Powet Top 5: Top 5 Memorable Deaths on the Wire

Welcome to the Powet Top 5, where we explore the top (and bottom) 5 items we think are relevant to any of a variety of topics that span the imagination. Sit back, read, and respond.

Snotboogie, as seen in the opening seconds of the show's first episode. R.I.P Snotboogie

Baltimore is a dangerous place, even moreso if you’re involved in its drug game. Of course if you watch HBO’s groundbreaking series The Wire, you already know this. No one is guarenteed a happy ending. In fact, several people, including main characters have gotten killed in some of the worst ways imaginable. The five people below in particular, have deaths that were particularly memorable and gut wrenching. Coincidently, this list is organized by season as well. Obviously, massive spoilers are coming, so if you haven’t seen this series, check out the links below before reading.

1. Wallace
Ever since Brandon’s death at the hands of the Barksdale crew, Wallace had been haunted by it, due to the way Brandon was tortured to death, his role in pointing out Brandon’s whereabouts, and also because the body just so happened to be dumped in front of the building they were staying. After agreeing to testify against Avon Barksdale’s henchmen, Wallace leaves Baltimore to stay with his grandmother, only to get bored and come back home. This raises the suspicions of Stringer Bell and Avon Barksdale, who suspect him of being a snitch. After failing to get the answers they want out of D’Angelo, Stringer asks Wallace’s friends, Bodie and Poot to do the deed. They kill him in his own apartment as he begs them to remember their friendship.
My Thoughts: When writer David Simon stated in an interview that he ‘wasn’t selling hope’ he meant it. This was one of the more heartbreaking deaths on the show, because you knew that Wallace, like all the corner boys on the show, had the potential to make something better of himself had he been born into different circumstances. Indeed, he even shows the aptitude and desire to leave ‘The Game’ behind and change his life. Sadly, this was not meant to be. What makes this worse was that he was done in at the hands of two of his best friends.

2. The Girls on the Ship
In Season 2, we learned more about Proposition Joe’s operation in that he was supplied by the Greek, a mysterious crimelord from Eastern Europe. However, drugs weren’t the only thing he was into. He also had a hand in the fencing of stolen goods, human smuggling, and prostitution. Keep those last two in mind. A group of women from Europe and Asia were being transported to Baltimore’s port, most likely for prostitution. However, the men on the ship decided to get a piece of the action. When one refused, she was killed and dumped in the lake. When the other women witnessed the deed, they were locked in one of the cans and suffocated to death over the course of several hours. Oh don’t worry, the asshole behind this act got exactly what was coming to him. The Greek caught him and ordered his henchmen to kill him by slitting his throat, then decapitating him and cutting his hands off.
My Thoughts: Along with being horrific in nature, the crime caused a lot of problems throughout the board. Frank Sobotka, the head of the union that controlled the port was put under investigation, causing his life and those of his family to slowly unravel. The Baltimore PD homicide bureau found itself with 14 Jane Does that it had to solve, and the Greek’s operation was disrupted.

3. Stringer Bell
Ever since the demise of his lover Brandon at the hands of Avon Barksdale’s crew, Omar had been making life a living hell for Avon and Stringer. Things escalated when Stringer manipulated Omar into going after Brother Muzone towards the end of season 2. Things got even worse in season 3 when a robbery on one of Barksdale’s stash house goes horribly wrong resulting in the death of Omar’s partner Kimmy. Later on, Stringer ordered an attack on him as he was escorting his grandmother home from church, almost wounding her in the process. He joined up with Muzone to exact revenge on Stringer once and for all. The two corner Stringer at a construction site he was at. His last words? “Lets get on with it!”
My Thoughts: This death was notable for two reasons: Stringer’s swagger in the face of certain death, and the fact that he was betrayed by his partner/childhood friend, Avon Barksdale. You see, earlier in the season Stringer had confessed to plotting the murder of Avon’s nephew, D’Angelo (we’ll get to that shortly). This put the two at odds. Even more so when Avon was dead set to go to war with Marlo Stansfield’s crew. Wanna know how Muzone and Omar knew just where to find him? That’s because Avon told him. Before that, Stringer told the police where to find Avon’s hideout, leading to his arrest. Brother betraying brother. It’s a modern day Shakespeare tragedy.

