Agamemnon Busmalis
Encyclopedia
Agamemnon "Aggie" Busmalis a.k.a. The Mole is a fictional character
of the television series Oz
, portrayed by Tom Mardirosian
. He is also referenced in OZ: Behind These Walls: The Journal of Augustus Hill.
Since early childhood, Agamemnon Busmalis had a strange fascination with digging. Outside of prison, he was known as "The Mole", having been an expert at digging tunnels to commit various robberies. He has never been with a woman sexually, and is a huge fan of the children's show Ms. Sally's Schoolyard. Every time the inmates are watching the show, Busmalis can be heard saying "This is the best Miss Sally ever.". He is a childish old man, who has led a life as a loner and outcast. He was named after a Greek
hero, Agamemnon
.
For the most part, he isn't a discipline problem to the staff and is one of the more stable and friendly prisoners. In Oz's bleak world dealing with grim issues and reveling in evil taint, Busmalis is seen as comic relief in a way, but like all the prisoners of Oz, even he has his moments of darkness.
Busmalis decides that the pressure of Oz is too much for him. He has to escape. Thus he makes an effort to escape by way of digging. At first, the other inmates think he's crazy, but when he develops a reasonable plan by doing so, Bob Rebadow
agrees to try to help him if he lets him escape with him. During this ordeal, the two inmates become good friends. Unfortunately, all their hard work would be for naught, as two Aryans (Mark Mack
and another nameless one) catch them doing it and tell Rebadow and Busmalis that they will escape instead of them by using their CO connections to switch cells. Thus, Mack and the other Aryan escape through the tunnel at night. But the two old inmates had a surprise for them - they weakened all the support beams before moving out of their cell, thus the tunnel collapses on the two Aryans, burying them alive. Rebadow and Busmalis are interrogated, since the tunnel was found in what used to be their cell. In the end they get away scot free, by saying that the Aryans made them dig the tunnel and it collapsed by accident.
, the Aryan Correctional Officer whom Mark Mack used to switch cells with, ambushed him on work detail and strangled him to near death. Busmalis is in hospital for a while. He gets well, and Metzger would soon die violently; his throat was slit by the sharp fingernails of Tobias Beecher
. Vernon Schillinger
is as a result hostile toward Busmalis, and he spits in his food and bullies him upon news of Metzger's death. Other than that, Busmalis did not do much except for hang around with Rebadow, Beecher (the others), and Hill (who is a member of the homeboys). He was also forced to stay with the whites as the racial tension arose quickly. During this season, he would eventually try to start a campaign to protest the cancellation of Ms. Sally's Schoolyard, something that would go on for the next couple of years.
, who he helps set free from his bed restraints. The two escape in the middle of the night.
Busmalis tries to visit Whitney Allen's house (the actress who plays Ms. Sally on Ms. Sally's Schoolyard). It is there that he is caught by the police and returned to Oz. He is sent to solitary confinement
for a while as punishment, but then released back into Emerald City later on; however, he is greeted with hostility by Rebadow, who is mad at him that he didn't let him go with him. Rebadow makes peace with Busmalis, but only so he can try to kill him. It is a failed attempt and causes Busmalis to doubt Rebadow's sanity and friendship. But when Rebadow apologizes for his behavior later on, he suffers a brain tumor. The two make up indefinitely when he returns to the hospital, where Busmalis sees him on work detail.
To add onto his happiness, Ms. Sally was going to visit him when she heard that he tried to visit her. But it turns out not to be her, but her secretary named Norma Clark. She forged letters and thought his were so sweet that she came to visit him when Whitney Allen wouldn't. It would not be her only visit, as she keeps visiting him over and over. The two eventually fall in love. Later in 2001, Busmalis proposes to her and she accepts. However, he plans for a wedding outside of Oz. He began digging another tunnel, this time inviting Rebadow with him. However, Omar White
(locked up in solitary) sees him and rats him out to the authorities in order to get out of solitary, although it's likely that the authorities would have spotted the tunnel anyway.
Busmalis is given permission to marry Norma within Oz on the condition that he does not dig any more holes. Busmalis attempts to fill the tunnel to avoid detection, but busts a water pipe and the cell filled with exploding water. Busmalis is sent to solitary confinement. However, Rebadow manages to convince warden Leo Glynn
of the truth (that Busmalis was filling the tunnel once Glynn allowed him to marry and therefore was not breaking Glynn's order), and thus Busmalis is released from solitary. Thus, he prepared for his wedding, but on that day, Norma never shows up.
