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| “ | I've got a proposition for ya. | „ |
| ~ Proposition Joe's catchphrase |
Joseph "Proposition Joe" Stewart is a major character in HBO's The Wire. He is an East Baltimore drug lord and co-founder of the New Day Co-Op with Stringer Bell. He becomes head of the Co-Op after Stringer's death before being killed and usurped by Marlo Stanfield. He is also the uncle of Melvin "Cheese" Wagstaff.
He is portrayed by the late Robert F. Chew.
Personality[]
Proposition Joe is sincerely affable and has an unusually friendly rivalry with Avon Barksdale, trying to one-up each other peacefully through a basketball game. He is less violent compared to other drug lords, but this does not make him innocuous; he is fully willing to murder people, including civilians, when he feels it's necessary.
He is quite possibly the most intelligent gangster in Baltimore. He relies on manipulation rather than muscle to seize and maintain power, playing people like fiddles and engineering events that advance his goals. In some instances he seems to enjoy tricking people, and he extends this to his legal activities as well, as demonstrated when he hustles Avon in their basketball game.
He is determined to establish and maintain order in the drug trade, most notably demonstrated by his attempt to "civilize" Marlo Stanfield, which proves to be his downfall.
Biography[]
Season 1[]
Proposition Joe is introduced at the annual basketball game between East and West Baltimore, having assembled a team to play against the one assembled by Avon Barksdale and Stringer Bell. He taunts Avon into doubling the wager before bringing in a ringer at the last minute to win the game.
Later on that same day, Joe is paid a visit by Omar Little, a stick-up man out for revenge on the Barksdale Organization. Omar gives Joe some of the money he stole from the Barksdales in exchange for Avon's pager number, which Omar intends to use to hunt down and kill Avon. Joe ends up taking the role of a mediator, arranging a meeting between Omar and Stringer to discuss a truce.
Season 2[]
Proposition Joe is revealed to be the preferred go-to person for The Greeks and purchases high quality heroin from them. This long standing relationship between them had ensured that he has maintained his status as the most successful drug dealer on the East Side of Baltimore. Joe proposes a deal to Stringer Bell knowing that the recent incarceration of Avon Barksdale has left their organization without a reliable supplier. Joe will supply Stringer with product from his shipment in return for allowing some of his people to deal within the towers by stating that this way both people can get along.
While Avon had vehemently objected to the deal, Stringer however had decided to go ahead with it as they were suffering a loss in business due to their inferior product. This resulted in Avon calling the services of legendary enforcer Brother Mouzone who severely hampered the east side dealers in doing business and with Cheese Wagstaff being shot with a rat shot round. Joe comes up with a plan (inspired by Cheese complaining that he was shot) to trick Omar Little into killing Brother Mouzone where he organises a sit down between Omar and Stringer and told him that Brother Mouzone was the one who killed and tortured his boyfriend Brandon. The plan works with Omar successfully shooting Brother Mouzone but had let him live after realizing he had been lied to, as a consequence Avon tells Stringer to go ahead with the deal from Joe.
Joe was approached by The Greeks enforcer "Borris" to mediate a situation between Cheese and Nick Sobatka who had ambushed and set fire to the car of Ziggy Sobatka, Nick's screw-up cousin. Nick manages to negotiate that Cheese not seek retaliation against Ziggy and to pay for the burnt out car after Cheese had attacked Ziggy for dealing in his turf. Joe was outraged by the situation by decided to agree after Borris had vouched for him as a favor on behalf of The Greeks and warns Nick that his cousin had best make himself scarce in the East side.
Before leaving Baltimore the second in command of The Greeks Spiros "Vondas" Vondopoulos met with Joe to let him know that there would be "new faces" that would reach out about further shipments from them. Joe understood and agreed to let his people find him and wishing him a safe trip.
Season 3[]
Having learned of wiretaps being run by the city police, Joe institutes a no phone policy and that meetings only occur face - to - face to prevent being caught. This caution proves true after the major case squad incorrectly brings a murder charge against Cheese after hearing him confess to a murder only to find out he was talking about a dog not a person. After hearing the details he meets with Stringer to inform him of the wiretaps and to keep things "dead boring" as he explains that boredom "kills more po - lice then liquor or a bullet, they simply can't handle that shit".
Joe proves to be the driving force in helping the drug dealers on both the West and East side form the "New Day Co-op" an organisation where the dealers pool their resources and work together in order to reduce police attention to their activities. Joe encourages the members to bring issues to the table where they are discussed and handled as opposed to drawing attention by killing each other. This proves effective in helping to reduce murder numbers and convince the dealers to work together while providing a bulk discount for everyone who sources from Joe.
