The Wire
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The Wire

John "Johnny Fifty" Spamanto is a homeless man and a former cargo checker for IBS Local 1514.

Biography[]

Background[]

He received his nickname for drinking over fifty beers on his 25th birthday and is often seen drinking in Delores's bar.

Season 2[]

Spamanto assists Nick and Ziggy in stealing from the docks for The Greek. He refuses to get involved in the drug trade with Nick and Ziggy. Spamanto was interviewed by a grand jury as part of the investigation in to smuggling at the docks but gave very little information and escaped uncharged.

Season 5[]

In 2008, during a scene where Det. Jimmy McNulty, under the pretense of investigating the false homeless serial killings, is walking among a group of homeless men gathered under a bridge. At one point he asks a man sitting with a dog, "Does he bite?" and the man replies, "He's got teeth don't he?" That man was clearly an older and more haggard version of Spamanto, presumably a brief epilogue to one of the central themes of season 2 regarding the grim future of the stevedores. ("Transitions")

Production[]

Appearances[]

Season 2
"Ebb Tide" * "Collateral Damage" * "Hot Shots" * "Hard Cases" * "Undertow" *
"All Prologue" * "Backwash" * "Duck and Cover" "Stray Rounds" * "Storm Warnings" *
"Bad Dreams" * "Port in a Storm"
Season 5
"More with Less" "Unconfirmed Reports" "Not for Attribution" "Transitions" "React Quotes"
"The Dickensian Aspect" "Took" "Clarifications" "Late Editions" "-30-"

*Uncredited appearance.

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