Nathan Barksdale, who inspired characters in 'The Wire' as a Baltimore gangster, has died. He was 54.

      

Actor Wood Harris, who played Avon Barksdale in The Wire, interviews Nathan Barksdale who claimed to be the inspiration for the character, in this YouTube clip.

Justin FentonContact ReporterThe Baltimore Sun

Nathan Barksdale, the former Baltimore gangster who inspired characters in "The Wire," has died in federal medical prison in North Carolina at age 54.




Barksdale, who went by the nickname "Bodie," was a notorious Baltimore criminal in the 1980s, running a violent heroin-dealing operation in the Murphy Homes. He was shot more than 20 times and had to have his right leg amputated below the knee.

Key characters on "The Wire" included nods to Barksdale, such as a drug kingpin Avon Barksdale and another dealer named "Bodie" Broadus. Nathan Barksdale eagerly embraced the connections, releasing a DVD that chronicled his life and in which he was interviewed by the actor Wood Harris, who played the Avon Barksdale character.




"In real life he was one of the most notorious and resilient gangster drug kingpins Baltimore has ever seen," a narrator on the video says. "He was a magnet for violence."

A spokesman for the city Health Department, where he worked with the anti-violence Safe Streets program before being re-arrested, and an official at the Butner, N.C. medical prison where he died both confirmed his death. Attempts to reach family were unsuccessful.

Discover upcoming releases and projects from actors featured on "The Wire," including Michael K. Williams, Idris Elba and Wendell Pierce.

Barksdale said he left behind a life of crime in recent years, and joined the Safe Streets. But in 2014 he was ensnared in a Drug Enforcement Administration wiretap investigation, accused of taking part in a heroin conspiracy with members of the Black Guerrilla Family gang.





He pleaded guilty in May 2014 and was sentenced to nearly four years in federal prison.
"I got busted," Barksdale said at his plea hearing.




Still, Barksdale said he thought he had more work to do in the community. Akio Evans, a local video director, said he followed Barksdale to events as part of his Safe Streets work and said he watched Barksdale counsel young people on how to avoid his mistakes.

'Little' Melvin Williams, Baltimore drug kingpin who appeared on 'The Wire,' dies

Jacques Kelly

Melvin Williams, whose life as a West Baltimore drug kingpin in the 1960s and post-prison redemption earned him a place in HBO's "The Wire," died Thursday at the University of Maryland Medical Center.




Friends said Mr. Williams, 73, told them he had cancer.


Known as "Little Melvin" — or Slim or Black,...

Melvin Williams, whose life as a West Baltimore drug kingpin in the 1960s and post-prison redemption earned him a place in HBO's "The Wire," died Thursday at the University of Maryland Medical Center.




Friends said Mr. Williams, 73, told them he had cancer.


Known as "Little Melvin" — or Slim or Black,...
(Jacques Kelly)

"I did some good," Barksdale said at sentencing. "I'd like to think I saved some lives."



U.S. District Judge George L. Russell III responded: "You paid back, but you took a lot. So you still owe."




Barksdale said he had lapsed back into heroin addiction and had been running a scam to feed his habit. He said he would try to get samples of heroin, promising to pass them on to big-time dealers, but instead would use the drugs himself.




Barksdale presided in the mid-1980s over a lucrative heroin ring that authorities said controlled much of the drug traffic in now-demolished public housing such as the Lexington Terrace apartments and the George B. Murphy Homes.




In August 1982, Barksdale was acquitted after a trial for the killing of Frank Harper, a drug trafficker who had been Barksdale's mentor in the trade.




In another high-profile case, Barksdale was convicted in early 1985 of torturing three people in an 11th-floor apartment in Murphy Homes. He was sentenced to 15 years in prison.




Simon, the Wire creator, said in 2014 that Barksdale did inspire aspects of certain characters, but was not specifically the basis for the Avon Barksdale character.




"There are some anecdotal connections between his story and a multitude of characters," Simon said.


"We mangled street and given names throughout 'The Wire' so that it was a general shout-out to the west-side players. But there is nothing that corresponds to a specific character."