When the authorities set up a basketball game against the inmates, Tim McManus
appoints Busmalis as Jackson Vahue
's teammate, since Vahue made a bet to McManus that he could take the best CO and Vahue would take the worst inmate and he'd still beat McManus. Surprisingly, he was right. Vahue and Busmalis ended up winning the basketball tournament against McManus.
He is, however, caught in the middle between a possible drug war between the gangsters and Latinos. In order to escape Burr Redding's wrath for selling drugs to Hill (who overdoses on them), Poet lied to Guerra (a Latino) saying that Redding wanted him dead, and so to keep the peace the two of them forced Busmalis (who had no motive or vested interest in this ordeal) to tell Redding that he saw an Italian, Salvatore DeSanto
, sell the drugs to Hill. However, when Redding digs out the truth, Poet subtely tells Busmalis to tell Redding that it was Guerra
. Thus, he lies once more, but that ordeal was of no consequence to him anytime after.
play that they were setting up in Oz as part of the performing arts program. Norma constantly visits him, but he refuses to see her, still angry at her revelation, although he is concerned for her. Staff members and prisoners alike advise him to see her. Eventually, he decides to see her and she reveals that on her way to the wedding, she got caught in a snowstorm and decided while stranded that she couldn't handle a marriage to a man in prison. She called her ex-boyfriend to dig her out, they went to dinner and eventually had sex, resulting in a pregnancy. But Norma still could not forget about him and decided to come back. After she explains all, Busmalis decides to forgive her. They again decide to marry. This time, Norma eventually runs in hours late and they marry. Eventually he decides he wants a baby with Norma. He starts a campaign to be allowed to inseminate Norma artificially; however, the State refuses. During the hearing, Busmalis attacks a judge due to a rage. He is thrown into solitary confinement for an unknown period of time, but does not stay for long. When the prison becomes contaminated with a toxic substance, he is transferred out onto a bus with the rest of the population of Oz.
Fictional character
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
of the television series Oz
Oz (TV series)
Oz is an American television drama series created by Tom Fontana, who also wrote or co-wrote all of the series' 56 episodes . It was the first one-hour dramatic television series to be produced by premium cable network HBO. Oz premiered on July 12, 1997 and ran for six seasons...
, portrayed by Tom Mardirosian
Tom Mardirosian
Tom Mardirosian is an American actor. He is known for playing Agamemnon Busmalis in the HBO show Oz and Agent Kristos Koutris in the HBO show "The Wire"....
. He is also referenced in OZ: Behind These Walls: The Journal of Augustus Hill.
Character's backstory
Prisoner 98B242. Convicted March 10, 1998 - Grand theft larceny, breaking and entering. Sentence: 10 years, up for parole in four.Since early childhood, Agamemnon Busmalis had a strange fascination with digging. Outside of prison, he was known as "The Mole", having been an expert at digging tunnels to commit various robberies. He has never been with a woman sexually, and is a huge fan of the children's show Ms. Sally's Schoolyard. Every time the inmates are watching the show, Busmalis can be heard saying "This is the best Miss Sally ever.". He is a childish old man, who has led a life as a loner and outcast. He was named after a Greek
Greek mythology
Greek mythology is the body of myths and legends belonging to the ancient Greeks, concerning their gods and heroes, the nature of the world, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices. They were a part of religion in ancient Greece...
hero, Agamemnon
Agamemnon
In Greek mythology, Agamemnon was the son of King Atreus and Queen Aerope of Mycenae, the brother of Menelaus, the husband of Clytemnestra, and the father of Electra and Orestes. Mythical legends make him the king of Mycenae or Argos, thought to be different names for the same area...
.
Season 2 (1998)
Busmalis is caught robbing a bank via a tunnel, and is sent to Oz on convictions of grand larceny and breaking and entering.For the most part, he isn't a discipline problem to the staff and is one of the more stable and friendly prisoners. In Oz's bleak world dealing with grim issues and reveling in evil taint, Busmalis is seen as comic relief in a way, but like all the prisoners of Oz, even he has his moments of darkness.
