the ultimate goal of policework - making people safer. It works, but only for awhile.
* TragicHero: He's a ReasonableAuthorityFigure who is passionate about doing the job right and protecting the community in a police force where most cops only care about working the numbers so that it makes them look good. His last big attempt to do something about the out of control drug and gang violence proves his undoing.
* WhatTheHellHero: While several people object to Hamsterdam and are appalled by his idea, the Deacon is shown as making the better point, calling Colvin out on public safety grounds.

!Dennis Mello
->'''Played by''': Jay Landsman
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dennismello_9638.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"Don't get captured."'']]

-->''All right. Listen up, you mutts. This is complicated. I mean, it isn't complicated if you went to college or I don't know your mothers actually stopped drinking for a minute while they was pregnant. For Baltimore city police, this is complicated....''

Administrative lieutenant of the Western District.

* DeadpanSnarker: Jokes often about the absurdities of the job, most of them courtesy of the higher-ups. Sometimes he does it in a [[FacialDialogue non-verbal manner]].
* MetaCasting: Played by the real Jay Landsman.
* NumberTwo: Colvin's second in command.
* RankUp: Commander of the Western District after Colvin and Daniels' stints.
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Much like Colvin, a sensible old-school commander.

!Kenneth Dozerman

Narcotics officer working in the Western District. He is later assigned to the Major Crimes Unit.

* SmallRoleBigImpact: He is shot during a buy bust, while attempting to buy three vials. This is the catalyst for Major Colvin's "Hamsterdam" experiment.

!Caroline Massey
->'''Played by:''' Joilet F. Harris.

A policewoman who joins the MCU in season three, very adept at deciphering street slang over the wire.

[[folder: The Barksdale Organization]]

-->''"The game is the game. Always"''
-->--'''Avon Barksdale'''

At the opening of ''The Wire'', the Barksdale Organization is Baltimore's largest drug dealing organization. Throughout seasons 1 and 2, the Barksdale Organization hold the prized Franklin Terrace Towers high-rise housing project and the nearby low rise housing projects called "the Pit", both of which they have turned into 24 hour drug markets. In addition, they hold a swathe of corners throughout West Baltimore and they launder their money through political donations and property development.

They are based in a West Baltimore strip club called Orlando's and their main stash house is out in the county. The group's main leaders (Avon Barksdale and "Stringer" Bell) never handle drugs, leaving that to subordinates, and they use an elaborate system of communication, the breaking of which the first season largely focuses on. As the series rolls on, the Barksdales are hit with a series of setbacks. As a result of the investigation into their organization, Avon is sent to prison at the end of season 1 and remains there until partway through season 3, they lose their main drug supply ("connect") from New York City in the aftermath of Avon going to prison, and finally they lose the Franklin Terrace Towers to urban redevelopment, which effectively breaks their power. After an abortive drug war with the up and coming Stanfield Organization and the death of Stringer Bell, the remnants of the organization join Proposition Joe's New Day Co-op under Slim Charles.

!Avon Barksdale
->'''Played by''': Wood Harris

[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/avonbarksdale_1485.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"...and I want my corners."'']]

-->''I'm just a gangster, I suppose...''

West-side drug kingpin, head of the eponymous Barksdale Organization. A vengeful but calculating gangster, he is a lifelong player of The Game and takes both it and his street reputation ''very'' seriously. He starts the show at the peak of his influence, outwitting police surveillance until he is eventually caught by a hidden camera. Influential even in prison, he attempts to run his criminal empire while behind bars, but his longtime friend and NumberTwo Stringer ends up making a couple major decisions behind Avon's back that forever change the direction fo the Barksdale Organization. He manages to orchestrate a scheme that gets him early parole (serving only a couple years of his seven year sentence), but when he's released, he finds that much of his best territory is in the hands of a rival drug crew. Against Stringer's advice, he starts a war with the rival Stanfield gang, which leads to Stringer betraying him by giving a tip to the cops. When the police catch him in a safehouse full of weapons, he is arrested and forced to serve out the remainder of his previous sentence with no hope of parole. Afterward, the Barksdale Organization collapses entirely, but he manages to retain some of his influence in prison.

* BadassBoast: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hhqd5e-WySE Finger-wagging]] Daniels after shaking off the police tail.
* BatmanGambit: In season 2, he ensures his early release from prison by orchestrating a mass poisoning at the prison, then offering to testify against the "culprit".
* BigBad: For season 1.
* BigBadDuumvirate: With Stringer Bell in Season 3.
* BloodKnight: As he tells Stringer, who ultimately only truly cares about money, "I bleed red, you bleed green."
* ButForMeItWasTuesday: After going to prison, Avon sees Wee Bey being constantly harassed by a guard. Turns out Wee Bey killed the guard's cousin on Avon's orders, but when Wee Bey tries to remind Avon and tell him about the details, Avon doesn't remember a thing about it. "Need a scorecard to keep up with your lethal ass."
* CutLexLuthorACheck: He's not very fond of Stringer's quest for legitimacy. Avon is just a gangster, and he wants his corners.
* DemotedToExtra: After season 3.
* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: It's clear from early on that he's fiercely protective of his family.
* EvenEvilHasStandards: He may be a bloodthirsty kingpin with no compunctions about killing people who threaten his profits, but even so he's appalled by Stringer's decision to order a hit on Omar while the latter is escorting his elderly grandmother to church on Sunday morning.
* EtTuBrute: Betrays and is betrayed by Stringer Bell, for the sake of the business.
* GeniusBruiser: A former golden gloves boxer who is wise and reflective. Sanguine as he is, he knows his trade better than Stringer.
* GenreSavvy: He is related to [[FamedInStory legendary criminal]] Butch Stamford and his family taught him well the ways of the game. Avon knows the likes of Stanfield can't be negotiated with.
-->There's always gonna be a Marlo man, no Marlo, no game.
* IdiotBall: Brianna calls him out for sending D'Angelo in a drug run without proper backup or decoys, when Avon feels that he couldn't trust anybody else.
* KingpinInHisGym: In one scene in the first season, he and Stringer are seen playing basketball in a gym.
* LargeAndInCharge: The King of his organization, and one of the tallest members.
* ManipulativeBastard
* {{Mentor}}: To D'Angelo
-->The thing is, you only got to fuck up once. Be a little slow, be a little late, just once...
* MightAsWellNotBeInPrisonAtAll: He's sent away to prison in season 2, but manages to maintain control of his business, take over the supply of drugs flowing into the prison, and spend his free time playing video games and eating [=KFC=].
* NeighbourhoodFriendlyGangsters: He sponsors a local charity basketball game, and in season 3 he gives Cutty the financial backing to get his boxing gym up and running, among other community activities.
* PetTheDog: His interactions with Cutty in season 3.
* ProperlyParanoid: Has unprecedented, advanced communications systems and protocols in place to begin with, and changes them some more the moment he perceives a nebulous threat from the police.
* RedOni: To Stringer's BlueOni , also to D'Angelo.
* StreetSmart: He is a very far cry from being sophisticated in the same manner as Stringer, but he ''is'' intelligent and streetwise. Arguably, he is also far more self-aware than Stringer.
* SurroundedByIdiots: In Season 3 he's unable to recruit any quality muscle for a while - with Slim being an honorable exception- and is burdened with a bunch of morons at first, until he hires some soldiers from the Eastside. A more subtle and rare case when he calls out Stringer in season 2 over his questioning of Mouzone, as soldiers like that take care of their own business.
* SympatheticPOV: He would be a run-of-the mill big-bad guy in most other works. ''The Wire'' takes some time to show how his life circumstances influence his criminal ways and how his rivals are worse than him.
* ThickerThanWater: Has a soft spot for his nephew D'Angelo and discusses that family is what counts and ultimately the point of the game.
* VillainDecay: Starts the series at the height of his power and flying under everyone's radars until [=McNulty=] takes issue against him. The police, internal dissent and other street rivals bring him down gradually and his kingdom ceases to exist in the last seasons.
* VillainousFriendship: Stringer and Avon go way back and are like brothers. He's more than a boss to Wee-Bey, they are close and get closer when he's incarcerated.
* WorthyOpponent: Comes to view Marlo Stanfield as one after being repeatedly surprised by his ruthlessness.

!Russell "Stringer" Bell
->'''Played by''': Creator/IdrisElba
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/stringerbell_8253.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"Nobody gives a fuck about a 40-degree day!"'']]

-->''Nigga, is you taking notes on a criminal fucking conspiracy?''

Second in command to Avon Barksdale, the two have been friends and accomplices since they were boys. Stringer sees himself as analytical, precise, and intelligent, and takes economics and business classes in hope of legitimizing the Barksdale Organization's profits through investments such as real estate. Gradually this stance eventually alienates him from Avon, who ultimately is much more concerned about playing the game and upholding the street code of ethics he grew up with.

Stringer is not arrested when Avon and D'Angelo get hauled off at the end of Season 1, and becomes effective head of the organization. Immediately, he must deal with encroachment from Proposition Joe's crew, Omar's continuing robberies of Barksdale holdings and his suspicion that D'Angelo will eventually sell out the Barksdale Organizaion in order to reduce his prison time. He attempts to solve these problems by allying with Prop Joe to create the start of what becomes the New Day Co-op, pointing Omar and ProfessionalKiller Brother Mouzone at each other, and having D'Angelo assassinated. When his plans to become a real estate developer take longer than expected, he bribes state senator Clay Davis to get the proper permits, but is rainmade by him instead. Soon afterwards, he is assassinated by Omar Little and Brother Mouzone, who figured out his role in turning the two against each other.

* AmbitionIsEvil: Inverted, as his ambition to rise above the gangster life implies a pragmatic approach to crime and a reduction of violence.
* AnyoneCanDie
* ArchEnemy: [=McNulty=] comes to see Stringer as his.
* BigBadDuumvirate: In Season 3 with Avon Barksdale.
* BlueOni: To Avon's (and [=McNulty's=] RedOni.
* CatchPhrase: "It's just business." He also has a thing about closing and shutting doors...
* TheChessmaster: A complete deconstruction.
* ChronicBackstabbingDisorder
* TheConsigliere: In Season 1 he tends to approach advising Avon in this way.
* CurseCutShort: "WELL GET ON WIT IT MOTHERFU-* BANG* BANG*
* CutLexLuthorACheck: He plans to apply his shrewd knowledge of economics to become "the bank", winning the game through real estate, legitimate business and untraceable laundered money, shifting away from the risky street trafficking.
* DeathByIrony: He's very insistent about locking doors. In his final scene, several locked doors prevent him from escaping.
* DyingMomentOfAwesome: More on a meta-level. Two of the baddest killers around need to team up just to take him down. He does try to run at first, sure. But once he sees he can't get away, he stants tall and reaps what he had sewn.
* DragonAscendant: When Avon is caught on a hidden camera but he is not, that means de facto takes over the reins of the Barksdale group. At first he tries to continue coordinating the Organization's moves with Avon, but he increasingly becomes a DragonInChief and moves to truly take over the Organization.
* DragonInChief: Arguably to Barksdale in Season 1 given that he is one whom [=McNulty=] and the other detectives at the Baltimore Police Department must match wits with in order to incriminate his gang.
* EtTuBrute: Betrays and is betrayed by Avon, for the sake of the business.
* EvilGenius: The brain of the Barksdale organization.
* EvilSoundsDeep
* GetItOverWith: "Well get on with it motherf-"
* HiddenDepths: When [=McNulty=] and Bunk look in his apartment after his death and find it immaculate and very tastefully decorated (complete with a copy of Adam Smith's ''On the Wealth of Nations'', [=McNulty=] remarks that he had no idea who he was chasing all this time.
* IdiotBall: His usual shrewdness leaves the building when he tips his hand to Brother Mouzone by asking, in a surprised tone, about the existence of more than one assailant
* InternalReformist: Founder of the "New Day Co-op". Sets the focus on quality product as opposed to controlling territory since turf wars draw police attention.
* KilledMidSentence
* LargeAndInCharge: The ''Queen'' of the organization and one of its tallest members.
* LegitimateBusinessmensSocialClub: He owns a copy-shop where he hangs around, but he wants it to be ''a'' serious business, not a front.
* NaiveNewcomer: He is out of his depth in the respectable suit and tie part of the game, and quickly pays the price for it.
-->'''Avon:''' They saw your ghetto ass coming from miles away.
* NecessarilyEvil[=/=]IDidWhatIHadToDo: How he puts the termination of D'Angelo to Avon.
* NobleDemon: Played with. Stringer is a refined thug, but his quest to become a legitimate businessman is a step that would take Baltimore out of a spiral of violence. When his prospects go sour, the ruthless druglord who is willing to kill a Senator comes back.
* NothingPersonal: He's always invoking the "just business" angle. He calls Avon out when their feud with Omar becomes personal, a situation that gets inverted when Clay Davis cons String and Avon has to reign Bell in.
* {{Number Two}} / TheConsigliere: To Avon.
* ManOfWealthAndTaste: When Bunk and [=McNulty=] finally find his apartment after Stringer is killed, they're shocked to see a large, very tastefully decorated apartment that looks like it belongs to a banker or intellectual.
* MurderTheHypotenuse: Only implied, but his arranging for D'Angelo's death might've had something to do with the fact that he was also busy screwing Donette, in addition to other factors.
* PragmaticVillainy: His market strategy abhorres violence not out of moral qualms but because it's bad for business and brings the attention of the law.
* ProperlyParanoid: So much so that even ''Lester Freamon'' is impressed.
* RealEstateScam: He founds the real estate agency "B&B" and engages in some insider trading and traffic of influence. Eventually the scam victim is Stringer himself.
* SelfMadeMan: His goal in life, a rare feat for a man born and raised in the criminal world of West Baltimore.
* SesquipedalianLoquaciousness: From the point of view of his unrefined underlings.
* ShutUpHannibal: Telling Avon that he had D'Angelo killed.
* SmartPeopleWearGlasses: Needs glasses to read, and is among the few people in his organization who actually does read. The glasses give him an intellectual aurea.
* SocialClimber: Tries and fails to rise above his station in life. The show nevertheless effectively makes the point that someone with his [[EvilVirtues intelligence, ambition, work ethic, and business acumen]] could have achieved a lot in life had he been born into an environment better than the slums of West Baltimore.
* SophisticatedAsHell: Most prominent during his ThievesGuild meetings
--> Nigga you ain't got the floor, chair don't recognize your ass [...] Adjourn your asses
* SurroundedByIdiots: Sometimes PlayedForLaughs a bit, the more he interacts with his subordinates, the more it becomes evident. By season 3 you can tell this is going through his head as he tries to use his business smarts to reform the Barksdale gang. Comically agravatted by his use of advanced economics terms with barely literate underlings whose intelligence is [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ttbQTz8tAE like a 40 degree day]].
* TooCleverByHalf: His cleverness takes him several steps ahead of ''himself'', which ultimately leads to big failures.
-->'''Avon:''' I look at you these days, String, you know what I see? I see a man without a country. Not hard enough for this right here and maybe, just maybe, not smart enough for them out there.
* VillainousBreakdown: Basically almost all of his scenes in "Middle Ground", leading up to his death.
* VillainousFriendship: With Avon.
* VillainsOutShopping
* VisionaryVillain: Has an actual plan to win the game, as money can elevate him above the "gangsta bullshit."
-->There's games beyond the fucking game.
* WickedCultured
* WorthyAdversary: "Nicely done ([=McNulty=])"
* WrongGenreSavvy: He ends up treating the game like a gentlemen's or clinical world where market rules ultimately dictate everything, but the reality is more complex than what it's taught in college.

