1000 Best The Wire Quotes

- A hotel...
- At the harbor.
- This one?
- Mm-mm.
- Another.
- I can show you.

- As I wake up in the morning and get out of my bed
- I'm thinkin' 'bout the people
- I grew up with, long dead the brothers I grew up with, locked up
- I'm freestylin' off the top of my head you know it's swell, Patti LaBelle
- I like her but Regina belle is better...

Sgt. Ellis Carver: They said you're leaving for family reasons.
Dep. Comm. for Operations Cedric Daniels: Guess I got some kids somewhere I don't even know about.

- It's mcnulty. Bunk paged me.
- All right.

- All that shit count, you hear me?
- I'd let sleeping dogs lie, son.
- I know you would, Joe.
- You smart like that.
- Yeah. Me?
- Anyway, pass that offer on.
- Come back for this here in an hour.

- Nah, I don't think so.
- I'm not feeling so good today, you know?
- As your sponsor, I'm telling you, you got to step up for something.
- I don't care what,
- I don't care if it's in these rooms or not, but there ain't no laying in the cut on this shit.
- You got to step up somewhere.

- in Baltimore, working, sharing a dark corner of the American experiment.
- He was called.
- He served.
- He is counted. Old king Cole.
- Old king Cole!

- And you know who the killer is?
- Do you believe Satan walks the earth in a fleshly form?
- That Satan can occupy the souls of men?
- And he's just getting started.
- There's gonna be a lot more dead before it's over.
- Hundreds. Maybe thousands.

- You can have 734, 770 and 221.
- I keep the other three.
- How you gonna tell it to avon?
- It makes sense, don't it?
- He gonna hear something when it makes sense.
- Right?

Sean': We done gone so far from Baltimore, we're losing the station. Yo, try a Philly station or some shit like that.
Preston: The radio in Philly is different?
Sean': Nigga, please. You gotta be fucking with me right? You ain't never heard a radio station outside of Baltimore?
Preston: Yo man, I ain't never left Baltimore except that Boys Village shit one day, and I wasn't tryin' to hear no radio up in that bitch.

Sgt. Jay Landsman: Jimmy, I say this seriously. If I was laying there dead on some Baltimore street corner, I'd want you standing over me, catching the case. Because, brother, when you were good, you were the best we had.
Det. William Moreland: Shit, if you were lying there dead on some corner, it probably was Jimmy that done you.

Prosecutor: Mr. Little, how does a man rob drug dealers for eight or nine years, and live to tell about it?
Omar: Day at a time, I suppose.

- I don't even think on that car no more.
- You put it behind you, huh?
- Some can.
- I'm just saying, you wanna stay on the straight, ain't gonna be no big reward to it.
- This is it, right here.
- Prime that bitch three times.
- She'll start right up.

- I can tell you were never in patrol.
- Right.

- So, what am I gonna do, butch?
- Well... [Laughs]...
- You could come give Joe a call.
- Offer to sell the shit back to him for 20 cents on the dollar.
- Joe, Joe oughta find some humor in that.
- I know you do.

- I don't understand.
- He was one of my best welterweights.
- Why would he just quit like that?
- Why don't you ask his moms?
- Well, shit. I was locked up a good while, right.
- I mean, I ain't no angel.
- No. You ain't that.

- and she looks like she might tell me when my shit stinks, which is probably what I need.
- She's kind of like freamon with tits.
- So what, did you get her number?
- Nah, not exactly.
- What kind of detective am I if I can't track a white woman in Baltimore?
- There you go.

- Hey, Anthony. Where you at?
- First floor, 1034 north mount, sir.
- Good.

- happening to you on the way to that jail wagon.
- And while you buckin' the new system, the smart ones among you gonna be down here, makin' money hand over fist.
- So think it over.
- But I swear to god, come Monday, your world and mine ain't gonna be the same.

- You lying now, I could tell.
- You is the only one who gives a fuck and if you hadn't been the stupidest motherfucker I ever gone out with you'd have bought a bunch of them at once.
- I only need like six more.
- We be done in like a half an hour.
- How about we make one more stop, you get six of them shits and I suck your dick for the next 20 minutes.

- you effect a search of officer tilghman's vehicle, locker and person, we are confident evidence will be recovered.
- You're confident?
- As far as doc is concerned, this is a fair deal if it takes the overdoses off our plate.
- But if we come up empty on this...
- You won't.
- Five will get you ten, that's the motherfucker that spiked the packages.
- You have proof of this? Then we make the case that's there for us to make.

Det. William 'Bunk' Moreland: You're not the run-of-the-mill kind of asshole, are you, Jimmy? You're a special kind of asshole.

[Carver and Colicchio pull up to Bodie's corner and get out of the car]
Sgt. Ellis Carver: Where's the love, Bodie? Where is the muthafuckin' love?
[to Colicchio]
Sgt. Ellis Carver: I go back so far with this kid, I was chasin' him through juvy.
[to Bodie]
Sgt. Ellis Carver: But does any of that matter when we roll up here? I get so much as a wave, a nod, a smile? Nothin'?
[Bodie hawks and spits, but says nothing]
Sgt. Ellis Carver: How 'bout just "hello"?
Preston: Hello.
Sgt. Ellis Carver: See? That wasn't so hard, was it?
[he turns to Lex, who is sweeping the sidewalk and trying hard not to be noticed]
Sgt. Ellis Carver: Lex, my man, how's your day goin'? Not to criticize or anything, but I think you missed a spot there.
[he turns to Little Kevin and Reesy]
Sgt. Ellis Carver: Little Kevin, how's it hangin'? Reesy, you look like someone just shot your dog. You all right, man? You okay?
[he turns back to Bodie]
Sgt. Ellis Carver: Reesy still messin' up the count?
Little: [to Reesy] You hear what he said?
Sgt. Ellis Carver: Yo, dawg, you send him up to Lamelle next month, I'll make sure Ms. Davis puts him in remedial math, and we'll have done some good here today.
[Bodie chuckles]
Reesy: [chuckling] He's fuckin' got me.
[McNulty pulls up in his squad car and gets out]
Off. James 'Jimmy' McNulty: Everything good?
Sgt. Ellis Carver: Yeah, just words.
Off. James 'Jimmy' McNulty: [to Bodie] Mr. Entrapment. How you doin'?
[Bodie sighs and rolls his eyes]
Off. James 'Jimmy' McNulty: Don't look like that, I'm still dining out on that story.
[to Carver]
Off. James 'Jimmy' McNulty: You know how he beat the wiretap a year ago? Claimed entrapment when he was clockin' in Bunny Colvin's Hamsterdam. Shit you not. Smart kiddo. I loved it.
[to Bodie]
Off. James 'Jimmy' McNulty: When I roll back in an hour, this corner's bone-dry. Your people are done for the day.
[he gets back in his car and drives away]
Sgt. Ellis Carver: Okay, so let's try this again: I say, "Have a good evening, Mr. Broadus."
Preston: And a good evening to you, Sergeant Carver.
Sgt. Ellis Carver: See?
[he taps his forehead, and he and Colicchio walk back to their car]
Preston: [sarcastically] And a very good evening to you, Officer Colicchio.
Off. Anthony Colicchio: [viciously] Fuck yourself with a forty, shitbreath.
[to Carver]
Off. Anthony Colicchio: The fuck was all that about?
Sgt. Ellis Carver: Can't bust every head, Tony.
Off. Anthony Colicchio: [chuckling] I can't?
Sgt. Ellis Carver: Bust every head, who you gonna talk to when the shit happens?

- Say "Omar".
[Quietly] Omar.

- Want a streak or something?
- I could put a little purple in it.
- Yeah, and right after that, I'll just go ahead and stick my tongue up some guy's ass.

Russell: Doin' good out there, D.
D'Angelo: We'll be doing even better when we get that new package.
Russell: [laughs] New package same as old, man.
D'Angelo: Say what?
Russell: 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: String, man, people already coming back on us tellin' us that shit is weak.
Russell: 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: This shit right here, D, is forever.

- Boy named sherrod.
- I been carryin' his passin' for a long while.
- Like that memory I had about those summer days in the park.
- Thinkin' on that make me smile.
- With sherrod, it's more of a hurt.
- But not as... not so bad like it was.

- I ain't gonna be late.
- All right, then.
- See you then.
- What you think about that?
- I don't know.
- Might be walking into something a little later.
- So I'm gonna need for you to go up there and get me a read upfront.

- B and b.
- Hello?

- I'm with you on this, man.
- All right.
- Oh, fuck it!

- Boxing, yeah.
- I know you loved that. I hated it.
- I hated watching it.
- Yeah, I know you did.
- So you're doing good, huh?
- Day to day, I am.
- Because I was thinking, maybe...
- I'm proud of you, Dennis. Be well.

- Stay in the car. Stay in the car.
- Keep your hands on the wheel.
- Let's see those hands.
- What's the problem, officer?
- Step slowly out of the vehicle.
- Keep your hands up.
- Unh! Son, be gentler than that.
- Shut the fuck up. I ain't your son.
- This guy...

- All right. Talk to you in a few.
- Bond's running really strong against demper.
- Looks like we might have a new state's attorney.
- What does that mean for you?
- Demper's Royce's boy.
- Dare to get your hopes up, Tommy.
- You know what? Let's get outta here for a while, take a walk.

Man: Yeah, that's what I'm talkin' about.
- Got him marked. On the sideline, red shirt, white visor. I think he's coaching.
- Yo, who this fucking midget, yo?

- Yo, bub...
- This ain't shit.
- I'm not high, neither.
- It's fucking arm & hammer.
- We just been firing baking soda.
- Fuck. It's all right.
- I'll just come up with another plan.
- I did it once, right?
- Shh.

- Get his legs.
- Aagh!

Det. James 'Jimmy' McNulty: [about the wiring detail] Lester, are we still cops?
Freamon: Technically, I suppose so.
Det. James 'Jimmy' McNulty: OK, I was just checking.

- I'm gonna be a little late for roll call.
- Gotta get this kid settled.
- What's wrong with dss?
- On the phone with them right now.
- They're talking about a group home.
- Either you come up with a guardian, or he goes to social services.
- No two ways about it.
- Hello? Hello?

Joseph: Sorry to hear about my boy Sergei. Eton, too. You lost some good people.
Spiros: There'll be some new faces. A week or so. They'll find you. Just as they'll find the others that work with us.
Joseph: A week? I ain't got enough of your good shit to last much past that. You got anything to lay off before you leave?
Spiros: The last shipment is lost.
Joseph: Lost. How you mean?
Spiros: The police might be sitting on it.
Joseph: You ain't sure?
Spiros: There's more where that came from. Always there is more.
Joseph: [chuckles] A'ight, then. Imma let your new people find me. Have a safe trip. Where you say you off to again?
[Spiros just looks at him, puffs his cigarette, then stands up and walks away]

- Drinking and the whoring and all that.
- All that anger.
- 'Cause I'm better now here with you.
- No more playing "Jimmy bust balls" with the world.
- "Jimmy bust balls"?
- I swear to god, beadie, that son of a bitch nearly killed me.

- Yeah, and two more cars, yeah.
- I got more bodies than I can use on my serial thing.
- Let me make a call, hook you up with two tac guys.
- You tell 'em you're sitting on a 20 that I gave you.
- I'll write up the hours under my file.
- And you can do that?
- Go with god.

[first lines]
Det. James 'Jimmy' McNulty: So your boy's name was what?
Snot: Snot.
Det. James 'Jimmy' McNulty: You called the guy "Snot"?
Snot: Snot Boogie, yeah.
Det. James 'Jimmy' McNulty: Snot Boogie? He like the name?
Snot: What?
Det. James 'Jimmy' McNulty: Snot Boogie?
[the kid does not answer]
Det. James 'Jimmy' McNulty: This kid, whose mama went to the trouble of christening him Omar Isaiah Betts... You know, he forgets his jacket, so his nose starts running, and some asshole, instead of giving him a Kleenex, calls him "Snot". So he's Snot forever. Doesn't seem fair.
Snot: Life just be that way, I guess.

- Greggs.
[Mcnulty] Prez shot another cop.
- What?
- It was an accident in an alley a while ago.
- No.
- I'll call you back.

- And I probably let her believe it just to keep peace.
- Now she wants to be the big deal.
- What do you want?
- I don't want to disappoint her anymore.
- And right now I'm more help showing up at some dinner in my ring and dress blues than being the not-even-divorced-yet husband with the white woman on his arm.

- Lieutenant?
- Sir, I now understand that prevention is the way to go, and we'll immediately change our hours to reflect the data.
- All right, lieutenant.
- Fecal gravity.
- You beat on the right people and the shit rolls down the hill.

- I'm minding my business, doing my job when the man calls me for coffee and a Danish.
- I never been on the eighth floor of that fucking building.
- And there's the deputy fucking ops telling me how concerned he is about the case, how he needs to be informed.
- I mean, he's the deputy fucking ops, man.

- you gotta keep the devil way down in the hole
- You gotta keep the devil way down in the hole way down way down in the hole

- What's that guy doing?
- Shit.
- Here.
- I can't.
- No, you saved my ass.
Johnny: It's appreciated, you know.
- Yo, bubs, you won't fuckin' believe this.
- Bubs.

FBI Spec. Agent Terrance 'Fitz' Fitzhugh: [Referring to the FBI] We may be assholes, but on the upside, there's an awful lot of us.

- You guys going for a wiretap on that port case?
- Uh-huh.
- They got every swinging dick with a shield on that detail but me.
- You jealous, bitch?
- I'd rather be back in homicide.
- I'd take your place in a heartbeat.

- I want you to write me out a check for $4,000, the maximum allowed by law, and because we don't trust you to mail that check, we're gonna send over some dpw workers to beat the check out of you.
- All finished? You need $30,000...
- In the next three hours.
- No bullshit, Tommy.
- You hit your number or die in this room.

- Son of a bitch. You are a fucking thief!
- This is where our taxes go!
- I do good work.
- Let's get it on the fucking can.
- Horseface, you son of a bitch!
- Christ, I'm gonna bust the only nut I got left.
- Come on, boys. Ain't no heavier than the pallets we usually handle.
- Finishing touch, boys.

- Early martyr, patron
- Saint of licata, Italy.
- Prayed for his killer with the knife still in him.
- But it's not Saint Angelo calling.
- It's Saint Anthony who wants to help you.
- He does?
- Very much.
- Ain't he the guy you call when you lose something?

[Radio] 10-4. K-g-a to all units...
- I love this. Just like old times.
- I don't need to chase these fucking knuckleheads. I know half of 'em.
- Shit, I know where they hang.
- Besides, you're a little overdressed.
- Let's just call this in and go see the man about your thing.

- I ask you questions, tell you lies criticize and sympathize be careful what you wish for, friend because I've been to hell and now I'm back again
- I feel all right
- I feel all right tonight

- Hello.
- Is kima there?
- And you are?
- Tell her it's, uh, it's mcnulty.
- For you, kima.
- A decidedly confused white boy.
- Oh, god.

- to get round the capital beltway this time of day.
- You ever done an FBI profile before?
- Once.
- How'd it go?
- They take your file, read you back some shit you already know.
- Then why do it?
- So that we can say we did.
- Need a pack of Newport. Soft pack.

- Ain't nothing in here but a 24 and some crime scene photos, and this.
- "Tywanda called.
- Nfd, no last name, no address.
- "Claims your victim killed after being visited by a suspect named d."
- No further description.
- There's a callback number, though.
- So call.

- Television and radio stations...
- He's doubling back.
- 'Copy.'
- He's south on montford.

- I'm gonna go upstairs and pack some shit.
- Yo, bey. Where we going, man?
- Philly. You gonna take the truck back, but first I got to grab some shit, show you what to do with my tanks, right?
- Philly?
- We shot a narco, d.

Proposition: He said y'all would be paying my fee rather than his own, so...
Stringer: Your fee?
Proposition: I'm doing like one of them marriage counselors. Charge by the hour to tell some fool he need to bring some flowers home. And charge another hour telling the bitch she oughta suck some cock every little once in a while. You know, keep a marriage strong like that.
[Omar arrives]
Proposition: Speaking of cocksuckers...
Proposition: [to Omar] Don't believe we met. Proposition Joe. You ever steal from me, I'll kill your whole family.

- Have you ever known avon barksdale to back down from anything?
[Valchek] Of course you do.
- Get statements from responding officers.
- A plain-clothes man in a dark alley with his gun out and shots fired.
- No one wants to burn anybody but there's a racial component to consider.
- The appearance...
- Has he seen a lawyer?

- By the looks of it, we got a whole lot of DNA outta this mess.
- Now, motherfucker. Right now.
- Top of my list.
- As soon as we work through all the trace from the homeless killings.
- That's the priority, bunk.
- The homeless killings.
- Everything is backed up behind that, sorry.
- Your boy mcnulty has everyone's attention right now.

- No, sir.
- No argument at all, bunny?
- Not much you can say, is there?
- Not to real police.
- Get on with it, motherfucker.
- Excuse me, major?
- Is the admin-lieutenant present?
- Major Colvin is relieved of duty.
- You are now the acting commander of the western district.

- If I see any of y'all little hoppers even smile at a motor vehicle again, it ain't gonna be no juvenile hearing.
- It's gonna be my people settlin' up with y'all in the alleys. Understand?
- You can't do that, yo.
- Try me, namond.
- Yeah, that's right. I know your name.
- I know where you live and I know where y'all hang.

- Ain't got a forgiveness to your soul.
- Man, fuck you.
- Watch your mouth.
- You're big, but not big enough.
- Now... where's that dss card?
- Your mama said that come to me.
- Ain't nothing left on this month's check anyway.
- Before the first of the month, then.

- They're probably spies, man.
- Can't figure any other way marlo knows so much.
- Yeah, that's it. Like in this movie, zombie killer or something.
- They came out at night, hunting.
- Hunting?
- Yeah, man. They...
- Yeah, and in that movie they was snatching people up, stealing their warmth.

- Cylburn arboretum.
- Pimlico's right up the hill.
- This is nice.
- I ain't no snitch.
- Didn't say you were.
- I've been doing this a long time.
- I ain't never said nothing to no cop.

- Come on. Answer the question.
Chris: Michael.
- Michael.
- The gun.

- Damn, carv, you's triflin'.
- Yeah, I admit it, I'm disgusting.
- Cheese puffs and fucking ring-dings?
- Yeah.

Det. William 'Bunk' Moreland: So you're my eyeball witness, huh? So why'd you step up on this?
Omar: Bird triflin', basically. Kill a everyday workin' man and all. I mean, don't get it twisted, I do some dirt too, but I ain't never put my gun on nobody who wasn't in the game.
Det. William 'Bunk' Moreland: A man must have a code.
Omar: Oh, no doubt. Hey, man, I knew you from somewhere.
Det. William 'Bunk' Moreland: Yeah? I was in Southwestern, before I came to Homicide to work Frederick Road.
Omar: Nah, I mean back in the day. You go to Edmondson, right? Yeah, you was ahead of me. I remember you was the first brother I ever seen play that sport with a stick, uh, what's it called?
Det. William 'Bunk' Moreland: [chuckling] Lacrosse, man.
Omar: Fo' sho.
Det. William 'Bunk' Moreland: Yeah. I was All-Metro attack. Prep school boys used to pee themselves when they see the ol' Bunk comin' at 'em, you know?
[they laugh]
Det. William 'Bunk' Moreland: Oh, man, so look here, homie. Seein' as how you bein' all charitable with your recollections, what else you got in the way of open murders?
Omar: Goin' to Barksdale?
Det. William 'Bunk' Moreland: Goin' anywhere.
Omar: How far back you want me to go?
Det. William 'Bunk' Moreland: As far as you need. Murder stay murder.

- That is why we asked lieutenant Daniels to set us up at his off-site, in the southeast.
- They're looking at the dock boys for other shit, drugs mostly.
- Daniels, who used to be in narcotics?
- Yeah.
- Well, if Daniels has a detail set up already, maybe he takes the murders, too.
- He ain't no fool, Jay.
- He's just giving us a room with no view.

- then an overt attempt to... engage.
- Spot on.
- Detective freamon with Baltimore homicide.
- What do you guys have in vicap for male victims, headless or faceless, and missing both hands?
- State?
- Middle Atlantic region.

- we just gotta keep the devil way down in the hole
- Down in the hole down in the hole gotta help me keep the devil down in the hole

Michael: For real,
- I'm telling you the truth.
Woman: It tickles.
- You sure you want to do this?
- I don't wanna hurt you.
- Nah.

- So?
- She didn't know what "et al" meant.
- And she sorted everything under the single complaint number.
- You don't fucking mean...
- Yeah.
- We have no idea which one of your scenes any of this shit came from.
- Oh...
- We don't have a clue.
- Actually, except for this she's been a pretty good employee.

- Let's do it.
- I'm up.
- You're on medical.
- I'm up, boss.
- Give him a vest.

- And you know that my name ain't nowhere on what happened to your friend.
- I think what we're asking is reasonable under the circumstances.
- Until someone identifies the source of the tainted heroin, you could have another five overdoses tomorrow or the day after.
- Consider the offer.
- But the next time we talk, an assistant
- Attorney General has to be in the room.

- Mcnulty, it's perfect.
- I couldn't believe it.
- I'm sitting there, all this bullshit coming at me, thinking, Christ, this is a waste of time.
- Then I realized this is the wiretap.
- Right here. They're giving it to me.
- Never mind me making a crank call.
- This right here is Lester freamon's motherfucking wire.

[Lester] Not a call since we gave it up to cheese.
- What did you expect?
- Attention.

- Tell them how you personally think your uncle...
- Maybe he got it wrong, because it's wrong that they lost their daddy behind what happened, you know?
- It might mean something to 'em to know that you feeling for 'em.
- Man, I ain't got nothing to say.
- Just say what's in your heart.

- You've got a way to keep me on your side you give me cause for love that I can't hide for you I know I'd even try to turn the tide because you're mine, I walk the line

- I only fucked her once.
- Christ, everybody down the point fucked her the once, zig.
- How do you know it's yours?
- You call this lawyer?
- Figured I'd get drunk first.
- That's a good plan.

- Just been chasing that pipe, you know?
- Shit's got me all digging and scratching in my arms.
- You know, it's cool.
- All right, come on, you need a break.
- I'm serious, you need a break. Come on.
- No, man, look around you.
- It's a soldier's paradise, man.

[Man] Les hombres! Les hombres!
- Les hombres!
[2nd man] Wait up, amigo!

- gotta watch your back well, I beg your pardon walk the straight and narrow track if you walk with Jesus he's gonna save your soul you gotta keep the devil way down in a hole

Det. James 'Jimmy' McNulty: [after his ex-wife hangs up on him] You know something? My ex-wife, the way she acts sometimes, the way she deals with shit... You would think a less enlightened man than myself, a cruder man than myself, a man less sensitized to the qualities and charms and value of women- a man like that, not me, but a man like that, he just might call her a 'cunt.'
Det. Shakima 'Kima' Greggs: You just called the mother of your children a cunt.

- Shit!
- Which one?
- The rental there, the Taurus.
- I gotta say, lieutenant, you got mad suction with the federales.

City: You ever notice that the guys who do that, the Blairs, the Glasses, the Kelleys, they all start with something small, you know. Just a little quote that they clean up. And then it's a whole anecdote. And pretty soon, they're seeing some amazing shit. They're the lucky ones who just happen to be standing on the right street corner in Tel Aviv when the pizza joint blows up and the human head rolls down the street with the eyes still blinking!
Managing: The pictures were sent to him. The police have confirmed...
City: It always starts with something true, something confirmed.

Det. William Moreland: You seem awfully happy today.
Det. Ray Cole: I got laid last night.
Det. William Moreland: Oh yeah? Your asshole still hurt?

- Kima.
- The Lincoln, we're on it.
- Hang back. Let's see where he goes.

- We wanna have a word with your boy here.
- Ain't nothing stopping you. Talk.
- You know what we mean.
- Yo, the little bitch was talking to the police.
- That's a lie. I ain't been doin' no snitching.
- The fuck you ain't.
- He look like he about to pee on hisself now.
- You ain't gonna stand by no rat motherfucker, is you?
- Naw, I ain't standing with no rat.

- Look, I won't ever disrespect your pencil again, I promise.
- Zenobia, it wasn't about the pencil.
- Please, Mr. P.
- Come on, Mr. P.
- Ok, ok, all right.
[Boy] All right.
- Just this one time, I'll make an exception.
- But next time, expect to stay the full hour.

- The cops picked me up, saying I was slinging.
- They was gonna send me to baby booking.
- But we took him in.
- You leave my son the fuck alone.
- And you, you afraid to go to baby booking?
- The fuck is wrong with you, boy?
- Get in the damn house!

- What was she firing?
- Dirty bomb, with a red-top chaser.
- Damn. The bomb is the bomb.

Det. Shakima 'Kima' Greggs: Fuck me. I still cannot type.

- Everything matters, I'm afraid.
- Well, anything I can do to help.
- I'll get out of the way and leave you all to it.
- Marla, I have to tell you that your photo with Cedric works really well on the mailer.
- I sure hope he knows what he's in for because it's gonna be a long race for the both of you.
- And that is not going to go easy.
[Watkins] Speaking of which, we've got to...

- Why'd you page her, shit bird?
- Get off me.
- You think this is a game?
- I wanna talk to greggs.
- You can't, motherfucker.
- Then mcnulty then. This shit ain't right, sir.
- Savino. Savino.
- Mope ain't around.
- One of them low-rise hoppers on tower phone two.

Namond: Ayo, Kenard. Why you lie to me?
Kenard: Fuck you talkin' 'bout?
Namond: You said the police kicked your door in. I seen the door. They ain't kick shit in. How you gonna lie?
Kenard: Go on, man.
Namond: Yo, where the package at, man?
Kenard: Package up my ass, gump!
Namond: Yo, I'm 'bout to...
Kenard: You 'bout to? Go on, walk! Gump-ass muthafucka.
[Michael suddenly punches Kenard and begins savagely beating him]
Kenard: Nay... Nay...
Man: Yo! Look at that little nigga gettin' his ass beat! Hahaha!
[Michael gives Kenard one final punch, then drops him to the pavement]
Michael: You always talkin' too goddamn much. Go 'head, Nay. Get your pack off this bitch so we can go.
Namond: [in shock] I ain't want it... I ain't want it.
[he turns and runs away]

- in the bottom of the hole in the hole in the hole way down in the hole in the hole in the hole in the hole in the hole way down in the hole

Det. William 'Bunk' Moreland: You ain't gonna play that country shit, right? I hate that country shit.

- Uh-oh, look at this.
- Where is your fine take-home car?
- Got took home.
- We need to talk.

- The vehicle log says they parked it at
- 2200 hours, returning the keys to the oic.
- And?
- We have the keys.
- But not the Van.
- Are you telling me that a fully-equipped $120,000 surveillance Van assigned to the southeastern district cannot be located?

- 11-34 to surveillance, both targets are on the move.
- We can't make the vehicle but you sure as hell can.
- Copy.
- What was he doing with that thing in his hand?
- Same thing you always do.
- Probably sending a text message.
- My kids are crazy over that.

- Yo, we short?
- No, we good. Got 60 left from 1,400.
- We on it, Mike.
- So why you ain't tell Duke?
- Huh?
- Why you fucking with Duke, nigger?
- I ain't fucking with nobody, man.
- He just acting like a bitch, that's all.
Man: Greenhouse gas is hot.

- Rawls came to me.
- Asked if I would take the homicides.
- You should.
- Those girls in the can really suffocated.
- They really died in that fucking box.
- You pick this case up, you might eat those open murders.
- But you let it pass, you got to ask yourself how you want to live your day-to-day.

[Snoop] Fuck that nigger.
- What up, b?
- Where ma at?
- Upstairs.
- Michael, my daddy came home.
- Daddy came home?
Woman: Look who home.
- Michael.

- You got problems?
- I stirred up some shit with this hamsterdam mess.
- That's 'cause you was behind that that made me come to you with this.
- Look like you and me both trying to make sense of this game.
- Speak your mind, Russell.

- All right, look, fuck y'all.
- I need a drink.
- Come on, we're almost through 2002.
- No.
- Tomorrow is another goddamn day, right?
- Yeah.

- Yeah.
- Here and down on Winchester, under the bridge.
- Bet there were a lot of nights you didn't go home to the missus.
- Don't tell me I'm the same kind of asshole.
- Pucker up, girlfriend.
- Jesus!
- I'm turning into mcnulty.

- So it's Larry, huh?
- Ok, Larry. You're with good people here.
- It's all gonna be great.
- You're gonna like this place.
- It's warm, they got nice beds.
- And best of all, I gave you cash moneyjust for walking in the door.
- Come on, Larry.
- It's gonna be fine. I promise.

