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 primary antagonist for the first and third seasons. As of season 1, Barksdale remains 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". Barksdale runs the organization with his second-in-command, Russell "Stringer" Bell, but isolates himself and Bell 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 subject 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 in New York City. 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 Barksdale's main front business; it is there that Barksdale conducts day-to-day business, rarely venturing onto the street. When Avon's errant nephew D'Angelo murders a drug dealer, he has Stringer pay a witness to change her story in court.