!D'Angelo Barksdale
->'''Played by''': Larry Gilliard Jr.
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dangelobarksdale_4778.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:"[[TheGreatGatsby There are no Second Acts in American lives.]]"]]

-->''It ain't like that. See, the king stay the king, a'ight? Everything stay who he is. Except for the pawns. Now, if the pawn make it all the way down to the other dude's side, he get to be queen. And like I said, the queen ain't no bitch. She got all the moves.''

Lieutenant in the Barksdale Organization, and nephew of Avon. He is acquitted for murder in the premiere episode, by means of witness tampering. In charge of the low rise projects, and the dealers Poot, Bodie, and Wallace, he becomes increasingly disillusioned with the drug game. When Wallace wants to leave the game, he is supportive, which places him under the suspicion of Stringer Bell. The news of Wallace's murder turns him against the organization, and he begins the process of becoming a witness against the Barksdale organization, but is convinced by his mother to keep quiet and serve the years for the sake of his family.

In prison, D'Angelo is distances himself from his family and seems to want little more than to be left alone so he can do his time in peace. Avon tries to insert himself into D'Angelo's life, offering to make him a part of the scheme which results in Avon's early release, but D'Angelo doesn't bite, not wanting to be party to the harm his family does, nor wishing to be beholden to them. Meanwhile, Stringer still fears that D'Angelo may turn on the organization, and has an additional motive for wanting D'Angelo out of the picture in the form of his romance with D'Angelo's girlfriend, Donette. Stringer arranges to have D'Angelo murdered (without Avon's knowledge), which is made to look like a suicide.

* AntiVillain: On the darker side of a type IV, but still a type IV.
* AnyoneCanDie
* ArmorPiercingQuestion: "Where's Wallace?!?!?"
* ChessMotifs: In a memorable early scene he explains the game to Bodie and Wallace; this scene receives a CallBack much later in the series when Bodie realizes that street-level dealers like him are nothing more than pawns in the drug game and are expendable to the higher-ups.
* DecoyProtagonist: Seems like the main character during the street settings. Then he surprisingly gets killed off in prison.
* {{Deuteragonist}}: In season 1 the workings of the Barksdale gang are seen mostly through his eyes.
* FishOutOfWater: Shown as an unrefined patron during a dinner with his baby mama in a fancy restaurant. In a broader sense he's out of his element in the criminal world, despite being born into it. The cops/attorneys exploit this when he's under custody.
* GuiltRiddenAccomplice
* HeKnowsTooMuch: Stringer evaluates him as a crumbling liability and arranges for [[MakeItLookLikeAnAccident his suicide]].
* LyingToThePerp: In the 2nd episode Bunk and [=McNulty=] trick him into writing a letter of apology to the non-existent family of a Barksdale clan murder victim; this later causes him to refuse to believe it initially when he's told that Wallace has been murdered.
* {{Nepotism}}: his rank in the Organization is only due to him being Avon's nephew.
* NeverSuicide: [=McNulty=] thinks so, and he's right.
* NoRespectGuy: It's not especially emphasized, but in Season 1 he tends to not get much in the way of respect from either the higher level guys in Avon's organization or from the dealers under him, perhaps because they can sense that he's a FishOutOfWater. He gets some fairly harsh talks from Stringer, Wee-Bey and Avon about his failings in the drug game, and Bodie is practically flat out challenging him about his role as leader of the crew in the Pit. When Wallace and Poot spot Brandon and D'Angelo tries to tell Stringer and company that he's got something important to talk about, their first reaction to make jokes like "What, is he getting himself robbed again?"
* ReassignedToAntarctica: After returning from prison he's demoted to overseeing dealing in the Pit.
* TheReveal: Early on D'Angelo claims to have been the killer in the murder of a former girlfriend of Avon's who had agreed to cooperate with the police; it is revealed that while D'Angelo did take part in the murder by providing a distraction, it was Wee-Bey who actually pulled the trigger.
* ScrewTheRulesIHaveConnections: Used and abused, but eventually subverted.
* SympatheticAdulterer: Cheats on his girlfriend Donette with Shardene in season 1, but Donette being revealed to be a rather unpleasant person who in turn cheats on him with Stringer while D'Angelo is in prison in season 2 it is portrayed sympathetically.
* SympatheticCriminal: Most of the criminals on the show receive at least some sympathy, but D'Angelo in particular stands out.
* VillainousBSOD: Wallace's death, which shakes his belief in the whole system of "family" that he's been taught to rely on. In the following season, his general apathy and the fact that he's actively avoiding associating with Avon makes it that much easier to pass off his murder as a suicide.
* WhiteSheep: Played with. While he's not exactly an angel, D'Angelo does not share the ruthless, cold-blooded nature of his uncle and his mother, which causes friction among them since the family business often requires cold-blooded ruthlessness.

!Brianna Barksdale
->'''Played by''': Michael Hyatt
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/briannabarksdale_6739.jpg]][[caption-width-right:350:''"To do with what?"'']]

-->''He came to the edge, but he turned around and walked away.''

Avon's sister, and a quiet partner in the family's drug operation. She is the mother of D'Angelo and attempts to protect and promote his interests within the organization though ultimately she fails to save him when Stringer begins to doubt his loyalty. Later, after Avon is sent to prison and Stringer killed, she takes over as the leader of the organization.

* AlliterativeName
* CallingTheOldManOut:
** Calls Avon out for sending D'Angelo in an ill-fated drug run.
** Subverted in season 3 when, after a persistent interrogation she realizes the truth about D'Angelo and seems to be about to explode on Avon, but she quietly understands the situation and just weeps.
* TheDarkChick
* EvilMatriarch: Fulfills the "matriarch" part better than De'Londa, though she's arguably not as evil.
* MamaBear: Say what you will about her, she does care about her son.

!Roland "Wee-Bey" Brice
->'''Played by''': Hassan Johnson
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/weebey_727.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"My word is still my word."'']]

-->''Look at me up in here. Who the fuck would wanna be that if they can be anything else, De'Londa?''

The Barksdale Organization's most trusted soldier. It's hinted that he has been soldiering for Avon since he was a teenager, and like Avon he has grown up in the Game and knows it inside and out. As the head of the Barksdale muscle in season 1, he is tasked with forcibly acquiring territory from other drug dealers[=/=]organizations and hunting down enemies of the Barksdale Organization such as Omar. He is wounded by Omar when ambushed in the middle of one such territory grab, and later wounds Omar in return when Omar attempts to assassinate Avon.

Later he takes part in killing Orlando, who is cooperating with the police against the Barksdales, which also results in Kima being wounded and nearly killed. He is eventually caught, sentenced to life in prison, and takes the fall for many of the organization's murders. While on the inside, he remains a trusted friend and confidant to Avon. He does not wish his son, Namond, to go the same route, and lets Howard Colvin adopt him in Season 4.

* AffablyEvil: Wee-Bey is very friendly and quite personable. But he's also a completely ruthless killer and the best soldier the Barksdale Organization ever had.
* {{Badass}}: Wee-Bey has the distinction of being the only character in the wire to beat Omar Little in a one-on-one gunfight, when he thwarts Omar's assassination attempt on Avon and wounds him in the shoulder, forcing him to flee. Bonus points in that he was responding to an ambush too.
** BadassBoast: "My word is still my word. In here, in Baltimore, in any place you can think of calling home, it'll be my word that finds you."
* BigEater: During his negotiations with the DA, in addition to his other requests, he demands pit sandwiches in exchange for confessing.
* BoisterousBruiser
* TheBrute: Serves this role for the Barksdale organization, though he's an [[AffablyEvil unusually friendly]] example.
* DemotedToExtra: After he's sent to prison.
* EvilParentsWantGoodKids: Unlike his wife, he doesn't want his son Namond to follow in his footsteps, and allows Bunny Colvin to adopt him as a result. See the page quote above.
* HiddenDepths: Again, see his page quote and the way he leaps at Namond having a chance at life outside of the drug world. He's also surprisingly poetic, describing 1990s Baltimore - when the Barksdale Organization began it's rise - as "a vision in gold".
* ImpliedDeathThreat: To ''his own wife'' De'londa, during the confrontation where he tells her to let go of Namond and allow Colvin to adopt the boy.
-->Remember who the fuck you talkin' to right here. Remember who ''I'' am. My word is still my word in here, in Baltimore, and in anyplace you could think of calling home, it'll be my word that finds you.
* KickTheDog: He ignores Shardene's friend saying that she's not feeling well after taking drugs at the party, has his way with her, then leaves her unattended, where she dies of an overdose.
* PetTheDog:
** He keeps a tank full of tropical fish, of which he takes excellent care, in his apartment.
** Letting Colvin adopt Namond is an even bigger example, to the point of being a CrowningMomentofHeartWarming.
* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: Even '''his own wife''' calls him "Bey".
* TakingTheHeat: When he's arrested, he attempts to spring the Barksdale organization's other enforcers by pleading guilty to ''every'' murder the crew had committed.
* VillainousFriendship: He and Avon are very close. Wee-Bey is very appreciated by the boss.
* XanatosGambit: When he is caught for a murder, he gets the DA to agree to take the death penalty off the table in exchange for a full confession, then confesses to ''every'' murder the Barksdale Organization had committed.

!De'londa Brice
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/delonda_4592.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"What niggas call a dragon lady."'']]

-->''That boy need to get hard.''

Wife of Wee-bey and mother of Namond. Forces her son to become a drug dealer after no longer getting any money from the Barksdale Crew.

* AbusiveParents
* EvilMatriarch
* ItsAllAboutMe
* StageMom: A criminal version.
* TeachHimAnger: Tries to do this to Namond.