Busmalis decides that the pressure of Oz is too much for him. He has to escape. Thus he makes an effort to escape by way of digging. At first, the other inmates think he's crazy, but when he develops a reasonable plan by doing so, Bob Rebadow
Bob Rebadow
Robert 'Bob' Rebadow is a fictional character from the television series Oz, a drama series on HBO that portrays a maximum security prison and follows the lives of the inmates in the prison. He is portrayed by George Morfogen.-Character overview:...
agrees to try to help him if he lets him escape with him. During this ordeal, the two inmates become good friends. Unfortunately, all their hard work would be for naught, as two Aryans (Mark Mack
Mark Mack
Mark Mack is a fictional character in the HBO series Oz, portrayed by Leif Riddell.-Character overview:Prisoner #96M542. Convicted June 1, 1996 - Murder in the second degree, vandalism...
and another nameless one) catch them doing it and tell Rebadow and Busmalis that they will escape instead of them by using their CO connections to switch cells. Thus, Mack and the other Aryan escape through the tunnel at night. But the two old inmates had a surprise for them - they weakened all the support beams before moving out of their cell, thus the tunnel collapses on the two Aryans, burying them alive. Rebadow and Busmalis are interrogated, since the tunnel was found in what used to be their cell. In the end they get away scot free, by saying that the Aryans made them dig the tunnel and it collapsed by accident.
Season 3 (1999)
Busmalis finds the repercussions of his actions last year catch up to him. Officer Karl MetzgerKarl Metzger
Karl Metzger was a fictional guard on the HBO dramatic series Oz, played by Bill Fagerbakke.-Character overview:Karl Metzger is a correctional officer assigned as supervisor of the Emerald City unit of Oswald Prison; A neo-Nazi, Metzger uses his power to intimidate prisoners and assist the Aryan...
, the Aryan Correctional Officer whom Mark Mack used to switch cells with, ambushed him on work detail and strangled him to near death. Busmalis is in hospital for a while. He gets well, and Metzger would soon die violently; his throat was slit by the sharp fingernails of Tobias Beecher
Tobias Beecher
Tobias Beecher is a main character on the television show Oz, played by Lee Tergesen. He is one of only eight regular characters to survive the entire run of the show...
. Vernon Schillinger
Vernon Schillinger
Vernon Schillinger is a fictional character, played by American actor J. K. Simmons, on the HBO series Oz.-Character overview:Prisoner #92S110. Convicted October 21, 1992 – Aggravated assault in the first degree. Sentence: Eight years, eligible for parole in five...
is as a result hostile toward Busmalis, and he spits in his food and bullies him upon news of Metzger's death. Other than that, Busmalis did not do much except for hang around with Rebadow, Beecher (the others), and Hill (who is a member of the homeboys). He was also forced to stay with the whites as the racial tension arose quickly. During this season, he would eventually try to start a campaign to protest the cancellation of Ms. Sally's Schoolyard, something that would go on for the next couple of years.
Season 4 (2000-2001)
It is revealed why Busmalis didn't do much in Season 3. During that entire time, he was busy digging another tunnel in the hospital storage room where his custodial equipment for work detail was stored. Since he was a low-risk prisoner, he was given a lot more freedom, and thus found it easy to dig behind everyone else's back. He receives an accomplice in Latino inmate Miguel AlvarezMiguel Alvarez
Miguel Alvarez is a fictional character played by American actor Kirk Acevedo on the television show Oz. He is the main Latino inmate in the series. He is a gang member of El Norte and of Cuban descent.-Character overview:...
, who he helps set free from his bed restraints. The two escape in the middle of the night.
Busmalis tries to visit Whitney Allen's house (the actress who plays Ms. Sally on Ms. Sally's Schoolyard). It is there that he is caught by the police and returned to Oz. He is sent to solitary confinement
Solitary confinement
Solitary confinement is a special form of imprisonment in which a prisoner is isolated from any human contact, though often with the exception of members of prison staff. It is sometimes employed as a form of punishment beyond incarceration for a prisoner, and has been cited as an additional...
for a while as punishment, but then released back into Emerald City later on; however, he is greeted with hostility by Rebadow, who is mad at him that he didn't let him go with him. Rebadow makes peace with Busmalis, but only so he can try to kill him. It is a failed attempt and causes Busmalis to doubt Rebadow's sanity and friendship. But when Rebadow apologizes for his behavior later on, he suffers a brain tumor. The two make up indefinitely when he returns to the hospital, where Busmalis sees him on work detail.
To add onto his happiness, Ms. Sally was going to visit him when she heard that he tried to visit her. But it turns out not to be her, but her secretary named Norma Clark. She forged letters and thought his were so sweet that she came to visit him when Whitney Allen wouldn't. It would not be her only visit, as she keeps visiting him over and over. The two eventually fall in love. Later in 2001, Busmalis proposes to her and she accepts. However, he plans for a wedding outside of Oz. He began digging another tunnel, this time inviting Rebadow with him. However, Omar White
Omar White
Omar White is a fictional character on the HBO drama Oz played by Michael Wright.-Character overview:Prisoner 01W711. Convicted January 4, 2001 - Murder in the first degree...