Judge: I'm going to schedule sentencing for the third week of next month. Anything else today?
Maurice: Uh, Your Honor... my client, having preserved the necessary grounds for appeal in the record, wishes me to state unequivocally that, regardless of this jury's verdict, he is the victim of wholesale perjury on the part of the state's key witness, and we ask that an appeal bond be set so that he can participate fully in this investigation.
Judge: An appeal bond on a conviction of first-degree murder? Mr. Levy, get a grip on yourself.
Maurice: Your Honor...
Judge: [cutting him off] Not only will there be no bond pending sentencing, but as far as I'm concerned, the pre-sentencing report is a mere formality. Mr. Hilton has been found guilty of killing a state's witness, who testified in this very courtroom. He did so in cold blood, and for pay. Unless the pre-sentence report indicates that he is, in fact, the Messiah come again, he will very likely be sentenced to life, no parole, by a Baltimore judge who, for once in his life, gets to leave his office feeling that his job actually matters. Mr. Hilton, are you the second coming of our Savior?
Marquis: Excuse me?
Judge: Are you Jesus Christ come back to earth?
Marquis: Umm...
[Phelan abruptly bangs his gavel and stands up to leave]
Judge: See you at sentencing.

- I'll be damned.
- Bird sure know how to bring it out in people, don't he?
[Santangelo] Hello?
- The Lindsey case, right?
- No, Lindsey. Martin Lindsey.
- Who the fuck is Denise Redding?

- If you want it to go away...
- If you wanna bring in someone else, maybe do things differently.
- You looking for the back door, lieutenant? Already?
- Mcnulty says this case needs a wire.
- You think he's right?
- It needs somethin'.

- Niggers don't know if they went back to the Bronx or whatever.
- You feel me?
- Course. I'll tell my people.
- No disrespect to your professionalism or nothing.
- We all impressed how you lose the motherfuckers like that.
- We just trying to send a message to these New York people in full effect.
- You know what I'm saying?
- I'll get back to you on this.

- you gotta keep the devil way down in the hole
- You gotta keep the devil way down in the hole way down way down in the hole

Slim: [during a New Day Co-Op meeting] Milton came with six hundred, and Little Glen is in for three.
Clinton: I got five from me, and I got five from Chinaman to cover.
Slim: We still short nine hundred.
Melvin: I can go that, no thing.
Ricardo: What? Muthafucka, where you get that kinda scratch?
Melvin: You don't think Cheese know this here game? We sellin' dope and coke in Baltimore, nigga. Any of y'all ain't got that kinda money need be ashamed.
Clinton: You're still puttin' up more than your share with that.
Melvin: The way I look at it, we all gonna more than paid once we own the connect, so...
Ricardo: Shit, nigga, we was good when ya uncle had it. You had to go ahead and put up with Marlo -
[Cheese abruptly draws his gun and sticks it in Rick's face]
Melvin: See that? See now, that's just the wrong way to look at it. 'Cause Joe had his time, and Omar put an end to that. Then Marlo had his time, short as it was, and the police put an end to that. And now, muthafucka, it's OUR time. Mines and yours. But instead of just shuttin' up and kickin' in, you gonna stand there cryin' that "back in the day" shit.
Ricardo: Cheese...
Melvin: There ain't no "back in the day," nigga! Ain't no nostalgia to this shit here! There's just the street, and the game, and what happen here today.
Ricardo: You right.
[Cheese lowers his gun]
Melvin: When it was my uncle, I was with my uncle. When it was Marlo, I was with him. But now, nigga -
[Slim suddenly draws his gun and shoots Cheese in the head, killing him instantly. Everyone stares in shock as Cheese's body twitches on the ground]
Clinton: What the fuck you do that for? Now we short the nine!
Slim: That was for Joe.
[he walks away]
Clinton: [to Rick, jerking his thumb at Slim] This sentimental muthafucka just cost us money.

- All due respect.
[Mello] Nothing but tumbleweeds.
- Get me some buses.
- Tomorrow we clean the corners.
- Put them all in one place and give them the news.
- And I'm not asking anymore.

- That's him, man. The fool.
- Yo, I know that nigger, man.
- Yeah?
- Owe me money, actually.
- Yeah?
- She ain't saying it like that.
- She saying it like she wants to get pregnant.
- You all right?

- Hey.
- Hey.
- I ain't lying when I say this papennork is kicking my ass.
- Maybe so, but you come through the door in one piece.
- You like to think so, but all these paper cuts are starting to take their toll.
- Aw, you big, nasty detective. Come here.
- Let me give your little boo-boo a kiss!

- Kiss the sky, nigger.
- Ready to go?
- Yeah. Are you all right to drive?
- Ithoughtyou were the designated driver tonight.
- No, I'm good, really. I'm good to go.

- You deserve it.
- You worked hard.
- I did. I do.
- Cheers.
- Cheers.
- You know, when I took this job, you promised me a win bonus.
- Well, you earned it.

- But you ain't done shit else so what are you gonna do?
- I don't know.
- But it can't be this.
- All right, then. We straight.
- See you.
- See you.

- I agree we can't fix the city schools but we can't let them get any worse either.
- Go to Annapolis. Eat his shit.
- If we lose control of the schools, nerese and the teachers'll rip you but the rest of the city'll see you did it for them kids.
- Kids don't vote.

- and eventually, a title 3 wiretap.
- Most of all, it needs police who know how to work those things.
- You think it's good to put it out on the street that witnesses get killed?
- You think it's not on the street already?
- No grandstanding.
- Like I said, we get in and out.

- has been increased with the aid of sophisticated computer software.
- And we have some of the best criminal investigators in the nation working 24/7.
- As the mayor made very clear a moment ago, this is now a priority for the department.
- Has a note been found at any of the scenes?
- I'm not at Liberty to go into any details of the investigation at this time.
- You want me to hang?

- Shit! Go!
- Go! Look out, man!
- Break it. Break it, motherfuckers.
- Man said break. Come on.
- I was working that bitch.
- Yeah, shorty, you hard.
- Go. We out of here.

- and now, he coming at Brianna with this bullshit?
- A complaint's not going to do anything.
- And the fact is, if the cops say her son might not be a suicide,
- Brianna's gonna hear this out, regardless.
- I suppose avon should know about it, though.
- Yeah, well, I'll handle that.

- you got a reporter nosing around about the academy class.
- Tell him you have no idea how it leaked.
- I knew this shit'd come back to me.
- You're covered on this.
- God damn it, you can't hang me out there like this with the mayor.
- My ass is flapping in the breeze...
- You want that class, erv?
- You gotta trust me.
- Shit.

- You keep your head low, lieutenant. A year or two, you'll be back in their favor.
- Year or two and I'll be a lawyer.
- I got 22 years in.
- I'm putting the papers in this week.
- You're gone, huh?
- What the hell am I doing down here with a law degree, right?
- You take care, mcnulty.
- You too.

- madam prosecutor, gentlemen...
- Don't pay heed to temptation the first case up and I have to recuse myself.
- Your honor, I appreciate your concern.
- You gotta keep the devil way down in the hole

- All of them John does. That's just headless and handless in the mid-Atlantic region.
- Go nationwide, you'll be up over four dozen.
[Freamon] Fuck me.
- What can I tell you, kiddo?
- We are policing a culture in moral decline.
- So, you want to come get these?
- Or should I run them over to southeast?
- Run them over to southeast.
- Ok.

- How much?
- 200.
- Damn, boy.
- Teacher must love your black ass.
- C'mon with it. They gonna put out testers up on poplar grove.
- We gonna be late for it.
- C'mon, boy. C'mon.

- Hey, prissy.
- Thought you'd be here.

- Man, I don't know where we at.
- We are in Baltimore, Lamar.
- Baltimore, Maryland.

- Yeah, you keep this job,
- I'm gonna gain some serious weight.
- Just the two?
- Just the two.
- You never heard of buying in bulk?
- You could be saving them people money.
- Better still, spending it on me.

- Don't fuck with this count.
- I'll be right back with your shit.

- Copy.
- 11-34.
- Subject and companion, blue suit, leaving the hotel any moment now.
[Bunk] Copy, we got the eyeball.
- The man with vondopoulos must be big.
- I mean, look at that expensive suit.
- Yeah, with them buttons and all.

- How much, Nick?
- Come here. Come here.
- Like 500 a week. Maybe more.
- But steady. You know, we can count on it.
- Between what you make with them scissors and this we can pay down the truck and still have enough left over for some place nice out in the county.

- It's gonna be partly cloudy, breezy and warm today with highs around 80.
- Right now in Baltimore, sunny skies.
- And here's one of my morning favorites.
- I know this might sound strange
- Yo, ott. Santo Rey's late, uh?
- Squall last night off of Hampton roads.

- They're gonna be coming back here.
- Michael has piano.
- No problem, we'll do something after that.
- Maybe we go by my place, pick up some things.
- I don't want the boys to know that you were here.
- It's gonna get them hoping.
- So... you need to leave.

- You clear some time tomorrow,
- I'll open the door for you. That work?
- Son...
- You need to focus a bit more on what can be gained by working with people.
- That's just a thought, now.
- Yeah.
- Thanks.

- and fucked with by some sick motherfucker who used him forjerk-off purposes.
- How the shit about the bite marks get in the papers in the first place?
- Gotta run.
- I got shit to assemble.
- You didn't tell me that part of it, did you, motherfucker?
Managing: I got one at the corner of Calhoun and mosher.

- You don't gotta do the whole thing on your fingers, little man. Look, first column.
- Six and six is...
- 12.
- Put down the two, you bring over the one.
- Bug.
[Lee] Hey, big man.
- Get over to me now.
- We were going...
- Now.

- the guys with their feet up on their desk telling stories, who shorted you on the food runs, who signed your overtime slips.
- In the end, they're not gonna be there either.
- Family. That's it. Family, and if you're lucky, one or two friends who are the same as family.
- That's all the best of us get.
- Everything else is just...

- In fact, I have a fresh angle on last year's major case, on which I'm the sole remaining investigator.
- So fuck your stripes and fuck mcnulty and fuck your big-dick red ball.
- If you can't work with that, just write me the fuck up, and ship my ass to a trial board.

- But what? You gotta ask your wife?
- No, I ain't gotta ask her nothing.
- I'm just letting Mr. Jenkins stew a little, is all.
- Wonder what's keeping him.
- All he had to do was tinkle.
- I guess he felt the need to make a dookey too.

- Marlene, you send that copy off to Paris?
- Thank you, darling.
- I'm not at work. I'm at the airport.
- The shuttle, yes.

- He could have offered to let me pick but didn't.
- He sent me a message on this.
- And the message is?
- Don't dig in, don't get fancy.
- Put a quick charge on this barksdale and then get out.
- If he sends me good police,
- I might do good police work.
- But if the state's attorney's office...
- No.

- and I might have reason to let a few things slide.
- Mad at me?
- Come on, now.
- Dukie's just mad at everybody.
- Snitch bitch.
- Yo, what the fuck was that?
- I don't know.

- You workin' a Stanfield corner, which means you workin' for a straight-up punk.
- Ya feel me?
- I'm out here in these streets every day.
- Me an' my lonesome.
- An' where he at? Huh?

- You could drive a tank through there, it wouldn't take a scratch.
- Where the fuck you going with this?
- Greece. Athens, Greece.
- The hole is so they don't think it's an inside job.
- So they don't look at the union.
- Welcome aboard, chief.

- really, the thing to do is just to ask for it.
- All I do is put money in your pocket and make sure you don't stray from the nest!
- Sit down. The last motherfucking thing I need is for the clean name on my liquor license to be dirtied the fuck up by you.
- You understand that, right?
- Avon, come on, man. Come on, avon.

- You got to let these motherfuckers know who you are.
- You coming?
- I'm with you.
- Carv?
- What the hell?
- Let's do it.
- Come on.

- How you feeling?
- Can't complain, yo.
- Getting to be that time, though.
- Joe wanted me to check in, you know.
- All right. Pull up a chair. Let's chop it up.
Omar: Now, that there a barksdale boy.
- So?
- Don't add up.
- Interesting, though.

- They want more reporting on this, but I don't see where it can go from here.
- The cops are selling a sexual motive but they won't explain it any more than that.
- Who are you dealing with?
- Detective who has the case.
- And he wants publicity?

- A victim, Jay. On the real side.
- Do tell.
- Second body in a double.
- Girl in her 20s, caught in a firefight.
- Takes one in the dome.
- But she's still dead in a zip code that does not fucking matter.
- And you still owe me a departmental issue nine.
- Find the fucking gun, bunk.

- Fits nice...
- It's all in the game.
- It was only a couple of dollars.
- It ain't the money.
- But we fucked him up bad.
- It's the message, d.
- You can't show no weakness.
- Still, I'm saying.
- What?

Reporter: What are you reading there, Senator?
State Sen. R. Clayton 'Clay' Davis: Promethus Bound. An ancient play, one of the oldest we have. About a simple man who was horrifically punished by the powers that be for the terrible crime of trying to bring light to the common people. In the words of
[checks author]
State Sen. R. Clayton 'Clay' Davis: Ascyllius, "No good deed goes unpunished." I cannot tell you how much consolation I find in these slim pages.

- It's not the easiest trade, you know, robbin' dealers.
- A man like that is likely to have a weapon on him.
- We Jack him up. There's a charge to work off.
- And if he knows where the barksdale stash is he probably knows a whole lot more.
- See? Another plan.

Sergei: [on the phone] Did he have hands? Did he have a face? Yes? Then it wasn't us...
Sergei: [laughs, hangs up the phone] ... idiot.

- Metric tons. Five or ten tons. Check and you'll see, they make these things here.
- Send them from here.
- Tanks and tanks down at your docks.
- Good money for those.
- How much?
- How much chemical? Two tons? Four? Eight?
- I'll look into it.

- A little something for a rainy day.
- You built up a right nice-size nest these past few years.
- Might be time you maybe think about backing off some?
- Back off to what?
- Later, butch.
- Stay, boy.

- I checked the computer. It's bay
- 9, cell 11. It's right on the bottom.
- You working the light, ain't you?
- I'm on it.
- Did they say anything else?
- No. Just that it's the same money to us.
- Let's go.
- All right, uncle frank.
- Winona.
- Jimmy, where you been?

- "Here you go, rook."
- And then he dropped the bracelets and walked away.
- I mean, I know you don't like it.
- But shit, I was proud.
[Women] Ooh!
- Goddamn.

Maj. Stanislaus 'Stan' Valchek: [to Herc, laughing about the oral sex incident between Mayor Royce and his secretary] What I wouldn't give to be in your shoes right now! Kid, careers have been launched on a helluva lot less. Just shut up and play dumb.

- You tell him that!
- My sergeant and two side partners got here before me.
- Then the shift commander showed.
- Now the duty officer is on his way.
- For a doa?
- Well, you and Lester started some shit here, son.
- Now a doa call brings everyone in a heartbeat.

- Why should I talk to him?
- Because Russell's a good man.
- And he's ready to run.
- Then let him run for you.
- Hang on.
- Wait a minute, partner.
- I don't think you know who you're dealing with here. You know who that is?
- Have a nice day.

- You owe me ten.
- I said name a better dog you can have today, not in history.
- You go get that dog right now.
- You cannot go get that now.
- You said the best fucking dog.
- Can you please keep it down?
- I can't hear a goddamn thing!

- Deez?
- Yeah, deez nuts.
- Fuck.
- Damn.
- Shit.
- Yo, yo. Come on.
- Yeah, come on.
- Get him, y'all!

- try to convince anyone on the street to move into the city shelters after dark.
- Can't you have police sit on locations where the homeless gather?
- And still answer the calls?
- Not without doubling up post units, which means overtime.
- Overtime, again.
- Blood in our veins, Mr. Mayor.

FBI Spec. Agent Terrence 'Fitz' Fitzhugh: State your name.
[Serge says nothing]
Off. James 'Jimmy' McNulty: No name, huh? Well, for now, we'll just call you Boris.
Sergei: Boris. Why always Boris?

- in the bottom of the hole in the hole in the hole way down in the hole in the hole in the hole in the hole in the hole way down in the hole

- You gonna act like this is news?
- I tell you this, I don't know shit about shit, but I do know this - anybody who spend time witnessing shit, you gonna get got.
- I know that sounds kinda harsh but that's the way things go around here...
- Officer.
- Let's roll.

- We ain't got time.
- I know.
- So why are you grabbing?
- They were staring right at me.

[repeated line]
State Sen. R. Clayton 'Clay' Davis: SHIIIIIT

- Say what?
- You weren't alone in this.
- We know that.
- You mean Randy?
- I'm asking you questions, remember?
- If you don't give us this murder, Kevin, somebody else will.
- And when they do, they'll be putting you in. You hear me?

Russell: How many corners do we need? How much money can a nigger make?
Avon: More than a nigger can spend.
Russell: And then we ain't gonna be around to spend what we done made already.
Avon: Shit, I ain't think I was gonna be around this long.

- Hey.
- Hey.
- Who's doing the react piece?
- Jeff will, why?
- I'm just, uh...
- I need a story. I'm up.
- Yeah. Stay hungry like that.
- Good things come when they come.

Det. Ellis Carver: What he means to say is that we are effective deterrent in the war on drugs when we are on the street.
Det. Thomas Hauk: Fucking motherfuckers up.
Det. Ellis Carver: Indeed.
Det. Thomas Hauk: Fuck the paperwork. Collect bodies, split heads.
Det. Ellis Carver: Split 'em wide.
Det. Thomas Hauk: The Western District way.
Det. Ellis Carver: A'ight.
Shakima: You rogue motherfuckers kill me. Fighting the war on drugs, one brutality case at a time.
Det. Ellis Carver: You can't even call this shit a war.
Det. Thomas Hauk: Why not?
Det. Ellis Carver: Wars end.

- Dee, right?
- Yeah. You can't be in here now, man.
- Yo, man, y'all get any final calls this week?
- Yeah, we got some.
- I didn't see any out there.
- Give me a minute.
- Let me finish up right here real quick and I'll go and get one for you.

- Let me understand. You were married and a date is a room at the best western.
- Now you're single, and a date is you coming over unannounced to learn the legal requisites for a pager intercept.
- Pretty much.
- Ok, I hear you.

- Get elected.
- Like I'm just a breathing machine for my fucking dick.
- I'm serious.
- I'm the smartest asshole in three districts and she looks at me like I'm stupid, playing some stupid game for stupid penny-ante stakes.
- She fucking looks through me, kima.

- Relax.
- I gave you my word.

- Hey.
- Hey.
- Come on in.

- Go on. Straight to bed.
- Hey, kiddo.
- Hey, mcnulty.
- Where'd you go to?
- None of your business really, Jimmy.
- And next time, I'm not going anywhere.
- Next time, you're gonna be out on your ass, because that's my fucking house.

- I fucking told them.
- For more than four weeks the Baltimore police department surrendered areas to the drug trade.
- By tomorrow, the story goes national, and Washington reacts.
- Save the best questions for Tony gray.
- He needs to shine even more than you.

State Sen. R. Clayton 'Clay' Davis: Sometimes with the bureaucracy, one hand doesn't know what the other hand is all about.
Russell: Yeah, well. you know what i see? / I see one hand in my pocket, well the other hand seems to have grabbed a dick.

Reginald: Ain't no shame in holding on to grief . . . as long as you make room for other things too.

- No, fucker, we do not have a charge.
- We just got your money.
- You want it back, you can explain it to the state's attorney where you got it.
- Y'all enjoy your day now, you hear?
[Man rapping] As I wake up in the morning and get out of my bed
- I'm thinkin' 'bout the brothers...
Man: Give me three.
- The brothers I deal with, locked up

- Three od's. Last one didn't look too good before the ambo came.
- Fuck.
- Shit.
- Hey, this guy's a cop.
- There's more inside, carv.
- Goddamn! Can't you ever get a fucking police around here when you need one?

- Everyone around me, he said.
- Was he drunk?
- Yeah. But still.
Woman at Crime Scene #1: Omar be dead. I'm tellin' you.
- Second woman: Heard that before.
- For real.
- You see him?
- Seen his dead ass layin' right up in there.
- Boy up on the corner say he try to Rob them Koreans and got killed.

- when there was another white man in the race?
[Woman] I don't know, but you must really believe in him.
- Ain't that what I been saying?
- He's just the best candidate.
- So you'll go with my man?
- I'll think about it.
- That's great. Thank you for your time.
[Woman] Bye-bye.
- All right.

State's Atty. Ilene Nathan: Mr. Little, how does a man rob drug dealers for eight or nine years and live to tell about it?
Omar: [slight pause, slight shrug] Day at a time, I s'pose.

- It's a Joseph abboud.
- He puts dark buttons instead of brass on his blazers. That's the abboud signature.
- You know what they call a guy who pays that much attention to his clothes?
- Mm-hm. A grown-up.
- We're up.
- 12-14, let's go.
- Copy, 11-34.

- Knives, any needles?
- No.
- Any illegal substances I should know about?
- Ok. Spread your legs back.
- Spread your legs back more.
- Ok, slowly bring your right arm around your back.
- Now bring the other one.

- For them, that's what this is all about.
- Me? I'm too fucking simple-minded for that.
- I just wanted to see something new every day and write a story with it.
- Alma, you'll write your way outta carroll in no time, watch.
- About as fast as you edit your way off the copy desk, huh?

Dennis: The game ain't in me no more. None of it.
Avon: But you ain't done shit else, you know what I'm sayin'? So what you gonna do?
Dennis: I don't know. But it can't be this.

- You got friends in high places, Nicky.
- Four a pack for you.
- All right, cool.
[Man] Thank god for the Russian's cellphone.
- They might be laying off the warehouse, but he ain't changing.
Sergei 'Serge' Malatov: Did he have hands?
- Did he have a face?
- Yes? Then it wasn't us.

- Anyhow, we got no fixed address, no known abode.
- If apprehended, contact detectives holley and crutchfield in homicide.
- You wanna find Omar little?
- Look for a corner boy running away from a corner with shit in his pants.
- You ever know Omar to do a citizen?
[Mello] Anyway, pass these around.

- Now get back on d.
- Check out avon. He's freaking.
[Poot] Shit, man, we got to win this one.
- Yo, I think avon's here.
- Where?
- Like I know what he looks like.
- He's a black guy rooting for westside.

- Brother ray.
- God rest ye.

- First day of work was the day the paceco dropped a hatch cover on Charlie bannion.
- Had to clean up old Charlie with a shovel.
- Ever since then, new Charles.
- He's gonna lose the leg.
- Frank.
- Where's the money from?

Off. James 'Jimmy' McNulty: [quote at end of opening credits] They can chew you up, but then they gotta spit you out.

Joseph: Omar to one side holding a spade, and maybe Marlo to the other with a shovel, and just at this moment, I manage to crawl out my own damn grave. No way do I crawl back in.

[Terri] A lot can happen between now and election day.
- I've been ahead further than Royce is and lost.
- I can't win this.
- Tommy, where the fuck you going?
- I'm your ride home, man.
- The man can read a poll.

Det. Lester Freamon: What did he call Cole?
Det. William 'Bunk' Moreland: Collateral damage.
Det. Lester Freamon: I'm feelin' pretty damn collateral myself, I gotta say.

- If burrell didn't break the case down so fast, we'd have brought back three or four million in real estate, not to mention the money those guys gave to political campaigns.
- We were deep, really deep.
- I've been trying to tell you, if it wasn't for burrell, that would have been a major case.

- Back door only.
- There's an old sofa in the basement.
- I'll throw you down some blankets.
- You try to come up those stairs, and
- I'm gonna call the police. I swear I will.

- You happy to do for me,
- I'm happy to do for you.
- Congratulations, colonel.
- Congratulations, deputy commissioner.
- Congratulations to all those who were promoted, their families and friends.
- It's a proud day for them and a proud day for the Baltimore police department.

- I know, it's annoying.
- But what the hell are you guys doing?
- Is that avon's money?
- Eastside addresses but maybe barksdale has fronts we don't know about.
- State's attorney's returning this?
- Fast as he can.
- Y'all are stirring some shit here.
- Why didn't you tell me?
- Aren't you better off that we didn't?

- Lieutenant.
- What?
- You can't compel a statement out of him until you read him his rights and we haven't yet.
- I'm his commanding officer.
- I just want to know if he's all right.
- Ok, ok, there's just...
- It's a legal question at this point.

- We can take what Orlando gives us about the club, the money laundering, maybe, or the girls.
- For that kind of cooperation,
- I'll drop a few years and call it fair.
- Daniels in here?
- Yeah.
- Call from deputy commissioner for you.
- You want it in here?
- He doesn't miss much.

- Where are you going?
- Work.

[standing next to Brandon's stabbed, beaten and burned corpse]
Off. Bobby Brown: This is the worst case of suicide I've ever seen.

- Oh? What do you want?
- Another methane probe?
- Or some other
- CSI bullshit that don't exist?
- You're the primary on the braddock case.
- The dead witness.
- Norris is back in the rotation.
- What?
- You caught your first murder. Kudos.

- Is there an alley entrance?
- Boarded up on both sides.
- So we gonna have to go through the front.
- That's a change for you, isn't it?
- You just be ready, bow tie.
- You know what I'm talking about?

- I thinks not, Terrell, I thinks not.
- Y'all might need to think this through and stop wasting my time.
- Because Omar can come back tomorrow.
- And the next day.
- And the next day.
- And I will put a bullet in all y'all behind, what happen right now, you heard?

- He said that's what the college kids drank.
- But we did it up. Right here.
- Yeah.
- He stood up there, a bottle in each hand, screaming loud enough to wake the nuns.
- What the fuck did he say?

- He went in.
- Why was he there?
- Where the fuck were you?
- Uncle frank, I didn't know.
- What didn't you know?
- What is Ziggy doing near the Greeks?
- I don't know.
- You don't know? You're supposed to.
- You're his fucking cousin!
- You're his father.

- No mother, no family.
- He in the street like I'm in the street.
- So I tried to, um...
- Like I ain't know who I am, right?
- Like I'm pretending I ain't been a dope fiend my whole damn life.
- Just lock me up, man.

- Excuse me, but the chair reminds me that you have a pressing engagement.
- So if it's all right with you, we can continue this at a later date.
- Meeting adjourned. [Bangs gavel]
- Did you see burrell sweat?
- The man's collar almost melted.
- What the hell got into you?
- You did, old buddy. You did.

- Hey, yo, banker, cash me out, yo.
- Boy, you want a head on that body, you best hop to.
- That's my money.
- Man, money ain't got no owners, only spenders.
- I tell you something else -
- I like that ring too.
- Boy, you got me confused with a man repeats himself.

Omar: Look man, I do what I can do to help y'all. But the game is out there, and it's either play or get played.

Off. Anthony Colicchio: You know what this is? It's moral midgetry. Turn the fuckin' world upside down, treat these braindead corner yo's like princelings.
Sgt. Ellis Carver: You see how clean the corners are? In every sector, street traffic is half what it was.
Off. Anthony Colicchio: Fuck that. It's wrong, and it's wrong.

- We're just gonna try to find a way to get to some of the troubled kids who won't be in the system too much longer.
- Well, look, just make sure there's no fuss.
- Nothing that gets anyone upset, you know?
- There's an election, and we don't want to put our schools in the middle of that mess.
- No, indeed.

- This nigger too ignorant to have the fucking floor.
- Y'all niggers need to start looking at the world in a new fucking light.
- Start thinking about this shit like some grown fucking men, not some niggers off the fucking corner, you heard me?
- Adjourn your asses.

- Yeah.
- Big boy picking up.
- Okay.
- 'You holler at me, right?'
- 'Where you at, man?'
- 'we on our way down.' first thing tomorrow, man.
- Yeah?
- It's him. Stay on it.

- Bitch got to pay.
Sapper: Check his pockets, yo.
- Right.
Sapper: That's mine, yo.
Gerard: Fuck off! Get the fuck off!
[Tannoy] This is command to security.
- What's up, baby?

- This is the second time this week I had to pay for a sitter 'cause he was workin' late.
- With all that money he make, you can afford it.

- I keep a close watch on this heart of mine
- I keep my eyes wide open all the time
- I keep the ends out for the tie that binds because you're mine, I walk the line

- Can I talk to you for a second?
- Maybe later. I got to get ready for work.

- No, just scar. His boy break, we gonna let him.
- But if he raise up, I'm on him.
- Damn, I wish bird was here.
- Bird be loving this shit right here.
- Which do remind me, we get up out of here, you need to drop that shit down a storm drain.
- Give me some time to go around the block and set up on the other side. All right?

- Miss trainor say if the scores don't go up before the selection all the teachers gonna get fired.
- Selection? What she mean?
- When the people vote for whoever.
- You mean an election?
- Nigger think you all that.

