History Characters / TheWireBarksdaleOrganization

* VillainOnLeave: Avon after being the BigBad of Season 1, spends all of Season 2 and the beginning of Season 3 in jail. While still present in the narrative with his own storyline, Season 2 has The Greek as the BigBad. Once he is released though, Avon quickly becomes the main villain again, though this time he shares more of the spotlight and control of the organization with Stringer.

* BigBad: For season 1.

* ALighterShadeOfBlack: Compared to Marlo. Avon is a brutal drug kingpin but he is not above reason, has principles he sticks to dilligently, is capable of restraint and mercy, cares deeply for those close to him, is sincerely likable and good to those who work under 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.

** In his first appeareance, he's sitting in the back of the courtoom impeccably dressed with a very business-like demenanor overseeing D'Angelo's trial and apparently taking notes in his portfolio. It turns out he's not as deep as he looks, he was drawing some puerile caricatures of himself and [=McNulty=] after noticing the scrutiny. Nevertheless, their feud is started as [[WorthyAdversary Jimmy congratulates him]] for getting D'Angelo acquited with his witness tampering.

* JerkassHasAPoint: Stringer can be harsh and condescending towards his underlings, but given [[SurroundedByIdiots the usual quality of the human resources]] he has at his dispossal, it's not precisely uncalled for.

* NecessarilyEvil: How he puts the termination of D'Angelo to Avon, although it's pretty tenous since D'Angelo just wanted to serve his sentence in peace.

* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: His strategy of discouraging the Barksdale crew from instigating street wars to claim teritory in order to keep bodies down and police attention off drug dealings is ultimately what allows Marlo to aggressively rise without any consequence or censure.
* VillainousBreakdown: Basically almost all of his scenes in "Middle Ground", but especially trying to order Slim Charles to kill Clay Davis; most of his orders have had ''some'' sembalnce of logic and plausibility, but this time other characters such as Avon, directly call him out for being ridiculous. His breakdown then leads up to his death.

* {{Deuteragonist}}: In season 1 the workings of the Barksdale gang are seen mostly through his eyes.

* HiddenDepths: He's outright ecstatic at the opportunity to teach Wallace and Boadie chess. In prison, he also shares an insightful analysis of Literature/TheGreatGatsby which also doubles as introspection over his own lot in life. It all generally serves the point that if not for being born into the Game where he did, he could have made something for himself.

* SympatheticAdulterer: Cheats on his girlfriend Donette with Shardene in season 1, but Donette is revealed to be a rather unpleasant person who he has no real connection with (maybe even seeing him as something of a MealTicket), and she in turn cheats on him with Stringer while D'Angelo is in prison in season 2, so D'Angelo's adultery is portrayed fairly sympathetically.

* MamaBear: Say what you will about her, she does care about her son.

* PutOnAPrisonBus: Arrested in the season 3 finale and never seen again.

* TheBrute: The main muscleman for the Barksdale organization, though he's an [[AffablyEvil unusually friendly]] example.

* {{Jerkass}}: He's the most openly mean out of the barksdales. He spouts CountryMatters and many other slurs, several times at Kima and the other detectives while in the Homicide interview room. He's so offensive and obnoxious that even Daniels joins in on giving him a beatdown.

* AbusiveParents: She's horrifically abusive to her son, Namond, viewing him as nothing more than a meal ticket to support the lavish lifestyle she's become accustomed to. She disapproves of Namond going to school or trying to better himself at all, encourages his worst behavior, turns abusive when he shows hints of indepdendence, thinks that going to a dangerous jail situation is preferable to him bothering her and gives him no support whatsoever.

* WorthyOpponent: Comes to view Marlo Stanfield as one after being repeatedly surprised by Marlo's cunning and ruthlessness.

* EvilGenius: The brain of the Barksdale organization, coming up with all kinds of money laundering schemes, estate development schemes and emphasises no street violence so as not to draw police attention.

* HairTriggerTemper: Has shades of this in Seasons 1 and 2 during stressful situations, but in Season 3, when everything begins to fall apart for him, he practically loses all sembelence of his calm and composed self in the past. It gets to the point where once he finds out Clay Davis scammed him, his first instinct is to [[MurderIsTheBestSolution put a hit out on him]].

