Nathan "Bodie" Barksdale, one of the gang members believed to have inspired the hit HBO show The Wire, has died of unspecified medical causes. He was 54.
Barksdale died in a federal prison in North Carolina where he was serving time for a conspiracy involving heroin, according to The Baltimore Sun.
David Simon, creator of The Wire, said that the characters on the show were based on the anecdotes of many members of the Baltimore drug scene. However, one character did carry the same surname as Nathan Barksdale. Wood Harris portrayed Avon Barksdale on The Wire and would later interview the real Barksdale in a documentary about his life.
The Wrap reports Barksdale had tried to get on the straight and narrow in the last decade of his life by working with Baltimore's Safe Streets program. However, he got busted in 2014 during a wiretap investigation by the Drug Enforcement Administration and was sentenced to four years in prison.
Despite his mistakes, Barksdale did try to counsel young people in the Baltimore area to help them avoid some of his mistakes. Even after his sentencing he still felt there was more work to be done.
"I did some good," he said at his 2014 sentencing. "I'd like to think I saved some lives."
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