Det. William Moreland: Boy, them Greeks and those twisted-ass names.
Det. James 'Jimmy' McNulty: Man, lay off the Greeks. They invented civilization.
Det. William Moreland: Yeah? Ass-fucking, too.

[At the end of the meeting of drug dealers]
Russell: Adjourn your asses.

- 'So, you want us to wait?'
- Yeah.
- 'All right. We on it, man.'
- All right.
- Hey, dog. Hey, yo, hey, yo.
- There goes scar right there.
- Right there in the blue? Number 80?
- Yeah, I'm on him.

Chris: Don't fret, boss. I got you covered. Quick and clean, I promise...

D'Angelo: Where's Wallace at? Where's the boy, String?
Russell: D'Angelo, shut your mouth.
D'Angelo: Where's Wallace? That's all I wanna know. Where the fuck is Wallace? Huh? String? String? Look at me. Look at me! Where the fuck is Wallace? Huh? I don't want this Payless wearing motherfucker representing me! Imma get my own man. Alright? So just get back in your car, and the get fuck down south.
Russell: Alright you stupid motherfucker. You made this decision.
D'Angelo: Yeah, I made my decision. Where's Wallace at? Where the fuck is Wallace? Where's Wallace, String? String! Where the fuck is Wallace? Huh? Stringer!

- Get on your knees, cross them legs, knit them hands, come on.
- Hold on.
- Yo, what the fuck you doing?
- What the fuck is wrong with you, man?
- Hey, give up that ring, man.
- Come on.
- Yeah.

- Bring her in the boat?
- Hell, no.
- She'll fall apart if we try to bring her in.
- What's the plan, then?
- We'll hook her real good.
- We'll tow her slowly over to the pier.
- What's she look like?
- What do you mean?
- How long you think she's been in?
- She's fresh.
- Legs are broke, though.
- Probably a jumper from the bridge.

- That's a knucklehead from the low-rises there.
[Carver] The terrace is spreading out.
- Got to go somewheres, I guess.
- Don't think you all needed to do that.
- He turned our on me, man.
- No, I think you got played.

D'Angelo: 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: Like your uncle.
D'Angelo: 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: 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: 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: True, true, you right. All right, what about them little baldheaded bitches right there?
D'Angelo: 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: 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: A'ight, so if I make it to the other end, I win.
D'Angelo: If you catch the other dude's king and trap it, then you win.
Preston: A'ight, but if I make it to the end, I'm top dog.
D'Angelo: 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: Unless they some smart-ass pawns.

- Corner men out of the pit.
- Release your dogs.
- Yeah! I got that!
- Break your dogs!
- Look at him killing.
- Bait.

[Sighs] My point is... he can't help it.
- It makes him an asshole, I know, but it's also what makes him good police.
- Last year, he gives me eight clearances.
- One of them was a... decomp floater who was John Doe for three weeks.

- When you're alone, the going gets rough come back, come back, come back...
- Fuck me.
- I've had enough make me a queen...

- Take a look.
- That's not your name.
- Many names, many passports.
- We could do many things.
- What can you do for Ziggy?
- We ask only loyalty.

Det. Lester Freamon: Colonel, respectfully, did you just fuck me over without giving me even half a chance to clear this case?
Colonel William A. Rawls: [chuckles] Let's be clear, Det. Freamon. When I fuck you over, you'll know it. You'll be so goddamn certain, you won't need to ask the question.

- you gotta keep the devil way down in the hole
- Way down in the hole way down in the hole way down in the hole way down in the hole

- One of ours on the line.
- 'Got him.' ls carv still there?
- Hold a second.
- Carv, call for you!
- 'Hello?' you ain't gonna believe who I'm looking at.
- Again he walks off?
- Ding! Round three.

- When another victim disappears, we're gonna be even more on the spot.
- I'm just telling you, if this goes on more than a month, with what we'll be spending, you're looking at cutbacks throughout the agencies, maybe even teacher layoffs come the end of the fiscal.
- Teacher layoffs?
- By a gubernatorial candidate.
- In an election year.
- Lovely.

- It's not that I don't want to...
- Oh, you're feeling a bit mayoral. Right.
- You're on stage now.
- Well, Tommy...
- Four years is a long time for a fellow like you.
- This could be your last chance for a while.

- So, it ain't no moonlighting thing, then.
- Nah, he ain't no real police.
- He full time on this
- Mickey mouse shit here.
- What he do again?
- Talked back.
- Go over hilltop now?
- Yeah, we got that too.

- Jesus, bunny.
- What got into you?
- Another six months to my 30.
- I'm out the door on a major's pension.
- The hell they could do to me.
- Spider bags, red tops.

- then you walk away while it burns.
- I got nothing more to say to you. Nothing.
- And you...
- I'm surprised at you, girl.
- Daniels raised you from a pup.
[Mcnulty] Gotta get with bubs.

- But how the hell am I supposed to trust you?
[Boy] Mom, quick, it's a spider.
- It's a big, hairy one.
- Oh, my gosh.
- Come on, mom.
- It's a big hairy spider.
- Where?
- You mean the one that's on your leg!

- Code is 1098, ok?
- Wrong box, misdelivery.

- I heard you're loving me
- 'cause you're in love with me my baby, gonna feel for you like I comfort you you feel me...
- Hey, yo. Dee coming up.

- Podunk lawyer in denton's giving the guards a hard time about moving d'Angelo from original jurisdiction.
- Put the call through.
- Officer mace, Asa Pearlman.
- You got a problem with the lawyer?
- Ok, put the asshole on.
- This is he.

Dep. Comm. for Operations William A. Rawls: If they work for me, they need my OK. Good news is I got no problem with anyone on your list. Except McNulty. No McNulty. Nothing that even resembles the son-of-a-bitch.
Lt. Cedric Daniels: That bad, huh?
Dep. Comm. for Operations William A. Rawls: He quits or he drowns. That's the only two things getting him off the fucking boat so help me God.

- All of that is valuable evidence.
- Of what?
- Conspiracy.
- Conspiracy?
- We're building something here, detective.
- We're building it from scratch.
- All the pieces matter.
- All right?

Sgt. Ellis Carver: The young man seems to think highly of you boss. He invoked your name with a measure of respect.
Maj. Howard 'Bunny' Colvin: It wasn't but a few weeks ago when I was in a room with him being called everything but a child of God. "Mr Colvin sir, fuck you."
Namond: Yo at least I said mister.

- You need to raise it a bit.
- Yeah, that's good. Right there, that works.
- Thought I heard something.
- Rats.
- How we doing?
- We need to go.

- Why don't you fucking do it yourself?
- Sure, if you don't mind reviewing homicide folders, taking meticulous notes, trying to run down a few new leads.
- It's boring work but if you don't want to travel to the housing department,
- I'll switch with you.
- Fuck it, Patrick. Let's take a ride.

- I'm good.
- I'm trying to school you, boy, and you just don't wanna know.
- I'm cool. I'm good.
[Bubbles, outside] Whitey sale, whitey sale. One for three, three for five.
- Whitey sale.
- Whitey sale, whitey sale, whitey sale, here. One for three, three for five.

- But he says some little Kevin kid was the one supposed to tell Lex to go up in that alley.
- Plus, what did fucknut say little kev said?
- "Lex went up the alley but he ain't coming back."
- Maybe he saw the whole thing.
- Maybe he's our eyeball witness.
- Little Kevin.
- Little Kevin.

- but before I can get to that, you came to me with this.
- I mean, what the fuck?
- I gotta tell you, Lester,
- I don't want to hurt your feelings, but I can see why Daniels cringed every time you opened your fucking mouth.
- You're a supervisor's nightmare.
- I'm just following the thread.

- Back to square one.
- We're in here for the long haul.
- How you happen to pick this place for us to stage?
- Lemel?
- They closed it a few years back, and I knew it was near a lot of our crime scenes.
- I went to school here back in the day.
- Got a decent education, now that I think on it.

- Nigger give up quick, didn't he?
- I was just beginning to respect the little motherfucker for showing heart.
- Listen. When them police roll out, step in there and take my corners.
- I'm on it, b.
- Cheese steaks from bill's.
- Nah, I did that Tuesday, man.
- Fuck it then, you pick.

- I get outta the legislature for Baltimore would go to pg county.
- You take that deal and Baltimore's out half of what you want to bring back to the schools.
- Yeah, but if I don't win, Jen,
- I bring back exactly nothing.
- Look.
- Carcetti on TV: And we are saying to this senseless killer, and to all the other ills...

- Did you get to see where the money went after you handed it off?
[Kima] No.
- Nothing but touts and runners here.
- But then again, you told us so.
- I didn't say that.
- But as a matter of fact...

- Here, in the detail.
- In the beginning, when we started, burrell had me.
- I pipelined everything to that motherfucker.
- But now...
- He lost you.
- So now he's picked up someone else.
- That's how they do.

- What would I have done if he started whaling on you?
- Same kind of nothing, see?
- That's how the corners be.
- They going to use you up, sherrod.
- You welcome to stay tonight but you ain't in school tomorrow morning, this partnership need to be done.

- I ain't done so much as touch your kneecap.
- Trying to treat her with respect, and this is the way you do me?
- Wait.
- Ok, man, I'm goin', I'm out of here.
- Why you do that?
- Did you take his money?
- No, I didn't take his money.

Avon: Yeah, I ain't no suit-wearin' businessman like you. You know I'm just a gangsta, I suppose. And I want my corners.

- Sarge, nobody answers at juvenile intake and we been calling.
- Clearly, they're not as dedicated as you two detectives.
- What time does the duty consultant get here?
- You missed the 8:00.
- You got another one around midnight.
- Midnight?
- You think if we left you the papennork, you could put him in the box until intake gets here?

[Man] Get outta the street!
- Bitch!
- Hey.
- Hey.
- What's up? What you need?
- Little late in the month for this shit, isn't it?
- What you mean?
- For my aunt, she hit the match four.
- You stealing from me, cass?

[Man] What's the cross street?
- What's the cross street?
- Shots fired.
- Sounded like it was west of Milton.

- in the bottom of the hole in the hole in the hole way down in the hole in the hole in the hole in the hole in the hole way down in the hole

- Yo, b.
- Shitjumping off in the pit, yo.
- Damn.

- Going where?
- What the fuck you waiting for?

- You start following the money, you don't know where you're going.
- They don't want wiretaps or wired cls or anything else they can't control.
- Because once that tape starts rolling, who knows what's gonna be said?
- That son of a bitch mcnulty asked me what the deputy had on me.
- He actually asked me that.
- What did you say?

- but only where we say you can.
- Push them... hard.
- Get to it, people, and don't get captured.
[Carver] Hey. Stay right there.
- Get him up against the wall.
[Carver] Hey. Listen to what I'm telling you.

Man: Hey, motherfucker.
[2nd man] Got it right here, yo!
- Get that pink top, yo.
- Not yet, you fucking rodent!

Lamar: What happened to all them towers?
Brother: Slow train coming.
Lamar: Huh?
Brother: Reform, Lamar. Reform!

- The man's a virus.
- Homicide, then.
- That's you, right?
- Yeah.
- I know it's hard right now, detective, but...
- Try to think on this as a favor.

- Nice?
- Most def, man.
- Man, watch your back, be good, baby.
- What up, man?
- Yeah, he left that in here.
- How you doing?
- All right.
- Yeah?
- Me and you gonna need to talk.

- put you with someone doing drug work.
- You work for them, they'll help you with your problem. All right?
- I need this now, kima.
- I'll tell them that.
- Woman...
- So show me where you're living, and I'll tell them where they can find you.
- Take the left.

- You want to help me take his statement?
- Braddock case is down.
- Room two.
- You veteran crimefighters got a name for this, right?
- "Murder weapon" or some shit like that?

- and one day in October.
- One day?
- After that, they don't lose the government money, so we done with it.
- Nah, man. School is school.
- Yeah, well, I'm just trying to school you, brother.
- All right, which one of y'all still need your September day?
- Get it over with now, we won't be messing with y'all later.

Avon: String, this ain't about your motherfucking business class either. It ain't that part of it. It's that other thing. The street. It's the street, always.

- Mr. Hanning?
- It's an honor for me to meet you, sir.
- Who are you?
- My name's Gus haynes.
- I edited the story you're featured in.
- Then you're a fucking liar.
- Omar. It's Omar, yo!

- Give him this and tell him we need to talk, ok?
- I'm sorry.
- What the fuck you doing in there?
- Talking.
- Talking?
- Yeah.
- See you later.
- Catch you later.

- I don't know anything about that.
- I just work for tips.
- Now you do know, because we're telling you.
- You know a girl named keisha Michaels?
- She dances with me.
- How's she doing?
- All right, I guess.
- Will you excuse us a moment?

- Let's see how he plays it.
- Shit.

- Why do you need lookouts and runners if it's legal?
- A lot of them have been cut loose by the dealers.
- It's like one of those nature shows.
- Mess with the environment, some species get fucked out of their habitat.
- Did you just use the word "habitat"?
- I did.

- Man, they did you with the bum rush.
- That's what they do.
- They past experts at plucking nerves.
- You just gotta remember they barely house-broke.
- I'm telling you, man, you wouldn't believe it.
- They was all wild and shit. Wouldn't listen.
- Andre, I want you to crowd him.
- Yes, sir. I'll crowd him.

- And the other one was open.
- And yo, Dee, it fucks me up.
- It's like he's looking out, like he sees everything, you know?
- Don't think about it.
- Fuck!
- Yo.
- Let that shit go.
- Just... let it go.

- That's what they be down here about.
[Man] Squires, young squires.
- What you want, nigger?
- Got a little bag of styles for you.
- Check it out.
- Only $5. Make you a gallant motherfucker, right there, boy.
- Him, we know.

- You and sydnor will have to work it as best you can for right now.
- Assholes.
- They need another body, don't they?
- I'll call our man in the southern.
[Rick] I can take it from here.
- Y'all can bounce.
Man: All right, boss.

Omar: I'm goin' hard after Stringer.
Butchie: No point in trying to talk you back down, I suppose.
Omar: You been my bank for how long gonna ask me something like that?
Butchie: How you gonna get at him?
Omar: I don't even know, Butch. I'll take some time and think on it. One thing for sure, though. The man got to be got, you feel me?... What you see, Butch?
Butchie: Too much, boy. Too damn much.

- Got a meet.
- Want me to come?
- No, no. You go check on your corner.
- I'll send word if it's on.

Russell: Twenty-five gets me the permits?
State Sen. R. Clayton 'Clay' Davis: Mm-mmm. Twenty gets you the permits. Five is for me for bribing these downtown motherfuckers. I mean, I'm the one got to risk walking up to these thieving bitches with cash in hand, right? I'm telling you, String, the people running the city nowadays, they make the last bunch look sanctified. I mean, this some shameful shit.

- Fucking solo cars.
- I should have teamed him. I fucked up.
- Dead-ass motherfucker's dead.
- If we catch up to him, he don't come in alive.
- Right?

- Never mind, I got it right here.
- All stringer, all the time.
- Er, Theresa d'agostino, please.
Woman: Can you hold, please?
- Yeah, I'll hold.
- She's not in the office.
- You wanna leave a message?
- No, I left one already.

- How the fuck you going to start over without your peoples?
- Without your own child, even?
- You ain't got family in this world, what the hell you got?
- This motherfucker wee-bey twitches, there won't even be a trial.
- Detective carver, a word.
- Shut the door.

- Baltimore.
- I know Baltimore, but where?
- You know Turner station?
- Down past dundalk, near the point.
- The point. So, you're a country girl.
- You mean county.
- Where I'm from, the county is the country.
- Where was that?

- Hold up, string...
- No, that's a simple thing, my nigger.
- You drive the guns to the water.
- You look around, you ain't see anybody, you throw the guns... in the water.
- Splash.
- Now, get the fuck out of here, man.
- Exceptyou, young'UN.

- Hey.
- Look, misdelivery.
- Can was supposed to go ashore at Norfolk.
- Yeah, where you want it?
- I'm gonna need it on wheels at k-122.
- My man will pick it up there. Thanks, horse.

- In fact, the crews we're looking at are still beefing, still dropping bodies.
- Amazing. Crime is down and no one wants to take any credit.
- What is wrong with this picture?
- You don't mind if! Have planning and research pull all your cc numbers?
- Make sure there's not a decimal point missing.
- Pull everything, deputy.
- That number will stand.

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.

- come on, come, kiddy come, come walk on gilded splinters come on, come, kiddy come, come walk on gilded splinters
- Till I burn up till I burn...

- Watkins is breaking with the mayor.
- How do you know?
- I know.
- I've carried the mayor's water because I had to, councilman.
- I'd love to see some new blood in this city.
- And I'd love the chance to do the right thing for this police department for a change.

- If not, there's this young buck out in Salisbury thinks he can snatch up the first district seat.
Man: Mistletoe. Come get 'em.
- Mistletoe!
- How y'all doing?
- Ain't so much money. Mistletoe!

- From what I know, he runs a gym program for kids.
- He got himself shot for trying to pull a kid off the corner.
- Look, you need to speak up now or face the fact that you never spoke at all.
- They wouldn't let me see my son at marches.
- Said there wasn't much left by the time y'all found him.
- We did the best we could with the information we had.

- That ain't you, zig.
- It ain't?
- Cause the same blood don't flow for us, pop.
- I mean, I wish it did, but it don't.
- You're more like me than you know.
- You're a sobotka.
- Fucked is what I am.

- Big Roy, let me have your card.
- What do you want it for?
- Not you. Little big Roy, let me hold your card.
- Ineedit
- I'm gonna work the cape St. George today.
- I'll work it for you.
- Work it for me?
- I work the ship. You work a barstool down clement street. End of the week, you get paid.

Scott: [to homeless man on the other side of a fence] Excuse me, sir. Sir. I'm with the Baltimore Sun. Can I talk with you a minute?
Homeless: You make an appointment?
Scott: [Looks surprised and puzzled]
Homeless: Sorry, I'm booked up all afternoon.

- A lot of it.
- Dope on the table?
- We need to let them know who we are.
- We can't for one minute let them think that this will stand.
- The commissioner wants to send a message, lieutenant.
- You make sure you and your people do everything possible to see that it is heard.

D'Angelo: All my people, man. My father, my uncles, my cousins. It's just what we do. You just live this shit until you can't breathe no more.

- You think I'd run a stop with 40,000?
- Fuck, no.
- Nigger, I don't know.
- Something is up.
- So go down there today, tell them hoppers you got working for you down there that this shit is about to change.
- Stringer gonna come down there, run through the changes.
- Until this shit is straight, the pit is dead.

Acting Commissioner Ervin H. Burrell: [about Proposition Joe's gang] What makes you think they'll promote the wrong man?
Lt. Cedric Daniels: We do it all the time.

The: You should have had a son.
Spiros: But then I would have had a wife.

- Gotta giddy up an' go, dawg.
- Get!

- that you left our little interrogation without any more scuff marks than what you brought in.
- Fuck you, fat man.
- Oh! [Laughs]
- "Fuck you, fat man."
- I thought we were friends.

- Not at the mayor directly but we had the police brass in front of the subcommittee.
- I don't know.
- There's no excuse for what happened.
- You keep on it. A smack here and there does this administration a world of good.
- That's why we need new blood on the council.
- Keep everybody honest.
- Yeah.

- in the bottom of the hole in the hole in the hole way down in the hole in the hole in the hole in the hole in the hole way down in the hole

- one who himself was incapacitated by the tainted narcotics and a correctional officer, a 10-year veteran.
- I'm instructed by the corrections commissioner and the state's public safety secretary to announce that the maximum penalties will be sought against this officer...
- I got a mid-term. I gotta study.

- Bri?
- Bnanna?

- You ain't gotta push me.
- Hands up.
- Let me see you got your hands up.
- Anything on you?
- Here he goes.
- Later, son. Step light.
- Yo, was that the stash? Fuck!
- Let's go, let's go!
- Cut him off on stricker.

- What, he a problem?
- Nah.
- I just need to know more.
- All right.
- All right.
- Satisfied?
- $90,000 to you in the morning.
- We'll put a hunt on Omar later, after the heat on them empty houses give way.

- Lieutenant, you're going to fill a vacancy in the northern, 4 to 12 shift.
- Freamon, sydnor, you two are assigned to the state's attorney's office to help grand-jury the Clay Davis thing.
- When the money starts to flow,
- I'll get you all back on this somehow.
- Sorry.
- Wonder what it feels like to work in a real fucking police department.

- No, I'm not.
- I'm just tired, is all.
- I slur when I'm tired.
- That's all.
- Yeah.
- Night.

- Either you step up or you send us all home.
- So this is on me?
- I don't see anyone else in charge of this detail.
- Rawls is a major.
- Rawls is an asshole.
- My point is, he ranks me on this.
- Chain of command might mean nothing to you, mcnulty.
- What'd I tell you?

- Uh-huh. If you don't got no respect, you ain't got nothing.
- If you stupid, you get killed.
- That's the only way.
- This name in black right here got stink on it.
- Eyeball witness, bunk.
- Go back to the scene with me, take a fresh look.
- You're out of line, here, bunk. You are.
- A lot of names. Too many.
- No, we're good with it.

Det. William 'Bunk' Moreland: [Looking at a table full of photos of headless handless corpses] I bet there is another detective somewhere looking at a table full of heads right now.

[Sighs] Us, motherfucker.
- Us, man.

Slim: Ain't enough y'all done violated the Sunday morning truce. No, I'm standing here holding a torn-up church crown of a bona fide cutter lady. Do you know what a cutter lady is? Not your moms, for sure. 'Cause if they was that, y'all would've known better than that bullshit. Y'all trifling with Avon Barksdale reputation here, you know that?

- Crew that up. Run that shit.
- You get the points on that shop.
- Then we got this other thing.
- Yo, if I ain't stepping on nothing, who was that we dropped for you, yo?
- Bug's daddy.
- Word?

- How would you know?
- Who you trying to fuck anyway?
- Arletta mouzone. Treenee's cousin.
- Damn, man. In that case use a big-ass condom, all right?
- You need a trash bag. Fuck that.
- I wouldn't run up in that bitch with d'Angelo's dick. It's triflin'.

- Which is where shardene helps us out.
- Is she gonna take out a tape and ask avon to hold the other end?
- Ain't none of y'all been in the military?
- How do you learn a 30-inch, quick-time?
- Draft-dodging peace freaks.
- Get me a ruler and some string.
- Why me?

- Mr. Stanfield.
- Joseph tells me good things about you.
- You ever find that camera?
- Cost me the job.
- So let's go into the conference room where we can spread out.
- This between you and your attorney.

- Bang-bang-bang. Bang-bang-bang.
- Ok, get dressed. I pressed you some clothes and laid them out.
- And don't forget that book bag neither.
- You got your chrome, young 'UN?
- I'll take mine.
- Y'all mind the crossfire, hear? Let's go.

- You come see me.
- Tea was sold out.
- Might be tomorrow, or not for a while.
- But when you're ready for something different, give me a call.
- I'll remember.
- Motherfucker thinking he can pimp me over a candy bar.

- So Omar got an ak, right?
- But he's surrounded.
- It's like eight, nine motherfuckers up there and they all got nines.
- But he like, "you all think you..."
- Fuck you lookin' at?
- You, nigger.
- Do you know who I am?
- Nigger, you know who I am?
- Shit!

- When they took us off marlo this last time, when they said they couldn't pay for further investigation,
- I regarded that decision as illegitimate.
- Illegitimate?
- And so...
- I'm responding in kind.
- I'm going to press a case against marlo Stanfield without regard to the usual rules.

- Tell your boy to wrap up that bullshit detail in two weeks.
- He does that, he comes home, clean slate.

- What the fuck was that?
- You don't know?
- We just caught a re-up off the tower stash.
- Fourth floor, south side, second unit down.
[Daniels] Put that away.
- Put that away and work the case.
- Can I ask you something?

D'Angelo: I want what Wallace wanted. I want to start over. That's what I want. I don't care where. Anywhere. I don't give a fuck. I just want to go somewhere where I can breathe like regular folk. You give me that and I give you him.

Squeak: [nagging while they both are handcuffed] You've got to be the stupidest motherfucker I've ever dated.
Bernard: [whispering to his neighbor on the other side] I can't wait to go to jail.

- Crime lab is finishing up and the ocme Van is here waiting.
- Yeah...
- Isn't that the western district commander?
- Yeah, Daniels.
- He's the duty officer tonight.
- Seems to know his business.
- He ain't as bad as some.

- Boy will meet you outside when you ready to roll.
- I'm ready now.
- No, dog, not from me you don't.
- Later, butchie.
- Your man avon ain't got no flex.
- 'Fraid not.

Det. Thomas 'Herc' Hauk: [Herc and Carver have been referred to as Batman and Robin] I'm Batman.
Det. Ellis Carver: I don't think so.
Det. Thomas 'Herc' Hauk: Batman's white.
Det. Ellis Carver: And Robin's black?

Det. James 'Jimmy' McNulty: [about the murderer Omar testified against in court] You really seen him shoot the man?
Omar: You really asking?

- Come on, man, what the fuck do you want to go to school for?
- What do you want to be?
- An astronaut?
- A dentist? A pay lawyer, nigger?
- Look, check it out.
- Why don't you just come down here after school and just work these rush hours for me?
- How about that?

- they're talking about it anyway.
- Ripples in the pond.
- Talking ain't knowing, is it?
- Skin this cat another way.
- Two pages to stringer tonight, right?
- Only this one after the shooting.
- Who's 07? And what phone is he asking for stringer to call him back?

- You guys are on all of it, huh?
- You have a public defender sitting next to you, Mr. Sobotka.
- If there's anything you don't understand...
- They killed my uncle. I don't need to talk to no one but you people.
- How do you know they did it?
- I... I told...

- Let's go. Get up.
Man: Fucking police.
- Man, come on.
- Why you fucking with that, man?
- He ain't done nothing.
- Uhh! That's mine.
- It's yours. I know.

- And from here, the view is two of my detectives fucking the dog.
- 13 homicides
- 14 if we connect the floater and all of them red.
- What can I tell you? If this case doesn't fall, we'll all be stepping on our dicks trying to explain what happened.
- Mmm?
- So work it as you see fit but understand, if I have to throw burrell a scapegoat or two, I got one to throw.

Det. Lester Freamon: You do any accents? English, British, Scottish, something like that?
Off. James 'Jimmy' McNulty: [trying British accent] Crikey! I was looking to get a little hanky-panky and this one bloke gave me this number to call when I got across the pond.
Det. Shakima 'Kima' Greggs: [laughs]
Det. Lester Freamon: [laughs] Work on it, son.

- keep him in the hole in the hole down in the hole down in the hole keep him in the hole keep him in the...
- Down in the hole down in the hole keep him in the hole keep him in the...
- Down in the hole down in the hole

- I gotta ask you.
- If every time snotboogie would grab the money and run away...
- Why'd you even let him in the game?
- What?
- If snotboogie always stole the money, why'd you let him play?
- Got to. This america, man.

- Lieutenant.
- I saw the story in the paper.
- I want you to know I had nothing to do...

- Fucking mcnulty.
- The prince of tides.

- Here, bank that for me.
- Bank it? For what?
- Got me a plan, girl.
- The hoppers here only be wearing them big white t-shirts a couple of times before they Chuck 'em.
- So I'm thinkin', while I'm out here working for y'all,
- I sell them shirts on the corner.
- I'll make my nut comin' and goin'.

Det. James 'Jimmy' McNulty: The things that make me right for this job, maybe they're the same things that make me wrong for everything else.

Norman Wilson: [quote after opening credits] Don't try this shit at home.

- What's the matter?
- You don't like being called Boris?
- Sergei.
- No way!
- Boris is way better. It's like the guy from the cartoon. Boris and Natasha?
- Bullwinkle, man. Rocky and bullwinkle?
- You want some coffee, pie?
- No, I'm good.
- Actually, what kind of pie you got?
- Hey, zig, shut the fuck up, huh?

- What happened to all them towers?
- Slow train coming.
- Huh?
- Reform, Lamar. Reform.

- No way.
[Kid] Big red, y'all. Big reds over here.

- And now for the most important person in this room, does anybody have 24 hours or a sincere desire to live?
[Woman] Yeah! All right!

- keep him in the hole in the hole down in the hole down in the hole keep him in the hole keep him in the...
- Down in the hole down in the hole keep him in the hole keep him in the...
- Down in the hole down in the hole

- I'm asking them corner boys if they know where the barksdale package is.
- And they looking at me like I ain't even talking.
- On this strip, marlo's the name ringing out.
- There he is. You see him?

