he noticed a quiet man in a running suit jotting down notes. Price took the man as an HBO representative dispatched to monitor the meetings. “Turned out that that was the real Omar,” Price recalled. “His name was Donnie. I’m thinking he’s an executive.” The show often collaborated with its inspirations, which meant that people previously arrested by Ed Burns occasionally served the show as advisers. Donnie Andrews, one of the primary avatars for Omar, had once terrorized Baltimore drug dealers, but he had maintained a code that dictated he never involve women or children in his exploits. He
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