4. Bodie
Near the end of season 4, the grim reaper came calling for another one of the old pit crew. This time it was Bodie, who had been holding down his own crew after the fall of the Barksdale empire. However, he had found himself forced to deal Marlo’s product and endure his harassment. This came to a head when Bodie discovered that Marlo had murdered his subordinate Little Kevin. Enraged, he kicked out the window of a squad car, leading to his arrest. Officer McNulty bailed him out in order to bond with him. Sadly, this act would prove lethal, as one of Marlo’s henchmen saw him leaving a police station, leading Marlo to believe that Bodie was snitching. Determined to keep his pride, Bodie shot it out with Marlo’s soldiers in a futile attempt to keep his block when he caught one from behind.
My Thoughts: Unlike his former co-worker Wallace (see #1), Bodie had been a dedicated soldier for much of the series. He was so caught up in ‘The Game’, he couldn’t imagine life without it. However, season 4 showed his growth as a character, leading his own crew of young drug dealers. Even his conversations with McNulty hinted at his maturity and potential. Sadly, he was taken away before we got to see more of it.

5. Omar
After robbing the New Day co-op in season 4, Omar and his lover Renaldo had retired to the Carribbean. However, when Marlo’s henchmen murdered his friend Butchie, Omar made his way back to Baltimore to hunt him down, vowing to cut down all his muscle while making derogatory statements about Stansfield. His soldiers were either shot or killed, and entire drug stashes were destroyed. Sadly, his mission would be cut short by the unlikeliest of sources: Kenard, a grade school-aged youth snuck up behind him and shot him in the head as he was buying cigarettes from a Korean grocer. Ironically, Kenard was one of the youths seen imitating Omar during Season 3.
My Thoughts: Omar, hands down one of the most beloved characters on television, met his end midway through the show’s final season. It wasn’t his death that was so memorable, but the deconstruction of his mythological status that happened afterward. Sure, people told stories and spread rumors about the way he met his end, but the reactions to his death showed how little he mattered in the grand scheme of things. While he was alive, he was feared and despised by drug lords, idolized by children, hated by the police in the Western District, and mildly respected by McNulty and the Major Crimes unit. However, that same Western District brushed it off as another homicide, homicide detective Bunk Moreland shrugged it off when he discovered that Omar was hunting down Marlo’s crew, McNulty and Freemon simply use the list that he had to gain info on a case they were working, the Baltimore Sun newspaper took him off the front page in favor of a family who died in a fire, and the city morgue even got his tag switched. If there was ever any indication of the show’s bleakness, it was right then and there. Don’t feel too sad though, he wasn’t supposed to make it past the first half of the first season!

6. Honorable Mentions: D’Angelo Barksdale and Snoop
D’Angelo met his end in season 2 after he refused any assistance from the Barksdale family, leading Stringer Bell to suspect him of snitching. Stringer arranged for an outside hitman to kill D’Angelo so that Barksdale wouldn’t know. Snoop meanwhile, met her maker towards the end of season 5. While picking up Michael Lee and taking him to an ambush she had planned, Michael had deduced that she was going to kill him, due to Marlo suspecting him of snitching. Snoop’s last words? How’s my head?
My Thoughts: While these were indeed meaningful, D’Angelo’s death served as a plot device to explain the deteriation of Stringer and Avon’s relationship in season 3, and its impact was outweighed by that of the 14 immigrants. Snoop’s death was just a showing of how much of a badass Michael Lee was becoming. On the show’s final episode, Michael would be shown pulling robberies just like Omar did.
Well that’s all. Agree? Disagree? Feel free to comment. Meanwhile, bow yours heads in memoriam of the people listed above, as well as this great series.