- It's not my job to fuck another cop.
- Not your job?
- Tell you what, I'm gonna be so fucking fair, I'm gonna give you the choice.
- Either bring me something on mcnulty, or go out there and do your job.
- Pick a file, any file.
- Major, come on...
- Pick a murder and solve it, or bring me mcnulty. There's no third choice.

- I can turn that package around, no problem.
- No, zig, I got it.
- You don't know...
- You hear me? I said I fucking got this one.
- Stay at home and watch cartoons.
- Let me handle this shit for the both of us, all right?
- You fuckin' walking home or what?

- You remember me?
- Do I remember you?
- I was in here the other day.
- You wanted a drink.
- Did I get a drink?
- Afraid not.
- Then why would I remember you?
- You going about it the wrong way here.
- All right.

- Come on, man. You're killing me. Stop.
[Man] It's been perfect tomato weather.
- These wonderful hot, humid days and then rain at night...
- This a Philly station?
- How the fuck would I know?
- Why would anybody wanna leave Baltimore?
- That's what I'm asking.
- Yo, that be the exit. Take that shit.

- Yeah?
- Mcnulty, it's christeson.
- Listen, my case is down an' I wanted to thank you.
- I couldn't have done it othennise.
- No problem.

- Are you trying to catch up with bird?
- Word is he dropped a workin' man.
- Wait, hold up. Come on, don't play me.
- What working man? What bird?
- Come on, now.
- Ain't but one working man, is there?
- And bird? I think your snitch can handle that.
- Shit, bubbles know bird.

- So did you have a lawyer look at the papers yet?
- I did.
- And?
- He says I shouldn't sign it.
- He says I'm giving away too much.
- I would never pay that kind of support and alimony if we went to court.
- That's what he says.

Det. Frank Barlow: Think I give a fuck? I'll be chalkin' you off one night.
Russell: You have a nice day.

- Police jumping out the next.
- Something up at the pit?
- Maybe, yeah.
- What's up with my nephew?
- I don't know.
- He making that money out the hole, but...
- He might have a problem he don't know about.
- I'm on it.

- Same consistencies on all the barrels.
- Nothing else in there.
- Nothing but the pigments.
- What's going on?
- I don't know nothing, horse.
- Swear to god. Tonight I'm just a dumb white boy from locust point.

Dep. Comm.: What's this Sobotka to you?
Maj. Stanislaus 'Stan' Valchek: He's an asshole.

Det. Lester Freamon: We're building something here, detective. We're building it from scratch. All the pieces matter.

Dep. Comm. for Operations William A. Rawls: Bunny, you cocksucker, I gotta give it to you. A brilliant idea. Insane and illegal, but stone-fucking brilliant nonetheless. After all my puttin' my foot up people's asses to decrease the numbers, he comes in and in one stroke gets a fucking 14 percent decrease. Fucking shame it's going to end our careers, but still.

Omar: Shoot, the way y'all looking at things, ain't no victim to even speak on.
Det. William 'Bunk' Moreland: Bullshit, boy. No victim? I just came from Tosha's people, remember? All this death, you don't think it ripples out? You don't even know what the fuck I'm talking about. I was a few years ahead of you at Edmondson, but I know you remember the neighborhood, how it was. We had some bad boys, for real. Wasn't about guns so much as knowing what to do with your hands. Those boys could really rack. My father had me on the straight, but like any young man, I wanted to be hard too, so I'd turn up at all the house parties where the tough boys hung. Shit, they knew I wasn't one of them. Them hard cases would come up to me and say, "Go home, schoolboy, you don't belong here." Didn't realize at the time what they were doing for me. As rough as that neighborhood could be, we had us a community. Nobody, no victim, who didn't matter. And now all we got is bodies, and predatory motherfuckers like you. And out where that girl fell, I saw kids acting like Omar, calling you by name, glorifying your ass. Makes me sick, motherfucker, how far we done fell.

- Major, I'm a fifth wheel on a car that's going nowhere. Bring me home.
- Soon enough.
- You're my eyes and ears in this mess.
- I don't want no more surprises, like that article.
- If mcnulty's planning any more bullshit,
- I got to be able to tell the deputy before the shit flies.
- Then you come home with a favor in your pocket. How bad is that?

[Kima] She's got vondopoulos in a room.
- It could be a while.
- Copy.
- All this shit's going on to chassis?
- So they tell me.
- We need a fork-lift.
- We're almost done here.

- Y'all waiting to see avon?
- I hear y'all shot the crown off an old lady's head yesterday.
- Mm-mm-mm.
- Good, y'all made it.
- Yeah.
- We're putting in some work.
- Come on upstairs so we can talk.

Det. James 'Jimmy' McNulty: Jesus, what the fuck did I do?
Det. William 'Bunk' Moreland: You happy now, bitch?

- you go running your mouth about nothing?
- String...
- And she gonna believe that too.
- What moms is not gonna believe her son didn't kill hisself?
- She gonna take that shit, go half-crazy with it.
- I just...
- You just what?
- Sorry!

- Shut it down.
- Five-o.
- Five-o, five-o, break up.

- First, there's something else
- I need to bring up.
- Old grand jury stuff?
- Sealed indictments.
- Sealed transcripts. Dozens of them.
- Pulled from the desk of a shot-to-death drug dealer in east Baltimore.
- The deputy ops brought me those.
- We have a leak.

- but spider ain't been hanging out, and, Marcus, I know you got your mother.
- So, Michael, you want to see the fights?
- You going?
- Yeah, I'm in.
- Yeah, all right.
- All right.
- Come on, get this headgear off.

- What the fuck did you do?
- And why'd you let him do it?
- Listen...
- No. That's how you got him with his head up his ass, unsolving his own fucking murders.
- Your job is to turn red to black, not the other way.
- And you, stand the fuck up for yourself.

- No?
- Starting tomorrow, I'm down at Fairfield.
- Fairfield.
- Yeah, bosses want another car patrolling the chemical plants.
- Because of terrorism, I guess.
- You're too pretty for the Fairfield piers, darling.
- You need to be uptown here with us.

- But get elected, and suddenly they know police work.
- You might think it'll be different...
- When you sit here...
- But it won't.
- You will eat their shit.
- Daniels, too, when he gets here.

- Jimmy, man, I gotta change my clothes at least, come on.
- I'm gonna do this case.
- What?
- I'm gonna do this case the way it should be done.
- It's a buy-bust, get in and get out.
- Fuck that.
- Jimmy.

- I did.
- I do.
- It was not the money that concerned me.
- You have been more than generous, and this is a gift of an honorable man, clearly.
- But, in accepting such a gift, we would give you the wrong impression.

Det. William 'Bunk' Moreland: [to an inattentive McNulty] I'm thinking of becoming a woman.

- Are you working with your uncle?
- I'm his right hand.

- I'm not even gonna bother with that.
- I'm here because of a homicide, and the way it looks right now, your boy is running from the police behind that killing.
- I don't know where he at.
- Ma'am...

- Anybody pop out here?
- Ok, quiet.
- Upstairs rear, clear.
- I'll beat this bitch like a red-headed stepchild for hiding up in this pisshole.
- Goddamn creepy crawlies everywhere.
- Tell bodie we're on his ass.

- A bit, yeah.
- You'll do fine. Just fine.
- As tender as this moment may be, detective, you've got mail.
[Lester] You got Lyon on your ass already?
[Jay] Another switch-up on the methane probes.
- I'd call that number. Get on top of that shit before you catch a case.
- Chair or no chair.

- if I'm late, don't wait go on without me
- I may tarry a while cos I need to know before I go how come the devil smiles...

- Nothing. You see? [Laughs]
- Bug, you seen your daddy?
- Went to the store.
- Where you going?
- I'm gonna go look for him.
- You ain't gonna find him.
- Why not?
- Because he ain't coming back.

- in the quiet posts in every sector, all three shifts.
- We're gonna take those nine guys and double up on the high crime posts.
- If we handle less of it...
- We ought to do better with the crime we got, right?
- Can I get two trac disposable phones?
- They're on special.
- Four for 180.
- Just the two.

- But if you make us go into them weeds for you, or if you make us come back here tomorrow night, catch you on a corner,
- I swear to fucking Christ, we will beat you longer and harder than you beat your own dick!
- Cos you do not get to win, shitbird.
- We do!

- Ain't no need to go back out.
- You ain't got to prove nothing.
- Shoot, my momma hit me harder than that.
- I still got a chance, he getting tired.
- Drink and spit.
- Ready.
- You more than ready, boy.
- You game, rooster.
- Let's go, Justin!

- Man, I ain't have her do nothing.
- She just get on her horse and come with it.
- Look. I done did everything
- I can for you and yours, but...
- From here on, your moms can't do nothing to help. All right?
- Him? From wee-bey?
- Your moms?

- Yeah, Daniels.
- Yeah.
- Where?
- Wallace?

Det. James 'Jimmy' McNulty: How long you been in the pawn shop unit?
Det. Lester Freamon: Thirteen years and four months.
Det. James 'Jimmy' McNulty: Thirteen years?
Det. Lester Freamon: And four months.
Det. James 'Jimmy' McNulty: I gotta ask you, what exactly does a police officer assigned to the pawn shop unit do?
Det. Lester Freamon: You intake reports from registered pawn shops on all items valued over $50. Then you make an index card for that item. Then you file that index card. If someone wants to find out if something stolen has been pawned, we look to see if we have an index card. If we do, we do. If we don't, we don't.
Det. James 'Jimmy' McNulty: You did that for thirteen years?
Det. Lester Freamon: And four months.
Det. James 'Jimmy' McNulty: Why'd you ask out of homicide?
Det. Lester Freamon: Wasn't no "ask" about it.
Det. James 'Jimmy' McNulty: You got the boot?
Det. Lester Freamon: Uh-huh.
Det. James 'Jimmy' McNulty: What'd you do to piss 'em off?
Det. Lester Freamon: Police work.
Det. James 'Jimmy' McNulty: I think I need to buy you a drink.
Det. Lester Freamon: Just one?

- and up pops marlo's cellphone.
- Why aren't we fired?
- Why aren't we in fucking bracelets?
- I don't know.
- Oh, shit, Lester.
- We gotta get outta here. We gotta think this thing through. Jesus fucking Christ.
- Look, meet me down at kavanagh's in ten minutes, all right?

- it's more than enough for burrell.
- He returns the favor and I'm running an investigative unit again.
- You dirty me up with murders. It doesn't play.
- Homicide's not the place to sprawl a case, lieutenant.
- Rawls, landsman, they have no Patience for anything but a quick shake.
- We got enough room for it here, anyway.

- It's just for show until the election next year.
- A city police lieutenant looks good on her arm.
- Who even cares anymore?
- Everyone's either separated or divorcing for the second time.
- This is a favor. For her.
- It's hard to explain.

Det. Roland 'Prez' Pryzbylewski: "Failure to properly identify myself as a police officer." Sounds like what I was guilty of most of my career, actually.

- You're ugly enough to be a teamster.
- Lick me, you whore!
- It'll be up on wheels. K-row, slot 122.
- Roger that.

Det. James 'Jimmy' McNulty: Can I get a Jameson?
Bartender: Bushmills OK?
Det. James 'Jimmy' McNulty: That's Protestant whiskey.

Freamon: I don't wanna go to no dance unless I can rub some tit.

- Which member of the ticket has so energized you?
- The mayor? Council president?
- The registrar of wills, maybe?
- The mayor, I might recognize if I saw him.
- For the rest,
- I'd pretty much need b of! Photos.
- You're not wrong.
- In this state, it's a thin line between campaign posters and photo arrays.

- Ain't no shame in holdin' on to grief.
- As long as you make room for other things, too.
Woman: It's all right.
- So thank you for listening.
- Thank you for lettin' me share.
[All] Thanks for sharing.

Asst. State's Atty. Rhonda Pearlman: [Reading an affadavit] You all cannot spell for shit.
Det. William Moreland: Well, would we be police if we could?

- I ain't doing no stupid shit like that!
- Fuck you, and fuck all y'all bitches.
- We don't like your ass anyway.
- Settle down, settle down.
- Yo, today's specials are those little hershey bars, three for a dime.
- And I got all your other favorites, too.
- Yo, deante, I got your liquorice...
- Red and black both.
- Snitchin' Randy.

- He going for food? Why didn't you tell me?
- My stomach's growling like a motherfucker.
- Starve, nigger.
- Man, shit.
- Re-up's here.
- Stink, what up?
- What's up, bro? 10 minutes.
- Ten?
- Yeah.

- Yo, I need y'all to hear this, man.
- It was my fault.
- You hear me?
- I'm sorry, yo.
- That don't do nothing for me.

- Yeah?
- Mcnulty. It's on.
- Yeah?
- Oh, hell, yeah.
- All right.

- You sure that's the one?
- Reesie say that was the one.
- Who am I to say different?
- I ain't gonna pay till it proves itself.
- I told him that already.
- He say 1500 for his troubles.
- Damn.
- Conscience do cost.

- Copy.
- I got no eyes at the port.
- Kima?
- She pulled up.
- I got it.
- The truck left. You won't make it.
- I'll call the mpa, delay the truck.
- Do it. Are you still here?
- Good call.

- I mean, whoever did this had to be a full-grown and powerful individual - a fearsome individual.
- You see what I'm sayin'?
- You the murder police.
- How the fuck would I know?
- Is this spot good for a stand-up?
- Let's go with a wide shot on this.

- We turned and shook as we had a look in the room where the dead men lay so big Jim dwyer made his last...

- Clean, yes.
- If there is no problem, bring in the la-z-boys. I will meet you.
- Recognize that voice?
- The man from the warehouse phone.
- That's the same guy?
- Same guy, new number.
- Who you calling?
- Pearlman, at home. Another affidavit and we're back on the main stem.

- You played with fire, didn't you?
- And now we're all getting burned...
Man: ...Reporting live from south
- Baltimore, where police have found the body of what appears to be another homeless man.
- This one killed and left in a vacant lot...
- Short while ago have refused so far...
- Did somebody not get the message?

- The kid'll say that double g had the gun, that it was like self-defense or some shit.
- Ziggy could walk, uncle frank.
- He could.
- And for that they want what?
- Loyalty.
- Motherfuckers...

Preston: [after goading Carver into hitting him] You supposed to be the GOOD cop, dumb motherfucker!

- And don't think there ain't no real money in that.
- A prosecutor?
- I don't have a name.
- Truly I don't, but it seems to me, you start lookin' at the people hangin' around the grand jury, you'll find I'm right.
- Now I know I've said enough to buy my case back.
- You know, you could buy a round, too.

[Carver] $1,500.
[Herc] 1,250, with the police discount.
- It just couldn't stand up to the modern urban crime environment, man.
- All right, slow up. This is it.
- It's, uh... listed to Nicholas Andrew sobotka, 1485 reynold street.

- We won.
- Are we happy about that?
- I think so.
- I think we are.
- Yeah.
- You sure?

- Which one?
- White detective, black hair.
- The one that was knocking on all the doors.
- What about him?
- He showed up in court to watch.
- Word.
- What are you talking to that motherfucker for? Damn, d.
- He say anything?
- No, just sat in the back.

- Oh, he most definitely made that go away, you hear me?
- It's all good.
- You know, some of the young 'uns been saying your pup stood tall with a snitchin' boy.
- Michael?
- Yeah, that's what they saying.
- Yeah.

- But after the horror movie
- I've seen today... robots!
- Piers full of robots!
- My kid will be lucky if he's punching numbers five years from now.
- While it don't mean shit that I can't take my steak knives to dibiago and sons, it breaks my heart that there's no future for the sobotkas on the waterfront.
- Here, brucie. I think they're your size.

- That's what I'm gonna say to you every time we meet.
- Money or pills, don't care which.
- All right, all right. Cool.
- I'm getting it.
- See?
- Smackdown, yo. Ace in the hole.

- A'ight.
- From one whore to another.
Managing: Whoa, what the fuck?
- Check this shit out.
- Beautiful.
- Holy shit. Look at this motherfucker.
- Hit him with the spot.

- You going over there?
- Get me a cheese steak.
- You hungry too?
- I could do a burger.
- Let me get onions on that, man.
- You organizing it right? My 50s with my 50s, and my 100s with my 100s?
- All right, ladies, good night.
- I see you all tomorrow, on time, you hear?

- The fuck we tell you about fighting down here?
- Only rule is no fighting, no cutting, no shooting!
- Y'all still fuck it up.
- Next time you make me come down here, see if I don't call for a 10-38.
- Just so you know, dickhead, that's an ambulance.
- Break it up, break it up, break it up, break it up.

- Tend to go to that one pay phone in the courtyard a little too much.
- Jesus.
- He's lit at 9:00 in the morning?
- Or from the night before.
- Detective.
- Detective polk.

- Stefanos.
- Have the boy go to eton.
- Tell him to come right away to the other place.
- You're not calling?
- No phones. No more phones.
- Adieu, my friend.

- all the casework laid out like I'm lost in a career case.
- Landsman barely noticed.
- We crank this up, landsman won't be the only one thumbing through this h-file.
- We get sloppy, we get cuffed.
- What do you want me to do?
- What detectives do, detective.

- keep him in the hole in the hole down in the hole down in the hole keep him in the hole keep him in the...
- Down in the hole down in the hole keep him in the hole keep him in the...
- Down in the hole down in the hole

- You can set up here at the off-site and we can share information but the murders stay with homicide.
- Unless, of course, you find a suspect.

Det. Lester Freamon: The job will not save you, Jimmy.

- Your bosses don't know you're doing this?
- Who'll be coming?
- Me, a detective name of freamon, and Daniels.
- I can speak for Daniels, brother.
- He's played this thing out with real heart.
- Come on, set something up.
- All right.

- I was talking to him first.
- No need for physical contact.
- You got $4 for me? I'm short $4.
- What the fuck...? Oh!
- Got a cart full of shit, nigger.
- What you got for me?
- I know you holding.
- Where's it at? You ain't hear?
[Groans] Ok. It's in my shoe... my shoe.
- Don't need the four now, son.

- Where you goin' at so early?
- I'm gonna go run, and then I got lawn work later.
- You comin' back, right?
- What you mean am I comin' back?
- It's gonna be like that, huh?
- What do you mean? Like what?

[Dukie] What's up?
[Prez] Just the dice.
- Grab the dice from any game that has them.
- We're using that third edition, right?
- I don't know.
- We're using the third.
- What are the new fifth editions doing sitting down here in a box?

- gotta watch your back well, I beg your pardon walk the straight and narrow track if you walk with Jesus he's gonna save your soul you gotta keep the devil way down in a hole

- When you tell her that?
- About a week ago, I guess.
- When is she gonna go see the cop?
- Think she gonna talk to a lawyer first, ask him how to play it.
- Who, Levy?
- I guess, whoever.
- The lawyer.
- Levy?
- I guess.
- You didn't ask that?

- Agent koutris.
- He's no longer with the
- San Diego field office.
- Where's he at?
- You could try headquarters in Washington. Counterterrorism.
- Counterterrorism? For how long?
- I'd have to check but I'm sure he's been gone from here more than a year.

- for you to get angry and fire him for insubordination.
- But I need to know where you stand.
- I gave you my word.
- Yes. You did.
- Well, thanks for going outside the chain of command.
- Don't expect me to make a habit of it.

[Man on radio] 43.
[Woman] Reported doa, alley in the rear of the old Compton plant.
Managing: Copy doa.
- 9-46. K-g-a, advise 43
- I'm close by. I'll handle it.
[Woman] Copy, 9-Adam-46.
Managing: Bunk, are you feeling all right?
- She said "doa", not "donut".

Sgt. Ellis Carver: [Observing Bodie beat a competing dealer with a bat] See, that's why we can't win.
Det. Thomas 'Herc' Hauk: Why not?
Sgt. Ellis Carver: They fuck up, they get beat. We fuck up, they give us pensions.

- You see, in these modern times, a man got to keep one eye on the ground, pick up what he find, feel me?
- There's money to be made if you know where to look.
- I hope you listening cos I'm trying to school you.
- _ uh?
- Uh-huh.
- Yeah, you don't want to know. You think you're brown, but you still green.

- Who's he?
- A friend.
- Is he gonna make it?
- You still working drugs?
- Downtown, yeah.
- I got something for you.

- Good hunting.
[Landsman] Howie?
- Yo.
- You got midnight shift.
- Worden'll be in to relieve you at six.
- After worden, my squad will pick up monitoring on the dayshift.
- Excuse me.
- Don't look so pissy.
- We're actually paying overtime for this.

- I need a lab unit and a dpw crew with a jackhammer.
- 'A jackhammer?'
- Gonna keep a bit of road, kga.
- Alive. In the or.
- My people at the scene have heard this.
- It's a copy of the original.
- We brought a machine... where the fuck is...
- Sir.
- Here it is.

- Mr. Omar, you want ends on this?
- No, darling, I'm cool.

- She trusts you.
- Yeah.
- Can't go to dinner without catching a page, huh? What now?
- Herjohn jumps in the shower.
- She rummages his wallet.
- He figures it out and beats on her till the people next door call the front desk.

Brother: Is there an alley entrance?
Omar: Boarded up on both sides. We gonna have to go through the front.
Brother: That's a change for you, isn't it?

- What support do I get?
- One fuckin' detective.
- They wanna play their simple-ass games, fine. But I gotta do what I gotta do.
- Excuse me.
- Mcnulty. Yeah, Oscar.
- Beautiful.
- Absolutely. Where? On my way.

- And you told us not to start nothing.
- So I set up in the middle of the block.
- You know, even that got hard stares. I don't...
- It ain't gonna hold, I don't think.
- Now, this marlo, how hard you looking for him?
- Why ain't you out there looking for this motherfucker right now?
- 'Cause you called this meeting.

- We're low on quicklime, man.
[Second man] Doesn't matter.
- We got vacants on both sides.
- He'll stink is all.
- Chris, please.
- Don't fret, boss. I got you covered.
- Quick and clean, I promise.
- Chris.

- All it cost me was a round of beers.
- They fucking love me in the department.
- I'm a fucking martyr is what I am.
- Pull over some black minister, piss him off and I lose my fucking job.
- One round?
- You, a prominent defense investigator, let these other guys buy a round of drinks ever?
- Kid, it's time you learned a little something about the expense account.

- Any trauma?
- Can't tell for sure with all the rat bites.
- Take him to the ocme in a jail wagon.
- I don't want the fucking reporters seeing any ambos.
- Shit.

- and if all eyes are on this one, what does command want to see happen?
- What does city hall want to see happen?
- City hall just wants someone to do the right thing, whatever that is.
- You're sitting here, deputy, telling me to just do the right thing?
- Doesn't happen often, I know.

Namond: Yo, let me get that rope.
- Man, I said you's a gump, fucking dogshit and smelling-ass nigger.
- Man, fuck this.
- Yeah! Go along! Get!
- Nobody want you in here, no way!

- The dead men don't care.
- No one cares.
- But if it's gonna get the bosses to throw down enough coin to do police work...
- I'm out. I'm outta here.
- We got to give your killer a name.
- We have to kill again.

- I will.
- You know, Cole and me, we showed her the spreads.
- Picked out little man, no problem. Wouldn't go for wee-bey. So I tried the fat finger.
- Damn near begging her to make this play easier in court. You know what she said?
- "Sometimes niggers gotta play hard."
- Real police.
- Oh, yeah.

- I know. I can smell the
- Jameson's from here.
- Jamie and listerine, your scent.
- Beadie... I'm just...
- We had something, Jimmy.
- You and me, we had something.
- When people told me stories about you, about how you were,
- I couldn't believe it, I couldn't see it.

- Package for sale.
- Why you think we was headed there in the first place?
[Sydnor] Get down. Headed where?
- Hamsterdam.
Man: Suck my dick!
[Mcnulty] Hey. Y'all wanna see a wagon?
- Fuck y'all!
[Sydnor] Will you shut the fuck up and cut this shit out now?

- The governor promised two new appointments.
- So now we're back where we were.
- That's all it was.
- That's all?
- Half-assed hack politics, Jimmy.
- It has nothing to do with your case.
- I need you on this.

Det. Roland 'Prez' Pryzbylewski: [reading from a fortune cookie] "A new friend makes himself known."
Det. James 'Jimmy' McNulty: "Himself"? If it was "herself," then you'd have a fortune.
Det. Roland 'Prez' Pryzbylewski: Shit, I'm married. With lawn furniture, man.

- So this is theirjoint, huh?
- What's the plan?
- Time to make it clear to these people that we're not gonna go away.

Omar: The cheese stands alone.
Renaldo: This the drop?
- I hope not, 'cause they ain't called yet.
- Make me feel bad toward old prop Joe.
- Go around where we can see y'all.
- Vamonos, renaldo.

- This is you, right here, right now, ok?
- You're burning a hole in that shirt, man.
- Fuck... you fucked me all up when I saw you walking through the door, sherrod.
- Oh, shit.
- What you think, huh?
- You know, I get half price for this.
- All right, but take your hat off, man.
- Don't burn them pimp steaks, huh?

- Yeah, man. Shit, you know how to play a nigger into a corner, string.
- Take care of this right here.
- You my favorite girl.
- Shit, let me handle this, man.
- Hey, poot come here, man.
- What's happening?
- What the fuck is that? What the fuck is that?! You know the fuckin' rules.

- Yo, look at these delta force motherfuckers, man.
- Look at them.
- All right.
- What's up with Levy?
- He said he gonna meet us down there.
- I still didn't get this safe out of here yet, man. How much money in it?
- $150,000.
- $150,000.
- Open it up, man.
- No sense in ruining a good safe.

- Good news and bad, zig.
- Them fuckin' niggers.
- Give me the bad.
- They're still gonna kill you.
- They're gonna wait a week.
- What the fuck can be good?
- You can cancel your car insurance.

- I keep thinking about that kid in the wheelchair out in front of oriole park.
- The one that only had a nickname.
- A black kid from the West Side, crazy for baseball?
- Basketball, yeah.
- Football, sure.
- I don't wanna call another reporter a liar.
- I really don't.

- I'll tell your wife if you tell mine.
- In the car but not out in the open.
- Yo, rock.
- Be subtle with it, man.
- You know what subtle means?
- Laid-back and shit.

- Yeah, I see.
- Yo, my head hurting from all this learning.
- You got some Tylenol?
- What I got for you is detention.
[Kids] Oh!
- Fuck you, prezbo.
[Kids] Oh!
- Fucking gimpy-assed, big-girl motherfucker.
- That's it. You're out of here!

[Man] We need another bag.
[2nd man] Where you at?
[Man] Over here.
[3rd man] Drug war?
[4th man] Mm-hm.
- Barksdale's coming back on my boy marlo, huh?
- Shit.
[4th man] Got it.

- That's why?
- Look. I told y'all, I just want him gone.
- I just want him away from me and bug.
- What the fuck did he do to you?
- All right.
- We'll take care of it, boss.

- This was all for money, mcnulty?
- You couldn't live without the ot?
- The Stanfield case.
- It was that.
- I know where it went, but you got paid, too.
- You and freamon and maybe a dozen other guys.
- It wasn't about the money.

- Congratulations, superintendent.
- Welcome aboard.
- Thank you, governor.
- Happy to be aboard.
- Thank you.

- That's our guy, right?
- What's-his-face sobotka from the drug quarter?
- I need to get with vondas.
- Who's that?
- Spiros. Where is he?
- I don't know no spiros.

- He runs any kind of game at all,
- I wanna know.
- Major, the man's an asshole, but he doesn't do much other than work. He's got this case in his gut like it's cancer.
- He does no wrong?
- Doesn't drink any more?
- Doesn't drink on duty?
- Doesn't drink and drive, detective?
- Major...
- You've got to help me on this, Michael.

- Look, the great white deputy has spoken.
- This case is not done until that gun comes home.
- Don't get up.
- One of the most heavily armed cities in the gun-loving world.
- Why should those ignorant motherfuckers care about one goddamn semi-auto, more or less?

- What the hell's going on here?
- Police pushed all the action down here.
- The Deacon thinks maybe some people should come in here and take over the situation.
- Are you that people?
- One of them, maybe.
- Roman, man.
- Dennis.

- They're supposed to know it's me.
- I'm my own trademark. You feel me?
- But if they know it's you...
- What, you scared on bein' made, huh?
- Claro que si.
- How 'bout I put you in a full-body bunny suit?
- You'd be like a six-foot rabbit putting a pistol in their face.

- How much you got left?
- Girl, please.
- Ten pages and all the footnotes.
- When's it due?
- Tomorrow, beginning of class.
- Long night for you.
- Long night for me.
- I'll pick up some coffee.

- All right.
- You did good, bubs.
- Mcnulty, you know...
- The situation is different for me.
- I mean, for me, I'm...
- Mount up.
- I gotta go.
- Prez will get you a ride, ok?

