Marlo Stanfield is a fictional character on the HBO television drama The Wire, played by actor Jamie Hector.

He frequently orders the deaths of those who disrespect him or undermine his name on the streets, and is the most ruthless and violent of the drug kingpins portrayed in The Wire.

Stringer Bell visits Marlo personally to try to convince him to join the New Day Co-Op, a group of Baltimore drug players who buy packages of narcotics together to receive a discount and who try to reduce the violence of their business in order to avoid police attention.

Marlo thinks the failed assault shows a lack of strength in the Barksdale organization, and discusses this with Chris and Vinson.

In reality, Avon had facilitated his death by giving Brother Mouzone (and in turn Omar Little) information about Stringer's whereabouts.

He ruthlessly protects his territory through Chris and Snoop, who kill off targets on Marlo's orders and hide the bodies in vacant buildings.

Marlo furthers his reputation around the neighborhood by having Monk Metcalf give away money to children during the back-to-school period.

Although most children are happy to accept the money, Michael Lee notably refuses, in an early show of his strength of character.

The Major Crimes Unit targets Marlo and begins to monitor his organization using wiretaps, but fails to link him to any murders because of the hidden bodies.

The plan fails, and Omar retaliates by stealing an entire shipment of narcotics meant for the New Day Co-Op.

Eventually, the Major Crimes Unit's investigation is shut down by Mayor Tommy Carcetti for economic reasons.

Marlo also orders Chris and Snoop to find and kill Omar, who has left Baltimore and retired from robbing drug dealers.

Marlo has Chris investigate the port case at the courthouse[3][4] and then bribes the former Greek soldier Sergei Malatov by depositing money into his canteen account at MCI Jessup, in order to be put on his visitor list.

[5][6] Avon states that he has no ill-will towards Marlo, and appreciates his ambition to establish Westside dominance over Proposition Joe's Co-Op.

Prop Joe introduces Stanfield to a pastor who has relationships with overseas charities that he uses to launder money for a ten percent "donation fee".

Marlo later drops off the clean money at Little Johnny's, telling the counterman to inform Vondas that he meant no disrespect.

Afterwards, Marlo takes a trip to the off-shore bank in the Antilles in order to make sure his laundered money is safe.

Marlo then returns to Vondas and convinces The Greek to consider him as an insurance policy should anything happen to Prop Joe.

After Cheese argues with a rival drug kingpin named Hungry Man at a Co-Op meeting, Marlo sees his chance.

[13][14] Marlo plans a visit to Atlantic City to celebrate his victory, but Chris reminds him that they must remain in hiding until Omar has been dealt with.

Levy's defense investigator Thomas "Herc" Hauk copies the number after hours and passes it to Ellis Carver,[11][12] ultimately resulting in Freamon's setting up an illegal wiretap.

[13][14] Omar's possessions include a list of Stanfield personnel, which is passed to Freamon and allows him to make the connection between Marlo and Cheese.

[13][14] Eventually, Leander Sydnor breaks the clock code,[13][14] and the police are able to follow Chris to a major resupply from the Greeks using the evidence from their illegal wiretap.

Marlo is enraged when he learns that Omar had been assaulting his street reputation and insists that when released he will re-establish his name.

[21][22] Marlo holds a meeting with two Co-Op members (including Fat-Face Rick and Slim Charles) from the prison and offers to sell them the connection to the Greeks for 10 million dollars, claiming that he plans to become a businessman.

[21][22] After Marlo's release, Levy introduces him to property developers and other prominent Baltimore businessmen at an evening event.

However, Marlo quietly slips out of the event and approaches two young corner boys – who are talking about Omar and mythologizing his death – and provokes a fight by asking, "Do you know who I am?

[24] Hector has said that much of his performance stems from trying to capture Stanfield as a man of power and economy using minimalist movement and speech.

Sepinwall hailed Stanfield's ending as defying the viewers' expectations to see the character incarcerated or murdered in the streets.

[25] Simon also commented that the ending was intended to be ironic, as Stanfield receives everything that his one-time rival Stringer Bell desired (in terms of becoming a legitimate, respected businessman) but does not value it.