Burr Redding | |
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First appearance | "Conversions" (episode 4.10) |
Last appearance | "Exeunt Omnes" (episode 6.08) |
Reason/Cause | End of Series |
Details | |
Prisoner No. | 01R289 |
Aliases | None |
Gender | Male |
Age | 60s |
Date of Conviction | January 11, 2001 |
Affiliations | The Homeboys & Redding Organization |
Spouse | Darlene (backstory) † |
Relatives | Augustus Hill (stepson) † |
Kill Count | 2 |
Episode Count | 23 Episodes |
Portrayed by | Anthony Chisholm |
Burr Redding is a Black inmate featured in Oz. Portrayed by Anthony Chisholm.
Plot Summary[]
- "Prisoner number 01R289, Burr Redding. Convicted January 11, 2001 - Murder in the first degree, seven counts of attempted murder. Sentence: Life without the possibility of parole."
- ―The Narrator[src]
Season 4, Part II[]
Redding arrives in Oz and is placed in Emerald City. The black gang members have been in disarray since the death of Simon Adebisi, the former leader of the Homeboys. The unit manager Tim McManus believes that Redding can bring them back into order immediately. Introduced to Kareem Said and McManus, Redding is impressed by Said, not for his intents to change black men, but for murdering Adebisi (given that Adebisi was one of the most dangerous inmates in Oz). He lets McManus know that he knows the prison routine better than anyone given his criminal history. Upon arrival, he reunites with his stepson Augustus Hill who tells him that the gang he wants to run, the Homeboys are being led by inmate Arnold "Poet" Jackson. Poet is not that great of a leader and is in no position to deny leadership from Redding. Redding is met by Chucky Pancamo and Enrique Morales who offer Redding a third of their drug trade, but Redding doesn’t like having business partners and refuses to work with the two of them. When some Chinese refugees are temporarily placed in Oz at Em City, Morales frames Redding for the murder of one of them. Before the murder however, that same Chinese man went to McManus and said that Redding threatened him, McManus believes Redding is the murderer and does not think twice about throwing Redding in a newly constructed cage, placed in the middle of the common area in Emerald City. Warden Glynn however releases Redding when he realizes that there is no real evidence to convict Redding. This leads to a build up of a war between the Homeboys with the Sicilian and Latino inmates.
Redding later sees another problem in inmate Supreme Allah, a member of the Five-Percent Nation who has been exiled from the Homeboys. Redding dislikes Supreme Allah because he is responsible for getting Hill in prison to begin with. Redding tells Hill that after the police arrested Supreme Allah on an old warrant, he gave up Hill's location to the cops so that he could get off on the charge. (Which resulted in both Hill's disability and incarceration) Hill furiously attempts to attack Supreme Allah in the shower room, but is thrown out of his wheelchair by Supreme Allah and beaten. Redding calls in Tug Daniels, the brother of the man Supreme Allah murdered to get into Oz. Daniels is in the visiting room with Poet and uses a smuggled toothbrush shank to stab Supreme Allah. Supreme Allah lives however and Daniels is charged by the police with attempted murder. The charge however doesn't bother Daniels since he will have a spot in Redding's gang when he's in Oz. Redding then devises a new plan with Daniels, Poet, the other Homeboys and Asian-American inmate Jia Kenmin. They will attempt to murder the Sicilian and Latino inmates in the gym. There is also a plan for Omar White to finish off Supreme Allah in the hospital ward. Hill does not feel right about any of this and tells Officer Murphy about the plan, so Murphy has the S.O.R.T. team alerted. When the rumble on the basketball court breaks out, the S.O.R.T. team is ready for them and quickly breaks up the fight and the prison is then locked-down. After the lockdown ends, Redding is angered by Hill's betrayal and has him excommunicated from the Homeboys. Redding only lets him live because of their history. In the mean time, Supreme Allah is told by Pancamo and Morales that he can be their new partner if Redding dies. Supreme Allah lays out a plan for Hill to murder Redding and also is secretly working with Daniels who decides that Supreme Allah is a worthy ally after he survived the stab wound. Redding finds out the information regarding Daniels from his cellmate, a marine colonel imprisoned for rape, Edward Galson, so Redding murders Daniels in the gym after Poet pays off nearby COs to leave and not interfere. Hill is later told by Poet about a fatal allergic reaction that Supreme Allah has to eggs, and they use this information to prepare a special meal for Supreme Allah. With Supreme Allah dead, Redding forgives Hill and offers him a place back in the Homeboys. Hill declines but is happy that he and Redding are on good terms again.