(locked up in solitary) sees him and rats him out to the authorities in order to get out of solitary, although it's likely that the authorities would have spotted the tunnel anyway.
Busmalis is given permission to marry Norma within Oz on the condition that he does not dig any more holes. Busmalis attempts to fill the tunnel to avoid detection, but busts a water pipe and the cell filled with exploding water. Busmalis is sent to solitary confinement. However, Rebadow manages to convince warden Leo Glynn
Warden Leo Glynn
Leo Glynn is a fictional character on the HBO drama Oz. He is the warden of the Oswald state correctional facility-Character overview:...
of the truth (that Busmalis was filling the tunnel once Glynn allowed him to marry and therefore was not breaking Glynn's order), and thus Busmalis is released from solitary. Thus, he prepared for his wedding, but on that day, Norma never shows up.
When the authorities set up a basketball game against the inmates, Tim McManus
Tim McManus
Tim McManus is a fictional character on HBO's prison drama Oz, played by Terry Kinney.-Character overview:McManus, the idealistic manager of Emerald City, is unlike the rest of the staff members at Oz as he has never been a CO, has a college education, and generally believes in the inmates as...
appoints Busmalis as Jackson Vahue
Jackson Vahue
Jackson Vahue is a fictional character from the HBO prison drama Oz played by Rick Fox, a former NBA basketball star and champion with the Los Angeles Lakers.-Character overview:...
's teammate, since Vahue made a bet to McManus that he could take the best CO and Vahue would take the worst inmate and he'd still beat McManus. Surprisingly, he was right. Vahue and Busmalis ended up winning the basketball tournament against McManus.
Season 5 (2002)
Busmalis doesn't do much. He constantly supports Rebadow when his grandson's health is declining to the point of death. In the season finale, he receives a letter and a visit from his fiance Norma, who never showed up on their wedding day. He is ecstatic until he actually sees that she is pregnant. He leaves her alone, depressed, without talking to her.He is, however, caught in the middle between a possible drug war between the gangsters and Latinos. In order to escape Burr Redding's wrath for selling drugs to Hill (who overdoses on them), Poet lied to Guerra (a Latino) saying that Redding wanted him dead, and so to keep the peace the two of them forced Busmalis (who had no motive or vested interest in this ordeal) to tell Redding that he saw an Italian, Salvatore DeSanto
Salvatore DeSanto
Salvatore DeSanto, played by Phil Campanella, is an Italian inmate on the HBO drama Oz.-Character overview:Salvatore DeSanto is falsely accused of drugging inmate Augustus Hill...
, sell the drugs to Hill. However, when Redding digs out the truth, Poet subtely tells Busmalis to tell Redding that it was Guerra
Carmen Guerra
Carmen "Chico" Guerra is a fictional character on the HBO series Oz, played by Otto Sanchez.-Character overview:Prisoner #96G522. Convicted June 4, 1996 - Murder in the first degree...
. Thus, he lies once more, but that ordeal was of no consequence to him anytime after.
Season 6 (2003 - final season)
Busmalis decides to take part in the MacbethMacbeth
The Tragedy of Macbeth is a play by William Shakespeare about a regicide and its aftermath. It is Shakespeare's shortest tragedy and is believed to have been written sometime between 1603 and 1607...
play that they were setting up in Oz as part of the performing arts program. Norma constantly visits him, but he refuses to see her, still angry at her revelation, although he is concerned for her. Staff members and prisoners alike advise him to see her. Eventually, he decides to see her and she reveals that on her way to the wedding, she got caught in a snowstorm and decided while stranded that she couldn't handle a marriage to a man in prison. She called her ex-boyfriend to dig her out, they went to dinner and eventually had sex, resulting in a pregnancy. But Norma still could not forget about him and decided to come back. After she explains all, Busmalis decides to forgive her. They again decide to marry. This time, Norma eventually runs in hours late and they marry. Eventually he decides he wants a baby with Norma. He starts a campaign to be allowed to inseminate Norma artificially; however, the State refuses. During the hearing, Busmalis attacks a judge due to a rage. He is thrown into solitary confinement for an unknown period of time, but does not stay for long. When the prison becomes contaminated with a toxic substance, he is transferred out onto a bus with the rest of the population of Oz.