!Preston "Bodie" Broadus
->'''Played by''': J.D. Williams
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bodiebroanus_359.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"Yo, this my corner! I ain't running nowhere!"'']]

-->''We like them bald-headed bitches on the chessboard.''

Bodie begins the series as a low ranking drug dealer in the low rises. Bodie fully buys into the mystique and glamor of gangsta lifestyle, believing that as a loyal, competent, ambitious soldier, he can eventually rise up through the ranks of his world and become a kingpin like Stringer and Avon. He does indeed catch Stringer's eye and is promoted to a mid-level position, but subsequently loses Stringer's favor somewhat as Stringer begins moving the Barksdale Organization away from violence while Bodie maintains his thug outlook.

Once the Barksdale organization disbands, he becomes an independent dealer, and manages to build up a quiet corner into a decent piece of real estate (at least, if you're a drug dealer) but is muscled off the corner by the Stanfield crew, and is ultimately forced to become a part of that organization. Ultimately, Bodie is disillusioned by the casual, often excessive violence perpetrated by the Stanfield gang and looks to turn informant when one of his friends is murdered by the organization. However, he is spotted with [=McNulty=], and is killed, though he goes out fighting on his corner.

* BookDumb: He's not very literate and his vocabulary is poor, but he's one of smartest pushers and has a deep insight of the game.
* DumbassHasAPoint: Much to Rhonda's surprise, he successfully alleges "[[{{Malaproper}} contrapment]]" in the aftermath of Hamsterdam. [=McNulty=] is amused by it and later hails him as "Mr. Entrapment".
* EvenEvilHasStandards: He's an unrepentant drug dealer willing to kill as part of his job, but even so he's disgusted by Marlo's callousness and brutality. When he sees the bodies of Marlo's victims being pulled out of the vacant houses, he just loses it.
-->"FUCK Marlo, man, FUCK him! And anybody that thinks it's alright to do people this way!"
* GenreSavvy: Knows a lot of tricks that cops, particularly DirtyCops, can play such as planting evidence, GoodCopBadCop didn't fool him for a second, and he's similarly immune to Cole's attempt at BluffingTheMurderer.
* GloryDays: Come the fourth season, with the Barksdale crew largely dismantled and Bodie now on his own as an independent dealer, it's clear that he misses the time when the Barksdales were dominant and he was part of the organization. He apparently reminisces about it often with his crew (once Poot gets out of jail they recognize him from Bodie's stories) and when Bodie discusses what he'd like to do with Marlo, we get this exchange between him and Slim Charles, who obviously isn't as nostalgic as Bodie:
-->'''Bodie:''' Now I'm standing here like an asshole cause I got no muscle, no back-up... shit, man, if this was the old days...\\
'''Slim Charles:''' Yeah, well, the thing about the old days... they the ''old'' days.
* GoKartingWithBowser: Or Playing Pool With The Police.
* HeelFaceDoorSlam: Just when he appears ready to inform on and help bring down the Stanfield organization, he is spotted talking to [=McNulty=] by one of the gang's enforcers and murdered.
* HiddenDepths: Hidden from the police at least. Albeit powerless, he's not the average street airhead but a very reflective and thoughtful player, as Jimmy gets to learn.
* IDidWhatIHadToDo: "We had to do Wallace!"
* JadedWashout: He's been in the game since he was 13 and eventually becomes worn-out by it. See his speech under SeenItAll.
* LastStand
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: His facial expression immediately after shooting Wallace.
* ParentalAbandonment: His mother died when he was 4, (at least according to his grandmother) and there's never any sign of a father or father figure in his life.
* ThePawn: Like in a chessboard, he believes that being one of those competent bald little bitches will bring some rewards. Eventually realizes that TheCakeIsALie.
* SeenItAll: He's like this in regards to the drug game by the time Season 4 comes around, and is growing increasingly world weary, not to mention cynical and disillusioned with The Game.
-->I've been doing this a long time. I feel old. I've been out there since I was 13, I ain't never fucked up a count, never stole off a package, never did some shit that I wasn't told to do. ... They want us to stand with them, right, but where the fuck they at when they supposed to be standing by us? I mean when shit goes bad, and there's hell to pay, where they at? This game is rigged, man.
* StreetSmart: Multiple examples. HilarityEnsues when he sees right through Herc and Carver's (admittedly terrible) GoodCopBadCop routine.
* ThoseTwoGuys: With Poot.
* UndyingLoyalty: To his friends in the Barksdale crew and later the people who work for him when he becomes an independent dealer. When he grudgingly agrees to inform on the Stanfield gang, one of his conditions is that he will not say anything about anyone working for him or other former Barksdale Organization members, despite the fact that there are few of them left and those who are left didn't come to his aid when he needed it.

!Malik "Poot" Carr
->'''Played by''': Tray Chaney
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/pootcar_3468.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"It's a cold world."'']]

-->''World going one way, people another.''

A drug dealer in the low rises who is obsessed with women -- an obsession that results in many trips down to the clinic for treatments for various venereal diseases. He serves Bodie well when the latter is promoted, and stays loyal to him even after the disintegration of the Barksdale organization, up until the attack on their corner, when he flees for his life. We see him in the fifth season, having left the game, working in a shoe store.

* TheCasanova: Downplayed but constantly in the background save for Jimmy he seems to be the most successful with women in the series with Bodie descrining him as a "Pussy crazed motherfucker"
* DemotedToExtra: In season 5.
* EarnYourHappyEnding: Poot escapes the game alive and free, and is the only Barksdale Organization member we see that does.
* HeelFaceTurn: His leaving the game.
* ImAManICantHelpIt: Even when it results in an [=STD=] infection.
-->'''Poot:''' Yo, ain't no bad pussy, fool.\\
'''Bodie''': Yeah, that's what they keep telling your ass down at the clinic, man.
* MercyKill: When Wallace is still alive after being shot by Bodie, Poot takes the gun from the hand of Bodie, (who is too stunned to do anything) and finishes Wallace off.
* PlayingPossum: Partially, he survives a drive-by shooting by laying on the street next to a dead man until the danger is gone.
* ReallyGetsAround
* STDImmunity: Averted.
* ThoseTwoGuys: With Bodie.

!Wallace
->'''Played by''': Michael B. Jordan

-->''Cuz' this shit. This is me, yo. Right here.''

Drug dealer in the low rises. He takes care of the younger members of the drug crew he's not dealing. Leads Stringer Bell to Brandon, but feels guilty afterwards and starts snorting heroin. He is arrested and agrees to inform; he is sent to his grandmother's for protection, but returns to Baltimore and is slain by Bodie and Poot.

* FreeRangeChildren: He takes care of several younger children who live in the Towers with him. This makes his death even more heartbreaking.
* GuiltRiddenAccomplice

* IdiotBall: It's really pretty stupid of him to return to the Towers after talking to the police about Brandon's murder, but it's justified given that he's [[WideEyedIdealist very naive]] about the true nature of "the game".
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: When he informs Stringer Bell about Brandon's location he wasn't aware that he'd be tortured to death. He feels so guilty about it that he must resort to taking drugs in order to cope.
* OneNameOnly
* ParentalAbandonment: His drug-addicted mother doesn't know where he is, and doesn't even care.
* SacrificialLamb: His main purpose as a character is to provide an early example of how the drug trade chews up and destroys innocent young lives.
* TokenGoodTeammate: [[DeconstructedTrope Deconstructed]].
* TooDumbToLive: Had a chance to get out of the streets and live a normal life with his Grandparents in another state after talking to the police. However, he goes back to the "corners" because he missed his two friends. They end up killing him.
* WideEyedIdealist: He has a very naive view of both friendship and the nature of the drug trade. He pays for it.

!Marquis "Bird" Hilton
->'''Played by''': Fredro Starr

-->''Tell you what bitch. Gimme this hand back, step to me, and I'll fuck you in all three holes!''

An especially foul-mouthed and vicious soldier in the Barksdale crew, he is responsible for the murder of the State's Witness who testified against D'Angelo in episode 1 and played a large role in the torture and murder of Omar's lover Brandon. Those two acts come back to haunt him, as it makes him a major target of the police and makes Omar willing to cooperate with the cops and testify against Bird in court.

* FramingTheGuiltyParty: [=McNulty=] and Bunk put Omar on the witness stand, knowing that he will perjure himself to convict Bird in retaliation for Bird's torture of Omar's boyfriend. Things is, despite Omar lying about witnessing it, Bird really did do the crime he's accused of. Amusingly enough, ''everyone'' on both sides of the case knows Omar is lying - everyone except the jury.
* {{Jerkass}}: A [[SarcasmMode charming gentleman]] who spouts CountryMatters and many other slurs, several times at Kima and the other detectives while in homicide's interview room. He's so offensive and obnoxious that even ''Daniels'' joins in on the asskicking.
-->'''Omar''': Man, Bird really know how to bring it out in people...
* PoliceBrutalityGambit: Played with. When Bird is arrested, a Polaroid is taken of his existing injuries so he can't claim they were inflicted in custody. This does not stop the Baltimore Police Department from beating him. While he is handcuffed to a table, no less, and they ceremoniously tear up the Polaroid before they do it, just so Bird knows what's about to happen.
* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: Aims a whole ''slew'' of homophobic insults against Kima.
* PutOnABus: Life imprisonment without parole

!Anton "Stinkum" Artis
->'''Played by:''' Brandon Price

A lieutenant and enforcer in the Barksdale crew.

* InformedAbility: While he doesn't get the chance to show much of it, Stringer misses him later and considers him quality muscle, on par with Wee-Bey or Bird.
* SacrificialLamb: Has no on screen actions besides participating in some meetings with the Barksdale bosses and lieutenants before becoming a victim of Omar's RoaringRampageOfRevenge.

!Savino Bratton
->'''Played by:''' Chris Clanton

->''I can do the three. Ain't no thing.''

A top enforcer in the Barksdale Organization who, along with Wee-Bey, participated in the shooting that nearly killed Kima. He surrenders himself to police custody afterwards, although thanks to Levy's legal magic he only gets sentenced to several years. After getting out of prison the Barksdales have fallen apart, so he joins the Stanfield crew. Is killed by Omar as part of his feud against Marlo.

* BoomHeadshot: Executed by Omar for his association with Avon and Marlo and in revenge for the torture-murder of Butchie. While he wasn't present at Butchie's torture and murder, when Omar asks him what he would have done if he was, Savino doesn't answer. (This is in contrast to Slim Charles, who says that if Joe had anything to do with Butchie's death he would have helped Omar avenge it.)
* HonorAmongThieves: Omar doesn't target Savino because he was not directly involved in the murder of Omar's boyfriend Brandon. In Season 5, Savino tries to invoke it again, pointing out he had no part in Butchie's demise, but Omar is out for blood.
-->'''Savino:''' When they did the old man like that, I wasn't there.\\
'''Omar: ''' Bein' that you muscle for Marlo, what you was gonna do if you was there, huh? Riddle me that. Yeah. You know what, yo? ''(Omar shoots him in the head)''
* JustFollowingOrders: Savino tacitly admits this would be his response to being told to torture or kill an innocent.
* LongBusTrip: Sentenced for three years at the end of Season 1, he returns in Season five as a member of the Stanfield crew.

!"Slim Charles"
->'''Played by''': Anwan Glover
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/slimcharles2_3403.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"The thing about the [[GloryDays old days]] is they the ''old'' days."'']]

--> ''If it's a lie, then we fight on that lie.''

Soldier for the Barksdale Organization who rose through the ranks when the group was disintegrating. A friend of Cutty, and respectful of his decision to leave the game. He manages to evade capture when the rest of the Barksdale Organization is raided at the end of Season 3, and goes on to join the New Day Co-Op, becoming a trusted member. When Marlo Stanfield takes over the Co-Op, he is a dissenting voice. Eventually he learns that Cheese betrayed Prop Joe to Marlo and kills Cheese. Clips from the end of the series hint that he is now one of the top ranking members of the Co-op.