Season 5[]
This season starts out with a visit from Eugenia Hill, Hill’s mother. Eugenia however is killed with the rest of the family members and friends on the visiting bus after an automobile accident. Hill is also distraught because his wife is divorcing him so Redding is now the only family he has. Hill and Redding start by talking about several internal issues that they had within the family growing up, and Redding concludes that Hill and Eugenia were the only real family he ever knew. Redding sees a new development arrive after Aryan Brotherhood members hospitalize Chucky Pancamo and gang rape Peter Schibetta, the two men running the Sicilians. He makes a truce with Morales and the Latinos and together, they muscle the Sicilians out of the drug trade. The Homeboys and the Latinos both control the drug trade with no problems. Redding also uses inmate Omar White to sell drugs through a janitor's closet to inmate Reggie Rawls, the Homeboys key slinger in Unit C. Redding then visits Warden Leo Glynn asking him for control of the cafeteria. Glynn says no at first because the Sicilians run the cafeteria and the last black gang member inmate who managed the cafeteria, Simon Adebisi did a disastrous job. However, Redding points out that the Sicilians current leaders are all out of the loop, that he is not Adebisi and that the black inmates who are the majority of the staff don't take too well to "kowtowing to Dagos." After hearing this, Glynn gives Redding control. Redding also requests that the Sicilians be transferred out of the kitchen. Glynn agrees. So with control of the cafeteria and the drug trade, Redding and the Homeboys have good things going for them.
All goes well until Hill ends up in the hospital due to a drug overdose. Redding is especially distraught when McManus accuses him of giving Hill the drugs. Redding explains that the one thing he will do is not outlive Hill and vows to bring down the men responsible for causing Hill to nearly die. Poet is responsible for giving Hill the drugs and Redding accuses him first, but he naturally lies about what has happened telling Redding that he needs to look at the Sicilians and Latinos before accusing his own gang members. With Carmen Guerra, Poet gets Busmalis to say that Sicilian inmate Salvatore DeSanto sold Hill the drugs. Redding then puts LSD in DeSanto's food and he dies due to brain damage as a result. In the hospital however, Hill gives McManus information that it was not DeSanto or the Sicilians who sold him the heroin, but will not give up Poet at the same time. Poet fearing for his life then forces Busmalis to tell Redding that Guerra and the Latinos sold Hill the drugs. This causes Redding to accuse the Latinos of drugging Hill, a move which causes a fist fight between Redding and Morales to transpire, which thus ends the alliance between the two groups.
When Redding is released from solitary, Hill is out of the hospital. Hill will not rat out Poet because he made the choice to do drugs himself and is not trying to get anyone else killed. In the meantime, Hill and Redding talk about the OD and Redding apologizes to Hill saying that if it were not for him, Hill would never have done drugs in the first place. They make their peace which is short lived when the Sicilians attack Redding. Beforehand however, Sicilian inmate Frank Urbano and the Latinos have a meeting, Morales apologizes for breaking the alliance and is told that if he would like to be partners again, it will be a 60-40 deal as a penalty with the Latinos getting the 40%. Morales agrees under the condition that Urbano murders Redding and when he attempts to stab Redding, Hill gets in the way, gets shanked and dies instead. This puts Redding in complete disarray.
Season 6[]
This final season of Oz starts with Redding in mourning over Hill’s death. Redding is realizing the error of his ways but is not doing anything because he is so hurt over losing Hill. Kareem Said tells him to get his men under control who are haphazardly attacking other inmates and starting fights uncontrolled. Redding decides to stop selling drugs and stop his men from doing so when a telemarketing company comes to Oz. He figures this will get the Homeboys to stop selling but several of them, especially Poet and Rawls do not wish to stop and do not believe in this form of work. Redding however starts them in the telemarketing business, ready to stick with it by any means possible.
The telemarketing business is going good until Poet insults a racist customer on the phone. Poet is fired by Redding and all the other Homeboys walk out as well. They decide to work for Arif and the Muslims in the book binding business. Redding in the mean time is committed to keeping Poet and Rawls from selling drugs, so he asks Sicilian inmates Chucky Pancamo and Frank Urbano if they will stop any side scheme that the Homeboys try to pull so that they will come back to work for him. The Sicilians gladly agree to this and stop one of the Homeboy's connections by running them over with a truck 37 times. Meanwhile, former Black Panther Jahfree Neema arrives in Oz and displays his contempt as Redding tries to ask him for help. Redding needs Neema's help to get his men under control, and Neema says that Redding is an “anathema” to him. He states this because he hates Redding for forcing several black youths to sell drugs and get into gangs over the past 40 years. With no other options of how to get his men back to work for him, Redding pays Samuel Gougeon to destroy Arif's binding shop. Redding then tells him that he shouldn't speak and accept the insurance money for what has happened. This forces the Homeboys to work for him again but unbeknownst to him, Poet devises a plan with the rest of them to steal credit card numbers for purposes of buying drugs. Arif though confesses to McManus that Redding destroyed the book binding business and even though the other Muslims excommunicate him, McManus gets Redding thrown into solitary as a result, and is later released (to another unknown prison) upon Oz's evacuation.
Kill Count[]
Personal
- Unnamed Policeman: Shot to death. (2000)
- Carlton "Tug" Daniels: Strangled to death for betraying the Homeboys. (2001)
Proxy
- Salvatore DeSanto: Ordered Poet to poison him with an overdose of LSD. (2002)
Gallery[]
The Homeboys |
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Simon Adebisi - Burr Redding - Kenny Wangler - Jefferson Keane - Poet - Junior Pierce - Supreme Allah - Tug Daniels - Leroy Tidd - Mondo Browne - Reggie Rawls - Malcolm Coyle - Paul Markstrom - Desmond Mobay - Johnny Post - Curtis Bennett |