This peace is short lived when Avon Barksdale is released on parole and is eager to reclaim new territory after the demolition of the towers, forcing the Barksdale crew to find new corners to conduct business. Avon encounters major resistance from a ruthless and independent dealer Marlo Stanfield who is eager to take the crown after seeing the Barksdale people to be "weak" resulting in a war between the two. This brings the unwanted attention of the police due to the increased number of murders and tells Stringer Bell that after discussing with the rest of the co-op that he will be cut out if the war does not stop.
With the arrest of all the major members of the Barksdale crew and Stinger Bell being murdered by Omar and Brother Mouzone leaves Joe will control over the drug trade and leader of the co - op.
Season 4[]
In the aftermath of the Barksdale crew being dismantled after Avon is sent back to jail and Stringer being killed, Joe becomes one of the most powerful drug dealers in East Baltimore enjoying his position as head of the co - op and the person in charge of the connection to The Greeks. He has also benefited by recruiting the highly competent former Barskdale solider Slim Charles as a lieutenant who is a natural fit for his organization and places him in charge with liaising with many of the former Barksdale dealers now turned independents to ensure they are being supplied.
Joe experiences problems with rival dealers from New York and Marlo Stanfield who has risen to power in West Baltimore after the Barksdale crew has been disbanded. With dealers from New York trying to take over territory from Baltimore dealers the co - op votes to hire Marlo to deal with them as he has both skilled soldiers Chris and Snoop who have been effectively carrying out their murders and hiding the bodies in the numerous vacant housing lots. Though Joe reaches out to negotiate and invite him into the co - op Marlo refuses preferring to handle his own problems and sees no need to join the other dealers.
Joe then manipulates the situation by informing Omar under the pretense that he wishes to make amends for his involvement with Brother Mouzone and informs him of the card game that Marlo regularly attends, which Omar then proceeds to rob the card game Making an enemy of Marlo. After the robbery Joe reaches out again stating he could have informed Marlo of the robbery as members of the co - op often trade information with each other to stay safe. When asked by Marlo why he didn't tell him the first time he simply responds "the best way for a man to learn is to get burned" gaining the respect of the young kingpin.
Over time Joe manages to convince Marlo of the benefits of joining the co - op including how he has access to information about previous and current police investigations and how he keeps the other members informed. He also informs Marlo about the Major Case Squad who were responsible for the last three major cases involving large scale wire taps and how they were able to gain access to everyone's phones including Stringer who had been using different numbers on a daily basis. After this Marlo begins to take out the New York dealers which impresses both Joe and Slim Charles demonstrating his sheer ruthlessness to the point where Joe has to request that Marlo stop hiding the bodies as the New York crew needs to "get the message".
With Marlo now officially a part of the co - op he regularly seeks advice from Joe about dealing with police surveillance being carried out by Herc who advises him to steal the camera reasoning that only the FBI has enough resources not to worry about a lost camera while the police will come to him. He also begins to try and influence Marlo to become less violent and more business savvy to better fit in with the other members of the co - op and reduce police attention on him.
Joe's plan to manipulate Omar however backfires on him when the stick - up artist then ambushes Joe at gun point in his store after figuring out about the card game and how Marlo would be very interested in his story. After the card game Marlo had attempted to frame Omar for murdering a delivery person and organizes a hit while he was still in holding. Joe quickly offers Omar the latest shipment from The Greeks as repayment which he accepts and leaves, when Cheese questions why he did that Joe responds that he "dug himself out of his own grave" by giving up the shipment.
Omar then proceeds to rob the shipment, only to return later and offers to sell the shipment back to Joe for twenty cents on the dollar much to the disgust of Cheese and Slim Charles, however Joe accepts in order to quell any bad blood between them. Joe then informs the other co - op members about the robbery but takes the opportunity to fleece then by informing that the price would be 30 cents on the dollar effectively recouping his initial loss of the robbery. Marlo however has his doubts and is only willing to accept the offer after hearing from the supplier themselves that they did not have anything to do with the robbery. Despite council from both Slim Charles and Cheese that Marlo would take this opportunity to take over the supply, Joe agrees to organise a meet with Vandas to assure Marlo that no one involved stole the shipment as they trust Joe.
Season 5[]
A year later and Joe is still managing the co - op and dealing with Marlo. Thanks to his information Marlo has managed to avoid any charges after the bodies of all the murder victims had been found in the vacant buildings. Joe faces new problems when much of the East side territory has been reclaimed by city redevelopment and Marlo's conflicting views about how business should be run. While Joe fully supports business ventures such as property deals which other co - op member Fat Faced Rick negotiated with city hall for over a million dollars and a new property to move his strip club, Marlo chafes at the meetings and is angling towards replacing Joe.
While Joe genuinely believes that he is making progress with "civilizing" