The Real Black Kingpins HBO’s The Wire Turned Into Legends

In 2004, David Simon said Avon Barksdale, the drug lord in The Wire, was in a sense all of four real Baltimore kingpins, and therefore none of them. This is the documented story of three of those men, the man whose name the show split in two, the stick-up man who wore a wire on one of them, and a girl convicted at fourteen who walked onto the set. Where the sources disagree, we say so. 0:00 Intro 1:14 Melvin “Little Melvin” Williams, the Deacon and Avon Barksdale 7:24 Nathan “Bodie” Barksdale, the man whose name was split in two 11:20 Warren Boardley, Donnie Andrews and the wire 34:21 Maurice “Peanut” King, arrested in 1982, sentenced to 50 years 64:26 Felicia “Snoop” Pearson Sources: David Simon, “West Side Story,” Baltimore Sun Magazine (1990); VICE (June 29, 2009); The Washington Post (June 23, 1989 and May 11, 1989); UPI (March 18, 1983); The Baltimore Sun: obituaries of Donnie Andrews (2012) and Melvin Williams (Dec. 3, 2015, quoting David Simon in 2004), the Peanut King profiles (Dec. 2019), and the Felicia Pearson plea story (Aug. 2011); Variety, Slate, HuffPost, TheGrio, ABC7, AFRO, AV Club and CBS/AP; Wikipedia on Melvin Williams, Nathan Barksdale, Felicia Pearson and “The Cost” (The Wire); Baltimore City Paper (2009) via Wikipedia; Gorilla Convict on Maurice King. SUBSCRIBE to Bloody Reports for new documentaries several times a week: https://www.youtube.com/@bloodyreports?sub_confirmation=1 EXPLORE THE ARCHIVE Full playlists on Hollywood vs Reality, Bumpy Johnson and Harlem, the kingpins of Queens, Brooklyn, Detroit, Chicago, DC and Baltimore, prison kings, hitmen and stick-up crews are all on the channel. ABOUT THIS CHANNEL Bloody Reports tells the true, documented history of the American underworld, the people Hollywood borrowed from, rewrote, or left out entirely. DISCLAIMER This is a historical documentary made for educational and commentary purposes. Nothing here endorses, promotes or glorifies crime or violence. Some wording is adjusted to meet platform guidelines. Where accounts conflict, we say so. #BloodyReports #TheWire #Baltimore #BlackHistory #TrueCrime #documentary Business inquiries: [email protected]