* {{Badass}}: The last quality muscle of the Barksdale organization.
* BoomHeadshot: "That was for Joe."
* EvilSoundsDeep
* {{Foil}}:
** To Cheese. They are both high-ranking lieutenants of the game, but while Slim is loyal, friendly, competent and reflective, Cheese is a polar opposite.
** Physically to Proposition Joe. They are often referred to as "tall-man" and "fat-man"
* HonestAdvisor: Questions Avon's decision to take on Marlo and Omar at the same time and voices his objetion to Stringer regarding the Clay Davis task.
-->Murder ain't no thing, but this here is some ''assassination'' shit!
* HonorAmongThieves: His outrage is more than palpable when he confronts two of his subordinates for violating the traditional Sunday Truce when they try to kill Omar. Later on when Omar ambushes him, Slim mentions he would have helped Omar if Prop. Joe were involved in Butchie's fate. Omar implicitly acknowledges and spares him.
* HonorBeforeReason: As Shorty points out, killing Cheese falls into this, especially since it cost the Co-op the $900,000 he was going to pitch in.
-->'''Shorty:''' This sentimental motherfucker just cost us ''money''.
* MookPromotion: In line with the chess analogy of the show, he is the rare pawn who eventually becomes a queen.
* MotivationalLie: After Stringer is killed and the Stanfield gang falsely take credit for it, he encourages the low ranking soldiers to blame the Stanfield organization even after Avon enlightens him as to the truth.
-->Don't matter who did what to who at this point. Fact is, we went to war, and now there ain't no going back. I mean, shit, it's what war is, you know? Once you in it, you in it. If it's a lie, then we fight on that lie. But we gotta fight.
* LargeAndInCharge: Very tall and high-ranked member in Avon's and Joe's organizations, to the point of being [[InSeriesNickName referred to as]] "tall man". A straighter example in the finale.
* NumberTwo: First to Avon and Stringer, then to Prop Joe.
* RefusalOfTheCall: After dissolving the Co-Op, Marlo offers Charles to be the new number two of Baltimore and control of the Eastside, but Slim has reasons to distrust him and passes on the opportunity.
-->Meaning no disrespect, but I ain't cut out to be no CEO.
* ShutUpHannibal: Shoots Cheese right in the middle of a speech and takes control of the Co-op.
* StreetSmart: Knows his place in the game and is way more intelligent than the average muscle, sometimes on par with the smartest druglords. He finds valid holes in Stringer's market strategy, points out killing a Senator is a whole new game and inmediately recognizes "Marlo's up to some shit" and warns Prop Joe about it. Charles is imminently aware that younger, fringe dealers will see Stringer and Joe's peaceful approach as a mark of weakness. When Avon admits that their cause to start a war with Marlo is unfounded, Charles answers that the justification is beside the point at that stage. In the end Charles doesn't step up to claim sole representation to the Greeks and teams with Fat Face Rick as co-representative.
* SurroundedByIdiots: Much like Stringer, he feels this way thanks to less than competent members of the gang like Sapper and Gerard.
-->As usual man, y'all fools are missing my point.

!Dennis "Cutty" Wise
->'''Played by''': Chad Coleman
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/denniswise_1959.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"The game done changed."'']]

-->''The game ain't in me no more. None of it.''

Introduced during his last days in prison, Cutty was a notorious soldier and enforcer in the drug game who served 14 years for murder. Although he is reluctant to get involved with The Game again, Avon attempts to recruit him before he leaves jail, and when he has difficulty adjusting to life outside prison he agrees to soldier for the Barksdale organization. However he soon finds that he doesn't have the killer instinct and urge needed in him any more, and leaves. With funding help from Avon, he opens up a boxing gym to keep youth away from drug dealing. Although he ultimately cannot keep his favorite pupil Michael Lee from the streets, (despite the fact that he takes a bullet to the leg trying) he keeps doing what he can for others.

* BadassDecay: Discussed in-universe after quitting the game.
-->'''Slim:''' B, he was a man in his time, you know?\\
'''Avon:''' He a man today, he a man.
* BoxingBattler: Although it's downplayed, he has a few scenes where he shows how much damage a guy with his size and physique could do in a fist fight once it's combined with his in depth boxing knowledge.
* DemotedToExtra: He's a fairly major character in the third and fourth seasons but his role in the final season is reduced to one short scene in which he gives Dukie some advice.
* ElegantWeaponForAMoreCivilizedAge: He learns RevolversAreJustBetter no longer applies; now sheer firepower is more important than a reliable weapon.
-->'''Cutty''' : The game done changed.
-->'''Slim Charles''' : Game's the same - just got more fierce.
* HandsomeLech[=/=]ChickMagnet: For a while. Eventually he grows into more of a ChivalrousPervert because his dalliances (usually with their single mothers) are hurting his reputation with the boys he teaches; after being called out on it by Michael, he soon settles down with a real girlfriend.
* HeelFaceTurn: "The game ain't in me no more".
* {{Mentor}}: He becomes a boxing coach once he detaches himself from the game.
* MistakenForGay[=/=]MistakenForPedophile: Specifically by Michael. "He just too friendly, you know? That shit creep me out, man, like he some type of faggot or something."
** This has more to do with Michael than with Cutty. It's very strongly implied he was molested by his stepfather, and since Cutty serves as a father figure to him, he doesn't know what else to think about his kindness.
* ParentalSubstitute[=/=]AFatherToHisMen
* PetTheDog
* PragmaticVillainy: Objects to Sapper and Gerard beating a guy to death... because then he won't be able to pay them the money he owes. This also becomes one of the many reasons he doesn't fit in with the drug game anymore: before he went to jail the whole thing ran on pragmatic villainy, now everyone is just out to screw each other over without a thought for the long term.
* ReformedButRejected: Subverted. Initially it looks like his efforts to go straight will be thwarted by bureaucracy and lack of means, but with the aid of the Deacon and Avon he manages to start up a successful boxing gym.
** ReformedCriminal
* YouCantGoHomeAgain: A large part of his story arc after being released from prison is about this. He's ambivalent about going back into the Game, but can't find much outside of it. His old friends and girlfriend have all moved on, are dead, or destroyed their lives. When he goes back to the Game, he finds he doesn't fit in there, as there's no longer even a semblance of good faith in transactions, and the ranks are staffed either with guy like Bodie (who Cutty can literally remember in diapers) or incompetents. Even when he decides to leave the Game for good, his old girlfriend makes it clear that while she wishes him the best, she's not interested in him anymore. He literally has to start a new life from square one.
* WouldHitAGirl: If that's the only way to get her to talk about her dealer boyfriend who's stealing money from the Barksdales.

!Sean "Shamrock" [=McGinty=]
->'''Played by:''' Richard Burton
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/shamrockrobert_1264.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"Laid back and shit."'']]

--> ''Robert Rules say we gotta have minutes for a meeting, right? These the minutes.''

Acting number two of the Barksdale organization during Avon's incarceration.

* NumberTwo: Stringer's second in command while Avon is in jail.
* ThePeterPrinciple: He's way out of his depth, but ranks high in the Barksdale organization because competent members grow increasingly scarce.
* PutOnABus: Arrested in the season 3 finale and never seen again.
* StupidCrooks: He can't even get rid of a gun properly. A prime contributor to [[SurroundedByIdiots Stringer's lack of amusement with his underlings]]
-->'''Stringer:''' Nigger, is you taking notes on a criminal fucking conspiracy?

!Sapper
->'''Played by:''' Brandan T. Tate

-->''... like a forty-degree day!''

A moronic young enforcer.

* ButtMonkey: The moron is always being chastised by superiors and coworkers, for very good reasons.
* RunningGag: Claiming he hit Omar and being told that he hit nobody.
* StupidCrooks: The stupidest member of the organization.
* ThoseTwoGuys: Always paired with Gerard.

[[folder: Omar and associates]]

-->'''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"''

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.

!Omar Little
->'''Played by''': Michael K. Williams
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/omarlittle_3761.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350: ''"[[MeaningfulEcho A man got to have a code.]]"'']]

-->''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 devote long hours of surveillance work that even many cops would balk at. Also, he cultivates a reputation that discourages most of his victims from even thinking about putting up a fight.

He starts a war with the Barksdale Organization when his boyfriend, Brandon, is tortured and killed. Occasionally he is manipulated into taking up jobs that serve the interests of Proposition Joe, but Omar eventually earns a payday at Joe's expense. Even still, Joe is willing to let sleeping dogs lie (and even buys some of his stolen product back from Omar at a discount price) out of respect for Omar's lethality. While Omar adheres to a strict code (he refuses to ever pull his gun on a "civilian" -- someone not involved in the drug trade), unlike most criminals, he is willing to act as an informant for the police if it serves his interests (such as getting revenge on the drug crew that savagely murdered his boyfriend). His luck finally runs out in Season 5; after his contact, Butchie, is killed, he wars with the Stanfield Organization and [[JustAKid is murdered by Kenard.]]

[[CrowningMomentOfAwesome Omar's exploits never fail to entertain.]]

* AffablyEvil: He's as friendly and polite as a thief and murderer can be.
* AntiHero[=/=]AntiVillain: Straddles the line. Ultimately, it's left up to the viewer to decide if he's a case of GoodIsNotNice and is a modern day Robin Hood, or just a thug with a few more standards than most.
* {{Badass}}: In so, so many ways.
** BadassBeard: Sports one from Season 3 onwards.
** BadassBoast: "'Ey, yo, lesson here, Bey: You come at the king, you best not miss!"
** BadassGay: Shown stalking and later holding up a group of heavily armed drug dealers in his first scene, kissing his boyfriend in one of his ''other'' first scenes.
** BadassLongcoat: He wears one, while sporting his characteristic SawedOffShotgun.
** HandicappedBadass: For the latter half of season five.
** HeartbrokenBadass: Omar twice suffers this condition in the series.
** MemeticBadass: Both in-universe and out.
* BattleCouple: With each of his boyfriends.
* BreakoutCharacter: 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 [[WordOfGod David Simon]] denies that there was ever any plan to kill him off in season 1
* ByronicHero
* DontTellMama: His grandmother thinks he works at an airport cafeteria.
* TheDreaded: Hearing his whistling makes dealers run in fear.
* DroppedABridgeOnHim: Done deliberately. He's such an epic BadAss that other hardened criminals are terrified of him, so of course he'll go down in a blaze of glory, right? Wrong. Shot from behind by an eleven year old while trying to buy a pack of cigarettes.
* EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas: He got his strict moral code from his grandmother and goes to church with her once a month.
* EvenEvilHasStandards: "A man got to have a code."
* FramingTheGuiltyParty:
** 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 niggers" when Bird was killing a former witness.
--->'''Bunk:''' You really see him shoot the man?\\
'''Omar:''' You really asking?
** Marlo has Chris kill a taxpayer and has the only witness blame Omar for it. 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.)
* FriendToAllChildren: Displays a soft spot for children several times. He's notably shaken when Bunk points out he is a terrible example for the comunity and he's loved by a bunch of local children when he is enjoying his retirement.
* FunTShirt: "I am the American Dream."
* {{Gayngster}}
* GoodScarsEvilScars
* GoshDangItToHeck: The only character who doesn't like to use profanity.
* [[GuileHero Guile Anti-Hero]]: While he can handle himself in a fight, Omar mostly survives on his intelligence, his tough nature, and often dumb luck.
* HiddenDepths: He's clearly a lot smarter than he lets on.
* HorrifyingTheHorror: Drug dealers scare the bejesus out of normal people, for good reason. Omar scares the drug dealers.
* IShallTauntYou: He purposely tries to push Marlo's BerserkButton to provoke Marlo into reckless action. Unfortunately Chris could see the ploy at work and made sure Marlo didn't learn about it.
* ItsPersonal: Against the Barksdales organization (Stringer and Avon in particular) and later against Marlo Stanfield.
* JustLikeRobinHood: [[HalfRobinHood 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.
* KilledMidSentence
* MagneticHero: Inspires fierce loyalty from a wide range of people, several of whom refuse to inform on him despite the threat of torture and death.
* ManlyGay
* NeverHurtAnInnocent[=/=]WouldNotShootACivilian: Drug dealers and street punks are fair game but taxpayers, aka civilians are strictly off limits in his code. According to a [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2RkcjjY_a0Y 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.
* NotSoDifferent: His ShutUpHannibal to Levy. They are both players of the game, they just use different tools. He also shares an alma mater with Bunk and approves of the detective's "a man must have a code" line.
* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: 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."
* RealMenWearPink: He can walk to the supermarket in blue silk pyjamas, completely unarmed, and people will still run away and give him their drugs.
* RevengeBeforeReason: Comes out of retirement to avenge Butchie, which gets him killed in a random incident unrelated to Marlo.
* RoaringRampageOfRevenge
* SawedOffShotgun: His signature weapon.
* SirSwearsALot: 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.
* SmokingIsCool
* StraightGay
* UnpopularPopularCharacter: He's hated by the dealers and cops alike, but loved by the fanbase -including BarackObama- (and some people on the street). [[invoked]]
* RealityEnsues: An injured man going on a one man revenge spree against the most powerful drug gang in Baltimore is unlikely to end well for him, regardless of how badass or determined he is.
* ScrewTheMoneyIHaveRules
* ShroudedInMyth: After his death.