- You charge her with the theft,
- I'll put the cuffs on her too.
- But you in the wagon, shitbird.
- This is not acceptable...
- No. He's goin' in a wagon.
- Mr. Colvin, I have to insist.
- 30 years a police officer,
- I never took cuffs off a right charge.
- Ain't about to start now.
- You're not a police officer, Mr. Colvin.
- You work for us.

- Anyone from your cid working this?
- Nope.
- There was an argument overjurisdiction and your colonel made everybody mad.
- All you get is me.
- Still on hold?
- We can call this in from the road.
- You with city homicide?
- You must know Jimmy mcnulty.
- Yeah, he's dead to us.

- Somebody call the nurse.
- Yo, why they bank me?
- I ain't no snitch.
- Randy, Randy, it's ok.
- Thanks a lot.
- Health department shut chicken George again?
- I had to duck in here for cover.
- Your boys are off the hook today.

- Well, Wilson briefed rawls, rawls briefed Daniels.
- It's carcetti doing pontius pilate, putting it on Daniels, who was a safe choice as far as the rank and file goes.
- But that won't be enough for the ministers, not by a long shot.
- Am I the only one that knows how to play this game?
- Let's go, get that hydrant sealed.

- Why you run from ship, huh?
- What the fuck that supposed to mean?
- Ahh.
- They got him in Philadelphia.
- He jumped when the coast guard was gonna hold the ship.
- What is he?
- Sergei says he looks like an arab.

Felicia: How my hair look, Mike?
Michael: Look good, girl.
[Mike shoots her]

- Come on, man. I ain't gonna hurt you.
[Man] Yellow tops, yellow tops, got them yellow tops. Yellow tops.
- See that? All right, sit down.
- Look, if y'all wanna learn more...
- I got a gym down on gilmor in the old tire plant.
- Y'all are all welcome. All right?

Reginald: My name is . . . my name is . . . Reginald. Round the way, they call me Bubbles. I'm a drug addict. Celebrating my anniversary. My people couldn't make it here tonight. I left a trail of fire behind me. Time going to make it right, I guess.

- FBI! All of you move, now!
- What the fuck is this?
- FBI, move, move, move!
- Against the wall.
- No, he's here. He's here.
- Got another problem here, Larry.
- Big man on the docks.
- You don't look so big now, do you, huh?

- Maybe you win a pulitzer with this stuff and maybe you gotta give it back.
- It's in my notes, Gus.
- Everything that happened, everything that guy said when I got to him.
- Every last word is in my notes.

- you can work my package.
- This is the shit you had out here last week. The dimes that moochie was slinging?
- The shit was good. Moochie sold out quick.
- All right.
- I'm saying, I'm gonna send my man around with the dollars.
- Keep it real, yo.
- Whatever.

- Yeah, let me think on it.
- Finally get some ends for us.
- You see what I'm saying?
[Tuts] Yeah.
- Most def.
- I'm out.
- Be good.
- Think on that.

- Shit.
- Are you fucking serious?
- Fuck, man.
- You keep walking away from jsa, we keep kicking your ass.
- I'm all right with that if you are.
- I ain't walking away from nowhere.
- Check my back pocket.

Dep. Comm. for Operations William A. Rawls: Mr Mayor, about Ervin, if you don't mind me asking, why keep him as a puppet commissioner when you can just fire the guy?
Norman Wilson: [Carcetti and Norman look at each other] We mind you asking.

- For a credible scenario, he's willing to change the cause of death to homicide.
- Do you even have a suspect here?
- Uh, no.
- I don't know how you city guys do it but we try to duck a punch or two, not lean into every last one.
- My county doesn't need another murder.

Sgt. Jay Landsman: Officer, uh...
Off. Beatrice 'Beadie' Russell: Russell.
Sgt. Jay Landsman: I am informed that you are detailed to this case as a liaison with the port police. I also understand that, uh... you are the only help that your department is sending.
Off. Beatrice 'Beadie' Russell: That so?
Sgt. Jay Landsman: Although there is some small charm to a woman in uniform, the fact remains we wear plainclothes in Homicide. Which is not to say that the clothes need be plain. For you I would suggest some pantsuits, perhaps, muted in color. Something to offset Detective Moreland's pinstriped lawyerly affectations, and the brash tweedy impertinence of Detective Freamon. Rawls is watchin' on this one. Let's at least pretend we got a fucking clue.
Detective: Tweedy impertinence? I like that.

- Independent from who?
- I got no problem making Daniels.
- What else do you need?
- That's it for now.
- Mr. Mayor, about ervin.
- If you don't mind my asking, why keep him as a puppet commissioner when you can just fire the guy?
- We mind you asking.

[Tannoy] This is Ms. Donnelly.
- We had trouble with first bells, so expect the class change to ring in one minute.
- Students will walk, not run, to classes in an orderly manner.
- Ok... um...
- We'll, uh...
- We'll get to know each other a little later.

Judge: McNulty, I hold you in contempt!
Det. James 'Jimmy' McNulty: Who doesn't?

- Thought you asleep.
- If you want...
- I could go to school some.
- I ain't been for a while, so I don't even know if I can.
- But if you want me to go...
- Ain't no thing.

- can attend a community policing seminar in Miami.
- Mr. Chairman...
- What does south beach have to teach this department about making Baltimore safer?
- I have no idea and you have no idea, and it is an embarrassment.
Marla: Cedric, they're gone.

- You don't even know what you're doing.
- Just sit there and shut up.
- Come over here and make me shut up, then.
- You piss me off 'cause you don't know what you're doing. You're too stupid.
- Hey, z, you do the top while I do the middle.
- Darnell, you got the leg parts, all right?
- Yeah, like that, like that.

- Avon goes down, the projects be open market again, right?
- Let me understand.
- Avon loses 100 large to me on a bet, then you bring me some of his shit so that
- I can put your predatory self on his ass.
- Not his day, is it?
[Carver] Fuck it.

Frank: You're more like me than you know. You're a Sobotka.
Chester: [crying] Fucked is what I am.

- with a police commissioner that won't work with you.
- I'm not stuck with anything.
- Daniels either comes around or he's done.
- We just anointed him.
- We can't go back on that now. He knows it.
- Either he learns his place or he'll be offering to resign.
- You ain't the only one knows how to play this game.

- Politics is a good thing, partner.
- That's a minority opinion.
- Let's order.
- I'm hungry enough to eat the horse you rode in on.
- If you don't mind, we're a little busy for a sit-down lunch.
- Oh, no doubt. Just leave enough for the tab.

- keep him in the hole in the hole down in the hole down in the hole keep him in the hole keep him in the...
- Down in the hole down in the hole keep him in the hole keep him in the...
- Down in the hole down in the hole

- boy, you'll be the shit, you hear?
- These really do look like glocks.
- They make them look that way.
- Yo, why you shoot low?
- All right, if you're close, aim for the head.
- If not, think vest. That's the way you said it.
- A'ight. Boy's learning.

Det. James 'Jimmy' McNulty: [epigraph] ... when it's not your turn.

- You heard about ed nully?
- I've heard great things about what you're doing, so keep it up.
- I'm delighted you made it, Mr. Mayor.
- Well, it's for a good cause, right?
- I am getting the evil eye, however.
- I gotta keep him circulating.
- Ok. This way.
- Here we go.
- See you later.
- Take care.

- Stay in the fucking car.
- That shit just ain't right.
- Whatcha doing with something like that?
- What you got here?
- Shoulda seen the way this bitch was looking at me, kima.
- Ugly little fucker almost shit his pants he was so scared.
- Right? [Laughing]

- find our shit the old-fashioned way?
- Feel me?
- Oh, I feel you.
- Sound like a plan.
- But I don't know, though, Joe.
- You think Omar gonna give it up?
- 20 on the dollar it is.
- Say, how's she ticking, Joe?

- Not after a letter like that.
- Good work.
- I have my moments.
- Nice suit, by the way.
- Thanks.
- I see you dress left.
[Foreman] Every day.

- Look, it's not a knockout blow but we sent a clear message.
- I don't see barksdale's name anywhere, or bell, or anything about the murders.
- The casework, it goes towards that.
- So we've got work to do.
- Don't we?

- Just one more thing, though, man.
- I don't mean to be picking with you, especially not after you did all this shit for me, but, look, man, I've been locked down.
- You know what I mean?
- You know what?
- I gotta take this meet.
- I'm gonna get at you. Welcome home, man.

Brother: I see you favor a .45.
Omar: At night I do. And I keeps one in the chamber in case you ponderin'.

- Freamon.
- All right, bunk, take care.
- We tell Daniels.
- Fuck Daniels and his ass-kissing ambition.
- What other choice you got?
- We go to Daniels. If he fights, he fights.
- If he gives it up to rawls, then fuck it, we were never gonna do the case anyway.
- All right, come on.

- The wire is what gives us barksdale.
- It gives us the whole crew.
- Day by day, piece by piece.
- Buy-bust, lieutenant.
- It's what I asked you for months ago.
- It's what we do successfully time and again to make these cases.

- how he might be forced to bail me out because... what was the quote again?
- Because "those are my children in Baltimore too."
- He's gonna bleed me for that money.
- Mayor carcetti? The governor's office says he's ready to see you now.
- 54 million's a big number.
- We won't go until we get some...

Lt. Cedric Daniels: What're you doing here at two in the morning?
Det. Ellis Carver: Field interviews. Police work.
Lt. Cedric Daniels: "Police work." I got a 14-year-old kid in critical but stable condition at University and two witnesses who say one of you princes cold-cocked him with the butt end of a pistol.
Det. Thomas 'Herc' Hauk: No sir.
Lt. Cedric Daniels: I got his mother over at I.I.D. filing a formal brutality charge, which for Herc will make an even four in the last two years!
Det. Thomas 'Herc' Hauk: Unsustained...
Lt. Cedric Daniels: But all of 'em true!
Det. Thomas 'Herc' Hauk: Lieutenant, we thought that...
Lt. Cedric Daniels: I got one less Crown Vic than I had last night, I'm out two Kevlar vests that burned in the car, two hand-held radios, a shotgun and I'm about to lose this idiot here for a week or two of medical! And for WHAT?
Det. Ellis Carver: Lieutenant, we thought...
Lt. Cedric Daniels: What did you learn when you went into the Terrace at two in the morning to conduct field interviews? What valuable information did we acquire from this situation? I.I.D. is gonna be on all three of you by afternoon. If you don't get a story straight by then, you're gonna have a file thick enough to see the light of a trial board. Now, tell me, who cold-cocked the kid?
Det. Roland 'Prez' Pryzbylewski: [after several seconds of silence] Me.
Lt. Cedric Daniels: [intensely] Why?
Det. Roland 'Prez' Pryzbylewski: He pissed me off.
Lt. Cedric Daniels: No, Officer Pryzbylewski, he did NOT piss you off. He made you fear for your safety and that of your fellow officers.

- you gotta keep the devil way down in the hole
- Way down in the hole way down in the hole way down in the hole way down in the hole

- Good morning, ladies.
- Help a man get something to eat?
- God bless.
- Good morning, reverend.

- Tonight's mine.
- I tell you what, I'm gonna roll out.
- Here's the money I would've spent on your ass.
- Hey, Jimmy.
- Call Nadine and tell her I caught one and I'm out on the street.
- I lied for you, didn't I?

- and they still pulled the motherfucker's voice off a goddamn cellphone tower.
- City police did that?
- Where'd you get this?
- Courthouse, clerk's office.
- Hey, this shit's open to the public after they finish prosecuting your ass.
- You need to lose them cellphones, son.
- Me, I ain't as so much as touched a burner in a year.

- Don't see the boy snitchin'.
- Neither do I.
- But you ready to bet your future on that?

- She look like a player?
- Bystander?
[Boy] Come on, let's go.
- Right in the middle of it all, if she was.
[Boy] Over here.
[Boy] You guys! I'm comin' out!

- Steal from us, motherfucker?
- Get the ring too, yo.
Gerard: Shit won't come off, yo.
Sapper: Drop him.
- Arrrghh!
[Cutty] You know the man works for us.
- You keep goin' like that, ain't gonna be nothin' left of him to make right what he owes.

- And I'll give you them.
- No, that's great. Really great.
- Yeah.
- That's our move.
- Mm-hm.
[Daniels] Ok.

- What's wrong with bunk?
- Hard to say. Beneath that gruff veneer, he's actually very emotional.
- Looking for the theme in your homeless case?
- Well, wish me luck.
- I'm gonna try for an interview with my only wit.
- The home invasion?
- Hmm.

- The young, light-skinned kid from the cemetery.
- 'Where?' in the alley behind argyle, across from the low-rises.
- Shot?
- Stabbed, beaten, burned.
- 'Jesus.' we gotta get with Omar.
- 'Yeah.'

- If you know something about that boy Lex getting shot, now is your last chance to speak to that.
- You gave a statement last year...
- Why don't you promise to get me outta here?
- That's what y'all do, ain't it?
- Lie to dumb-ass niggers?
- Yo, y'all need to get this police out my face before I bank his ass.

- I have to keep running the string out.
- I've no choice.
- You said the bosses know.
- Some do, some don't. The ones that do want us to keep pretending.
- We stop pretending, then...
- Listen, we'll finish this tomorrow night, ok?
[Both] Aww!
- I'll see you in a bit.

- Thing about that republican ass, it's not the flesh of his political fathers.

- Hello, may I help you?
- We'd like a table.
- And you have reservations?
- I thought, you know, we could just walk in...
- Let me see what I got.
- That's two?
- Follow me, please.

- This shit happen again, you off the money.
- You hear me?
- You ain't even gonna be serving.
- You be on the end of vine street, sucking on a 40, yelling "five-0".
- You hear me?
- Get the fuck outta here.
- That it?

- Now, ladies and gentlemen, we brought you down here because you're here to learn about the new way...
- The new way that we're going to do things on the corners.
- That's downtown.
- Yeah.
- Well, that makes no sense.
- All four.

Preston: This must be one o' them contrapment things!

- Maybe stringer's still trying to settle that beef behind the fact that he got to live in this city, too.
- Omar being Omar.
- If it ain't putting you out none,
- I'd feel a powerful lot better if my nephew took over protection.
- Hayward.

- Bingo.
- From behind your clothes washer.
- That's heroin, 300 gelcaps.

Det. William 'Bunk' Moreland: Think again about what the fuck you doin'.
Det. James 'Jimmy' McNulty: Bunk, this can work. It can!
Det. William 'Bunk' Moreland: Fuck you. I mean that.
[McNulty pulls out a flask of whiskey and takes a pull]
Det. William 'Bunk' Moreland: [disgusted] Oh, Jimmy, four in the fuckin' morning?
Det. James 'Jimmy' McNulty: [looking at his watch] Oh, so it is.
[he sets the flask down, but Bunk snatches it away]
Det. James 'Jimmy' McNulty: [gesturing to the open case files in front of him] All of these? Homeless murders from the last five years. Everything before that is on microfilm, but we got enough right here...
Det. William 'Bunk' Moreland: Jimmy...
Det. James 'Jimmy' McNulty: ...most of it open. We don't do so well with homeless killings. Transient locales, no nearest, no dearest, no one who gives a fuck. Cases stay open forever!
Det. William 'Bunk' Moreland: You goin' to jail behind this shit. Yes, you are. You know what they do to police in jail? Pretty police like yourself? Muthafucka, we have kids. Houses. Car payments. Furniture. Jimmy, I just bought brand-new lawn chairs and a glass patio table. Now, you don't buy no shit like that if you plannin' to lose your job and go to prison. You won't even get past the M.E.
Det. James 'Jimmy' McNulty: Watch me.
Det. William 'Bunk' Moreland: You're dumpin' murders on us that we can't solve, you're fuckin' the squad's clearance rate.
Det. James 'Jimmy' McNulty: Oh, fuck the fuckin' numbers already! The fuckin' numbers destroyed this fuckin' department! Landsman and his clearance rate can suck a hairy asshole.
Det. William 'Bunk' Moreland: Marlo ain't worth it, man, nobody is.
Det. James 'Jimmy' McNulty: Marlo's an asshole! He does not get to win, WE get to win! This case doesn't go away just 'cause the bosses can't find the money to pay for it! These are fuckin' murders! Ghetto murders, but still! I came back outta the Western to work this case 'cause they said it would be worked. I came back out on a promise, and they're gonna keep that promise... whether they know it or not.
Det. William 'Bunk' Moreland: I'm gonna tell Landsman. Yeah. You keep on with it, I'm gonna rat you out.
Det. James 'Jimmy' McNulty: Well, you do what you gotta do.
Det. William 'Bunk' Moreland: [sighing] My name is nowhere in the file. I don't want fuck to do with this.
[Bunk gets up to leave]
Det. James 'Jimmy' McNulty: Hey, Bunk.
[he motions with his hand; Bunk resignedly hands back the flask to McNulty and leaves]

- Burrell won't be there forever.
- Burrell will be the next police commissioner.
- And you know it.
- But you've got the law degree.
- With your police experience, half a dozen firms would think you're a prize.
- You've got options.
- Just because they don't...
- You're right, you're right.
- I'll put in my papers.

- With three years left in his term, why would he leave?
- Councilman, what may not have been obvious to you on the public safety subcommittee is that the budget process is a carefully orchestrated ballet, a cooperative effort between the branches of government.
- Madam president, the nuances of that cooperative effort are beginning to come into focus for me.

- you gotta keep the devil way down in the hole
- You gotta keep the devil way down in the hole way down way down in the hole

- He'll be back from lunch any minute, zig.
- You hear me?
- He sees you on that thing, he's gonna break you down and sell you for parts.

- Good morning, mom.
- Couple of goddamn drunks I got.
- Don't leave without taking your cousin with you.
- I gotta clean in there and I ain't gonna do it around his carcass.

Freamon: A life, Jimmy, you know what that is? It's the shit that happens while you're waiting for moments that never come.

Asst. State's Atty. Rhonda Pearlman: The fact is, the industry has all of us by the balls.
[pause]
Asst. State's Atty. Rhonda Pearlman: Pardon my French, your honor.
Judge: All right, I'll tell you what. Best I can do for you is this: You give me a boilerplate affidavit with the PC from the court report. And then, as you get fresh numbers for the new disposables, you call me - anytime, day or night - to jump phones.
Lt. Cedric Daniels: That helps. But we're still gonna be getting up on their phones even as they're coming down.
Judge: Yeah, probably so.
Asst. State's Atty. Rhonda Pearlman: This is so totally...
Judge: Fucked up. Je parle français bien, et tu, hein, tu es charmante aujourd'hui.

- than a bad headline now, is there?
- You'd rather live in shit than let the world see you work a shovel.
- You can order warrants, and I'll serve them.
- But as long as I have days left on those dead wires, this case goes on.

- Wasn't no need for y'all to do him the way y'all did. You feel me?
- A year, you say?
- About that.
- You've got some wrong information.
- Man, you lying to live.
- I'm at peace with my god.
- Do what you will.

- Next thing, them touts calling out the heroin be the only thing you can hear.
- What's that?
- Workbook I need to use with this.
- So you read from the small one and answer questions in the big one?
- Yeah, ain't no thing.

- Let me get a pack of juicy fruit.
- You look like one of them half-soul, half-Chinese types from Vietnam and shit.
- Come again now, mama-San.

- You shitheads turned in 15. Where's the rest?
- Lieutenant, we ain't got...
- You have till roll call tomorrow to crawl back to whatever rock you hid it under.
- It comes back and it goes to ecu.
- This doesn't happen.
- Not with me. Not with my unit.

- This is the hard part, getting these guys to give a shit. Let's get a taste. I'm buying.
- You think I'm drinking with you?
- Go home, Jimmy.
- Think your weak shit through, man.
- Go home? For the love of god, I'm working a serial killer.

- Whoa.
- They got latroy.
- What the fuck is y'all on the streets for?
- There's a fucking war going on.
- Get the fuck in the truck, man.

- Permits come when?
- Monday. Latest.
- Mmm-hmm.

[Radio] Wake up, Baltimore. It's 6am...
- Police!

- We even get the scent of him on the street ever again, this case comes off stet and goes to trial.
- And if we have to put a few cops in jail right behind him, so be it.
- We'll bring the evidence and take a hit.
- Your client walks away now...
- Or the both of you don't walk at all.

- Red tops, got them red tops.
- Yo, Johnny.

- Whatever you see.
- And a carton of newports.
[Kid] Omar comin'.
- Hey, y'all, here he come.
- Omar, Omar.
- Omar strollin'.

- You're not coming?
- Now, what you gonna see ain't pretty.
- But it's safe.
- I think you need to take this journey your own self.
- Yeah.
Man: Better deal on those yellow tops.
- Yellow tops right here.

Troy: Shakima she's just talking like that 'cause I had her when she was good.
Shakima: Shiiit, you the ugly-ass motherfucker that turned me the other way.

- Judy and Johnny just walked through the door like a queen with her king oh, what a birthday surprise
- Lane 4, you got a trucker's code and tag.
- Truck 795 manifest number.
[Man] Keep the papennork you got.
- Pick me a winner, Johnny.

[repeated line]
Omar: All in the game yo, all in the game.

- One left his gear. We kept that.
- Sounds like some weak-ass shit to me.
- "Cause it is.
- But your suspect had to be on the boat, right? And your boat has sailed.
- Jay, what the fuck were we supposed to do?
- Hold the ship while we chat up a crew of 40 in 53 dialects? Come on.
- Well, if that isn't the plan, what is?

Det. William 'Bunk' Moreland: At all hazards, a man must keep up appearances. Dignity, I say. Dignity above all, Governor. Hear, hear!

- We get up on these locations, maybe we get a photo of the boss man.
- Or a tag number.
- It's totally cool.
- Where did you get this stuff?
- DEA for the trackers.
- Mcnulty pulled the software from his pals at the FBI field office.
- We can pull herc and carver off the warehouse and give them the diner.
- Mcnulty, bunk, you guys take fort Howard.

- All right?
- That's fucked up, yo.
- You got any paper on you?
- Man, fuck if I know.
- These police out here knew how to flip it even just a little, my shit would be in handcuffs. You know?
- They don't know shit. Damn!

- Hey, don't worry, Mr. P.
- We got you.
- Hey, donut!
- Yo, yeah.
- Donut's crazy with cars.
- He can open anything.
- Hey.
- What up, man?
- Yo, he locked his keys in there.
- It's ok, I can call AAA.
- Oh, no problem, chief.

- to nobody but my lawyer.
- Oh, by the way, your boy Wallace, shot dead in the low-rises.
- That's how y'all take care of your own, right?
- You're a lying motherfucker.
- So what? You want me to write a letter to his mom, too?
- Get the fuck out of here.

- Three go in and one come out.
- Better odds.
- We're gonna wait on it, though.
- They'll get better still.
- If not tonight, then the next.
- You're a patient man.
- Him too.

- Fuck.
- Check this.
- Motherfucker.
- Fuck me.
- Pow.

- 76-72 kga.
- Kga, go ahead, 76-72.
- Notify homicide and the ocme.
- We got a floater at patapsco terminal.
- Copy that.

Det. James 'Jimmy' McNulty: The bosses don't know, huh?
Maj. Howard 'Bunny' Colvin: Fuck the bosses.

- They coming up the alley!
- They coming back!
- Aim for the chest, brother.
- Yo. Slide up.

- Now, then, back to the readouts.
- First item is from motor pool.
- No marked or unmarked units can be shopped on dickman street until further notice.
Man: What?!
- Cutbacks and fleet budgeting require that all districts make do with vehicles in their current state of repairs. That means...
- Shitbox cars are falling apart, don't they fucking know that?

- What about the passenger?
- Looks the part to me.
- Container ship on the talco line, name of caspia, docks tomorrow am.
- Our man horseface on it?
- I'll call the lieutenant, let him know we gotta set up on this.
- This time, though, we got the wire up.
- Eyes and ears both.

- Yeah, I guess.
- Thanks, Jay.
- Any time. Good night.
[Woman on TV] The husband's thinking,
- "gosh." I mean, the police show up at his door and say,
- "the lady you married from the Ukraine,
- "a, she's dead, b, she's got a 2005 gold Mercedes..."

- Sydnor and massey.
- And they're on the street, making rips.
- That's what we do here now.
- We get on the street and we rip and run.
- Can you get with that, sergeant?
- The western district way, sir.
- Thank you.
- Thank you.

- They're pretty tight out here, kima.
- If you don't hand no money to nobody that matters, you don't get no product from nobody that matters.
- You want to go back in?
- Shit, we copped from every crew out here.
- Ain't we supposed to go off somewhere and fire this shit up?
- Let's get the fuck out of here.

DA: What's the most useless thing on a woman? A drunken Irishman.

Omar: Look, Dante, what's it gonna take for you to be convinced, man? I don't bag no babies.
[pauses]
Omar: Huh?
Dante: What you think?
[Omar and Dante start making out]
Dante: You gonna have to do better than that.
Omar: Oh, indeed.

[Daniels] Anyone got him?
[Woman] '64-Charlie to central k.'
- 12-10.
- '12-10.i
- 12-10.
- You have him?
- Lieutenant, I don't even know what I'm looking for.

- Where the fuck else am I gonna go?
- How's it looking?
- One ro/ro at north point.
- Graybeard's grabbed that.
- Nothing else today, really.
- Seniority sucks.
- If you ain't senior.
- All right, man.

- He starts to develop an intricate pattern in what he does with the bodies.
- It's weird stuff.
- A biter. That's great.
- My name is nowhere on this.
- For your tab.
- We'd stay and have one, but we can still make the second edition.
- Thanks.

- Whenever he's done here, you need to send someone home with him.
- For tonight at least, he's a suicide watch.
- Lieutenant. Er... you'll back him?
- What I mean is, if this thing should turn into some kind of a black-white thing, you're his unit commander.
- He can count on you, right?

- Hey, Dwight?
- What's up?
- We have to search your vehicle.
- What the fuck?
- Open it or I'll shim the lock, maybe damage your ride.
- You got no call to be doing me like this.
- No call and no damn warrant.
- You drive onto a doc facility, the vehicle's subject to search.
- Where's the key, Dwight?

Sgt. Jay Landsman: [about Freamon who is discovering bodies in the vacants] You know what he is? He is a vandal. He is vandalizing the board. He is vandalizing this unit. He is a Hun, a Visigoth, a Barbarian at the gate clamoring for noble roman blood and what's left of our clearance rate.

- Fuck! I just stepped in dog shit.
- You hope.
- Fuck.

- Can't tell if he ran through and out the rear.
- They. Unless the shooter put a bullet in her head for good measure after the shotgun.
- Also, two of our street cameras were disabled. Wires ripped.
- Fuck. That's a whole lot of thinking for any motherfucker to do something like this.

Lt. Cedric Daniels: I don't care how you do it, but I need my wire today.

- It's gone.
- And the money, too.
- They say you need to come in.
- They said the warrant is at southeastern police district.
- They're out there now.
- Show time, franky.

- over at the state's attorney's office.
- No suction early in his career, but now that he's got carcetti's ear, now the brass stay out of his way.
- What's the man's favorite color?
- You sure?
- Yeah, what the hell?
- I'm already on the clock.

- 13 of 'em. They had about a third of that space hidden behind a fake wall.
- A few flashlights, some junk food, some water.
- A portable toilet they had to share.
- And not enough air.

- She doesn't have a record, for one thing.
- She's just a dmv photo.
- Why else?
- I don't know. I can't really say.
- I like her face.
- Soul, conscience, whatever you want to call it. She's a citizen, right?
- It's in the eyes.
- Instinct, detective.

- Cos he's ok, you know?
- I mean, he's better than me.
- Got himself a couple of prosthetic mitts, eighty thousand apiece.
- Wow.
- What happened next?
- Nothing really.
- We pushed out, secured the perimeter.
- Corpsman did what he could, an' we waited for the casevac.

- Where was her support?
- There were two cars several blocks distant.
- She got turned around in the alleys. She gave her 20 at the north side of wan/vick.
- They went there on the shots?
- Foxtrot finally found her.
- So, we had two units covering the north side and a helicopter up on top, and no one saw any vehicles in flight.

- Excuse me for a moment.
- Bill, this is nuts.
- I told him that.
- If this gets out, who do you think it's gonna land on?
- I got two years to make 40 and a pension bump.
- Look, I don't agree with the call either, but it's his call, not yours, not mine.
- He's the one over at city hall every day getting his ass chewed.

- Mr. Prez...
- What? Just take one.
- I need those bus passes back!
- No one leaves this room until Mr. Pryzbylewski gets those bus passes back.
- Do I need to say that twice?
- Thank you. Thank you.
- You'll get the hang of it.

- I think it's Colvin.
- You know him?
- No, I can't say that I do.
- Still, I think it's funny that some water-cooler talker down in DC knows any Baltimore cop's name.
- I was just wondering.

