History Characters / TheWireBarksdaleOrganization

* DumbassHasAPoint: While his war with Marlo is motivated mainly by his pride and stubbornness, he's one of the few criminals who recognize that Marlo won't play by the Co-Ops rules and is incredulous at Stringer's assurance that Prop Joe can contain him. He's ultimately proven correct by Season 5, where Marlo outplays and murders Joe in order to take over the Co-Op.

* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: He is almost never referred to as "Russell".

* EtTuBrute: Betrays and is betrayed by Avon, for the sake of the business.

* 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 aggravated by his use of advanced economics terms with barely literate underlings whose intelligence is [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rp1ExC52BOc day like a 40 degree day]].

* 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 aggravated by his use of advanced economics terms with barely literate underlings whose intelligence is [[ttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rp1ExC52BOc day like a 40 degree day]].

* AwesomeByAnalysis: Despite not being as educated or as intelligent as Stringer Bell, Avon is nonetheless very shrewd and intuitive. He was able to outmaneuver Daniels during a car tailing. Furthermore in season 5 he figured out [[spoiler: Marlo's]] plan to get access to [[spoiler: Proposition Joe's]] drug supplier in order to have a monopoly on the drug trade in Baltimore as well undermine the CO-OP just by having a conversation with an inmate who's affiliated the supplier.

* 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 aggravated by his use of advanced economics terms with barely literate underlings whose intelligence is like a 40 degree day.

* ComicallyMissingThePoint: During Stringer's famous "40 degree day" speech, he becomes convinced that Stringer genuinely means that a 40 degree day is a good thing, which provokes a FacePalm from Stringer and even an annoyed look from Gerard.

* PutOnABus: Jailed along with their bosses at the end of Season 3.

* IJustWantToBeNormal: "I just want to go somewhere, where I can breathe like regular folk."

* ARealManIsAKiller: D'Angelo tells everyone that he killed a man as a way of establishing dominance to his crew. He also relates how he killed one of Avon's girlfriends to show he wasn't afraid to kill civilians. Later it is found that the Deirdre thing was Wee-Bey's work and D'Angelo was just an accomplice who didn't know what was going to happen. Avon calls him out on the murder of Blanchard because it got them into trouble since instead of calling for back up or taking the beating D'Angelo shot him on camera like thin-skinned thug instead of the heir of Barksdale organization.

* AffablyEvil: He's a drug kingpin and murderer but doesn't act with malice aforethought [[ForTheEvulz for the sake of it]], he's genuinely charming and cares deeply about those he is close to and has many moments of kindness throughout the series.

* 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.

* GeniusBruiser: A former golden gloves boxer who is quite StreetSmart, he can come up with clever plans such as his framing of the corrupt prison guard, and has moments of reflection.

* ALighterShadeOfBlack: Compared to Marlo. Avon is a brutal drug kingpin but he is not above reason, has principles he sticks to, is capable of restraint, cares deeply for those close to him, has moments of genuine kindness and is focused on making money rather than evil for it's own sake. By contrast, Marlo is completely beyond ''any'' restraint or compassion, has no limits to what he will do to achieve what he wants, is obsessed with being feared and his status even more than making money, has almost no close relationships other than Chris and has a complete disinterest in human life, often having people killed for petty slights or just for his own sadism.

* 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.

* 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.

* {{Pride}}: Avon is quite proud of the drug empire him and his family has build up, and finds the idea of making any compromises with his rivals utterly intolerable, no matter how rational or even arguably necessary it might be to do so. Case in point, he verhemently puts the kibosh on Stringer's suggestion of making a deal with Proposition Joe for a share of territory in exchange for a cut of higher quality heroine supply that Joe's gang has access to, even though Avon's own severely troubled supply lines means that his own gang stands to lose that territory regardless.

* AlasPoorVillain: [[spoiler:His downward spiral and death is seen as this by many fans. Despite him being a murderous drug dealer who setup D'Angelo Barksdale's death and then had an affair with his woman afterwards, he was also shown as a thoughtful man who wanted to leave the life of crime and become a legal business man. He ends up getting screwed over by Senator Clay Davis when he tries to go legit, and his scheming finally catches up with him, to the point he can no longer talk is way out it. Finally, he decides to FaceDeathWithDignity]].

* ChessMotifs: Stringer is the queen for his initiative and reach when it comes to the Game. As D'Angelo says it is the get shit done piece.

* 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 stands tall and reaps what he had sewn.