!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.

* BattleCouple: With Omar.
* ColdBloodedTorture: Subjected to it by Wee Bey, Bird, and co., though he doesn't crack.
* CruelAndUnusualDeath: [[NauseaFuel Sickeningly so]] This is actually what makes Omar so angry about it; if he'd simply been gunned down, he would have accepted it as part of the game.
* DeadGuyOnDisplay: His eventual fate - his corpse is left on the hood of a car in The Pit.
* ForgottenFallenFriend: 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.
* IdiotBall: 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.
* SmallNameBigEgo: Just look at his character quote, then look at the various tropes listed above and see how that turned out for him.
* StuffedIntoTheFridge
* TheTwink: To Omar's StraightGay {{Gayngster}}.
* UndyingLoyalty: 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.

* BulletProofVest: Turns out to be not much use when they shoot you enough.
* JerkAss: Implied. Omar said he didn't think Bailey's death was the work of Barksdale due to the fact that he had so many enemies.
* NoKillLikeOverkill: 39 shell casings are found around his body, none of them fired by him.

!Blind Butchie
->'''Played by''': S. Robert Morgan
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/butchie_4507.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"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. [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge It works.]]

* BadGuyBar: Runs one.
* ColdBloodedTorture: Subjected to it by Chris and Snoop.
* CruelAndUnusualDeath: One of the more extreme ones in this show.
* DisabledCharacterDisabledActor: Actor S. Robert Morgan actually is blind (though as a result of macular degeneration rather than a gunshot wound).
* DueToTheDead: Proposition Joe honors his memory and speaks highly of Butchie after his demise.
* MentorOccupationalHazard: He's tortured and killed by Chris and Snoop to bring Omar out of hiding.
* RetiredBadass: Proposition Joe reveals that he was once a feared enforcer who got (mostly) out of the drug game after losing his sight due to a gunshot wound.
* UndyingLoyalty: 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. Kidnapped and beaten in season three, he sells Omar out to Brother Mouzone (unlike Brandon, who endured much more without caving). It is heavily implied that this is why he and Omar part ways, as he is not seen again after this.

* ChuckCunninghamSyndrome: 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.
* ClubKid[=/=]TheTwink: seems like a rather manipulative form of TheTwink at first, but after he and Omar split, he's seen drinking a Cosmopolitan in one of the most extravagant [[WhereEverybodyKnowsYourFlame gay bars]] in town.
* GreenEyedMonster
* IJustShotMarvinInTheFace: Looking where you're shooting is generally advisable, Dante.

!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.

* BattleCouple[=/=]OutlawCouple
* ButchLesbian: Kimmy.
* DirtyHarriet: Non-police version - Kimmy poses as a cheap whore in order to distract one of Prop Joe's soldiers during a raid.
* FaceOfAThug: 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 initially believe her to be nothing but an InnocentBystander.

* PutOnABus[=/=]ScrewThisImOuttaHere: Kimmmy leaves after Tosha's death. However...
** TheBusCameBack ... she returns for OneLastJob with Omar.
* RetiredOutlaw: Kimmy plans to retire after successfully stealing Prop Joe's shipment.
* [[SassyBlackWoman Sassy Black Women]]
* WeNeedADistraction: Their most common role on heists is being the distraction.

!Brother Mouzone
->'''Played by''': Michael Potts
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/brother_mouzone_2902.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"Good day to you sir."'']]

-->''Let me be emphatic: You need to take your black ass across Charles Street where it belongs.''

A hitman from New York hired by Avon Barksdale in season 2 to intimidate rival dealers working for Proposition Joe into leaving Barksdale turf, due to Avon not knowing that Stringer has secretly cut a deal with Prop Joe that makes the two organizations unlikely allies. After he is all too successful at driving off Prop Joe's dealers and puts the alliance and emerging Co-op in trouble, Stringer Bell sets him up by telling Omar that it was Brother Mouzone who tortured Brandon and where to find him. Omar seriously wounds Brother, but as the two men talk he realizes Stringer lied to him and gets medical attention for the wounded Mouzone.

In the hospital, Mouzone soon realizes that it had to be Stringer who set him up with Omar, but says nothing and leaves Baltimore after recovering from his wound. In season 3 he comes back to town, and forms an alliance with Omar to kill Stringer Bell as packback for the earlier set up. After they succeed, he leaves Baltimore for good.

While not stated outright, his manner and dress suggests that he is a member of the Nation Of Islam.

* AffablyEvil: Very much, saying "Good day to you sir" after kicking Mister Cheese's ass is a must.
* {{Badass Bookworm}}
* BadassInANiceSuit
** BowTiesAreCool
* BigApplesauce
* CulturedWarrior: When he's not working as a ruthless killer-for-hire, he's reading intellectual magazines like "The Nation" and "Harper's".
* DissonantSerenity
* TheDreaded: To anyone who does their research like Prop Joe. To the extent that Joe not only refuses to let his nephew try and take revenge for Brother shooting him (knowing that whoever he sends won't be coming back) but also refuses to set a bounty on his head for fear of Brother hearing about it and hunting Joe down.
* EnemyMine: He eventually teams up with Omar to kill Stringer Bell.
* EstablishingCharacterMoment: His [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5VxvF7DaCw first scene as enforcer]]; he politely debriefs ''Mister'' Cheese, emphatically asks him to move his ass where it belongs, calmly gives him a bullet for his troubles, says goodbye and then continues about his reading business.
* {{Foil}}: Lamar, his DumbMuscle and affably patronized sidekick.
* HolyHitman: Implied to be a member of the Nation of Islam, but the stance on drugs of this collective casts some doubts about his official membership.
* LetsYouAndHimFight
* MalcolmXerox: To the point that Cheese initially thinks he's a recruiter from the Nation of Islam until he gets a ''very'' rude surprise in the form of a bullet to the shoulder.
* ProfessionalKiller
-->'''Prop Joe:''' You think I'm gonna send any of my people up against Brother?! Shit, that nigga got more bodies on him than a Chinese cemetery.
* PutOnABus: Twice, first after being shot by Omar and then he finally disappears after helping Omar murder Stringer and is never seen again; presumably he returns to New York.
* ShroudedInMyth: Has a reputation that makes even drug kingpins [[TheDreaded fearful]] of crossing him. When Cheese demands they try to kill him, Prop Joe launches into a tale of a whole group of hardened heavy hitters that failed to kill him.
** Also, he may or may not be the the man who killed TheNotoriousBIG (his strange manner of dress is apparently based on eyewitness accounts of Biggie's shooter).
* SophisticatedAsHell
* StrangeBedfellows
* WickedCultured

!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. His being an unknown to the drug dealers means he can go places Omar can't in order to pick up information. He owns a taxi, which the two use for surveillance.

* GratuitousSpanish
* LatinLover
* OnlyOneName
* RevengeBeforeReason: Averted, he doesn't return to Baltimore to help Omar try to get revenge on the Stanfield crew.
* SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute: 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.

!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 they both deliberately get imprisoned. Donnie joins Omar's band after the demise of Butchie, as the two attempt to avenge Butchie's death. He's killed in an ambush that the Stanfield gang lays for him and Omar.

* BoomHeadshot: How he's killed.
* MetaCasting: Donnie Andrews's real life exploits inspired much of the character of Omar.
* OldSoldier: The criminal underworld's equivalent.
* UndyingLoyalty

[[folder: Prop Joe's Organization]]

-->''"I got motherfuckin' nephews and in-laws fucking all my shit up all the time and it ain't like I can pop a cap in their ass and not hear about it Thanksgivin' time. For real, I'm livin' life with some burdensome niggers."''
-->--'''Joseph "Proposition Joe" Stewart'''

Whilst the Barksdale's hold the Westside, ''The Wire'' features a number of other important drug organizations, the most significant of which belongs to "Proposition" Joe. Joe's organization has an excellent supply of drugs in the form of the Greek's criminal organization, but suffers from a small territory and a critical competence deficit thanks to Joe's tedious inlaws forcing him to promote family members to important posts within it. Despite this, Joe has grander ambitions, and eventually leverages his first-rate drug supply to unite the various Baltimore drug organizations in a mutually-beneficial "Co-op", designed to eliminate competition and maximize profits...but being dependent on Prop Joe's supply. Eventually, Marlo takes over the Co-op, and tries to fold it into his own organization.

!"Proposition" Joe Stewart
->'''Played by''': Robert F. Chew

[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/propostion_joe_stewart_9921.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"A proposition might fall kindly on your ear."'']]

-->''Wanna know what kills more police than bullets and liquor? Boredom. They just can't handle that shit. You keep it boring, String. You keep it dead fucking boring.''

East-side drug kingpin. Has a mellow temperament. Dislikes common squabbling and turf wars (and the ensuing police attention), preferring instead to arrange alliances and cut deals between rival gangs. His group is the first to fill the vacuum left by the disruption of the Barksdale Organization in Season 2, chipping away at their territory and influence. An alliance between the two groups, the New Day Co-Op, is eventually formed. He keeps Stringer Bell powerless and under his control, but he can't contain the ascendant Marlo Stanfield, nor his mercenary-in-all-but-name, Omar Little. He is murdered by Chris Partlow as he is packing his bags to flee Baltimore.

* AffablyEvil: Joe is quite friendly and cordial as long as you don't interfere with his business. In that case he'll play up his FauxAffablyEvil side, as his bark is worse than his bite.
-->'''[To Omar]''': [[WeDoNotKnowEachOther Don't believe we've met]] ; Proposition Joe. You ever steal from me, [[DisproportionateRetribution I'll kill your whole family]].\\
'''[To Nicky]''': Fool, if it wasn't for Sergei here, you and your cuz both would be cadaverous motherfuckers.
* AnyoneCanDie
* BatmanGambit: To try and persuade Marlo of the security benefits of the Co-Op, he gets Omar to rob the poker game Marlo attends to show Marlo how he needs the extra security. This backfires by setting in motion a chain of events leading to Joe's downfall and death.
* BriefAccentImitation: He uses ''three different accents'' during the course of one phone call to the [=BPD=] while trying to gather information on Herc.
* CatchPhrase: "I've got a proposition for you."
* TheChessmaster: Joe is always engineering conflicts and events that are favorable to him, at least in the short run.
* DealWithTheDevil: Faced with an incursion of New York drug dealers into the East Side in Season 4, he turns to Marlo to get rid of them. This does not end well.
* EtTuBrute: He is betrayed by Cheese, his ambitious nephew. Ironically Joe reveals his connection with the Greek to prove his innocence regarding Omar's robbery.
* EvilPowerVacuum: The first to profit from the decay ot the Barksdale Organization, but he's not powerful enough and seeks the help of Stanfield.
* FaceDeathWithDignity
* {{Foil}}: To Stringer. Both are pragmatic businessmen, but while Stringer wants to be sophisticated and to rise above a life in the underworld, Joe is his own boss, is happy with being a simple druglord, is content to work and use a dingy appliance store as his headquarters and has no desire for legitimacy.
* GenreSavvy: Many of the druglords are already ProperlyParanoid but Joe is the one who learns the most from others' experiences, mistakes and weaknesses, and he passes on his knowledge. He even brings up the case of Charlie Sollers, a pragmatic, low-profile druglord and thus a successful Westside businessman. Stringer knows nothing about the man.
* {{Hustler}}: He outsmarts and cons Avon in a basketball game by witholding his best assets until a bet has been raised high enough.
** Season 5 DVD extras show he was a HighSchoolHustler back in the day, he would sell test answers to his classmates, then when they underpaid him and threatened him, he sold the teacher information about who would be cheating on the test! Clearly, not much has changed in the years since.
* InternalReformist: Co-founder and chairman of the "[[ThievesGuild New Day Co-op]]".
-->Got to say I'm proud of y'all for putting aside petty grievances. For a coldass crew of gangsters you carried it like Republicans and shit.
* LargeAndInCharge: He just does managerial tasks but he is probably the heaviest player of the game.
* {{Mentor}}: He schools the unsophisticated Marlo in the ways of "the game". It backfires, leading to YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness and MentorOccupationalHazard.
* {{Nepotism}}: He suffers from it, Cheese being the worst example. His organization is not depicted in much detail but it is suggested he suffers from being SurroundedByIdiots.
-->I got motherfucking nephews and in-laws fucking all my shit up all the time, and it ain't like I can pop a cap in their ass and not hear about it Thanksgiving day. For real, I'm livin' life with some burdensome niggas.
* NobleDemon: One of the most relatively innocuous drug lords out there, his pragmatic villainy makes him quite reasonable and sensible. "Buy for a dollar, sell for two", everything else attached to the drug trade is just unwanted bad business.
* PragmaticVillainy: He prefers to avoid violence and confrontation when he can, as it's bad for business. Unfortunately for him, he's not able to convert his protege Marlo Stanfield to this viewpoint.
* SmartPeopleWearGlasses: Joe is very clever and his need for glasses reflect this.
* SophisticatedAsHell: He frequently speaks like this.
* TheSvengali: For Marlo Stanfield, with unexpected results for Joe... "It ain't easy, civilizin' this motherfucker."
* TeamSwitzerland: Mediates between Omar and the Barksdales, "doing like one of them marriage counselors"

!Calvin "Cheese" Wagstaff
->'''Played by''': Method Man
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/cheese_wagstaff_1570.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"Where my cheese at?"'']]