* NormalFishInATinyPond: A deconstruction. Stringer is certainly smart but he sees himself as a criminal genius rather than simply a more capable than average drug dealer and he tends to view people he works with as miles beneath him which blindsides him when they turn out to be smarter than he previously thought.

* LegitimateBusinessmensSocialClub: He owns a copy-shop where he hangs around, but he wants it to be ''a'' serious business, not a front.

* LegitimateBusinessmensSocialClub: The Barksdales' well-known headquarters are initially located at Orlando's bar, and more concealedly inside a funeral house later.

* ArchEnemy: [=McNulty=] comes to see Stringer as his.

* DirtyCoward: Not in his final moments, but having [[spoiler:D'Angelo killed in prison on the basis that he ''might'' snitch on him and Avon]] comes off as excessively paranoid.

* SecretTestOfCharacter: Following orders, Bodie and some other {{Mooks}} to Philadelphia have to pick up some drugs stashed in a parked car. Bodie, in particular, has to memorize the route and check his odometer ''down to the tenth of a mile.'' What Bodie doesn't know is that Stringer has a car following Bodie the whole time, and the route he picked goes right through a construction zone (necessitating a detour) just to see how Bodie would handle it.

* 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.

* HorribleJudgeOfCharacter: Not only does he not see that Clay Davis is playing him, he believes (until the end) that Marlo Stanfield is willing to end the war with a sitdown.

* PutOnABus: Arrested in the season 3 finale and never seen again.

* PutOnABus: Life imprisonment without parole.

[[Characters/TheWireBaltimorePoliceDepartment Baltimore Police Department]] ([[Characters/TheWireMajorCrimesUnit Major Crimes Unit]] | [[Characters/TheWireHomicideUnit Homicide Unit]] | [[Characters/TheWirePoliceCommanders Police Commanders]] | [[Characters/TheWireWesternDistrict Western District]]) | [[Characters/TheWireBaltimoreUnderworld Baltimore Underworld]] ('''The Barksdale Organization''' | [[Characters/TheWireOmarAndAssociates Omar and Associates]] | [[Characters/TheWireTheGreeks The Greeks]] | [[Characters/TheWireStanfieldOrganization Stanfield Organization]] | [[Characters/TheWireNewDayCoOp New Day Co-Op]]) | [[Characters/TheWireCourthouse Courthouse]] | [[Characters/TheWireBaltimoreDocks Baltimore Docks]] | [[Characters/TheWireCityHall City Hall]] | ''[[Characters/TheWireBaltimoreSun The Baltimore Sun]]'' | [[Characters/TheWireOtherCharacters Other Characters]] ([[Characters/TheWireHomelessPeopleAndAddicts Homeless People and Addicts]] | [[Characters/TheWireTheNextGeneration The Next Generation]])-]]]]]

* 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.

* MeanBoss: Speaks in a condescending tone to his underlings in Season 3, most likely due to feeling SurroundedByIdiots.

[[center: [- [[Characters/TheWire Main Character Index]] | [[Characters/TheWireBaltimorePoliceDepartment Baltimore Police Department]] | [[Characters/TheWireMajorCrimesUnit Major Crimes Unit]] | [[Characters/TheWireHomicideUnit Homicide Unit]] | [[Characters/TheWirePoliceCommanders Police Commanders]] | [[Characters/TheWireWesternDistrict Western District]] | [[Characters/TheWireBaltimoreUnderworld Baltimore Underworld]] | '''The Barksdale Organization''' | [[Characters/TheWireOmarAndAssociates Omar and Associates]] | [[Characters/TheWireTheGreeks The Greeks]] | [[Characters/TheWireTheStanfieldGang The Stanfield Gang]] | [[Characters/TheWireNewDayCoOp New Day Co-Op]] | [[Characters/TheWireCourthouse Courthouse]] | [[Characters/TheWireCityHall City Hall]] | [[Characters/TheWireBaltimoreSun The Baltimore Sun]] | [[Characters/TheWireOtherCharacters Other Characters]] | [[Characters/TheWireHomelessPeopleAndAddicts Homeless People and Addicts]] | [[Characters/TheWireBaltimoreDocks Baltimore Docks]] | [[Characters/TheWireTheNextGeneration The Next Generation]]]]-]

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/wallace_5.jpg]]

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 doing drugs. 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.

