Contains spoilers for this episode and earlier episodes.
Omar testifies against Bird in court. He admits robbing drug dealers, while Maury Levy tries to discredit him by emphasizing his record. Omar says he has never pointed his gun at an ordinary citizen, and Bird reacts angrily when Omar identifies him as the killer. The jury finds Bird guilty. Afterward, McNulty questions whether Omar really witnessed the murder. Omar answers evasively, leaving the detective without a clear account of what his witness actually saw.
At the port, Beadie and Freamon use the computer system to trace missing containers to ships watched by Horseface. Freamon and Prez find campaign-finance records linking the struggling union to political contributions, while Beadie suspects smuggling explains the extra money. Nick asks Vondas for help with Cheese’s threats over Ziggy’s debt. Sergei confronts Cheese, and Proposition Joe agrees to compensate Ziggy for the car Cheese’s crew burned, warning the cousins they owe the Greeks.
Stringer secretly pays Leech, a Washington contact, to arrange a contract killing; Avon does not know he has ordered D’Angelo’s death. Brianna urges her son to use the Tilghman case to reduce his sentence, but D’Angelo refuses and asks her to tell the family to leave him alone. In the prison library, Mugs garrotes him and stages the scene to look like suicide.