* FauxAffablyEvil: Puts up a charming, calm, and collected act, but when the situation doesn't go his way, that act quickly evaporates. Borders on SoftSpokenSadist when speaking to D'angelo: --> '''Stringer:''' You know we just want to talk to him, D".
* GetItOverWith: --> '''Stringer:''' Well, get on with it, motherf--"

* {{Irony}}: Get's enraged when he sees Little Kevin's body being brought out of a vacant, angrily decrying Marlo, saying he's killing people for no reason. While he is right about this; Marlo would kill someone for simply "disrespecting" him as in the case of the security guard, in Little Kevin's case he was killed for being an unreliable weak link, which is one of the reasons Bodie and Poot killed Wallace. Poot himself {{lampshades}} that Marlo probably had his reasons.

* OldSoldier: By Season 4, he feels old, as he has being at it since he was 13.

* TheCasanova: Downplayed but constantly in the background save for Jimmy he seems to be the most successful with women in the series with Bodie describing him as a "Pussy crazed motherfucker."

* TheDreaded: The citizens of West Baltimore are terrified of them, and rightfully so. Witnesses who refuse to turn a blind eye to the Barkesdales' dirty dealings tend to suffer a bad case of a bullet to the brain.

* VillainDecay: In the beginning of the show, they are the undisputed kings of the West Side, running a lucrative narcotics operation while inspiring fear in the general populace, all while flying under the police's radar. This changes once the Baltimore Police Department is essentially forced to take notice and assigns Daniel's special detail to take the organization down. Over the next three seasons, the Barkesdales suffer a number of setbacks that causes them to lose their grip on the drug trade. By the time the organization finally dissipates, they are but a shadow of their former selves.

* ARealManIsAKiller: D'Angelo tells everyone that he killed a man as a way of establishing dominance to his crew. He also relates how he killed one of Avon's girlfriends to show he wasn't afraid to kill civilians. Later it is found that the Deirdre thing was Wee-Bey's work and D'Angelo was just an accomplice who didn't know what was going to happen.

* PetTheDog: Letting Colvin adopt Namond.

* AntiVillain: Perhaps the most poignant case in the series. Wallace is a young boy who has been more or less abandoned by his junkie mother. He's a cheerful, bright kid who is only part of the drug trade to survive and provide for his brothers and sisters, (who he's shown being a ParentalSubstitute to, complete with helping them with their homework, making sure they have lunch to eat at school, etc.) and is completely horrified after witnessing the "muscle" of criminal empire that he works for viciously torture and murder a thief who stole from them. The experience gives him PTSD and sends him into using drugs for the first time. Later he attempts to pull a HeelFaceTurn and get out of the drug trade by becoming a police informant. A couple of weeks of being forgotten by the police and loneliness of not fitting in or having any friends makes him go back to the drug crew he worked with, just to be around friends and people who understood him. [[AnyoneCanDie He gets a bullet in the head for his trouble]].

* FamilyValuesVillain: Avon cares deeply about family. He has taken care of his comatose brother (who was shot in the head and is in a permanent vegetative state), sister and nephew. That said, D'Angelo thinks this is just a cover and that Avon would kill or abandon anyone if necessary. Tellingly, when Stringer reveals that he arranged D'Angelo's murder, Avon's first impulse is to attack Stringer, but after that initial impulse fades he goes along in maintaining Stringer's facade.

* TheDutifulSon: Dee always did as he was told by her mother.

* AffablyEvil: He's a drug kingpin and murderer but doesn't act with malice aforethought [[ForTheEvil for the sake of it]], he's genuinely charming and cares deeply about those he is close to and has many moments of kindness throughout the series.

* 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".

* WouldHarmASenior: They go against Omar while he's taking his grandmother to church, but all they manage to his is her [[HatDamage hat]].

* AwesomeByAnalysis: Despite not being as educated or as intelligent as Stringer Bell, Avon is nonetheless very shrewd and intuitive. He was able to outmaneuver Daniels during a car tailing. Furthermore in season 5 he figured out [[spoiler: Marlo's]] plan to get access to [[spoiler: Proposition Joe's]] drug supplier in order to monopolize and undermine the CO-OP just be having a conversation with an inmate who's affiliated the supplier.

* AwesomeByAnalysis: Despite not being as educated or as intelligent as Stringer Bell, Avon is nonetheless very screwed and intuitive. He was able to outmaneuver Daniels during a car tailing. Furthermore in season 5 he figured out [[spoiler: Marlo's]] plan to get access to [[spoiler: Proposition Joe's]] drug supplier in order to monopolize and undermine the CO-OP just be having a conversation with an inmate who's affiliated the supplier.

* AffablyEvil: He's a drug kingpin and murderer but doesn't indulge on malice [[ForTheEvil for the sake of it]], he's genuinely charming and cares deeply about those he is close to and has many moments of kindness throughout the series.