-->''There ain't no back in the day, nigga. Ain't no nostalgia to this shit here. There's just the street, and the game, and what happen here, today.''

Co-op lieutenant. Has gotten to where he is by virtue of being Proposition Joe's nephew, though Cheese's mercenary nature overrides any blood loyalty he might have to Joe. He defects to Stanfield's crew after selling out both Omar Little and Proposition Joe, and is later murdered by Slim Charles. WordOfGod is that he is Randy Wagstaff's biological father, though the two never come in contact with each other.

* AssholeVictim: After Slim Charles kills him, the various drug lords and such can be heard saying things like "Motherfucka had it coming" in the background.
* BloodyHilarious: His last scene is something to [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rWuJ3eD6Qc behold]]. Twitching and everything
* BoomHeadshot: Comically provides the ''Head'' when he's executed by Slim after Cheese reveals his treacherous nature.
* ChronicBackstabbingDisorder
* DumbMuscle
* {{Jerkass}}: Cheese is hostile and unfriendly by default.
* JerkassHasAPoint: Makes a good case against nostalgia and shames the other druglords for lacking enough cash despite dealing in a captive market. "We're selling coke and dope in B-more [...] There's no back in the day shit."
* KilledMidSentence: By Slim, after denouncing Joe and Marlo.
* NegatedMomentOfAwesome: Close to become the head of the Co-op, Slim puts and end to his stint before it starts... short as it was.
* {{Nepotism}}: Coattail riding nephew of Prop. Joe
* OpportunisticBastard: Calvin "Cheese" Wagstaff is defined by his ambition and his utter lack of loyalty to anyone. Cheese starts out as an enforcer and lieutenant of his uncle, the notorious drug kingpin "Proposition Joe." When Marlo Stanfield begins his rise to power, Cheese promptly aligns with him for a bigger slice of the pie and betrays his uncle to his death. When Marlo is no longer in the picture, Cheese tries to seize control of the loose alliance of Drug Dealers, basically admitting his shifting loyalties and opportunism in front of them.
* ShutUpHannibal: Gets executed in the middle of a speech by Slim.
* SmallNameBigEgo: Explicitly tells Mouzone that his name rings around like Avon Barksdale's.
* SmugSnake: Not a single season goes by without him being completely owned by ''someone.''
* SophisticatedAsHell: Provides one of the more memorable examples: "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLBRbwnSRvE Shit was unseemingly, man]]"
* TheStarscream
* ThirdPersonPerson: Cheese indulges in this from time to time.

!Drac

-->''No, no, the other thing, the good good, the other thing my nigga... cocaine nigga you feel me now?! Goddamn, are you ignorant?''

Another of Prop Joe's nephews, and a horrifically incompetent dealer. He speaks so openly about drugs on the phone that the Major Crimes squad tries to engineer him getting a promotion in the hopes that his loose lips would give them a way to bring down Joe's organization. Unfortunately, Joe was far too GenreSavvy for that one.

* {{Nepotism}}: Subverted. Joe may be forced to support his family more than he'd like, but apparently there are limits.
* NotSoDifferent[=/=]ShadowArchetype: Daniels casually evokes his case as an analogy for dysfunction, which the Commissioner [[ActuallyPrettyFunny finds funny]].
-->'''Burrell:''' What makes you think they'll promote the wrong man?\\
'''Daniels:''' We do it all the time.
* OpenMouthInsertFoot: Completely incapable of talking in code.
* RankUp: Lester comes up with the idea of busting his superior so that Drac would be promoted and give them a way to crack the organization.
-->'''Kima:''' Our lest best hope.\\
'''Lester:''' Talkingest motherfucker I ever heard on a wiretap. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5BG-81hsH8 Listen]]
* StupidCrooks
* TooDumbToLive: Listening to him makes it easy to understand Joe's frustration with his relatives. Only the fact that he's too low ranking in Joe's organization to be worth the cops' time saves him.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: The Docks]]

-->''"We're here through [[UsefulNotes/RobertFKennedy Bobby Kennedy]], [[UsefulNotes/RichardNixon Tricky Dick Nixon]], [[UsefulNotes/RonaldReagan Ronnie "The Unionbuster" Reagan]] and half a dozen other sons-a-bitches. [[BadassBoast We'll be here through your weak bullshit, no problem!]]"''
-->--'''Frank Sobotka'''

OnceUponATime, Baltimore was a thriving port-city, and served as one of the main hubs for commerce on the Eastern Seaboard. Sadly, those days are over. Amid the wreckage of old industrial America, the local stevedores union under their Treasurer, Frank Sobotka, tries to eke out a living protecting what's left of Baltimore's docks from "urban renewal", for which we can read "ending poor peoples' jobs to build condos for rich people", and fighting a rearguard action against the encroaching death of America's industrial working class. Desperate, Frank and the union turn to smuggling to try and drum up the money to lobby for a new grain pier and for their canal to be dredged. It all goes to hell in a handbasket, kicking off the events of season 2.

[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/beadie_rusell_7882.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"There are different kinds of wrong."'']]
!Beatrice "Beadie" Russell
->'''Played by''': Amy Ryan

-->''What they need is a union.''

Officer for the Port Authority and single mother of two. She discovers thirteen dead women in a shipping container, kicking off the events of Season 2. While at first she treats the job as little more than a paycheck, as the investigation progresses she develops a knack for policework and becomes invested in the case. She reappears late in season 3, when she and [=McNulty=] begin a romance, though his behavior in season 5 tests Beadie's patience.

* ActionMom: Eventually.
* DemotedToExtra: After season 2.
* HeroesWantRedheads
* NothingExcitingEverHappensHere: She initially views working as a port cop as a good gig because the pay is decent and it doesn't involve much actual policework, though she proves pretty good at the latter when major criminal activity ''does'' start happening at the port.
* SingleWomanSeeksGoodMan: She gets together with [=McNulty=] after he stops drinking and gets his act together, but their relationship is strained when he falls off the wagon in season 5.
* TookALevelInBadass: When she's introduced at the beginning of season 2, she doesn't take her job very seriously. By the end of the season she's developed into "real police".

!Frank Sobotka
->'''Played by''': Chris Bauer
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/franksobotka_5154.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"I know I was wrong. But in my head, I thought I was wrong for the right reasons."'']]

-->''You know what the trouble is, Brucey? [[AmericanDream We used to make shit in this country, build shit.]] [[RonaldReagan Now we just put our hand]] [[TheEighties in the next guy's pocket.]]''

Treasurer for the stevedore's union in Baltimore. Needing to keep his workers paid in the face of declining port traffic and the juggernaut of gentrification, he arranges to lobby and bribe local politicians in exchange for projects to keep the docks alive. He gets the money by an arrangement with The Greek, who uses the port for smuggling. He runs afoul of Major Valchek, who starts investigating into his finances. Things start unraveling when thirteen dead prostitutes are found in a shipping container, and he has to deal with both the police and The Greek. When his son, Ziggy, murders the Greek's fence, and the plans for expanding the docks collapse, he agrees to inform on The Greek to the police. The Greek gets word of this, and has him killed.

* AmbitionIsEvil: One prominent unionist insists they should settle for the more modest goal of the grain pier, but Sobotka aims higher with the dredging of the canal (not for personal gains but for the well-being of the workers). This implies a closer criminal collaboration with The Greek.
* AntiVillain
* DartboardOfHate: Has one on his wall.
* DealWithTheDevil: He's in league with The Greek to get the funds needed to lobby for the expansion of the ailing docks.
* FatalFlaw: Being too proud to compromise with Valchek, and then insulting him to make it [[ItsPersonal worse]].
* AFatherToHisMen: Takes good care of his workers and all of his schemes are for their benefit.
* HonorBeforeReason: He starts an EscalatingWar with Valchek, an influential police officer. A lot of drama could've been [[KnowWhenToFoldEm averted]] with a compromise over a stained-glass window.
* IDidWhatIHadToDo
* TheInformant: Decides to become one, and is killed for it.
* JobStealingRobot: He is horrified by the upcoming trend of mechanical automatization rendering stevedore manual labor obsolete.
* ParentalNeglect: consistently shows little affection or consideration towards his (admittedly irritating) son Ziggy.
* PerpWalk: Invoked by Valchek, whose sole purpose in the case is to ruin Sobotka. The agents who arrest Sobotka are told to wait until he's at the union office, and once they've gone in they wait until a suitably sizeable press gang has assembled before Valchek personally walks him out to the car.
* RaisedCatholic: Frank is a regular churchgoer who pays more than lip service to the Church, but when Father Lewandoski suggest a confession, Sobotka scoffs at the idea.
* ShootTheShaggyDog: His story is a heavy-hitting tragedy. In the end he's killed by the Greeks, the work of his life goes down the drain, the union gets busted, the docks are mortally wounded and his family is damaged beyond repair. All for naught.
* SiblingYinYang: He's crooked and active while his brother Louis is straight and retired.
* SlaveToPR: His well-paid political backers run for cover as soon as Frank's shady deals get exposed.
* SuspiciousSpending: While he repeatedly warns Ziggy and Nick about this and seems to generally avoid it (until you look closely at it, his union seems to have constant financial issues, he generally pays his personal bills late, etc.) he initially attracts Valchek's suspicion by making an extravagant donation for a church window which he shouldn't be able to afford.
* SympatheticCriminal
* TragicHero
* WellIntentionedExtremist
* WhenYouComingHomeDad: His commitment to protecting the union came at the cost of time with his family.
-->'''Ziggy:''' You were always too busy dredging up the canal, making sure the right bum got elected, buying another round for the house. I always used to think you were working, all them hours you spent away.
-->'''Frank:''' It was all work, Zig. Even when it wasn't.
* WorkingClassHero: He has a discussion with his fancy lobbyist about this, but the lobbyist points out his once humble family just climbed the social ladder. Sobotka also delivers [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-j5XWo1fPI a poignant analysis]] on America's industrial decay.
-->We used to make shit in this country, build shit. Now we just put our hand in the next guy's pocket.

!Nick Sobotka
->'''Played by''': Pablo Schreiber
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/nickysobotka_3007.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"Seniority sucks."'']]

-->''I don't know how to tell you this without hurting you deeply, but first of all, you happen to be white...''

Nephew of Frank Sobotka and cousin of Ziggy. He acts as a go-between for his uncle towards Vondas, often bringing Ziggy along. Seeking a steady income so he can support his girlfriend, he makes an arrangement with The Greek to obtain chemicals used for drug processing. He is paid in heroin, which he sells to local dealers in lieu of Ziggy. The police catch on and send out a warrant for his arrest, and he turns himself in after Frank's murder. In exchange for identifying The Greek, he is sent into the witness protection program.

He is seen briefly in Season 5, jeering the opening of the Granary condominiums.

* BetterLivingThroughEvil: Begins turning to crime to make ends meet because he can't get enough honest work.
* BigBrotherMentor: Tries to be this to his cousin Ziggy, but Ziggy is too ChaoticStupid to take his (or anyone's) advice.
* {{Foil}}: to D'Angelo Barksdale. Both come into life of crime thanks to their uncles, both try to break away from it, both are young fathers. The differences in class and race form the contrast between them.
* HeKnowsTooMuch: The Greeks end up deciding this about him.
* PutOnABus: Despite supposedly [[WitnessProtection being sent away from Baltimore for his own protection]], he reappears in season 5 as a heckler at Carcetti's harborside photo-op.
* SiblingYinYang: With Ziggy (the two are brotherly cousins rather than siblings).
* TheSmartGuy: Of the Sobotka family.
* SympatheticCriminal
* TraumaCongaLine: Finds out his cousin has killed a guy and turned himself in. [[DrowningMySorrows Goes drinking with cousin's old girlfriend. Wakes up in bed with her. Does the walk of shame to his own place and finds out the cops raided it and are running him up on drug charges, to his family's surprise. Oh, and his uncle's murdered the next day.]]
* UnableToSupportAWife: his desire to afford a place for himself and his girlfriend/baby mama Aimee is one of the reasons he becomes entrenched in a life of crime.
* WitnessProtection: Where he ends up, but according to [[WordOfGod David Simon]], he opted out of it after a while.

