Avon Barksdale

Avon Randolph Barksdale is a fictional character in the American television series The Wire, played by Wood Harris. Barksdale is one of the most powerful drug dealers in Baltimore, Maryland, and runs the Barksdale Organization. Stringer Bell, his second in command, insulates Barksdale from law enforcement and potential enemies. Working for Barksdale and Bell is a large organization of drug dealers and enforcers.

Accepting nothing less than absolute power, Barksdale is shrewd and intuitive, although not as cerebral as Bell. Barksdale is partly based on a real-life gang leader who ran a drug dealing operation in West Baltimore. He is the main antagonist of the first season.

At the start of season 1, Avon is a furtive but increasingly powerful force within West Baltimore's drug trade. His territory includes both the Franklin Terrace housing project and a nearby low-rise project referred to as "the Pit". Avon runs the organization with his second-in-command, Russell "Stringer" Bell, but isolates himself and String from the drug trade and eschews overt displays of wealth. He has a number of enforcers, most notably his old friend Wee-Bey Brice, and several lieutenants running drug crews in different areas. Beneath the lieutenants are hoppers who trade drugs and look out for police.

Every member of the Barksdale Organization is disciplined to strict rules designed to thwart police investigations, most notably a prohibition on cell phones. Lieutenants and enforcers carry pagers so they can be contacted. The pager messages are encoded to prevent traceable payphones from being used. Each pager-carrying member of the organization is identified by a number. When pages are returned with a phone call, no names are supposed to be used.

Avon receives his narcotics supply through a connection to a Dominican organization. The main supply of narcotics is separated from the rest of the organization and held in a house in Pimlico, where it can be cut and divided into smaller "stashes" for distribution in Barksdale territory. The money from the sales of drugs is counted in the back office of Orlando's strip club, which serves as Avon's main front business; it is there that Avon conducts day-to-day business, rarely venturing onto the street.

When Avon's errant nephew D'Angelo murders drug dealer Pooh Blanchard, he has Stringer pay a witness to change her story in court. D'Angelo is acquitted, but Avon demotes him to "The Pit" to replace Ronnie Mo, who had recently been promoted to his own tower in the Franklin Terrace project. Avon also orders Marquis "Bird" Hilton to murder a second witness, William Gant, whom he had been unable to intimidate or bribe. Gant's body is left on display to deter people from testifying. D'Angelo is shaken by Gant's murder and begins to have second thoughts, but Avon persuades him to remain loyal to the family.

Avon is angered when the Pit's stash is robbed by Omar Little, and he places a large bounty on Omar and his crew. He nearly doubles it upon discovering Omar is homosexual. Wee-Bey kills Omar's associate John Bailey; Omar's lover Brandon Wright is captured and tortured by Stringer, Wee-Bey, Bird, and Stinkum. In response, Omar kills Stinkum and wounds Wee-Bey. He later attempts to assassinate Avon outside of Orlando's, but Wee-Bey manages to save him at the last minute.

The Pit is subject to police raids, resulting in the seizure of a second supply of narcotics and the arrest of two Barksdale associates. The police seize a day's profits from Wee-Bey, totaling $22,000. They also briefly seize a payment on its way to State Senator Clay Davis but are forced to return it because of Davis' political influence. The robbery and police activity combined raise suspicion that there is a leak in the Pit, and the increasingly paranoid Avon orders D'Angelo to remove the payphones near the projects, which have indeed been wiretapped.