[last line of the series]
Det. James 'Jimmy' McNulty: Let's go home.

[the deacon finds Cutty at his gym, getting ready to spar against Michael]
The: Your Sabbath best?
Dennis: You hang around, you can see me preach on some young'uns. Solemn left and sanctified right. Why you down here on a Sunday, Deacon?
The: You need to see Ms. Donnelly at Tilghman Middle. She's got some custodial work, you might call it. Union wage.
Dennis: Custodial?
The: See Ms. Donnelly tomorrow, she can explain it better than I can.
Dennis: Tell me somethin'. How is it you got so much wisdom about who should be where?
The: A good church man is always up in everybody's shit. That's how we do.

- How am I supposed to know your people ain't in on it too?
- You know because Joe says and because I say.
- And you trust your people like that?
- I talked to my driver.
- I looked into his soul.

Preston: No matter how many times you get burnt, man, you just keep on doin' the same.

- Na', can I have your Xbox?
- You ain't gonna need it where you are.
- What'd they do?
- Markeith, kwame and latonya.
- Bring your things and come with us.
[All] Ooooh!
- Again?

- Keep pushing, we'll get a whiff of the money, too.
- I know you're serious about climbing that career ladder and I know how slippery it gets the higher you go, but for me,
- I don't want to go to no dance unless I can rub some tit.
- I appreciate your honesty.
- Good night, lieutenant.

- I know this cop, man.
- Yeah?
- Maybe we should help him out.
- Tell him who did what.
- Stop wilding, Kimmy. I said I got this.
- Tosha's people wanna know what happened.
- Say she caught one taking them boys down.
- Ain't no need to involve the police.
- Sound to me like he involved already.
- I told you, I got this.

- Ooh, baby, baby, baby.
- Get the fuck off me.
[Bird] Ah! Oh, my hand!
[Sydnor] Fucking bitch.
[Bird] Shut the fuck up!
- Shit is tight, man.
- We should leave the couch right there.
- Leave that shit right there.
- That's nice, that's straight.

- No fucking way, you rat-faced piece of shit, you fucked up the last two packages.
- Mikey, look, man, that wasn't me.
- You got money, you can buy a little weight.
- You got no money, go fuck yourself.
- Mike, I thought we was friends.
- Did you fuck up the last two packages?
- Sort of.
- Are you beat to shit?
- No.
- Take a walk, my friend.

- He got you, zig.
- Who got me?
- Mowee?
- Love child, never meant to be love child, born in poverty love child, never meant to be...

- Kima.
- We're gonna take the boss out.
- Raids? Tonight?
- Can you make it with your kids an' all?
- No, no problem.
- I can take them over to my parents'.
- All right, we'll see you soon.
- Kima, thanks for the call. Bye.

- You want to get with Omar, you need to stand out on one of them corners with a big-ass package.
- You be talking to that nigger soon enough.
- You feel anything?
- Come on, let's go.
- Come on.

Councilman Thomas 'Tommy' Carcetti: You're holding me to a high standard! I mean, Moses - Jesus, Reverend...
Jen: Tommy!
Councilman Thomas 'Tommy' Carcetti: I'm sorry. I can't believe I said that.
Reverend: [laughing] Moses will do for now. We'll save Jesus for your second term.

- Stop crying. Don't grab stuff off my plate.
- Mommy's going to whup you.
- Do you need some help here?
- Because we don't do that here.
- In our house, there's no hitting anyone, especially children.
- Do you understand me?

- 410-958-6612.
- And let it ring.
- Here.
- Hey.
- Yo, butchie. I'm locked up, yo.
- What you need?
- No bail. They sayin' it's murder.
- Murder? Well, don't worry. I got ya.

- I was glad that you found her.
- Mmm, I was glad for her, even.
- For a while there, you were happier than I've ever seen you.
- She's great.
- She is.
- Don't do this.

- Like that?
- Yeah, that's about right.
- Do you think, if you saw this guy again...
- I...
- Please, don't be afraid.
- From where I was sitting, his back was to me.
- It's all right, you done good.
- You have any trouble at all, you call us.

- I got your murders.
- But what I need from you, I get.
- No bullshit, no arguments.
- No arguments.

- we still ain't picked up the mannitol.
- What the fuck?
- Yo, Vincent.
- Where you at?
- Manny? Manny?
- Shit.

- Next time, they stay in my drawer.
- Yo, whatever, man.
- I know, right? Already, son.
- Yo, what up?
- Damn, man. These kids is crazy, son.
- I know, right?
- We're seventh graders.

Nick: Every morning I ask myself, is today the day I drive down to Fort Armistead and stare out at the harbor? No, I figure eventually, if I mind my own business, uncle Frank will call and wake my ass up at 7 in the goddamn morning and get my ass down there for some mysterious fucking reason. So hey.

- keep him in the hole in the hole down in the hole down in the hole keep him in the hole keep him in the...
- Down in the hole down in the hole keep him in the hole keep him in the...
- Down in the hole down in the hole

- Uh-uh.
- You lie about combat because you weren't there.
- And Terry was. Two tours.
- He's got stories if he wants 'em.
- Just not on that day.
- He ain't lie, y'all did, sorry t'say.
- Kima, what the fuck are you taking about?

Thomas: [spreading his lapels to show the lining of his suit] Here's our boy Thomas sporting the latest in downtown business wear: an understated ensemble that puts the "b" in subtle
[the line sounds much better than it looks when it's typed out]

- Fucking a, right?
- Jane Doe no.5.
- Five... five...

[Dj] 'We gonna play the brand-new big, bad game. Call us now...'
[Woman] Hello? Hello?
- Who was that?
- They hung up without saying.
- They hung up without saying?
- What you care? You never use the damn phone in here no how.

- There was nothing I could do, you know?
- It's like first I got beat, right, then I get this.
- What are these for?
- They say I got the bug.
- The bug?
- They checked me when I was in hospital.
- Are they sure?

- Cool. There you go.
- There we go. All right.
- The gift of corrected vision.
- Compliments of the bpd.
- Dang, y'all are focused.
- What man wouldn't be?

- so for now, stringer bell's jacket belongs in narcotics.
- Man took you off a boat, Jimmy.
- He want to peel his unit off, his unit, Jimmy, and go after the target of his choice, baby, it's his call.
- Lester, I thought you were all about the best case possible.
- When it's there, I am.

- The barksdale case is closed and when the Stanfield wire comes up, we close that as well. Understood?
- The hell with this.
- We got a wiretap up, and a judge decides when it comes down.
- Well, detective, the deputy ops is gonna talk to you about that.

- Typed and ready for your John hancock.
- Thanks.
- Sure.

- Just so I can finish my papennork early, what are your people gonna steal today?
- I don't know. Couple luxury sedans, some color tvs, widescreen.
- Couple of cans of vodka, maybe a whole container ship.
- Okey-dokey. Y'all have a good one.
- You let her fuck with you like that?
- She's all right. I like her.

[Man] What units are in the alley?
- Any sightline to the rear door?
- 10-4, who has the roof?
- We're gonna move in on my command.
- Everyone stand by.
- We're not gonna need your men today.
- Now wait a minute.
- My case. Back your men off.

- Motherfucker.
- Son of a bitch!
- Give me the card.
- You sick, heartless bastard.
- Give me the card.
- She was a gypsy woman she was a gypsy woman

- I don't know shit about no refrigerator.
- Like I said, I didn't go in.
- I turned around, started walking back to the truck and I heard this shot.
- Wee-bey came running back with this big-ass .45 he liked so much.
- Tells me how he was tapping on the window, real soft.
- She had to walk all the way up cos she couldn't see what was on the outside.
- And when she gets up to the window and looks out...

[Boy] Five-0 creeping.
- It's midnight relief coming in.
- What the hell is all this?
- You don't look at what you did before, you do the same shit all over.
- I'm out of here.

Man: Hey. Gimme a dollar.
- Hey, man, you got a dollar?
- C'mon.

- Greeks called him Ares.
- Same dude, different name, is all.
- Ares fits. Thanks.
- It's all good.
- See, back in middle school and all,
- I used to love them myths.
- That stuff was deep. Truly.
- You're up.

- How the fuck?
- How?
- He must have been in that closet the whole time. No one heard shit.
- Call dss. Now.
- Any media out back?
- Bring a cage car around.

- The man look at me all sad and shit, like I let him down.
- I know you know you ain't coming in here.
- What?
- Shorty, I don't know you.
- You know miss Elaine in the back room, right?
- This her brother, Earl, from the va hospital. He's supposed to stay with her.
- Can you help me inside? I'm Chantal.

- Walked up in there, told them I was on the corner, caught a stray.
- Police come talk to you?
- Just a roller, no homicide.
- Put it out there.
- Not just our people, either.
- I'm talking about any nigger who wants to step up. Put out the word.
- Ten on Omar or any motherfucker standing with Omar.
- Y'all niggers ain't got shit to do but be on this motherfuckin' hunt. Be on it.

Col. Cedric Daniels: Lester Freamon is not in the habit of selling woof tickets. I, for one, would not bet against him.

- Boom.
- He said a contact wound? It doesn't play.
- Gant had no compression, no stippling.
- Wound was to the front.
- He's talking out of his ass.
- But this motherfucker's just taking murders just to take them.
- He's taking life for shooting a cop, what the fuck?
- Might as well spring bird for killing gant.
[Bailiff] All rise.

- Hold up, Tony.
- Look, man. We gotta talk. I feel bad about the way things have turned out but if you're elected then I'll do whatever I can to help you.
- And if I get in, I'm gonna need your help.
- I mean, it's not personal, Tony.
- Fuck you, Tommy.

- 'i wanted to know if you know a young hopper, the one they got down there.'
- 'which one?'
- 'The fool, drop in there with a punch.'
- 'what about him?'
- 'He got some problems, right?'
- 'what you mean?'
- 'Enough to bring home, right?'
- 'you know, man, whatever.
- 'All right.'

- What's this?
- Your change. Or so says frank sobotka.
- Sure?
- It ain't mine, for Christ's sake.
- If you don't take it, someone else is gonna.
- Your pop's a good man, zig.

- I got 20 on Mr. Rat. Anyone fade me?
- Uh-uh, uh-uh, uh-uh, uh-uh.
- Move along. Come on, come on, get there.
- 100 says it ain't over.
- Shit, I got to take easy money.
- What the fuck?
- Motherfucker!
- Sounds about over now, though.
- How did he know what the rat gonna do?
- Junk do know his varmints!

- Every day try to do a little for the statewide and keep a problem on the blackboard for Donnelly.
- If she comes to visit, she thinks you're on point.
- The rest of the time, do what you feel like you need to do.
- But be careful.
- You're still on your evaluation.
- The first year isn't about the kids, it's about you surviving.

- Jesus, fuck, he's really legit?
- Well, you real police.
- Now he's out in the open, why don't you pull him up and ask him?
- You need a few days, I'll stall Daniels.
- But after that, you come home with a case we can use or you swallow your goddamn pride and rejoin this unit.

Jimmy: [McNulty sits on a windowsill, looking at Stringer's body. Bunk sits next to him and lights a cigar] I caught him, Bunk. On the wire, I caught him... And he doesn't fuckin' know it.

Det. William 'Bunk' Moreland: Shit is like a war, ain't it. Easy to get in, hell to get out.

- Jesus, bunk.
- What time is it?
- 4:30.
- I couldn't sleep, so get the fuck gone.
- What time did mcnulty leave last night?
- Never did. He's in number one.
- Pulling his hair out over some shit.

- he'll aim at Royce, not the department.
- You may want to bring Tony in on it, keep him viable against the mayor.
- But you need to find out what this is all about. First-hand.
- Do you know this major Colvin?
- To shake hands, maybe.
- If burrell's painting him the villain,
- Colvin might be anxious to tell his side of the story.

- What was that about?
- Did you see today's paper?
- Just sports.
- You gotta check out the front page.
- Whoa!
- What'll they do to him?
- Let me tell you something.
- If he gets caught with his dick up the ass of the deputy's wife he's still gonna have more of a career than if they find out he's behind that story.

- I didn't come to the union hall today on no bread truck.
- I swear, frank, we grabbed a couple of cases at the end.
- After all them sailors damn near raped it.
- Couple of cases?
- Yeah, it was... four, yeah.
- What the fuck is up with the police?
- What?
- They're stroking tickets on every fucking car.

Omar: [to attorney Levy, in court] We are the same: I have my gun, you have your briefcase.

- With what?
- Passing the bar.
- Guess I better be going.
- Thanks for coming past.
Elijah: Let's make a bed...
- Yeah.
- Nice meeting you.
- Elijah?
- Uh?
- Say bye to aunt kima.
- Bye.

- Go on, nigger, hit this shit.
- No, man, I gotta drop urine tomorrow.
- You worried about that?
- Go ahead, nigger. We got that covered.
- Oh, you got that covered?
- What, you think you're the only motherfucker on parole?
- Yo, nigger, give me that shit.
- There you go.

- You tell rawls that?
- No.
- Mcnulty, line three.
- Yeah.
- Where at?
- 800 block, in the rear. I got it.
- Thanks. Yeah.

- Three...
- Four ya see there?
- Omar know what one it is.
- Look like all your muscle done up and indisposed now.
- So you might as well go ahead and drop it out, ya feel me?
- I'm obliged to walk up in there now.

- Oh!
- Elena and I are gonna try again.
- Oh!
- Oh, shit.
- I'm done fucking myself up, bunk. I am done.
- Come on, man, let's go home.
- All right, man.

- $1,000 for the doctor.
- $1,000 each time, girlfriend.
- Every month till I'm pregnant.
- There's gotta be a better way.
- That would be on you, sweetheart.
- Come up with a suitable donor and we pay a lot less.
- Not with your pussy would I fuck any of these guys.
- What did you just say?
- You didn't just say that!

- full auto, no kickback, nail-throwing mayhem, man.
- Shit right here is tight.
- Fuckjust nailing up boards.
- We could kill a couple motherfuckers with this.
- You laughing. I've been schooled, dog.
- All right. All right.
- For real.

- Get everybody over there and get their cellphones.
- Everyone take out your cellphones and place them on the table in front of you.
- Stop, he didn't do anything.
- What are you doing?
- Foxtrot to kga, I'm your eyeball.

- What the fuck?
- Didn't I say something about waiting for a fuckin' phone call?

- Can you still read numbers?
- What's up?
- Your man think I brought bad merchandise?
- Then we can beat feet right now.
- Damn, Bernard, why you acting all CIA?
- We trying to make money here.
- If you had to answer to the people I do, you would be more cautious, too.
- I appreciate caution, cos I'm hanging out here, too.
- Give it a go. Use a cellphone.

- They don't have the honey nut?
- I don't even want this, dawg.
- Why not?
- It ain't what you're taking, it's who you taking it from, you feel me?
- How you expect to run with the wolves come night when you spend all day sporting with the puppies?

- Fish gotta swim, you know what I'm saying?
- Like I said, bird was always showing that thing to everybody, talking about this deed and the next.
- I didn't pay him no mind until you all came and showed him some interest.
- Mr. Little, if you wouldn't mind waiting outside,
- I'd like a few words with officer mcnulty.

- How should I pay you back?
- By showing a little respect.
- That all?
- Truth is, things have been rough around the way.
- With you doing so good, thought maybe you'd throw some ends my way.
- Seeing as how I was here for you.
- I ain't paying you to be my mother.

- What you looking at?
- Fucking crazy.
- Like I'm really gonna give that motherfucker a ride to woodlawn. Shit.
- Help! Somebody help!
- What's up, patrice?

- Some useless fuck in our marine unit faxed them a report on tides and wind currents.
- Shows the body went in the water west of the bridge and drifted out.
- Mcnulty.
- Fucking Jimmy.
- Fucking with us for the fun of it.
- I gotta give the son of a bitch some credit for wit on this one.
- Cocksucker.
- Motherfucker.

- Make it look right, then put my name on it.
- Do you want to reference all the murders or should I soft-pedal that?
- Fucking horse is out the barn door, right?
- Let's try not to make me look stupid twice.
- And when you list the cases, put a little dot next to each one.
- Deputy likes dots.
- I'm sorry, major, really.

- My name is... [Clears throat]
- My name is...
- Reginald.
- Round the way they call me bubbles.
- Hey, bubbles.
- I'm a drug addict.
- Celebratin' my anniversary.

- Gentlemen, what's going on there, guys?
- Testers, man, already out.
- No.
- I'm not in need of your services,
- I'm offering my services to y'all.
- What you got in the bag?
- One thing a gentleman of color like better than a new pair of downtown shoes is a downtown brim, right?

- I'm putting the respondent on home monitoring with his grandmother.
- I'm afraid Mrs. Brodus doesn't have a telephone for any monitoring calls.
- She's on a fixed income, your honor.
- How about he calls his probation officer twice a week?
- Cool. Whatever.
- Your honor.

- Shit. Look, set something up with homicide and whoever you want from your squads.
- State's attorney?
- Yeah, we should call them, too.
- Fucking shitstorm.
- Lieutenant, line three.
- Deputy ops.

- Listen up.
- Western uniforms will meet us in the mount Claire parking lot.
- We start there, and we don't stop till we take the doors.
- I want their lookouts to have as little chance as possible.
- What's with you?
- My office.

- that the leniency he received was the result of cooperation...
- Well, you understand our position, I'm sure.
- Frank, it's sitting out there and this
- Russian fuck won't take it off the pier.
- I ain't blind.
- I don't like it sitting out in the open that long.
- The customs seal is broke. Somebody'll see it. Our asses are hanging out here.

- "and you ever remember me
- "and have thought to please my ghost...
- "Forgive some sinner,
- "and wink your eye at some homely girl."
- Fuck Henry mencken.
- I forgive you, Gus.

- Omar!
[Men] Omar coming, Omar coming!
- Did you hear me? Omar coming.
- Let's get out of here.
Man: Close that shit down
Man: I said, Omar coming through.
[2nd man] Somebody in trouble now. Let's go.
- Eyy-yo.

- So what, we Jack her and make her talk?
- Fool, she probably got no clue where he lay his head.
- No, man, we sit and we wait, right?
- Man, wait on what?
[Mutters] Stupid motherfucker.
- Now, see, if we go upstairs, we'll spook him. So he's coming down. All right?

- You want to try to go federal with this?
- I am up for it.
- I get cross-designated as an ausa, and we can really run with it, you know?
- Career fucking case.
- Anyway...
- Ronnie, the thing at, um...
- Levy's the other day, I was, uh...
- I was...

- Still do.
- Does she know about the detective and the pictures?
- No, why would I tell her about that?
- And are the two of you still...?
- Yes.
- A little.

[Lester] Where you at?
[Sydnor] On his ass.
- You guys got the eyeball.
[Sydnor] All good, Lester. It's all good.

Det. Lester Freamon: Check this.
Det. James 'Jimmy' McNulty: That's Western District. What, Stringer's calling the Western?
Det. Lester Freamon: Maybe he's surrendering.
Det. James 'Jimmy' McNulty: After all the work we've done, I'd never forgive the son of a bitch.

Det. Vernon Holley: So you never got a look at either of the gunmen?
Andy: [Krawcyzk is still scared from the shooting] I told you. I saw only the one of them. He was black. Big, I thought. With a large weapon.
Det. William 'Bunk' Moreland: B.N.B.G.
Det. Vernon Holley: [as Krawcyzk looks puzzled] Big Negro, Big Gun.

The: The world is a smaller place now. And the FBI cares very much about such things.

- Sir?
- Lieutenant?

- I need the trace work on 06h271, and I need it now.
Managing: I know, he hasn't been around to it yet.
- Tell him I called and tell him I'm gonna keep calling till he feels my fucking pain, all right?
- Gift-wrapped.
- Number one.

- How can we fix it? You want money?
- Money?
- Yeah, this is business.
- Business is where you are now.
- But what got you here is your word and your reputation.
- With that alone, you've still got an open line to New York.
- Without it, you're done.

- That's more than fair. Thanks.
- But it's better for me if I do something else.
- Detective.
- It's not you, it's me.
- But where...
- The western, I think.
- Yeah, the western feels like home.

- A witness that puts d'Angelo barksdale at the scene of the murder, the night of the murder.
- You got a ballistics match between the kresson girl and the two dead mopes in the project where barksdale hangs. Run with it.
- This weak-ass shit is not gonna get past a grand jury.
- Charge the mope, and work it more aftennard.
- Call Jimmy, let him know.

- 13 by7by7.
- Ok, we got 13 adult females breathing at a normal to elevated rate.
- That's 0.25 liters of oxygen per minute...
- Per victim.
- He's a doctor?
- State bureau of mines.
- Minds?
- Mines.

Airline: Business or pleasure for you?
The: Business, always business.

- What kind of tools?
- I don't know, carpenter tools.
- Did you check the crate for weapons?
- Nail gun.
- Nail gun?
- Yeah, one of them bitches that shoots nails.
- They rig it to shoot rounds maybe?
- Nah, I shot it. A nail came out.
- Lester, seriously, is any of this helping?
- You're doing good.
- Tell me aboutjacking marlo at the train station.

- So what? A guy comes in the first time with a .50 caliber because he knows the glass is thick, then comes back the next week with a nine?
- The job isn't about picking the stories we like best.
- Motherfucker. Now you're going to lecture me about what the job is?
- My apologies.
- Ok. Let's go downtown.

- You can't follow people in them towers or hang in the low-rises without a reason.
- Just to make sure, we want to lose him, right?
- Losin' him is good?
- Right.
- Then why the fuck do this?
- Come on, herc. Roll with me on this one.

- Give her my love.
- Right.
- Hey, mcnulty.
- Don't tell her.

- how Jackie Taylor got run over by a police car in the middle of that whole goddamn mess.
- I remember when the paceco fell during that windstorm. You remember?
- Killed fat Rick dead.
- Yeah, what else you remember?
- Everything.
- Everything.

- World just keeps turning, right?
- You guys move on to something new.
- No one looks back.
- It's on me this time.
- Anyone?

Det. Ellis Carver: See, that's why we can't win.
Det. Thomas Hauk: Why not?
Det. Ellis Carver: They fuck up, they get beat. We fuck up, they give us pensions.

- we just gotta keep the devil way down in the hole
- Down in the hole down in the hole you gotta help me keep the devil down in the hole

- No need to bring your iron.
- I got a clean nine for you with shaved numbers.
- I'll pick you up tomorrow night.
- You a'ight?
- Yeah, yeah.
- A'ight.

- He did what he wanted to do and he said what he wanted to say and, in the end, he gave you the clearances.
- He was natural police.
- Yes, he was.
- I don't say that about many people, even when they're here on the felt.
- I don't give that one up unless it happens to be true.
- Natural poh-leece.

- Let me understand. Y'all hang around the projects, white and black together, ties and jackets on, looking to help ladies with their shopping carts and whatever else.
- Police, right?
- Afraid so, ma'am.
- About the murder a while back, right?
- Maintenance man?

- Wait for Bailey?
- Early bird catches the worm, dog.

- You've already called a meeting on it with the state's attorney and the police commissioner.
- It's penciled in for next Wednesday.
- No, Tommy's right on this.
- We need to act quickly.
- I'm glad you came to us with this.
- I'll light a fire, believe me.
- All right, thanks.
- Uh, you will keep me in the loop on this?
- Absolutely. Councilman.

- This is from the incident reports?
- That's why we do the paperwork.
- Giving me a fucking ticket, man?
- Are you out of your motherfucking mind?
- I live here, man!
- This could get out of hand.
- That's what we want, isn't it? More arrests?
- Why you messin' with me, man?
- Nojustice, no peace.

- What about frank's nephew?
- He is the idiot's cousin.
- He wants the same thing as frank.
- Anyway, I don't worry about Niko.
- You are fond of him, spiros.
- You should have had a son.
- But then I would have had a wife.

Recovering: You know how that go, right? Gave myself all these little rules about what I wouldn't do. Like I told myself I'd do a lot of shit to get high, but I swore I wouldn't ever trick. So, after I'm tricking, I thought, "This ain't so bad. I'll do this for a while, except I'll make some more rules for myself, like I'm going to use condoms, and I'm never going to go with more than one guy at the same time". Well, let's just say that there are some things that I told myself I would never do. You know what my disease did to my rules, right? Whatever it is you tell yourself you won't do to get high, you're pretty much making a list of everything you will do as soon as your inner addict tells you to. I mean, that bitch wants to kill me. She does.

- Hey.
- Little early for that, ain't it?

- Mr. P, ashanti Graham.
- You gots to know him.
- He was a player for real.

- Been on this detail how long?
- Eight months.
- Eight months with Clarence Royce.
- So let me ask, are you ready to take a bullet for the mayor of Baltimore?

Det. William 'Bunk' Moreland: I don't know. Men of color usually don't do themselves. I mean, take me, for instance.
Det. James 'Jimmy' McNulty: Yeah, I mean, you got all the reason in the world.
Det. William 'Bunk' Moreland: And yet here I am, still standing.
Det. James 'Jimmy' McNulty: Give or take.

- Two guns, remember?
- Two?
- It's all good, kima, ease up.

- Scared of somebody callin' you good?
- A lot of folks vqunteer places.
- A lot of folks share at meetings.
- Plenty of motherfuckers wake up every day and not get high.
- Man makin' me sound special for doin' what the fuck I need to be doin'.
- Read it.

- You're gonna use the hole in the wall, right?
- Yeah, I'm gonna rub some dogshit on the front of this thing.
- I don't want nobody touching it.
- Got it?

- 'Be advised, no movement at scene.'
- In here. Go on, get a medic.
- We got an officer down. We need a medic.
- '78-20, 10-23, give us dv in here.
- '10-4.'

- At a bar. Workin' the door.
- You know, it's just...
- Just till I find something a little bit better.
- Yeah?
- Reminds me.
- Your friend called again this morning.
- She said for you to remember your appointment.
- Says there's a job in it, if you still iookin'.

- Yo, renaldo!
- Renaldo!
- ¢qué?
- Next time you finish up the box, you need to holler on it, yo.
- Mamma Mia.

- Now, when we're up on their code, we're gonna need more manpower to run down a stash or a re-up.
- We can't do it all.
- I can'tjuke this thing any more than I have.
- Last night, half the police department turned up at Oscar's crime scene before I could get there.
- We can't make another murder.

- 'and on election day, we are going to be out there
- 'pushing the vote in every precinct.' you ready?
- Come on, we'll get dinner first.
- Ain't so hungry.
- Come on.

- well, you don't have to worry if you hold on to Jesus' hand we'll all be safe from Satan when the thunder rolls we just gotta keep the devil way down in the hole

- On the new gym?
- Yeah.
- You use my name?
- You use anybody's name?
- Hell, man, there was a time
- I'd have used a Smith & Wesson.
- Nah, look, man, I'm just saying, how do regular folk get it done in this town?
- Doreen, ring delegate Watkins, please.

- We are?
- Mmmhmm.
- How can you put that down when sydnor wasn't on the roof?
- Yes, he was.
- No, he's not, he's with Daniels.
- No, he isn't.
[Crowd] Oooh!

- Club soda... and lime.
- You mincing bitch.
- Why not just suck a dick and get it over with?
- That'll get the bad taste out of your mouth.
- Ah.
- Yeah.
[All] I'm a freeborn man of the usa
- I'm a freeborn man of the usa
- I'm a freeborn man of the usa

Sgt. Jay Landsman: [referring to McNulty and Bunk] Look at 'em, Cole. Don't it make your dick bust concrete to be in the same room with two noble, selfless public servants?

- So, you'll be a while, though, huh?
- Mm-hm.
- Gotta work the crowd, you know.
- Make them think I'm worthy of their faith.
- You are.
- Thank you.
- Most of the time.
- Bitch.
- Not too late if you can help it, ok?

- She won't show me till it's all broke down but, yeah, I deserve a bump, don't I?
- Four more weeks, Jen.
- Quality time with the wife and kids.
- That's what, four minutes?
- More like six.
- Six.
- Shit, I could have got laid.

- in the bottom of the hole in the hole in the hole way down in the hole in the hole in the hole in the hole in the hole way down in the hole

- Look at this shit.
- What the fuck is that?
- Let me look at that shit.
- Bird told me that shit. Look at that.
- Fucking Peter-puffer, get the fuck out of here.

- You all right?
- Ready.
- Maybe you should set up an easel on the sidewalk and do a sketch instead.
- I'm fine.
- Mm-hm.

- Got some irons.
- Think about working the flush-and-run on the eastside till things cool a mite.
- That'll work.
- So you don't want to lay over here tonight?
- No.
- Sure?
- No, I'm gonna go see my mom.
- Keep it close.
- I hear that.

