Stuck between the top and the bottom of the drug trade, he represents the trope of the everyman, and pathos is derived from his wider emotional range than the other gangsters, situation and fate.

The immorality and ruthlessness of the drug trade gradually wears on D'Angelo's conscience, bringing him into conflict with the Barksdale leadership, most notably Stringer Bell.

He was quickly arrested and served 8 months in county jail before, in the series premiere, standing trial for this murder, represented by the organization's lawyer Maurice Levy.

As punishment for his carelessness, Avon demotes D'Angelo to the low rise projects known as "The Pit", where his crew consists of Bodie Broadus, Poot, Wallace, Cass and Sterling.

Hesitant about discipline (such as the brutal beating of Johnny Weeks, or punishing dealers Cass and Sterling for stealing small amounts), he is shaken when Gant turns up dead, assuming Avon ordered his murder as revenge for testifying.

Shardene accuses D'Angelo of seeing her as trash that could easily be discarded, and moves out, and later goes on to cooperate with the police unit investigating the Barksdale clan, eventually beginning a relationship with Lester Freamon.

Based indirectly on information Shardene provided to the police (heard on a microphone inside the club), D'Angelo is arrested while transporting drugs from New York, and is again interrogated.

D'Angelo briefly turns state's witness against his uncle's organization, offering numerous details, including where Wee-Bey has fled to after the shooting of Kima Greggs.

After five prisoners die and eight more land in the infirmary, Avon informs on Tilghman in exchange for an earlier parole board hearing and a recommendation for early release.

A San Francisco Chronicle review picked the scene of D'Angelo instructing Bodie and Wallace on the rules of chess as one of the first season's finest moments.

[2] They praised the character of D'Angelo and the show's portrayal of his difficulties as "middle management" in the drug organization: having to deal with unreliable subordinates, demanding superiors, and his own conscience.