!Chester Karol "Ziggy" Sobotka
->'''Played by''': James Ransone
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ziggysobotka_1186.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:μαλάκας]]

-->''Let me show you old gents some bulk cargo that none of you could ever handle. Who says they don't make 'em like they used to?''

Son of Frank Sobotka. He is stupid and impulsive, failing at both legitimate work in the docks, as well as drug dealing. He convinces his cousin Nick to make a deal with The Greek to sell drugs. Nick's success where he failed sends him into a depression, which drives him to kill one of The Greeks' frontmen when a deal goes sour. He is apprehended and sent to prison. Both the police and the Greek try to use Ziggy's situation to apply leverage to Frank and Nick.

* BoisterousWeakling: Talks quite a lot about taking down Cheese, Maui, and anyone else he thinks has wronged him, but generally gets punked whenever he actually tries anything.
* BondOneLiner: "Malaka."
* ButtMonkey: Played for laughs at first, later not so much.
-->I got tired of being the punchline to every joke.
* ChaoticStupid: Tends to act this way.
* ConspicuousConsumption: $2000 on a new coat. After Nick advises him not to flash too much money around to avert SuspiciousSpending.
* TheDogBitesBack: Snaps and kills Glekas after being humiliated and ripped off one too many times.
* DontYouDarePityMe: He very much resents his cousin helping him.
* EstablishingCharacterMoment: Among the first things he does is flash his penis at a room full of bar patrons.
* FearlessFool: Makes decisions that any moron should see are ''really bad ideas'' because of a combination of shortsightedness, being too brave for his own good, and SmallNameBigEgo.
* GagPenis
* InferioritySuperiorityComplex: His personality is centered around trying to look tougher and more important than he is in reality, probably to hide his low self-esteem.
* {{Jerkass}}: Ziggy is obnoxiously annoying to virtually everyone around him. He's not completely unpleasant, but his good parts are few and far between.
* LeeroyJenkins
* TheLoad: Managing to get a better deal on some stolen cameras is about all he manages to help his uncle or cousin with.
* MaleFrontalNudity: On a couple of occasions.
* MoneyToBurn
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Has this reaction crossed with a VillainousBSOD after killing Glekas and shooting the kid working in the shop.
* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname
* ThePreciousPreciousCar: His Camaro, Princess, which first gets stolen, then ''torched''.
* PuppyDogEyes
* RageBreakingPoint: His entire arc during the season is him inevitably moving to the breaking point at a bad place and time.
* SiblingYinYang: With his cousin Nick.
* SmartBall: While he is an abject failure at ''everything'' else, when it comes to being a thief he has his moments. Interestingly, he seems to pick this up whenever he ''isn't'' trying to be the center of attention - the only time he gets anything close respect or affection is when he isn't acting up for them.
* WhatAnIdiot: [[InvokedTrope Invoked]]. Just about everyone who interacts with him comes to think this.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: The Greeks]]

-->''"The world is a smaller place now."''
-->--'''The Greek'''

Globalization doesn't just affect the legit economy, it opens up many exciting new possibilities for the discerning crimelord too. "The Greeks" ( they're not even Greek) are a multinational crime syndicate that seems to be based out of southeastern Europe and the Levant, and which includes members from the Ukraine, Russia, and Israel. Their primary criminal enterprise seems to be smuggling Afghan heroin into Europe and the United States, but they are also involved in the cocaine business and have connections to [[TheCartel Colombian narcoterrorists]]. They also operate prostitution rings, which becomes the focus of the second season. It is to them that Frank Sobotka turns when he needs money for the redevelopment of the grain pier, smuggling contraband and stealing from other shipments, and it is their pure heroin that Proposition Joe peddles in East Baltimore. They escape justice, and are seen again dealing with Joe, Marlo, and finally, in the last episode, with Fat Face Rick and Slim Charles.

!"The Greek"
->'''Played by''': Bill Raymond
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/thegreek_642.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"Lambs go to the slaughter. A man learns to walk away."'']]

-->''Business. Always business.''

Head of a smuggling operation running out of the Port of Baltimore, specializing in drugs, prostitues, and stolen goods. Tends to hide in plain sight, sitting at the bar while his NumberTwo ostensibly takes care of business. He is the main supplier for Proposition Joe, and later, Marlo Stanfield. The port investigation almost manages to arrest him, but a tip from an agent within the Department of Homeland Security (which the Greek is an informant for) gives him the time needed to shut down operations and flee the country, along with Vondas. No relationship, as far as we know, to "The Greek's", the restaurant in season one, where Brandon Wright played pinball.

The police [[OnlyKnownByTheirNickname just know him as "The Greek"]], and [[FakeNationality he's not even Greek]].

* BigBad: For season 2. Given his return in season 4, arguably for the whole series as well.
** BiggerBad
* CoolOldGuy
* CunningLinguist: Can speak English, Greek, Portuguese, Farsi and probably Turkish too.
* DevilInPlainSight: Everyone who meets with Spiros wonders who his mysterious boss is, few people ever find out that it's the quiet elderly gentleman who sits at the diner's counter drinking coffee while Spiros does the talking.
* TheDon
* FakeNationality: He's not actually Greek in-universe, but he's clearly foreign, (the fact that he's expected to dislike Turks may indicate he's from Cyprus) the actor who plays him, Bill Raymond, is American.
* KarmaHoudini: Thanks to a tip from his [=FBI=] connection, he and his NumberTwo manage to flee just before the police arrive to arrest them, and while the remaining members of his organization are arrested or killed and his smuggling, drug-running, and prostitution activities are shut down temporarily, he's able to resume business as usual in season 5.
* KnowWhenToFoldEm: He makes a pragmatic exit as soon as he learns he is under scrutiny, forsaking a valuable last container.
* NothingPersonal: One of the connotations of his philosophy "Business, always business".
* TheManBehindTheMan
* MistakenNationality
* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: Even Spiros only ever refers to him as "The Greek". His real name is never revealed.
* OutsideContextVillain: The Greek's empire is a serious international crime syndicate very different from the petty kingdoms of the local drug gangs. Even the most competent police officers have to learn how this new threat operates.
* TheSpook
* VillainousFriendship: He and Vondas seem genuinely close. He even fusses over Vondas' lack of appetite at one point when Vondas is worried, and when he sees Vondas taking a fatherly interest in Nick Sobotka, he fondly tells Vondas "You should have been a father, Spiros."
* YouAreTooLate: He's just a step ahead of the police several times, thanks to a mole he has inside the FBI who also works on antiterrorism. All hail TheWarOnTerror.

!Spiros "Vondas" Vondopoulos
->'''Played by''': Paul Ben-Victor
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/spirosvondas_8834.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"In business, you learn to appreciate a dependable man."'']]

-->''They have my name. But my name is not my name.''

The Greek's soft-spoken right hand man who oversees his operations in Baltimore, which most notably includes acting as the wholesaler who supplies Prop Joe with drugs. He takes a liking to Nick Sobotka, facilitating the young man's descent into a life of crime.

* AffablyEvil
* TheDragon: To The Greek.
* EvilMentor: To Nick Sobotka.
* FakeNationality: Spiros' actual in-universe nationality is unknown, but he's not American. Paul Ben-Victor, the actor who plays him, is. (Although judging by his name, he, unlike his boss, may actually be Greek, and he at least claims to be Greek when Ziggy first meets him.)
-->'''Ziggy:''' So, uh, you must be The Greek.\\
'''Vondas:''' [Long pause] Well, I'm Greek, anyway.
* GoodSmokingEvilSmoking: Evil, clearly; he rarely appears without a cigarette in his hand.
* IHaveManyNames: As he says himself, "many names, many passports".
* KarmaHoudini: Along with his boss, he escapes punishment entirely.
* MouthOfSauron: Serves as the spokesperson for the Greek's organization.
* NumberTwo
* PragmaticVillainy: He prefers to avoid violence if he can, not out of moral conviction but because it tends to make a mess and draw attention from the police. When it becomes necessary, he is perfectly willing to cut a throat or two, as Frank Sobotka learns.
* VillainousFriendship: He and The Greek seem genuinely close.

!Sergei Malatov
->'''Played by''': Chris Ashworth

[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sergei_8852.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350: ''"In this country, supermarkets are cathedrals."'']]

-->''Did he have hands? Did he have a face? Yes? Then it wasn't us.''

A Ukrainian (''not'' Russian) who serves as a driver and enforcer for the Greek's organization. He's first seen waiting in a truck for the shipping container in which the dead girls are later found, and after committing several brutal crimes becomes a primary target of the police's investigation as season two goes on. When the combined police/FBI operation moves on the Greek's operation, he is arrested. He later agrees to inform on the Greek, but by this time his former boss has already escaped. In season 5, he makes a brief reappearance in prison, in which he facilitates a connection between the Stanfield gang and the Greek's organization.

* BadAss
* TheBrute
* HuskyRusskie: Close enough.
* TheMafiya: It's not stated explicitly that he's a member, but with his brutality and penchant for cutting off the hands and faces of his victims he clearly fits the trope.
* MotherRussiaMakesYouStrong: He mentions that he spent four years in prison in the Ukraine, and that American prisons are nowhere near as harsh.
* NeverHeardThatOneBefore: "Boris. Why is it ''always'' Boris?"

!George "Double G" Glekas
->'''Played by''': Teddy Cañez

-->''Twenty percent was last week. Today the quote is ten.''

The Greek's fence, also in charge of smuggling stolen goods. His retail shop and warehouses are the front, storage facility, and transit line for stolen goods. He works with Nick and Ziggy Sobotka on several deals but rips Ziggy off on the last one. After an altercation where he beats and verbally abuses Ziggy, Ziggy comes back with a gun and kills him, causing a major breakdown in the relationship between the Greek's organization and the Sobotkas.

* TheEvilGenius: He's the man with the plan in the Greek's organization for moving stolen goods, smuggling, etc.
* ForWantOfANail: The docks investigation might have ended completely differently if he hadn't felt the need to rip Ziggy off and get into a fight about it.
* MovingTheGoalposts: Which gets him killed when Ziggy doesn't like it and it turns into a physical confrontation.
* RageBreakingPoint: After Glekas calmly endures Ziggy getting in his face for a bit, Ziggy calls him a cunt. [[DisproportionateRetribution Glekas promptly begins beating down Ziggy and cursing him out in Greek]].
* RasputinianDeath: Is still alive after a half dozen bullets to the back, then gets shot in the face to finish him off.
* SmallRoleBigImpact: Has little screen time, but his death throws the Greek's organization into chaos and gives the cops the break they need to blow the case open.

[[folder: The Stanfield Gang]]

-->'''Vinson''': ''"The prisons and the graveyards are full of boys who wore the crown."''
-->'''Marlo Stanfield''': ''"[[{{Power}} Point is: they wore it.]]"''

An up-and-coming gang of drug dealers who are dealt a mighty hand when the Barksdale Organization's prime real estate is demolished by the City, leaving them with all the new best territory. Led by the ambitious and utterly ruthless Marlo Stanfield, the Stanfield Gang gradually work their way through the West Baltimore drug hierarchy. When Avon is locked up and Stringer is murdered at the close of season 3, they end up the new masters of West Baltimore, controlling nearly the whole district. Prop Joe's scheming manages to convince Marlo to join the Co-op, a decision which backfires spectacularly when Marlo murders him and takes over the Greek drug connect. By season 5, the Stanfield Gang are the center of the entire Baltimore drug trade... at least until [=McNulty=] and Freamon get on their case.

* DarkerAndEdgier: The generational shift in Season 3 is represented this way, with Marlo representing a darker and edgier amalgamation of Stringer's conservative and calculating nature, and Avon's brutality and pride. Similarly, Chris Partlow is a darker and edgier version of Wee Bey Brice with just a few parallels to Stringer Bell as well, while the Stanfield bit players also seem to be a little rougher around the edges than their Barksdale counterparts.

!Marlo Stanfield
->'''Played by''': Jamie Hector
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/marlostanfield_265.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"You want it to be one way... but it's the other way"'']]

-->''I wasn't made to play the son.''

