Ranking Characters Of The Wire: The Streets

When you first start watching The Wire, you'd be forgiven for thinking D'Angelo would be as significant a character for the streets as McNulty is for the law on this show. D'Angelo is the moralistic nephew of Avon Barksdale who despite being a talented lieutenant in the organisation, is largely against the violence the crew instigates.

Often torn between his loyalty to his family and doing the right thing, D'Angelo becomes a clear target for the Baltimore police as they attempt to flip him multiple times. D'Angelo forms a bond with the gentle and kind Wallace who is later murdered on Stringer's orders leading him to struggle greatly with whether to inform on his family or not.

Deciding against testifying, D'Angelo is sentenced to a 20 year sentence but decides he wants nothing more to do with his uncle. This escalates to the point where Stringer believes D'Angelo's silence is unreliable and has him murdered in prison.

After being such a large and prominent focus of The Wire's first season, it was truly shocking to see him killed off half way through Season Two. It would've been interesting to see how his moral dilemma would've developed had he lived but sadly, he was not long for the show.