36 Facts About Lester Freamon

Lester Freamon is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by actor Clarke Peters.

Lester Freamon is a wise, methodical detective whose intelligence and experience are often central to investigations throughout the series, particularly with respect to uncovering networks of money laundering and corruption.

Lester Freamon sometimes serves as an avuncular figure to several of the characters.

Lester Freamon is a veteran of the Baltimore Police who establishes a positive reputation for his instincts, tenacity and intelligence.

Lester Freamon served in the military and fought in the Vietnam War before joining the force.

Lester Freamon was assigned to Homicide until he charged a politically connected fence to coerce his testimony in a homicide case, against the orders of the Deputy Commissioner.

Lester Freamon spent thirteen years and four months in the assignment, until he had been completely forgotten by management.

When Polk and Mahon fail to find a good photo of Avon Barksdale, Lester Freamon takes a cue from an offhand comment from Kima Greggs and tracks down a photo of Avon at a boxing gym.

Lester Freamon further impresses his colleagues when he locates D'Angelo Barksdale's pager number at an abandoned stash house.

Later, Lester Freamon tells McNulty he was sent to the pawn shop unit after angering the then-Deputy Ops.

Lester Freamon warns that McNulty will probably suffer a similar fate at the conclusion of the case.

Lester Freamon proves himself adept at building the Barksdale case through the use of a wiretap; he recognizes patterns of pager messages and telephone calls, which lead to several breakthroughs, most notably finding the main stash house in Pimlico.

Lester Freamon leads the investigation into the Barksdales' financial records and uncovers their various political connections, instructing Leander Sydnor and Roland Pryzbylewski in the mechanics of following the paper trail.

Lester Freamon then uses a contact in the phone company to trace call patterns and pinpoint Wee-Bey's whereabouts, leading to his arrest and conviction.

Lester Freamon is partnered with Bunk, and they are quickly recognized as the best detectives in Homicide.

Lester Freamon is relieved to be assigned, at Daniels' request, to the detail investigating Frank Sobotka and the stevedore union.

On Beadie's advice, Lester Freamon convinces Daniels to clone the port's computers to track container movements.

The investigation closes with several arrests and, in the process, Lester Freamon identifies a dismembered body killed by The Greek's crew as being one of the crewmen who jumped ship.

Bunk and Lester Freamon solve the Jane Doe homicides after Sergei Malatov, facing a possible death sentence, gives them the details they needed.

Lester Freamon stays with Daniels in the now-permanent Major Crimes Unit, building a case against their assigned target, a drug dealer named Kintel Williamson.

Lester Freamon is the guiding force behind the MCU, now led by Lieutenant Jimmy Asher.

The MCU continues running the wiretap on the Stanfield Organization, though Lester Freamon is disappointed that Marlo Stanfield's lack of discipline is making the investigation too easy.

Lester Freamon installs a new commander, Lieutenant Charles Marimow, who immediately butts heads with Freamon by attempting to bring down the wiretap.

Lester Freamon is sent to Rawls, who subtly threatens Greggs and Sydnor if Lester Freamon goes to a judge to keep the wiretap running.

Lester Freamon further observes that Stanfield is not tied to any murders since the Barksdale gang war ended, and begins to scour Baltimore for any trace of the bodies he knows must be hidden somewhere.

Lester Freamon further concludes that the Stanfield Organization is leaving bodies in row houses all throughout Baltimore.

Daniels, now a colonel gaining political traction, allows Lester Freamon to assemble his team to begin investigating Stanfield again.

Lester Freamon is detailed to the State's Attorney's office to prepare a corruption case against Davis.

Lester Freamon continues surveillance of Stanfield in his own time and is pleased to find Stanfield "dropping his guard" now that he is no longer under observation.

Bunk is outraged that McNulty is interfering with crime scenes and falsifying case notes as part of his plan, and enlists Lester Freamon to talk sense into him.

However, this backfires when Lester Freamon decides that McNulty hasn't gone far enough and suggests that he should find a way to sensationalize the killer.

Sydnor uncovers evidence that Davis lied on a mortgage application, and Lester Freamon realizes it is significant enough to file federal charges.

When Lester Freamon gets a hold of Stanfield's cell phone, he sets up an illegal wiretap on the phone but is initially surprised to find no conversations are taking place on it.

Lester Freamon learns Stanfield's phone is transmitting pictures of clocks and tries to break the code.

In Lester Freamon's resulting bust, most of the Stanfield Organization is arrested and a large quantity of heroin is confiscated.

Lester Freamon is upset when McNulty tells Greggs about the fake serial-killer plan.