* DeadpanSnarker: Especially sarcastic when talking about D'angelo:

** His exasperatedly patient commentary on how to dispose of the guns in the Season 2 premier has to be seen to be believed. When [[SurroundedByIdiots they inevitably mess up]], Stringer responds in kind.

[[quoteright:200:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/anton_artis_1.jpg]]

-->'''Wee-Bey:''' Need a scorecard to keep up with your lethal ass.

* GoKartingWithBowser: Or Playing Pool With The Police.

* TragicVillain: He becomes less and less likeable in Season 3 but he still counts. His dreams of becoming a legitimate businessman are all for naught due to him being unprepared for how life outside of the Game works.

* 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."

* TheDragon: To Avon's BigBad and Wee Bey's The Brute. Stringer Bell is the 'go get shit done' piece, full of advice to his boss but also quite loyal to an extent in Season 1. This changes drastically in Season 2 however where his ChronicBackstabbingDisorder starts to surface.

* TheBrute: Less competent than Wee Bey who's a [[CoDragons Dragon]] to Stringer, so Bird is another Barksdale example of this trope.

* TheFashionista. Shardene jokes that he takes more time to get dressed than most women.

* GuiltRiddenAccomplice: Both

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

* LyingToThePerp: Bunk and [=McNulty=] trick him into writing a letter of apology to William Gant's non-existent family (actually just a photo of Bunk's family); this later causes him to refuse to believe it when [=McNulty=] tells him that Wallace has been murdered.
* {{Nepotism}}: His rank in the Organization is only due to him being Avon's nephew.

* SympatheticAdulterer: Cheats on his girlfriend Donette with Shardene in season 1, but Donette is revealed to be a rather unpleasant person who in turn cheats on him with Stringer while D'Angelo is in prison in season 2, so D'Angelo's adultery is portrayed sympathetically.

->'''Played by''': Hassan Johnson

* TheDarkChick: Her role in the Barksdale power structure.

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 Namond in Season 4.

* TheAce: The best muscle in Barksdale organization and arguably in the series. He follows and enforces the rules of survival in the streets diligently, excellent at violence and has a great understanding of the game. When he is arrested he takes the heat for all the murder charges the organization did to keep the other enforcers out.
* AffablyEvil: He's TheBrute of the Barksdale organization, the best muscle the West Side of Baltimore has ever seen, and a trusted confidant for the Barksdale leadership. He's also a really nice and genuinely funny guy when he's not killing people, has a soft spot for his aquariums full of exotic fish, and truly loves and cares about his son Namond—to the point that Wee-Bey ''threatens'' his wife when she stands in the way of Bunny Colvin taking custody of Namond after it becomes clear that Namond is not built for the street.

* CoDragons: Downplayed. Wee-bey without a doubt is lower in the Barksdale hierarchy compared to Stringer Bell, but whenever Avon needs something done and Stringer isn't around, Wee-Bey is typically his go-to-guy for handling important matters.

* HandicappedBadass: The only Wire character to ever get the best of Omar Little in a 1 to 1 gun fight. This was AFTER getting shot in the leg in the first encounter, bonus points for responding to an ambush.

* 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.
** Brutally kills Omar's boyfriend.

* ParentsAsPeople: He's aware of his failure as a father.

* PunchClockVillain: He may be a drug dealer, but he never truly shows much in the way of villainous or malicious tendencies. It's pretty clear that he subscribes to the same school of thought that D'Angelo and Prop Joe do, which is essentially "buy for a dollar, sell for two, and leave the thug crap out of it."
* ReallyGetsAround: Deconstructed when it leads to a ''lack'' of STDImmunity.

* 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.

* TheExtremistWasRight: While his war with Marlo is motivated mainly by his pride and stubbornness, he's one of the few criminals who recognizes that the Co-Op's plan to deal with him via peaceful negotiation is ineffectual, 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 dissolve the Co-Op and take over the drug trade in Baltimore.

* TheExtremistWasRight: 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.

* BadassInCharge: Head of muscle and is Barksdale and Bell's best killer.