Both Lawrence and my mother (of all people: I mean, I love my mom, and she knows I’m a “Wire” fan, but I’m not sure she’s ever watched an episode) sent me obits for Robert F. Chew, aka “Proposition Joe”. (Baltimore Sun. A/V Club.)
Don’t have much more to add to those: David Simon has a blog entry with no comments, and the A/V Club already links to the best videos of Proposition Joe. Apparently, he died of natural causes, and not from wearing a suit when it was 85 f’ing degrees out.