Ranking Characters Of The Wire: The Streets
5. Avon Barksdale
Avon lived and breathed the streets of Baltimore. The leader of the Barksdale organisation and one of the most significant narcotics traffickers in all of the city, Avon was the main target of the wiretap detail in the first season.
A fearless and proud man, Avon prised his territory and refused to look weak in front of anyone that wished to take it from him. He had done a great job of being under the radar with the Baltimore police department not even knowing what he looked like at first. After his eventual arrest, Avon managed to manoeuvre his way to an early parole hearing and found himself back on the streets.
Despite a clear love and respect for his nephew D'Angelo, Avon's brotherly bond with Stringer is one of the richest dramatic relationships drawn on the entire show. When Avon gets out of prison, the two begin to clash severely over how to run the organisation, with Stringer wanting to go legitimate and Avon wanting to go to war with Marlo to regain lost ground.
The two of them have a thunderous confrontation where Stringer admits to having D'Angelo killed and there is no scene as emotionally charged in all of The Wire. Avon's dream of being a gangster with his best friend all his life was killed in that moment. Not long afterwards, they both betray each other. Stringer ends up dead, and Avon ends up in prison once again.