- D'Angelo Barksdale: Now look, check it, it's simple, it's simple. See this? This the kingpin, a'ight? And he the man. You get the other dude's king, you got the game. But he trying to get your king too, so you gotta protect it. Now, the king, he move one space any direction he damn choose, 'cause he's the king. Like this, this, this, a'ight? But he ain't got no hustle. But the rest of these motherfuckers on the team, they got his back. And they run so deep, he really ain't gotta do shit.
- Preston 'Bodie' Broadus: Like your uncle.
- D'Angelo Barksdale: Yeah, like my uncle. You see this? This the queen. She smart, she fast. She move any way she want, as far as she want. And she is the go-get-shit-done piece.
- Wallace: Remind me of Stringer.
- D'Angelo Barksdale: And this over here is the castle. Like the stash. It can move like this, and like this.
- Wallace: Dog, stash don't move, man.
- D'Angelo Barksdale: C'mon, yo, think. How many time we move the stash house this week? Right? And every time we move the stash, we gotta move a little muscle with it, right? To protect it.
- Preston 'Bodie' Broadus: True, true, you right. All right, what about them little baldheaded bitches right there?
- D'Angelo Barksdale: These right here, these are the pawns. They like the soldiers. They move like this, one space forward only. Except when they fight, then it's like this. And they like the front lines, they be out in the field.
- Wallace: So how do you get to be the king?
- D'Angelo Barksdale: It ain't like that. See, the king stay the king, a'ight? Everything stay who he is. Except for the pawns. Now, if the pawn make it all the way down to the other dude's side, he get to be queen. And like I said, the queen ain't no bitch. She got all the moves.
- Preston 'Bodie' Broadus: A'ight, so if I make it to the other end, I win.
- D'Angelo Barksdale: If you catch the other dude's king and trap it, then you win.
- Preston 'Bodie' Broadus: A'ight, but if I make it to the end, I'm top dog.
- D'Angelo Barksdale: Nah, yo, it ain't like that. Look, the pawns, man, in the game, they get capped quick. They be out the game early.
- Preston 'Bodie' Broadus: Unless they some smart-ass pawns.
- Russell 'Stringer' Bell: Doin' good out there, D.
- D'Angelo Barksdale: We'll be doing even better when we get that new package.
- Russell 'Stringer' Bell: [laughs] New package same as old, man.
- D'Angelo Barksdale: Say what?
- Russell 'Stringer' Bell: Ain't no new package. Just gonna put that same shit out in a different colored gelcap is all. Might spike that shit with some procaine or some caffeine, but otherwise it's the same.
- D'Angelo Barksdale: String, man, people already coming back on us tellin' us that shit is weak.
- Russell 'Stringer' Bell: I know; shit *is* weak, but, y'know, shit is weak all over. The thing is, no matter what we call heroin, it's gonna get sold. Shit is *strong*, we gonna sell it; shit is *weak*, we gonna sell twice as much. You know why? 'Cause a fiend, he gonna chase that shit no matter what. It's crazy, you know. We do worse, and we get paid more. The govermnent do better, and it don't mean no nevermind.
- [pointing to the money]
- Russell 'Stringer' Bell: This shit right here, D, is forever.
- heroin addict: Got any testers, man?
- Preston 'Bodie' Broadus: Nigga, it ain't even 9:00 and you fiendin' on it. Get the fuck outta here, man! Damn.
- D'Angelo Barksdale: Yo, why you act like that, yo?
- Preston 'Bodie' Broadus: What, for these junkie motherfuckers?
- D'Angelo Barksdale: So you just gonna take his money all day and treat him like a dog?
- Preston 'Bodie' Broadus: How I'm supposed to treat him?
- D'Angelo Barksdale: I don't know. But you ain't gotta punk him like that.
- Malik 'Poot' Carr: He punked hisself. He a goddamn drug addict.
- D'Angelo Barksdale: And you a goddamn drug *dealer*.
- Preston 'Bodie' Broadus: So? So *what*? Oh, what, the 'customer's always right'?
- Wallace: Yo, we in the projects. The customer be fucked up. You can't give these niggers shit, man.
- D'Angelo Barksdale: Why not? Why can't you? Shit, everything else in the world gets sold without people taking advantage, scamming, lying, doing each other dirty. Why it got to be that way with this?
- Malik 'Poot' Carr: 'Cause they DOPE fiends.
- D'Angelo Barksdale: Yeah, but the game ain't gotta be played like that, yo. You can't tell me this shit can't get done without people beatin' on each other, killing each other, doing each other like dogs. And without all that, you ain't got 5-0 down here on our backs every five minutes. Throwing us around and shit.
- Wallace: Sheeit, man.
- D'Angelo Barksdale: You think 5-0 care about niggers gettin' high? In the *projects*? Man, 5-0 be down here about the *bodies*, yo. That's what they be down here about. The bodies.
- D'Angelo Barksdale: Yo, what was that?
- Wallace: Hm?
- D'Angelo Barksdale: Castle can't move like that. Yo, castle move up and down and sideways like.
- Preston 'Bodie' Broadus: Nah, we ain't playing that.
- Wallace: Yeah, look at the board. We playing checkers.
- D'Angelo Barksdale: Checkers?
- Wallace: Yeah, checkers.
- D'Angelo Barksdale: Yo, why you playing checkers on a chess set?