- I got Mrs. Scott.
- Fuckin' hate that foul bitch, man.
- She ain't that bad.
- At least you ain't got Sampson.
- Yeah, I know.
- Yo, Michael, who you got?
- Man?
- Presborowski... pres...
- Yo, he new and white.
- We got it made.

- Look at monk.
- Yeah. Text message.
- Text? Need I remind you, detective, these young men are products of Baltimore city schools.
- Besides, look how far away he's holding his phone. Too far away to be reading a text.
- Nah, son. Pictures.
- Pictures...

- We having fun yet?
- I need a drink.

- Thanks for the cover last night.
- This is greggs, major case unit.
- Who's the shift leader?
[Man] Get a wildcat right now!
[2nd man] Brown! What's up?
- Anybody want to buy?
[Man] Blue John! Get yo ass caught, boy!
- Holy Christ.

[Cutty meets with Avon about funding for his gym]
Avon: A boxin' gym, huh?
Dennis: Ain't a proper one yet. That's why I asked to see you.
Avon: What you know about takin' care of somethin' like that?
Dennis: Not a damn thing, but I know that sweet science, and I got some kids who are interested. But what I got a need for, bro, is equipment. Man, these kids gonna get rained on. They need headgear, they need guards, cups, you know, so they can take the hit. Shit, you know what I'm sayin', man. I seen your picture on them Globe posters back in the day.
Avon: [dismissively] Little undercard shit, maybe, you know.
Dennis: Yeah, but still, you was Golden Gloves.
Avon: For a minute, but I had a physical defect.
Dennis: What, you got a glass jaw?
Avon: [chuckling] Nah, forehead, nigga.
Slim: [chuckling] Cranium shot'll do you wrong, man.
[Cutty shows Avon an equipment catalog and flips through it]
Dennis: Yo, look here, man. You see the new heavy bags? Look, freestanding, man. All you gotta do is add water. Then you got speed bags right there, right? You got this headgear right here? It's new. Look, protect the cheek AND the chin, you know? And I know I can go around and collect a dollar here and a dollar there, but I'm tryin' to put together a select group of people, right? I call 'em my, my Gold Circle Club, and they gonna make a substantial contribution and just get this thing rollin' right. I mean, I'm gonna put their name and picture up on the wall in the gym.
Avon: What, you tryin' to get me to join a club?
Dennis: No, man, I'm just sayin'. There's all sorts of levels. We got the, we got the Silver Club, we got the Bronze Club, man, for muhfuckas who really don't wanna dig that deep. Come on, man, check it out.
Avon: Nah, man, I ain't got no time for this bullshit, man. You know I don't want my fuckin' name and face on no damn wall, you crazy, nigga? How much money you talkin' about?
[Cutty looks down and works up his courage]
Dennis: Ten thousand.
[Avon and Slim look at each other, then burst out laughing]
Avon: See him go through all that for ten thousand? Man, Slim, go get him fifteen thousand cash, man.

- Here you go, sir. Tommy carcetti, running for mayor.
- Good luck, Tommy.
- You got my vote.
- Thanks. Tommy carcetti. Here you go.
- Good luck, councilman.
- How you doing?
- Tommy carcetti, running for mayor.
Norman Wilson: Ok, councilman, time to hit the West Side.

Lt. Dennis Mello: All right, listen up, you mutts, this is complicated. I mean, it isn't complicated if you went to college or, I don't know, your mothers actually stopped drinking for a minute while they was pregnant. But for Baltimore City Police, this is complicated.

- We don't want to go public.
- No?
- Just put it to the deputy ops you lost a witness who testified in your court, forcing the department to commit to the investigation.
- And when you call burrell this time, will you forget my fucking name?
- You missed a spot.
- Why don't you fucking do it?
- Seniority.

- Ok. See you later.
- I go in there now, you know what that makes me?
- Some asshole politician who's running for office.
Norman Wilson: Watkins. 40th district.
- You call the reporters?
- All three channels and the sun.

- I gotta say, kima, if you were a guy - and, in some ways, you're better than most guys - your friends would buy you a beer and let you know.
- Let me know what?
- You're fucking whipped.
- Whipped?
- Pussy-whipped within an inch of your life.
- I kid you not.

- Him being ajudge and all,
- I let go of some shit.
- He raise a stink?
- Major got busted by the deputy ops and I gotta have a report by morning.
- There you go, giving a fuck when it ain't your turn to give a fuck.

- Fuck me.
- I'm dying here.
- Let me get on the other side, work it from there.
- One, two.
- Three.

Omar: That wasn't no attempt murder.
Maurice: What was it, Mr. Little?
Omar: I shot the boy Mike-Mike in his hind parts, that all.
[Jury laughs]
Omar: Fixed it up so he couldn't sit right.
[Judge chuckles]
Maurice: Why'd you shoot Mike-Mike in his, um, hind parts, Mr. Little?
Omar: Let's say we had a disagreement.
Maurice: A disagreement over?
Omar: Well, you see, Mike-Mike thought he should keep that cocaine he was slingin' and the money he was makin' from slingin' it. I thought otherwise.

- Lieutenant, we need a file cabinet or two.
- The papennork from this, I mean...
- There's a lot of it.
- Lieutenant?
- Sir.
- I'm going to...
- Good luck with the case.

- He just ain't built for this, you know.
- His heart pump kool-aid.
- Right. What about you?
- You built for this shit?
- No doubt.
- You ready to put the work in?
- You got heat?

[Man 1] 'Hey, checked my count again.'
[Man 2] 'How bad?'
[man 1] 'Not too bad, man.
- 'We got hit about 22.'
[Man 2] '22? That's all?
- 'All right.'

- Excuse me, miss.
- Put your thumb on the scanner.
- Hold on a second.
- What's your name?
- Wise, Dennis wise.
- Take one of those.
- Go around the corner to the second door.
- No, you cannot go outside.
- Are you listening to what I'm saying?

- gotta watch your back well, I beg your pardon walk the straight and narrow track if you walk with Jesus he's gonna save your soul you gotta keep the devil way down in a hole

Deacon: No offense, but you're like the blind man and the elephant. It's a lot bigger than what you got your hand on, you just can't see it.
Maj. Howard 'Bunny' Colvin: See what?
Deacon: A great village of pain, and you're the mayor. Where's your drinking water? Where's your toilets? Your heat, your electricity? Where's the needle truck? The condom distribution? The drug treatment intake? Half these people are dyin' on their feet, and the other half's gonna catch what's killin' them.
Maj. Howard 'Bunny' Colvin: Look, they ain't no worse off when they was all over the map. Now they just in one place, is all.
Deacon: And that place is hell.

- Does mcnulty know?
- I'll raise his ass.
- We'll keep our ear to the wire, keep gathering string, no problem.
- But if bodies keep falling in the eastern district, we might have to give up this wiretap.
- Now you coming around?
- Been more than a damn year.
- Looksjust like his dad, huh?

- 45 minutes later, another call.
- This one from the same pay phone that went to d'Angelo's pager to start the whole thing off.
- This is the murder here.
- This first number, the one they sent to d'Angelo.
- I'm thinking this comes from a pay phone over by the Greek's.

Preston: [about Marlo] He's a cold motherfucker.
Malik: It's a cold world Bodie.
Preston: Thought you said it was getting warmer.
Malik: The world going one way, people another yo.

- You want me in there with ya, believe me, othennise guys like that will bleed you.
- I want you to meet Tommy Flanagan before he leaves.
- Yeah, gimme a minute. I need to, um...
- Bathroom?
- Yeah.
- Down the hall to the right.
- Hey, watch that stuff.
- You'll put on weight.

- What's up, shorty? Can you give me three?
- Bitch, get the fuck across the street and plant your ass on a stoop.
- Kenard!
- Yo, how you think I'd look with no tail on my head?
- Do I look like a faggy?
- Yo, na'.

- you gotta keep the devil way down in the hole
- Way down in the hole way down in the hole way down in the hole way down in the hole

- I got to thinking on her.
- Your ass ain't got to be hard all the goddamn time.
- Soft link break the chain.
- What are you, a boy or a man?
- I'm a man.
- So what are we gonna do, man, go have some fun?

- Uh, donation for the program.
- Done.
- Good. Give me 30 from the line and get out of here.
- Yo, man, good job, baby.
- All right.
- And I assume there's another five right here, for making this happen?
- Ain't shit for free, right?

- Thinking about getting clean... again.
- I was thinking I ain't got no other place to go, maybe...
- That's wrong, right?
- That ain't right, right? Sorry.
- I'm sorry.
- Wait.

Brother: You're the perfect bait, Lamar. They'll see you as conflicted, your homophobia is so visceral.
Lamar: You see that. I ain't even stepped inside the joint yet and you're calling me a cocksucker already.

- You've got to be shitting me.
- Oh, shit!
- Get out of the way!
- Driving all crazy.
- Damn.

- either the copy desk or the buyout.
- You're kidding, right?
- Apparently, they can hire
- 11/2 twenty-somethings for what it costs to keep me in print, so...
- Damn, Roger. Sorry, man.
- Fuck it. I might as well get to work on that great American novel.
- Yeah.
[Klebanow] Gus, come on in.

- Good.
- My ex and I are thinking of sending our boys here.
- Any problems, difficulties?
- No, not really.
- I mean, there's the math integration class for my oldest.
- He's in sixth, seventh, and...
- I'm just not sure he's ready, you know, for all that math.

- You're telling me how I can't do it, not how I can.
- There's the rainy day fund, but you really shouldn't draw that down.
- The bond rating houses want at least 5% of the budget in reserve.
- Feels like a rainy day to me.
- Cloudy like a motherfucker.
- Yo, yo, wait up, yo.

- Yo, stink. What about the rules, yo?
- Special occasion, yo.
- Yo, bey.
- I'm gonna throw up.
- No, you ain't.

- Grab your dick, walk into marimow's office, and say, "lieutenant, I made a mistake.
- "I attributed my PC to an informant when in fact I had it off a camera."
- That I got from isd without going through the proper channels. No.
- He's gonna take my stripes.
- Maybe he does. But if you wait until isd asks for that camera and he figures out the lie, he takes your fucking balls.

- Jingle bell, jingle bell, jingle bell rock
- Steals like my ex-wife's lawyer.
- Jesus.
- Get up there.
- Come on, come on, come on!
- Give me a sec!
[Groans] Come on.

- Listen, Nicky, you wanna go get to some place better, I'm with you.
- You wanna keep on like this, then I gotta rethink stuff.
- Do what you feel.
- I'm telling you, as soon as I start getting more hours, first thing I do is get my own place.
- You wanna move in with me, great.
- You don't want to, at least I did my goddamn best.

Det. William 'Bunk' Moreland: So Cheese. Who's your dog?
Melvin: Huh. You my dog.
[air kisses Bunk]
Det. William 'Bunk' Moreland: Heh heh heh, I just want to know who's your dog. Dog.
Melvin: What's this, some psychology? Huh? Yeah, OK, uhh... "Yo please, stop, stop! I'll tell you everything I know."
Det. William 'Bunk' Moreland: C'mon Cheese!
[shows Cheese some photos of murder victims]
Det. William 'Bunk' Moreland: Who's your dog?
Melvin: Oh hell no! Y'all a'int layin' no bodies on me man. Lawyer time!

- There goes the shuttle.
- What's he waiting on?
- Getting himself all steeled up to tell some tales.
- Lying to the wife's easy. It's looking your kid in the eye that's the hard part.

- Hey, Roland, man, you know, I hate coming all this way and not getting a little something...
- You know, for old times' sake?
- The playground behind fulton and Monroe, unit block.
- He told this fella Lex to meet a girl there.
- That's all he did.

- I used to have a guy like Omar working for me.
- Guy named Reuben Terry.
- Is he good?
- Saw the street like we wish we could.
- Ain't nothing like a good cl.
- School's out.
- Can I use your cellphone?

- we just gotta keep the devil way down in the hole
- Down in the hole down in the hole you gotta help me keep the devil down in the hole

- Hurry up.
- You know I got a ship to work today.
- Your ma knows you got a ship, too.
- Don't go upstairs. Just head out the back.
- I'll pick you up in the back of the alley.
- Ow!
- We got a kid together. What's the big deal if we spend the night in your folks' basement?
- They're decent people.

Det. William 'Bunk' Moreland: [to McNulty] There you go. Givin' a fuck when it ain't your turn to give a fuck.

- What now?
- There's more than one way to skin a case.

- Yeah, at you, maybe. Fuck!
- Anyway...
- It's low profile for a while, all right?
- All right.
- You don't have to take a picture to no photomart to get it turned around?
- No, it goes on a computer.
- I gotta take a leak.

Joseph: How do we begin?
Omar: You the one called the meet. Why don't we begin by you respectin' my time and gettin' to it?
Joseph: First of all, I heard you may be under the impression I was somehow involved with the late Mr. Bell in his play against you with Brother Mouzone. I was no way involved. Stringer came at me to set up the parley with you. He used me like he used y'all, I feel the need to say.
Omar: It's said, then. Tip out on it.
Joseph: Businessman such as myself does not believe in bad blood with a man such as yourself. Disturbs the sleep.
Omar: Oh, I bet it do.
Joseph: By way of amends, a proposition. I know of a card game on the Westside. High rollers, lots of cash money, boxcar-size.
Omar: You tryin' to set me up, Joe?
Joseph: You ever known me to be stupid? I'm tryin' to make things right here with you.
Butchie: How much we talkin' about?
Joseph: If there ain't at least a few hundred K in that room, I wish myself blind.
[Butchie and Omar burst out laughing]
Butchie: Serious, Joe.
Joseph: I say again: have you ever known me to be a stupid man?
Butchie: What are the strings?
Joseph: No strings.
Omar: What's your cut, then?
Joseph: Quarter of the take.
[Omar thinks for a second]
Omar: I scope this, and it don't look right, I'm gonna come back on ya now, Joe.
[Joe nods solemnly]

- And though there's no criminal charge, you think it wise to try to keep it.
- You shit all over yourself, all over me, all over this department.
- I told you, no surprises, remember?
- 20 even.
- Sign here, or you can count it yourself if you want.
- So I can leave now?

Acting Commissioner Ervin H. Burrell: [about political corruption] In this state, there's a thin line between campaign posters and photo arrays.

- Funny day.
- I'm the new departmental pet for shutting down a drug war.
- But I blew my wire for a dead terrier.
- You remember how you said...
- You hoped today would be your first
- "have your cake and eat it, too" day?
- What about it?

- But mouzone not saying who did this.
- You asked him who it was?
- Yeah.
- Why?
- Why what?
- How you gonna ask a soldier like mouzone a question like that?
- Either he gonna say, or he gonna go and work it out.
- Either way, you ain't got to be asking him shit.

Roland: Trick 'em into thinking they aren't learning, and they do.

- More!
- Motherfucker.
- I'm tired, bunk.

- Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Thanks.
- Cheap motherfucker.

- Better men than you have turned to this lady in their dark night of dead ends.
- You're not serious?
- I don't joke when it comes to madame larue.
- The woman has an unexplainable gift in matters of death investigation.
- She transcends the rational.
- Give her a call.

- I don't see no sweat on your brow neither, bro.
- I suppose we could stand here all night.
- Suppose we could.
- Or settle this once and forever.
- I want to ask you something, brother.
- Omar listening.

- He's interested in you.
- But he doesn't mention no blowjob, and neither do you.
- Uh-uh. It just lays there like a bad pierogi on the plate, both of you pretending it ain't there.
- What if he screws me over?
- Bounces me to a midnight shift?
- He does that, you will talk.

[kima] 'What's that?'
- Jesus.
- 'Something ain't right. This shit ain't right.'
- Christ.
[Kima] 'Signal 13, signal 13.'
- 'where the fuck...?'
- She can't reach the gun.
- 'What the fuck?'
- 'Two males, black hoodies, both armed...'
- Shut it off. Shut it off.

- That's all.
- Did he have kids? A wife?
- I don't know.
- They won't say.
- They won't talk to me about him.
- Call the fop. Get a lawyer, Roland.
- No, sir.
- I'm done.

- All right.
- 'What am I driving?'
- 'A rental, nothing flash.'
- 'where from?'
- 'i don't know where from, man, one of those places by the airport.'
- 'yeah.' we got something real.
- 'I'm on my way.'
- All right.

- but if they get him and flip him,
- Clay might take half the Royce administration with him.
- You included, maybe.
- Don't you worry about me. You, on the other hand, just slammed the door on the feds when we need all the help we can get.
- That's on them.

Lt. Cedric Daniels: You know what I love? The mind that's always a step ahead of me. The person who never stops thinking it through. That's what I fell in love with first.
Marla: You know what I fell in love with first? Do you? Your ambition. Where did that man go?

- Hey, partner.
- People tell me it might be a good year for the port.
- Might be. You all have been steppin' up in a lot of ways.
- Hope it continues like that. Y'all makin' friends in a lot of places, right?
- We're friendly guys.
- Clay.

- Lid has a black commander, but he's beholden to burrell.
- He'll stir shit with this if he can.
- The sergeant in question is assigned to cid.
- His new commander is Daniels.
- He's smart, he's black, and politically neutral.
- That work for you?
- Works for us.

- Make sure the dock boys are playing straight.
- They are what I order?
- Yes.
- I got you the s series in the colors that you wanted.
- I got one parked outside. You wanna see?
- Outside? Now?
- I'm just taking her out for a spin, chief.
- I'll put her back tonight.

[Sighs] You coming?
- Maybe later.

- And this is a good neighborhood.
- Mm-hm.
- It's safe and it's on the number 19 line and it's walking distance from your church.
- Officer, this is the only home I know.
- It's all I've got.
- Now, you say you have a program that can place me somewhere else but you ain't got no program for what's outside my door?

- and read the mdotjob posting.
- Port authority officers, schedule one, starting at 33 with benefits.
- Toll-taking days were over, huh?
- Father of my two kids went to Houston in
- '99, hasn't so much as called in three years.
- I wasn't gonna make it on 22,500.
- Not with kids, iwasn't.
- Did you want to be a police?

- East side?
- That threw us.
- We're casting a wider net now, searching the vacants citywide.
- My number's 23 in the office pool.
- I still have hope.
- Hell of a case, right here.
- You know, if I was police,
- I don't think I could lean back on it. You?
- Not if I was real police.
- Right. Right.

- Spot something. Spot on it.
- Let's go.
- Whoa. Why?
- We're supposed to get in quick.
- Calm the fuck down. They ain't gonna flush a half-dozen whores down the toilet.
[Woman] Who is it?
- Baltimore police.
- What do you want?
- To lock your ass up.
- Hands. Let me see 'em. Hands.

- How were you able to...
- You nit, don't you see what he's done?
- He's iegalised drugs!
- Actually, I elected to ignore them.
- You lost your fucking mind.
- He's lost his fucking mind.
- You, in my office. Now!
- That's it, gentlemen.

Det. Shakima 'Kima' Greggs: [recounting a memory] He says, "Here you go, rook." That's all he says. "Here you go, rook." And then he dropped the bracelets and walked away.

- If anyone is suggesting that
- I've broken chain of command, that I've gone behind your back, that I've lobbied against you in any way, they're lying.
- I don't know who told the newspaper that, but they were lying when they said it.
- Yeah.
- Respectfully, sir, I don't know where this shit is coming from.

- They're throwing my people in police cars and this asshole can't talk?
- I'm done. I'm out.
- I need nothing more to do with you people.
- I don't need the trouble or the money.
- I got a union to run.
- They used to make steel there, no?
- Smoke from the stacks.
- But inside...

- Anything I ought to know?
- Yeah. Use the city.
- Windows, mirrors, reflections, anything like that.
- Stay on my frequency, hear?
- Vondopoulos should be coming out on foot right about now.
- Copy that.

- Only problem is stump live in that rat hole, baby.
- So he ain't got to bring the cash out.
- See what I'm saying?
- Then we charge in, guns a-blazing.
- Steel door, right?
- Look, Dante, what's it gonna take for you to be convinced, man? I don't bag no babies.
- What you think?

Zenobia: [quote after opening credits] We got our thing, but it's just part of the big thing.

- Who the fuck you talking to, man?
- It's donette, string. She been calling.
- No, put the phone down.
- Are you all feeling me on this?
[All] Yeah.
- He show up, we on him like a motherfucking...
- Like a 40-degree day.

- It's not a protection against caterpillars, they eat right through it, but it is a sort of warning system.
- They here.

- and then the frustration that you feel is gonna end.
- I know you've heard this from every other son of a bitch, but congressman,
- I give you my word.
- You know, you're right.
- I have heard that before.
- You wanna keep pg county in your camp, it's gonna cost you a lot more than your word.

- Get in the damn car.
- If you want me in that car, look me up.
- And then I wanna talk to my shop steward and he can have an ibs lawyer go with me.
- Hey, dad, what...
- Jesus, pop, what was that for?
- Say cheese. You pull another stunt, I'll have your card. I don't care who your mother is!
- Get the fuck outta here!
- Kind of smart for a fat man, isn't he?
- All right, all right.

- Freamon.
- Visual on stinkum.
- 'Yo, we lost four to five-0.'
- 'What?'
- 'we lost four.'
- 'Why the fuck are you telling me this?'
- 'I'll talk to you later.'

- Now you know avon fought real hard for them towers.
- We took down the rayford brothers, big Dennis woodson, I mean...
- This shit is just business, string.
- Buy for a dollar, sell for two.
- That all it need be. You got the towers, I got what goes in them.
- Later for all that bullshit.
- I'll talk to avon.
- You do that. Do that.

- You always did cut them corners, didn't you?
- Seems like you cut a few yourself, major.
- However it ends, you're good police.
- Look, I just did what I did.
- It felt right.
- I'm fine with that.

[Man] ...And a bucket full of worms.
[Woman] Oh, my god.

- Headquarter security?
- The boat.
- The marine unit?
- Yeah, those diesel fumes, they make me seasick.
- That's good, keep it up.
- I'll go this against 10, you're riding the boat, midnight shift.
- Listen to the man, Jimmy.

Marla: The game is rigged, but you cannot lose if you do not play.

- I thought you was gonna go shopping.
- We round-the-clock with surveillance.
- Uh... when do we get to the part where you do all kind of shit for me?
- When do we get to that part?
- So you past the point of lifting a grocery bag or two?
- You try being me like this.

Fruit: Look, we grind and y'all try to stop it. That's how we do. Why you got to go and fuck with the program?

- I know who was there.
- So you innocent, huh?
- Let me ask you somethin' though, bein' that you muscle for Mario.
- What you was gonna do if you was there, huh?
- Riddle me that.
- Yeah.
- You know what, yo?

- You think that if 300 white people were killed in this city every year, they wouldn't send the 82nd airborne?
- Negro, please.
- There's got to be some way to make them turn on the faucet.
- Come on, Jimmy.
- You're the smartest boy in the room.
- You come up with something in this broke-ass city.

- 'Line drive, up the middle, a base hit for suzuki.
- 'Suzuki's very patient at the plate.' yeah, man, it's me.
- Guess who's up in here.
- Pimpin'-ass Orlando, from the club.
- Yeah. Courtside.

- Lookee here. Lookee here.
- That tilghman right there.
- Dressed like a prison guard and all?
- I see him.
- Steel door. The boy on the step is all, though.
- Stump is sitting in the front room window staring at the damn TV.
- Y'all saw that from the step?
- There in his damn drawers.

- Come on.
- Where?
- Evidence control.

- Come on, pretty boy. Come on.
- You don't have to go home but you can't stay here. Come on. Let's go.
- That's home?
- Yeah. That's it.
- There we go, little trouper.
- 6:30 tomorrow morning. Don't make me drag you out of bed like you did yesterday.
- Mm-hm.

- No, no, see.
- If you stack it with the domestic beer, then I won't know, huh?
- Cut a blind man some slack, hear?
- Y'all servin'?
- If you got some ID on you.
- Who was that?
- Little girl.

- I can only bring a minority of my officers to bear.
Bubbles' Tormentor: You've got all of it already!
Marlo: Make a nigger work. You like that shit.
- Ain't that right, motherfucker?
- You can't hide, son.
- Don't care where it is.
- In a nigger's ass crack, I'll still find you.

- if you had the balls to follow through, you know what would happen?
- A guy like that would be tried and convicted.
- The rest of them would back up so we could push a clean case through.
- But everybody stays friends.
- Everybody gets paid.
- And everybody's got a fucking future.
- You'll just use anyone, won't you?

- Them expeditions are hard to handle.
- With a Lexus I wouldn't have no problem.
- You little motherfucker.
- You know how many cars you hit?
- What?
- Don't even think of bullshitting.
- I don't know what you're talking about.

Det. Shakima 'Kima' Greggs: Fighting the war on drugs, one brutality case at a time.
Sgt. Ellis Carver: Girl, you can't even think of calling this shit a war.
Det. Thomas 'Herc' Hauk: Why not?
Sgt. Ellis Carver: Wars end.

- gotta watch your back well, I beg your pardon walk the straight and narrow track if you walk with Jesus he's gonna save your soul you gotta keep the devil way down in a hole

- Those are for reservations.
- Let me get your chair for you, ma'am.
- It's ok, man, all right.
- Here you are.
- Here you are, sir.
- Your waiter will be with you shortly.
- You shoulda pushed him, d.

Det. Lester Freamon: You follow drugs, you get drug addicts and drug dealers. But you start to follow the money, and you don't know where the fuck it's gonna take you.

- What the fuck, we're making money here, right?
- Hell, yeah.
- For real.
- This guy's some kind of supplier.
- Snap some shots of the truck tags.
- You got more for me?
- I got if you got for me, right?
- Got to say, your thing is tight.
- Best around here in a long while.
- Fuck!

State Sen. R. Clayton 'Clay' Davis: My brother, let's be fair. I'm providing you with the opportunity to go head to head with the state's attorney in a case that's going to be front page news. For all that profile? Sheeee-it, partner, you should be paying me a fee. Seriously, dog, for twenty thousand cash to my campaign committee, I'll get myself indicted federal, let you go to trial on that. Beat the feds like a stepchild and really make a name for yourself. Fuck you? Naw, son, I'm going to make you. Motherfuckers going to be wiping their ass with Johnnie Cochran's memory and carrying your business card in every damn pocket before we done.

- Before they disappear.
- Look at this poor sucker.
- I don't believe we're gonna do this.
- He disappears, the city goes batshit.
- You get your photo intercepts, and when we need to run down one of marlo's re-ups, you got all the manpower you need.
- And marlo falls.
- Falls hard.

- I can keep you on salary till then.
- You know what? This ain't for me.
- I thank you for the opportunity, but it ain't so much to just bring a man for a day or two.
- I mean, if you had something where I was working with these kids...
- Anyway, thanks again.

- or some shit, I don't know.
- See, but me?
- I like me a town car.
- Man look quiet and correct in one of them.
- So, I tell you what - you win this, you be sure to pick one up for yourself, son.

- Yeah, it's me.
- Yo, tell the hitter, tell him the tall man will pick him up.
- Right.
- 4:47.
- Seven-minute window.
- There's 892 phone numbers.
- That's our base line. We're on our way.
- Yeah.

- Oh, sorry.
- If the mayor prefers not to, um...
- If he, like, feels more comfortable with Dr. Parenti alone, you know, because of the drug-legalisation controversy last year...
- I don't think mayor carcetti is in your meeting. He's in Annapolis.
- Ok. Thank you.

[Pa] Dr. Johnson, please call neuro icu.
- Dr. Johnson, please call neuro icu.

- He want so bad to be a gangster, maybe it's time he get a taste of a real lockup?
- Come on, Mr. C, don't do me like that.
- I made him sleep on the deu bench last night, if that counts for anything.
- Isn't there anybody else?
- Friend, relative, anybody?
- You've always been good with the knuckleheads, boss.
[Sighs] All right. Let me go call my wife.

- Fuck. Fuck.
- Ah!

- in the bottom of the hole in the hole in the hole way down in the hole in the hole in the hole in the hole in the hole way down in the hole

- Hmm.
- When they kill the stickup boy they dumped the body in the alley behind where this kid and the other low-rise hoppers lay their heads. Can you imagine?
- All he can think about.
- You tell him he's gonna have to testify?
- Not yet, we'll get there.
- Problem is, what do I do with him now?

- If you put them pit bull-style stitches in me, the next patient gonna be you.
- For real.
- What, you don't like rawhide?
- Marlo!
- We finna get back to old times, baby.

- So all you gotta do is just hit him with the parole backup.
- Look, I can't make no promises.
- It's gonna be a nickel at least.
- Come on, man.
- Him and me...
- I'm gonna do my best, all right?
- He's always at this place?
- No, he come and go.
- But it's the spot since the war started.

Omar: Spread the word, darlin'. Omar back.

[Stewedores' Union members were testifying in front of the Grand Jury]
Det. William 'Bunk' Moreland: How did we do, Charlie?
Charlie: I almost got one to swear that the docks are actually near the water.