Up-and-coming west-side drug kingpin, head of the eponymous Stanfield Organization. He starts out small-time, operating in the vacuum left by the Barksdale Organization, and fights his way to supplant them and merge with Proposition Joe's New Day Co-Op. He works to eliminate his enemies and anyone who would betray him. A repeated theme in Marlo's characterization is his demand for respect, which trumps all other concerns. He frequently kills those who show him disrespect, or undermine his name on the streets however unwittingly. Marlo's obsession with respect ultimately proves to be his downfall.

* AsskickingEqualsAuthority: His backstory has him rising his way up after murdering a witness and other people. On screen, most of his killings are by proxy and he gains the crown via KlingonPromotion after [[MobWar outlasting his competition]]. While he doesn't look very menacing and never has to get physical, he shows his {{badass}}ery when he easily bests two young punks during a petty street brawl.
* BerserkButton: Though generally an [[DissonantSerenity eerily]] [[TheStoic calm]] personality, Marlo does ''not'' take kindly to anyone questioning his street cred.
-->[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCaBYEEFTKE MY NAME IS MY NAME!]]
* BigBad: In seasons 4 and 5. The X in XMustNotWin, as Freamon and [=McNulty=] put their own careers on the line to avoid his victory.
-->'''Jimmy:''' Marlo is an asshole. He doesn't get to win. WE get to win.
* DissonantSerenity
* EvilPowerVacuum: The decay of the Barksdale organization and some luck are big factors in his rising; under normal circumstances he'd had [[MobWar been killed by Slim Charles]].
* FromNobodyToNightmare
* TheGoodTheBadAndTheEvil: His ascendancy steers ''The Wire'' towards BlackAndGrayMorality, he's a greater evil than Bell & Barksdale.
* InSeriesNickname: Also known as "Black".
* KarmaHoudini: Ambiguously. He manages to avoid going to jail in the end, and keeps his money, but he's not allowed to go back to drug dealing. Which is all he wants to do.
* KickTheDog: Many, many times.
* LackOfEmpathy
* MeanCharacterNiceActor: Hector was moved by his experience on the show to start a charity to improve inner city schools.
* MurderIsTheBestSolution: Displays some cunning beyond immediate violence during his ascension, but time and again he prefers to take the deadliest route when dealing with perceived problems. Only Chris raises some minor objections to that.
* NotSoHarmlessVillain: When he first came on the scene in early season 3, he was viewed by many as a glorified punk and a wannabe. After he identifies Stringer's peaceful strategy as a sign of weakness he proves his detractors ''very'' wrong. Meanwhile, the cops almost universally viewed him as a two-bit nuisance, until the bodies start showing up.
* PetTheDog: Keeps a roof coop for pigeons and even hires a guy to take care of them. In his case, his unique affection for animals is an indicator of sociopathy.
* ProperlyParanoid: Very good at counter-vigilance, Stanfield has a network of spotters in place that promptly tips him if a camera has been planted in the park where he holds court or if the police have climbed up to a rooftop to do surveillance. Marlo makes sure Chris is on top of these kind of things, and in a broader sense, his murderous nature alo prevents the appearance of potential [[HeKnowsTooMuch witnesses or leaks]]. Proposition Joe schools him to be even more careful, and while late in the series he goes back to using a cellphone - provided by The Greeks - he doesn't become sloppy despite Lester's expectations.
-->'''Sydnor:''' Marlo's been the hardest to follow. Too paranoid, too much counter-surveillance.
* TheSociopath: A remorseless, power-hungry tyrant with ego issues.
-->[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Id8My4ib6dM You want it to be one way, but it's the other way]].
* RecruitTeenagersWithAttitude: He's on the lookout for local talent and recruits Michael for this reason.
* SerialKiller: Repeatedly called this by Jimmy and Lester, after ordering dozens of murders. Problem is, guetto victims are dead where it doesn't count.
* SignatureMove: Apparently had one in he used to use on people to testified and we see him use it on Devon: Two shots to the chest and one in the mouth
* TheStarscream: Ultimately succeeds in killing Prop Joe and taking his place as head of the co-op.
* TheStoic
** NotSoStoic: Goes absolutely ballistic when he finds out about Omar bad-mouthing him on the street.
* TranquilFury: Actor Jamie Hector comments on striving for a performance of "power and economy" using "minimalist movement and speech".
* TyrantTakesTheHelm: Deposes the old order with violence and some luck, dismantles the Co-Op and its assembly, assuming an autocratic rule over the drug trade and mirroring the classic takeover executed by many tyrants in the history of mankind.

* VictoryIsBoring. Despite getting away with facing charges and keeping his millions, Marlo quickly finds out that the straight-and-narrow life isn't for him.
* VillainousFriendship: Cold as he is, he has a rare but somewhat affectionate relationship with Chris.

!Chris Partlow
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/chrispartlow_1808.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"Don't fret boss, I got you covered."'']]
->'''Played by''': Gbenga Akinnabwe

-->''Don't matter who he is, or what he's done. You can look him in the eye now.''

Marlo Stanfield's NumberTwo and chief enforcer. It's hinted that they are long time allies, as the enormously paranoid Marlo trusts Chris completely and Chris is the only one who seems to be able to question Marlo's orders and decisions without repercussions, although he only does so rarely. Although he is much less bloodthirsty than his boss, under orders he murders many, many people for Marlo, and is a major reason why the Stanfield gang is so feared on the streets.

Chris takes the lead in Marlo's attempts to recruit the young Michael Lee into the Stanfield gang, and Michael winds up coming to Chris to slay his abusive stepfather. After that he and Snoop are responsible for tutoring Michael in the ways of the Game and turning him into muscle for the Stanfield gang. He is eventually sentenced to life without parole, and quickly makes friends with Wee-Bey Brice in prison.

* AffablyEvil: Chris isn't particularly outgoing or charming, but he's always quite polite and pleasant even when committing a murder, always making an effort to comfort his victims and ease them through the process. Ironically for someone who's killed as much as he has, Chris is probably the most reluctant to commit violence of the higher-ups in Marlo's crew, and takes little pleasure in his work. When Marlo decides to have Bodie and later Michael killed, Chris is the only one to speak against it, albeit only briefly.
-->'''Victim:''' Please, Chris!\\
'''Chris:''' Don't fret boss, I got you covered. Clean and quick. (Chris shoots him)
* BadassBeard
* BerserkButton: He ''does not'' like child molesters, as evidenced by his flipping out and beating Michael's stepfather to death. WordOfGod confirms it was because he was molested as a child himself.
* BoomHeadshot: He trains his soldiers to shoot either for the head or the groin in order to counter a BulletProofVest.
* TheDragon: To Marlo Stanfield.
* TheDreaded: Just the sight of Chris makes Lex realize he should PrepareToDie. The boys also speculate that Chris might be a "Zombie Master."
* EvenEvilHasStandards: He'll kill innocent people without batting an eyelash, but child molesters absolutely disgust him.
* EvilMentor: With Snoop, teaches Michael the ways of the game.
* FamilyValuesVillain: He takes good care of his family, even after he is arrested and sent away to prison for life.
* TheGrimReaper: In a series full of deaths, Chris is responsible for more on- and off-screen deaths than any other character in the series.
* KickTheSonOfABitch: Kick the ''shit'' out of him.
* NeighborhoodFriendlyGangsters: He's too feared around the community for this to be in effect for him, but he did try to invoke this at one point for Marlo's benefit. Early in season 4 Marlo's enforcers and dealers approach children before the first day of school, giving them money for clothes and books. We then cut to Marlo and Chris watching the scene, where Marlo looks unhappy at just giving away money while Chris tries to convince Marlo that it'll "make his name ring out".
* NumberTwo
* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: All of his kills are quick, clean and unemotional except for Devar, Michael's pedophile stepfather, who he beats to death.
* PetTheDog: Takes a few minutes in the middle of a brutal gang war with Omar and his associates to visit his girlfriend and his kids, to whom he is warm and affectionate.
* RedOniBlueOni: Blue to Snoop's Red.
* ScaryBlackMan: Not the only one, but as perhaps the most brutal killer in the entire series he deserves special mention. Because he doesn't look like the stereotypical scary black man, he is occasionally able to interact with normal society without anyone being any wiser.
* SpitefulSpit: To Michael's stepfather. It comes back later as a [[ChekhovsGun Chekhov's smoking gun]].
* UndyingLoyalty: The vicious and paranoid Marlo trusts him completely, and when Chris is rounded up by the police Marlo says that Chris will refuse to talk as long as Marlo takes cares of Chris' family.
* VerbalTic: Addressing victims as "boss."
* VillainousFriendship: Treats Marlo with affect and it's clear that they go way back.

!Felicia "Snoop" Pearson
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/snooppearson_4760.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"Deserve got nothing to do with it. It's his time, that's all."'']]
->'''Played by''': Felicia Pearson

-->''We will be brief with all you motherfuckers. I think you know.''

Soldier under Marlo Stanfield. She devises a plan along with Chris Partlow to have people killed inside vacant houses, pour quicklime on their bodies, and seal them back up. When Marlo suspects Michael may be an informant, she is dispatched to assassinate him. Instead, Michael kills her.

* AxCrazy
* BloodKnight
* BlueAndOrangeMorality: Besides being a sociopath, the quote underneath her picture hints that she holds an atypical view on death: it's a natural order of life, and it doesn't matter who's killing whom and why. If it's someone's time to die they'll die regardless of whether they deserve it, and whoever does the killing is just fate's instrument.
* TheBrute: Of the Stanfield Organization, despite her small size.
* ButchLesbian: in both personality and looks.
* TheDanza: Snoop is played by Felicia Pearson, who was herself [[ActorSharedBackground a member of a drug gang when she was young]].
* DissonantSerenity: Part of what makes her such a terrifying villain.
* TheDreaded: Along with Chris.
* EvilCannotComprehendGood: Her conversation with a hardware store clerk shows she has no comprehension of life outside the drug trade.
* EvilSoundsDeep: Has the same husky voice of the real Snoop Pearson. Mistaken for a man on some occasions.
* FaceDeathWithDignity: "How my hair look?"
* RedOniBlueOni: Red to Chris's Blue.
* TheSociopath: Absolutely no comprehension of right and wrong; she simply things that death comes to people at their "time", and has no realization that it might be immoral to be "time"'s instrument.
* ViewerGenderConfusion: Both {{in-universe}} and out.

!Monk Metcalf
->'''Played by: ''' Kwame Patterson

A top lieutenant in the Stanfield organization. Works as an enforcer, coordinates the drug trade, the phone communications and several details unrelated to violence.

!Old Face Andre

[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/oldfaceandre_7628.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350: ''Shoulda gone to New York or Philly...'']]
->'''Played by: ''' Alfonso Christian Lover

-->"Problem with niggers today, they always see the narrow view..."

A West side convenience store owner whose store serves as a stash house for Marlo Stanfield. After Marlo is robbed, Andre is included in a plan to get revenge on Omar. Chris Partlow murders a delivery woman in Andre's shop and Andre has to tell the police that Omar did it.

* ButtMonkey: The poor guy is pinballed around between Omar, Marlo, the police and Proposition Joe in a tragic game afer Omar robs his stash.
* FalseReassurance: Joe betrays him, and then Slim delivers him to Chris.
-->'''Andre:''' Prop Joe said you was my escort out.\\
'''Slim: '''[[FromACertainPointOfView In a manner of speaking that be true]].
* MacGuffin: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpKpMtLioUU His ring changes owners]] a lot, but it has no actual relevance in the end.
* NeverFoundTheBody: The guy is mortified by this prospect. His anguised voice and denied plea not to be killed in a vacant, where his people won't find him, makes his demise rather poignant.
* ThePawn: Used and abused by Marlo and Proposition Joe.
* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: Attempts to but makes the mistake of taking refuge in East Baltimore under Proposition Joe, who points out he should have gone to New York or Philadelphia, and then sells Andre down the river to Marlo.
* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: Finally walked down an alley by Chris and Snoop.
-->'''Proposition Joe:''' You know the problem with these here machines? They too cheap to begin with. Some people think for what it's worth to fix it, make the shit work right, you might as well dump 'em and get another.

!Vinson

->''The prisons and the graveyards are full of boys who wore the crown.''

Advisor and fence of Marlo Stanfield. He runs a rim shop used by the Stanfield gang as a meeting place.

* TheConsigliere: Counsels Marlo during his turf war with the Barksdales.

!Little Kevin

A young hopper working for Bodie and his independent operation, later absorved by the Stanfield gang.

* AscendedExtra: A background dealer briefly seen during season 3 and in the pilot, he becomes a regular character in season 4.
* IronicName: The guy is anything but little. His obesity fools Herc when he comes to his corner looking for him.
* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: Killed in a vacant after he tells Marlo that he used Randy to deliver the message to Lex, instead of telling Lex directly.