- Preston 'Bodie' Broadus: Yo, why you give a shit?
- Det. James 'Jimmy' McNulty: I'm not going.
- Lt. Cedric Daniels: You're insubordinate?
- Det. James 'Jimmy' McNulty: I'm not jumping out on something I believe's going to harm the case. You want to write me up on that, you can.
- Lt. Cedric Daniels: You think I want this? I got the Deputy Ops on my ass for this shit! Now I got you showing me up in front of the whole damn detail!
- Det. James 'Jimmy' McNulty: I don't mean to show anyone up.
- Lt. Cedric Daniels: Get your vest on.
- Det. James 'Jimmy' McNulty: No. I've got police work to do.
- Lt. Cedric Daniels: Motherfucker, if you felt this way, why didn't you call in sick?
- Det. James 'Jimmy' McNulty: I'm not sick.
- Lt. Cedric Daniels: [whispering] Yeah you are.
- Det. Augustus Polk: Where are the fucking run sheets?
- Det. James 'Jimmy' McNulty: Behind the board. You all go for a taste?
- Det. Patrick Mahon: Hey. We got your picture, don't you fuckin' worry, McNulty.
- [he slaps an old Polaroid down on the desk. McNulty looks at it and holds it up; the photo is of an older white man]
- Det. James 'Jimmy' McNulty: [incredulously] This is Barksdale?
- Det. Augustus Polk: [self-satisfied] Avon Barksdale.
- Det. Shakima 'Kima' Greggs: [scoffing] I don't think so.
- Det. Patrick Mahon: Read my lips: Avon fuckin' Barksdale. His name's on the form in the file.
- Det. James 'Jimmy' McNulty: Well, excuse me for giving a shit, but I can't help but notice this is a middle-aged white man.
- Det. Patrick Mahon: Hey, you want somethin' different, you give me another name. That's the only Avon Barksdale in the Housing Department files.
- [he turns to Polk]
- Det. Patrick Mahon: You got your smokes?
- [to McNulty and Greggs]
- Det. Patrick Mahon: Have a nice fuckin' day.
- [they leave; Kima examines the photo and shrugs]
- Det. Shakima 'Kima' Greggs: Maybe he's white.
- [Kima and McNulty both burst out laughing]
- [Sydnor walks into the office wearing his undercover attire, laughing]
- Detective Ellis Carver: Now look at this piece of shit!
- Detective Leander Sydnor: I'm good to go, right?
- Det. Shakima 'Kima' Greggs: Come here, lemme see.
- Detective Leander Sydnor: [opens his coat and spins around] Detective Sydnor's ensemble is the latest in Westside project wear. Have your torn cammies by Versace. Uh, stained sweatshirt by Ralph Lauren...
- Det. James 'Jimmy' McNulty: Where you mic'd?
- Detective Leander Sydnor: Down on my dick, man. I figure they ain't gonna go down there anyway, right?
- Detective Ellis Carver: I dunno, Sydnor, the way you twirlin' around, might be the first place they look.
- Detective Leander Sydnor: [laughing] Fuck you. Man, I ain't showered in two days, I ain't shaved in four. Right now, I am one ripe, nasty son of a bitch.
- Det. Shakima 'Kima' Greggs: Yo, Bubs. What you think?
- Reginald 'Bubbles' Cousins: This your man, huh?
- Det. Shakima 'Kima' Greggs: Yeah. Is he low-bottom enough for you?
- [Bubbles walks around Sydnor, inspecting him]
- Reginald 'Bubbles' Cousins: Clothes is tore-down enough. But he could use a little bit more stains. More dirt.
- [looks at Sydnor's hand]
- Reginald 'Bubbles' Cousins: What's this here, man?
- Detective Leander Sydnor: It's my wedding ring.
- Reginald 'Bubbles' Cousins: [chuckles] Shit, you married to the needle, boy. That shit been pawned off, if you for real. Dead giveaway. You could stand to lose about 20 pounds, some yellow in your teeth, fresh bleeds on your hands...
- Detective Leander Sydnor: [annoyed] Okay, so maybe I should go out and shoot up some dope for about a year or two, right? Come back when I can really carry the look off?
- Reginald 'Bubbles' Cousins: I'm just sayin', I'm just sayin', man. The more tore-down you look, the better. You gonna go down in them towers, man, they gonna check everything.
- Detective Leander Sydnor: Yo, how 'bout the shoes? I mean, I know you ain't got no problem with the shoes, fucked up as they are.
- Reginald 'Bubbles' Cousins: Lemme see the shoes, man.
- [Sydnor holds up his foot, showing a clean sole on his shoe]
- Reginald 'Bubbles' Cousins: See? You walkin' down them alleys of the projects, man, you steppin' on dead soldiers.
- Det. Shakima 'Kima' Greggs: Dead soldiers?
- Reginald 'Bubbles' Cousins: Yeah, empty vials. You can't walk down a Baltimore street without that shit crackin' underneath your feet. You wanna know if a fiend for real?
- [takes off his own shoe and holds it up so everyone can see the glass shards embedded in the sole]
- Reginald 'Bubbles' Cousins: Check the bottom of his shoes. Okay? Have him dance on some empties before we go out there. Get us killed.
- [Kima laughs; McNulty looks at Sydnor]
- Det. James 'Jimmy' McNulty: He hurt your feelings?
- Detective Leander Sydnor: [smiles wryly] Little bit.