"A Man's Gotta Have a Code"

by Michael Schaffer

FEBRUARY 25, 2008 TAGS: THE WIRE, TV, POLITICS, OMAR ADD A COMMENT

Critics have called The Wire the greatest show in the history of television. And Omar Little was its greatest character. A gun-toting thief who robbed drug dealers but never messed with “citizens,” the character gave a dose of magical realism to the distinctly unmagical reality depicted in the Baltimore-based HBO series. But when he was finally killed off Sunday night, it seemed downright anticlimactic: With no warning, no final soliloquy, the great Omar fell to a single gunshot in a faceless convenience store.

A more telling moment comes a few scenes later, in the Baltimore Sun newsroom. With deadline looming, the story of the killing loses out to a suburban house fire for the final slot in the news-in-brief column. The choice underlines a running theme in Sun alum David Simon’s harrowing series: mainstream society’s utter ignorance of ghetto life. In West Baltimore, Omar is a celebrity, a Robin Hood figure, his name shouted by children. At the city’s own newspaper of record, he’s an unknown, his death not even worth reporting.

How would the death have played in the in-the-know broadsheet of Simon’s imagination? Here’s a guess:

BALTIMORE—Omar Little, the veteran stick-up artist who inspired fear and fascination in drug-plagued neighborhoods across the city, was shot and killed in a west-side convenience store yesterday. Police said the assailant remained at large.

Famed for his brazen robberies of area drug dealers, Mr. Little had retired from what he called “the game” a year ago, moving to the Caribbean with a new romantic partner. But he apparently returned to Baltimore this winter to seek revenge following the brutal murder of a beloved business associate.

Mr. Little’s efforts to hunt down Marlo Stanfield, the man he blamed for the killing, were unsuccessful--an unusual stumble in a celebrated career. He injured his leg jumping out a window during what sources said was a firefight with alleged Stanfield associates. As a result, witnesses said, the once intimidating figure was reduced to limping along city streets on an improvised crutch.

Observers also said his behavior became erratic as the fruitless effort persisted.

In recent weeks, several mid-level drug dealers reported having been robbed by Mr. Little, only to have him flush the stolen goods down toilets and sewers. His past practice had been to pocket the money and re-sell the narcotics, often to the very gangs he had stolen them from.

During one such incident earlier this month, Mr. Little urged bystanders to pass word of his challenge to Mr. Stanfield and insinuated that Mr. Stanfield was too cowardly to face him, said one of the men who was robbed. The victim asked not to be identified because he was engaged in criminal activities at the time.

Mr. Stanfield could not be reached for comment.

Police said it was not immediately clear whether Mr. Little’s killing was related to the ongoing feud. One investigator familiar with the case said the shooter was believed to have been a juvenile, but declined to elaborate.

Omar Devone Little was born in Baltimore in 1973. Few details are known about his early life, although several associates said he was raised by his grandmother and remained loyal to her throughout his life, taking a break from his criminal activities to escort her to church on Sundays.

Though his lengthy arrest record included charges of attempted murder, friends said Mr. Little displayed a strong moral streak even as his life veered towards crime. According to his older brother, Anthony, as an adolescent Mr. Little once spoiled a successful robbery by the siblings and a friend. Questioning why they had robbed a man at a bus stop, Mr. Little brandished a gun to force the friend to return the elderly victim’s money.

As an adult, Mr. Little remained well-known for limiting his robberies to those already engaged in the drug trade. He was also known for eschewing profanity.

Yet by the late 1990s, Mr. Little’s tactically elaborate raids on “stash houses” and the gangsters who operated them had made him celebrated in his west-side neighborhood. Recognizing his crescent-shaped facial scar, his trench coat, and his shotgun, children often shouted “Omar” as he approached.

Mr. Little’s more famous robberies included a 2003 raid on a stash house operated by the gang of the now-incarcerated Baltimore drug figure Avon Barksdale. During that attack, Mr. Little posed as a disabled veteran while a female partner posed as a nurse in order to gain access to an area watched by Mr. Barksdale’s armed associates.

Last year, after stealing a shipment from a local drug-dealing co-operative, Mr. Little brazenly sold the supply back—at a tidy profit—to the now-dormant organization’s leader, Joseph “Proposition Joe” Stewart. Mr. Stewart died in an apparently unrelated shooting in early February; his killer remains at large.

The military-style precision of Mr. Little’s attacks, however, could not mask the fact that his methods were often shockingly violent, with numerous casualties among Mr. Little’s squad as well as those they robbed.

Though Mr. Little prided himself on never having turned a gun on “civilians,” his bitter rivalry with Mr. Barksdale did lead him to fire on the then-kingpin on a public street. Mr. Barksdale escaped.

Police said few records of Mr. Little’s escapades exist, possibly because the victims, themselves criminals, were loath to report the incidents.

As one of the few openly gay figures in Baltimore’s often homophobic drug underground, Mr. Little was a groundbreaker, subjected to numerous slurs. At one point, his gang included his own boyfriend as well as a pair of lesbian partners.

But Mr. Little’s personal life was also a rare point of vulnerability for a figure many regarded as a superhero. During his long feud with Mr. Barksdale, Mr. Little’s longtime boyfriend, Brandon, was killed and mutilated. Mr. Little blamed Mr. Barksdale, allegedly killing several of his associates in addition to the attempted hit on the kingpin. No one was charged with any of the murders.

The feud also led to one of the more surprising decisions of Mr. Little’s career: his testimony in court at the unrelated murder trial of a Barksdale associate who Mr. Little believed had been involved in Brandon’s death. Mr. Little testified that he had seen the man, Marquis “Bird” Hilton, kill a witness in an upcoming trial against yet another Barksdale associate.

Though others insisted Mr. Little had been nowhere near the scene of the killing, Mr. Hilton was convicted.

But police and prosecutors who attended the trial say the most memorable part of the day came when a prosecutor asked Mr. Little what he did for a living.

“I rip and run,” he said. “I [rob] drug dealers.”

Asked how someone choosing that avocation could live to tell the tale, Mr. Little replied, “a day at a time, I suppose.”

Later, when defense lawyer Maurice Levy sought to discredit Mr. Little’s testimony by portraying him as a “parasite” who preyed on the drug economy, Mr. Little waxed philosophical once more. He insisted he was no different from Mr. Levy, a prominent attorney who frequently represents accused drug figures.

“I got the shotgun, you got the briefcase,” he said. “It's all in the game, though, right?”

Mr. Little is survived by his grandmother; a brother, Anthony “No Heart Anthony” Little of Jessup, Maryland; and his partner, Renaldo.

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Omar Little's infamous court testimony in Maryland v. Marquis Hamilton

Omar Little robbing the Barksdale stash house dressed as a disabled veteran

Omar Little finds Marlo Stanfield's stash in a convenience store