- you gotta keep the devil way down in the hole
- You gotta keep the devil way down in the hole way down way down in the hole

- I'm not back with them, rawls sticks it to me.
- Well... you got a friend here.
- Worst comes to the worst,
- Pearlman goes to her bosses.
- The state's attorney's office still has some love for you.
- All due respect, I'm starting to worry more about the people who claim to love me than the ones who don't.

- Hi. Choose a game.
- Can you guess this word?
- Stop! Move away from the cookie jar.
- Hi. Choose a game.
- Can you guess this word?

[sitting in a hot dog joint]
Howard: I never did understand why you stopped eating the pig.
Deacon: I ain't been in a Polock Johnny's since 1974, and if you knew what was good for you...
Howard: Look, I know what's _good._ I remember when you did, too. I never saw you going all Muslim on me.
Deacon: Ain't that. But I do believe that other faiths have got the pig figured better than us A.M.E.'s.

- Anyway, he's cooking his own dinner now.
- What about with you and your wife?
- What happened?
- She died.
- Not now, Gus. I'm good.
- Whatever you say, Jimmy.
- So, you about ready to go?
- Sure.
- Be right back. I just gotta make a call.

- Nigger put a gun in my face, man.
- Joe know about butchie?
- Motherfucker, I know about him.
- Joe don't know shit about this here, and he ain't need to know.
- Now where my cheese at, man?
- Ooh. [Chuckles]

- Nothing.
- Couple of police interrupting me, while I'm trying to get my drink on.
- Your son might be in danger.
- He will be if he shows up.
- Snatched that $10 out my purse.
- I'll slap the bright out his eyes.
- Here's my card.
- You run into him, you call me.

Chester: How come they don't fly away?

- Yes?
- Everything's good.
- You coming in now?
- Yes.

- That's supposed to make me feel better?
- Kima's out on the street doing her detective thing?
- All that hospital shit, all that rehab.
- All them promises.
- We talked about this.
- No, you talked.
- I didn't get a word in edgewise once you made up your mind.

Duquan: You remember that one day, summer past? When we threw them piss balloons at them Terrace boys? You remember, just before school started up again? You know, I took a beatdown from them boys. I don't even throw a shadow on it. That was a day. Y'all bought me ice cream off the truck. You remember, Mike?
Michael: [long pause] I don't.

- Why don't you just step right now?
- I don't get paid till eight.
- Eight, huh?
- You all right?
- Just a little tired, that's all.
- So I'm gonna see you tonight, right?

- Anything happen,
- I'm-a have to fuck you up.
- Yeah, but that's nothing.
- The guy trusting me on this, marlo, he'll kill you and your whole family.
- So don't shake the bottles cos marlo weighs that shit.
- I ain't shaking shit.
- See that you don't, cos if you fuck with them, I'm gonna know.

- about putting shit on the damn street.
- Nigger, please.
- It was like we schooling them.
- Yo, my new class is the shit.
- You going by the gym today?
- No, man. I gotta go vial up what's left on this package so I can re-up.
- All right.
- All right, man.
- Peace, man.
- That shit crazy, though, right?

- Can I preach it like I feel it?
[All] Yes!
[Preacher] Hey, hey, hey.
- This Tuesday, when we choose the men and women who will lead our city, we would do well to keep those standards in mind.
- Men of truth, who fear god and hate covetousness.
[Woman] Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

- Dmitri.
- We don't wait?
- Our friends are still there, no?
- Still here.
- Then go.

- Left tackle but you was too busy pissing in your drawers to learn left from right!
- Take your ass down to shula's steakhouse and get an education.
- Hey, darlin'.
- What's the deal?
- Just dropping in for one or two.
- Then we take ourselves out of here.
- How about you?
- I'm leaving after this one.

[Mcnulty] Lieutenant, you still up?
[Daniels] I'm here.
- This second can doesn't make sense.
- He went to ground at an appliance store off eastern. Now he's dumping it.
- 10-4. Go home.
- You don't wanna sit on the can?
- Negative. The can is clean.

- But marlo, this nigger and his kind, man, they gotta fall. They gotta.
- Well, for that to happen, somebody's gotta step up.
- I'll do what I gotta. I don't give a fuck.
- Just don't ask me to live on my fucking knees, you know?
- You're a soldier, bodie.
- Hell, yeah.

- a deputy ops felt the need to Bury you.
- You have a gift for martyrdom.
- I wonder, though, are your disciples as keen for the cross?
- In your final court report, it would be prudent to tell the judge the investigation hit a dead end.

Det. James 'Jimmy' McNulty: [on their way to see Major Rawls] What the fuck can I tell him?
Sgt. Jay Landsman: Whatever the man wants to hear, Jimmy. Whatever he wants to hear.

Det. Lester Freamon: Shit like this actually goes through your fucking brain?

- It ain't much but it's been months since a boss has been able to find me.
- You still have some interest in marlo Stanfield, right?
- That's his cell.
- He stopped using cellphones.
- Ellis, how?
- Police work, detective. Police work.

Det. James 'Jimmy' McNulty: So that's the cop shooter?
Det. William 'Bunk' Moreland: Yeah, not much to it. But he did that job on the Dozerman kid last week. Gave it up on a full statement.
Det. James 'Jimmy' McNulty: Before or after you knocked the shit out of him?

- She expectin' him.
- An' what's in this box.
- It's nice here, huh?
- Let's go, bug.
- Wish I was going with you.
- You gonna have your own room.
- She probably got one of them plasma tvs, too. Them joints is wet.

Off. James 'Jimmy' McNulty: He play you hard?
Bubbles: I go at him respectable. He put that goddamn shotgun in my face, man. I'm looking at two goddamn tubes of the Harbor Tunnel staring right at me.
[McNulty laughs]
Bubbles: Each one about yea-big. I damn near piss my pants.

- And a deposit slip dated 23 January, same year, to your personal account in the amount of $11,000.
- I come here to help, but y'all out for blood.
- I'm not answering no more questions.
- You are invoking your right against self-incrimination, sir?
- Damn right.
- Then we'll conclude this testimony.

[about a drug dealer incapable of using code on the phone]
Det. Roland 'Prez' Pryzbylewski: If that idiot worked for us, he'd be a deputy commissioner by now.

- Somebody snitching!
- Shut the fuck up!
- Let's go, lavell.

- ain't nobody here on your waveband ain't nobody gonna lend you a helping hand and you start breaking down then you go to the sound but you hear that fast train ooh, fast train

[Mason] I'll get the school police.
- You all right?
- She was like...
- And then... she was like...
- Typical day?
- I wouldn't know. My first time.
- Your first time?
- Mrs. Donnelly oversees this project.

- That's easy for you to say.
- You ain't the primary on this.
- Motherfucker...
- What got into him?
- He's emotional.
- He's been working this case for a long time.
- So the thing right now is for you to remember everything you did on this case...
- From the beginning.

- You know, lately...
- I come to find out someone trying to take pictures on me.
- Pictures?
- Video.
- You heard anything about me through your travels?
- Had no incentive to listen.
- You do now.

Maurice: You are amoral, are you not? You are feeding off the violence and the despair of the drug trade. You're stealing from those who themselves are stealing the lifeblood from our city. You are a parasite who leeches off...
Omar: Just like you, man.
Maurice: ...the culture of drugs... Excuse me, what?
Omar: I got the shotgun, you got the briefcase. It's all in the game, though, right?

- You paying those guys out of pocket?
- Mm-hm.
- Boiler in there's working and the pipes are ok.
- I should have it all cleaned out by tomorrow, I think.
- All you gonna need is the permits.
[Man] Chamo, hermano, tienes que dejar...
- Permits?
- Yeah. Permits.

- The way it was?
- We a family again.
- You lied to me.
- People change, Michael.
- He said you can give him the independence card too.
- He gonna take care of all that for us.

Johnny: It'll be better tomorrow, Bubs.
Bubbles: Tomorrow, man. What kind of dope fiend be talking about tomorrow? Tomorrow ain't shit. Today, Johnny, today.

- Fuck, Sergei, you almost break my hand!
- Bring him up!

- Tear out them phones.
- From now on, y'all need a pay phone, walk a few blocks and do not use the same phone more than once a day.
- You hear me?
- You hear me, right?
- Done.
- Bey, tear them motherfuckers out.
- Come on, man.

- is because we've been keeping an eye on the people who run Orlando's.
- We got ways of knowing what they're saying, thinking.
- You know what they said about this one?
- Bitch didn't know how good the snort was.
- That it was her own fault. That's how they do.
- They use people, and when they throw them away, they find a way to say it ain't on them.
- Lying motherfucker.
- He said they took her to a hospital.

Off. James 'Jimmy' McNulty: You're a soldier, Bodie.
Preston: Hell yeah.

- No, you two switch.
- Calvin, you're here in the front.
- Quanice, you're here.
- Michael, you're here.
- Destiny, here. Myesha, here.
- Dashonda, here.
- Come on, keep moving.
- Don't stop at the door. Come in.
- Let's get started.

[last lines]
Omar: All in the game yo, all in the game.

- You don't read about statuesque blondes in the newspapers anymore.
- Buxom ones, neither.
- They're like a lost race.
- What do you got next?
- School project meeting.
- Mr. Whiting builds his pulitzer.

- It's good.
- It's good?
- Whoa-oh
- I know it's good.
- You know what I'm talkin' about, right?
- We all got a job to do and your job is to let d'Angelo know we still family.
- It's important.

Maurice: How many times have you been arrested as an adult, Mr Little?
Omar: Shoot, I done lost count. Enough to know not to take it personal, though...

- Aagh! [Laughs]
- Careful, I'm only a country boy.
- Shut up.

Drugdealer: [while being thrown in the police truck] Hey, we're in America!
Det. Michael 'Sanny' Santangelo: No-oh, West Baltimore.

- any time, in this whole city.
- I'm just saying.
- Saying what?
- In case.
- In case what?
- In case I ever wanna buy a new car.
- Damn, is that too much to ask for?
- Girl, you crazy.
- Shit, shit, get down, get down.

- Who do you like better?
- Ultimate spider-man or regular spider-man?
- What's the difference?
- I'll have to teach you everything.

- I'll hold his for you...
- Yo, don't press, man.
- Don't press.
- Fuck is wrong with you, boy?
- You too good for my money?
- Or is you such a bitch-ass punk you worried about where my money come from?
- Yeah.
- Ain't no thing, shorty. We cool.

- Where?
- A corner, north end, I don't know.
- Did wee-bey say anything to you about the shootings?
- We don't talk shop in a car.
- It's a rule we got.
- So, is that it?
- Your client must realize that any agreement is dependent on his full cooperation.
- There ain't nothing else.

Det. Michael Crutchfield: Did he fuck you?
Det. William 'Bunk' Moreland: He tried. But mostly he just fucks himself.

Stringer: Where Avon at?
Slim: He'll be along shortly.
Stringer: That's good, 'cause I came to see you anyway.
Slim: What you need?
Stringer: I need you to hit somebody.
Slim: Who we hittin'?
Stringer: Clay Davis.
Slim: THE Clay Davis? Downtown Clay Davis?
Stringer: That s'posed to mean somethin' to me, man? That nigga need to be got.
Slim: Shit, String, murder ain't no thing, but this here is some assassination shit, man.
Stringer: Look, I tell you to get somebody, you gettin' him. I ain't askin'.
Slim: Damn, String, I don't know...
Stringer: [cutting him off] Nigga, I gotta remind you who the fuck you work for?
[Avon, who has been watching from a side room, steps in]
Avon: Ayo. I think Slim gonna have to sit this one out, boss. So you finna go hit a state senator now, huh? Yo, you kill a downtown nigga like that, the whole world gonna stand up and take notice. I'm talkin' 'bout the state police, federals... all of that! You need a "Day of the Jackal"-type muthafucka, basically, to do some shit like that, not a rumble-tumble nigga like Slim!
Stringer: That nigga took our money, man.
Avon: I seen it comin'.
Stringer: Well, he gotta go.
Avon: Naw, you a fuckin' businessman, you wanna handle it like that! You don't wanna get all gangsta-wild with it and shit, right? What I tell you about playin' them fuckin' away games?
[Stringer looks at Slim, but he won't look him in the eye; Stringer gets up to leave]
Avon: Yeah. They saw your ghetto ass comin' from miles away, nigga! You got a fuckin' beef with them? That shit is on YOU!
[Stringer stares at Avon for a moment, then walks out]

- Where y'all at?
- All right, when I find y'all, y'all gonna get it.
- You better come out now.
- Where y'all at?
- Look, I'm not even playing with y'all right about now.
- You hear me?

[Man] 'You'd have loved it. Burrell is sitting there with a handful of street-level arrests
- 'pretending he has a plan.' so, what did you tell him?
- "'Never shit a shitter, deputy."
- That's what I fuckin' told him.
- 'I did good, right, Jimmy?'
- I gotta go.

- waiting us out.
- I, for one, am a patient motherfucker.
- Don't waste film.
- I been here so fucking long that you're starting to look good to me.
- Anything?
- The drugs go in, they gotta come out.
- I mean, what the fuck?

- He talked to the judge?
- That's my understanding.
- So, if he comes over on this, watch your back.
- You need anything, you ask me.
- I'll give you all the help I can.
- But no surprises.
- Yes, sir.
- Keep me briefed.

- So, where you going with this?
- Hey... I think it's down.
- Motherfucker, you ain't that good.
- Mcnulty, what's up with it?
- You ok, Gus?
- Mm?
- Yeah, I'm good.

Det. William 'Bunk' Moreland: [quote after opening credits] Aw yeah. That Golden Rule.

- Kima, maybe you could ask those western boys to pick up what they find for the next few days.
- Yeah, sure.
- Damn, boy, you smell like sex.
- You didn't take a fucking shower?
- I was late for work.
- Forgot my newports, didn't you?
- Oh, shit, man, I did.
- Let me do these chips and then I'll go get your cigarettes.

Det. William 'Bunk' Moreland: You turning the world upside down with your bullshit. How are you not in jail?
Det. James 'Jimmy' McNulty: I don't know. The lie's so big, people can live with it, I guess.
Det. William 'Bunk' Moreland: Jesus fucking Christ, Jimmy. I told you. I fuckin' told you it was gonna come to this. You played with fire, didn't you? And now we're all getting burned.

- Jimmy, he makes more money off of that shit than you do off of this job.
- Don't let Lester fool you.
- He did already.
- Today in roll call, he showed something.
- Hey, he's natural police.
- He used to be homicide.
- Why did he leave?
- Ask him.
- This is the one, huh?
- Yup. Hasn't been rented since.

- 14 open homicides that might never clear?
- The bosses wouldn't blame you for that.
- I wouldn't shine either.
- I'm using what we do with this to get a major case squad.
- I come up out of here with all those open files, it doesn't smell as sweet.
- What's the next move?
- We clone the computer and watch the docks in real time.

- That's exhaustion.
- All we got left to do is follow one of these mopes and prove we can't do it.
- We show a judge we can't make the case by following these guys, and we can't.
- How can we keep on any of them in those towers?
- But you gotta show you tried.
- Do we have a pager number?

Sgt. Jay Landsman: He gave us thirteen years on the line. Not enough for a pension, but enough for us to know that he was, despite his negligible irish ancestry, his defects of personality and his inconstant sobriety and hygiene, a true murder police. Jimmy, I say this seriously. If I was laying there dead on some Baltimore street corner, I'd want it to be you standing over me, catching the case. Because, brother, when you were good, you were the best we had.

- I keep a close watch on this heart of mine
- I keep my eyes wide open all the time
- I keep the ends out for the tie that binds because you're mine...

[Radio] '64-Charlie to central k.' you up to this?
- Pay it back, Omar. Pay it back.

Joseph: Scare up a hornet's nest, no telling who's gon' get stung.

- Say hey to beadie and the ankle-biters.
- Dinner?
- Located in high-rise structures, as well as residences are detailed alongside...
- Thanks, santy.
- This horseshit? You serious?
- Back to school for the kids.

- Way more.
- Excuse me.
- No. Not right now.
- A half-hour.
- No, so go ahead and fill it up.
- You got the order number, right?
[Man] Man, move your ass.
[Boy] Man, this some bullshit.

- Language arts position opened up here.
- I came over last year.
- Hey. What's up, coach?
- Hey.
- You come over for your boys?
- Some kind of program?
- Nah. Something else.
- Didn't work out really.
- Be well.

- You guys are getting out of drugs?
- Yeah, for a while.
- We don't have the manpower to stay on anything big.
- Not since those towers fell.
- We don't have enough love in our hearts for two wars?
- Joke's on us, huh?
- I guess so. Still...
- You give great case.
- I wish you could've worked it with us.

- Yeah.
- The big fuck from the high-rise, what's his name?
- 'Little man.' yeah, him.
- All right.

- Who signs the overtime slips?
- No ot, unless prior authorization.
- A case goes from red to black by way of green, lieutenant.
- You people bring me something that needs ot, you'll get ot.
- Until then, live on your fucking salaries.

Chinese: [Speaking foreign language]
Moreland: Hey, hey.
Chinese: ...English.
Middle: No English.
Eastern: ...English.
Arab: English...
Moreland: Kunta kinte, yabbdabba dabba do.
African: Huh...?
Freamon: Hah mishy gishy gushy gushy mishy meshy mushy, motherfucker.
African: Eh?
Freamon: Eh! Negro, you can not travel half way around the world and not speak any motherfuckin' English.
African: [Speaking foreign language]
Freamon: English, motherfucker!

- I lay back and not do what I usually do on election day.
- I see you all get a push in the seventh and ninth districts, say, and maybe that piece of the 11th west of freemont.
- I split some of my tickets for y'all.
- I split my walkaround money.
- You know, the usual to-and-fro.

- Yeah, you need to go to prop Joe.
- I ain't gonna argue with you.
- You run it as you see fit.
- At least until I get home, you do.
- No doubt.
- Us, man.

- Andreas, right?
- The Russian sent me.
- Need you to get a word to vondas.
- He got a new friend.
- I never hear the name.
- Just let him know marlo came past with a gift.
- Be at you same time tomorrow.

[McNulty takes Bodie to lunch]
Preston: We still in the city?
Off. James 'Jimmy' McNulty: Cylburn Arboretum. Pimlico's right up the hill.
Preston: This is nice.
[pause]
Preston: I ain't no snitch.
Off. James 'Jimmy' McNulty: Didn't say you were.
Preston: Been doin' this a long time. I ain't never said nothin' to no cop.
[pause, then Bodie sighs and rubs his face]
Preston: I feel old. I been out there since I was 13. I ain't never fucked up a count, never stole off a package, never did some shit that I wasn't told to do. I been straight up. But what come back? Hm? You think if I get jammed up on some shit, they be like, "A'ight, yeah, Bodie been there, Bodie hang tough. We got his pay lawyer, we got a bail"? They want me to stand with 'em, right? So where the fuck are they at when they supposed to be standin' by us? I mean, when shit goes bad and there's hell to pay, where they at? This game is rigged, man. We like them little bitches on the chessboard.
Off. James 'Jimmy' McNulty: Pawns.
Preston: Yo, I'm not snitchin' on none of my boys. Not my corner, and not no Barksdale people, or what's left of 'em. But Marlo, this nigga, his kind, man, they... they gotta fall. They gotta.
Off. James 'Jimmy' McNulty: Well, for that to happen, somebody's gotta step up.
Preston: I'll do what I gotta. I don't give a fuck. Just don't ask me to live on my fuckin' knees, you know?
[McNulty is silent for a moment]
Off. James 'Jimmy' McNulty: You're a soldier, Bodie.
[Bodie gives a wistful half-smile without looking at McNulty]
Preston: Hell yeah.

- Colvin?
- From the western.
- Sham, who is this kid?
- Some young boy from tucky's crew.
- Is he connected? Kin to anybody?
- No, he only been on for a few months.
- What did he use the whistle for?
- Some nigger in one of ghost Kane crews laughed at his shoes.
- Do it.

Det. William 'Bunk' Moreland: The hell with Norris. You my real partner, Lester. My life partner.
Det. Lester Freamon: Don't tease, bitch.

- What if he came already and we just missed the pick-up?
- Yo, herc, what if your mother and father never met?
- How's shop doing?
- Steady rolling.
- Let's take a ride. Beef run.
- Beef run, where at?
- Pulaski, baby, the good shit.
- Get in the car, man.
- Yo, poot. You the man for an hour.

- Give and take on both sides.
- You hear me?
- Yeah.
- Ok, anything that fired a bullet out on that corner has gotta disappear.
- Not the storm drains.
- Call that nigger shamrock and drive all that chrome over to the harbor.
- All right.

- Let me get two red tops.
- There we go.
- I hope you guys are taking notes.

- 25 large on dawg!
- I'll take that bet!
[Man] Ok, cheese!
- Yeah.

- 12-14.
- What's up?
- Eastbound on Preston.
- Stinkum and a young boy riding shotgun.
- They're at the light right now.
- Got 'em.

[Mcnulty] Shoot up a barbershop?
- No, they did not have to do that.
- That man was just...
- My thing.
- My thing, ain't had...
- They ain't had to do that.

- Why here?
- Why you wanna mix with they kind, man?
- They give me work.
- Who you talkin' to?
- I know what they be doin' in there, Duke.

- and if the harbor promenade could extend to the south branch...
- We're looking at that.
- Should be.
- Everything from here to Hanover street is money.
- Mr. Mayor, play a little poker?
- I'm not very lucky.
- Luck can change.
- Mr. Mayor, I'd like you to meet ray Chandler.
- Pleasure to meet you.

- I wanted to make that shit special.
- It was, man. It fucking was.
- Take your money back.
- This is mine.
- Take it back, you old whore.
- Turk?
- Can I get one more?

- well, then... well, then you understand that writing letters will not solve the problem, oh, no.
- Shit, girl.
- You know I'm-a roll wit' you.
- I need some kinda break.
- Mm-hm.

Frank: [denying any knowledge of the dead girls] I have a wife! I have daughters! I don't like what you're thinking!

- And you can't even tell me shit about who they was.
- One of them was named Omar.
- Omar?
- Omar, that's the name I heard.
- And they had a white Van.
- I saw the Van.
- What kind of Van?
- Five-o!

- then from Annapolis, if need be.
- But now, deputy, right now, my boss needs the crime to go down.
- Not three years from now.
- Not even a year from now.
- He needs a ten per cent drop in the next quarter...
- Or no one is gonna be in a position to reform anything.
- Be creative, gentlemen.

Dennis: The game done changed...
Slim: Game's the same, just got more fierce.

- Yeah, but still.
- So what you got for me?
- Spreads?
- Yeah.
- Little man. For sure.
- That's good. Are you able to write?

- Here it be.
- Y'all planted that shit.
- You fucking know you did.

- You think I'm goin' down, don't you?
- You-you-you think I'm done.
- All y'all ungrateful bitches thinkin' you can throw me out the boat.
- Clay.
- A'ight!
- I'm gonna remember this moment, erv.
- I'm gonna hold on to this moment. Yeah.

- Emergency. Police or ambulance?
- I wanna report a shooting at the new motel.
- On north Avenue. Room 221.
- Sir?

- Get.
Man: It's Omar!
- Ah!
- You too, shorty.
[Boy] Omar! It's Omar!
- Money a little late today.

- It's all good, just leave him be.
- Damn.
- Fuck.
- I'm tired of not having a phone up in this joint.
- I'll be right back.
- Yeah.
- Have a nice hike.
D'Angelo Barksdale: Yeah.

- Anyone comes looking,
- I'm back up on the second floor.
- Sir?
- I understood that the mayor might be going to breakfast at the harbor?
- With kweisi.
- But that's up in the air, I thought.
- Would you happen to know where lieutenant hoskins is?

- And on the other end, too, right?
- You could work it back through customs, but chances are this box wasn't picked up anywhere near this rue de rivoli address in le havre, France.
- Hell, there might not even be a rue de rivoli in that town.
- A can full of dead girls sent to nowhere from nowhere.

- To go and do police work.
- The kind of police work that's actually worth the effort.
- That's worth actually...
- Taking a bullet for.
- Dozerman, he got shot last night trying to buy...
- Three vials.
- Three!

Maurice: You are amoral, are you not? You are feeding off the violence and the despair of the drug trade. You are stealing from those who themselves are stealing the lifeblood from our city. You are a parasite who leeches off...
Omar: Just like you, man.
Maurice: ...the culture of drugs. Excuse me? What?
Omar: I got the shotgun, you got the briefcase. It's all in the game though, right?

- Decisions, decisions.
- Would it be wrong to take two?
- Attaboy.
- We should get upstairs.
- Nothing but paint pigments.
[Man] Trust me, old friend. It's there.

[Stringer] Something's up, man.
- Something is definitely up.
- I got somewhere I gotta be.
- Cover me with Daniels, will you?
- Asshole.
- Herc, carver.
[Both] What?
[Freamon] Come here.
- Come here!

- If they're connected to the drug runners, you can knock off the brothel and then listen in on your wiretaps.
- Tickle the wire like that.
- Exactly.
- Pleasure boats, topless women.
- I'm telling you, now the weather's turned...
- I gotta roll, diggsy.
- Thanks.

Dennis: I'm gonna show you as gently as I can how much you don't know.

Preston: Y'all are talking about steel and concrete, man. Steel and fucking concrete.
Malik: Man, I'm talking about people, memories and shit.
Preston: That ain't the same! Look, they gonna tear this building down, they gonna build some new shit. But people? They don't give a fuck about people.

- Thanks for your time.
- Jesus Christ.
- He's slick.
- Apologizes for the short con and in the next breath, setting us up for the long.
- He and burrell are as thick as thieves.
- What is the long con?
- At least we know he's running one.

- 'I'll be in touch, homes.'
- How careful is stringer bell?
- "I don't know no-one named barksdale."
- Shit.
- Still, we got him tied to the Brandon killing.
- That can be enough for one day's work.

- Uh... just give me a minute.
[Electronic voice] Hi. Choose a game.
- Can you guess this word?

- I want two bags.
- You don't get two.
- Come on, getting greedy.
- Take the chips!
- Come on. Take yourjuice.
- Come on, man.
- Where mine?
- Go show your teacher. Come on, man.

- Thank you so much. God bless.
- Have you seen this little girl?
- You have to back up.
- My little girl. She's only four.
- I ain't seen your little girl. Back up.
- Please, just take a look at her!
- I ain't seen your girl...
- How do?

- Maybe so, but we're looking at the possibility of moving him to booker t. Washington.
- I hope that isn't necessary.
- I hope so too. Thanks for bringing this.
- I'll try to keep him up to speed.
- Hang in there, kiddo.
- Thanks.

- You're kidding?
- It's not a divorce, it's a separation agreement.
- A separation agreement?
- Just read it. Ok? It's for the both of us.
- It's to protect the both of us.
- This is about what?
- It's just...
- You should just read it, ok?

- Is that it?
- 'Cause if it is, man,
- I can be a better friend to y'all alive.
- You still don't get it, do you?
- This ain't about your money, bro.
- Your boy gave you up.
- That's right. And we ain't had to torture his ass, neither.

- But her story is great.
- Look at that quote.
- It's a perfect quote.
- Best quote I could ever ask for.
- That's my concern at this point.
- Jesus Christ.
- To hell with you if you think I made it up.
- We have a standard that we follow here.
- I'm gonna follow it.

- When I get back to the tower,
- I'm gonna push them niggers.
- All right.
- Come here.
- Don't walk out of here like that.
- You family, all right?
- You know it's always love.
- Yeah.

- Yeah. He was an asshole. So what?
- So what? What's the history?
- Do we come behind your casework talking this kind of shit? Do we?
- Come on.
- No. Fuck you, bunk.
- Fuck you.
- Fuck you.

- Lord.
- What's up, bubbs?
- Hey.
- Well, there you go.
- What you got?
- I got some starters.

Bubbles: No offense, son, but that's some weak-ass thinking. You equivocating like a motherfucker.

- Don't print anything about where the killer calls from.
- He'll change up.
- Well, I'll type up my notes quick.
- Big story for you guys, huh?
- Well, ten minutes ago I'd've said this whole thing was complete bullshit.
- Shows what I know, I guess.

- Yeah, I know he does.
- No. The hell with Norris.
- You're my real partner,
- Lester. My life partner.
- Don't tease, bitch.
- Look at that bow-legged motherfucker.
- I made him walk like that.

- Like, he some type of faggot or something.
- Not cutty, man. He be all up in the women.
- Yo, don't you see how he be doing?
- That don't mean shit.
- Them faggots will be just like that too.
- I don't know. He just too friendly, you know?
- Everybody just too motherfucking friendly.

Chester: Nicely done, nicely done. Like I always say, it pays to go with the union card every time.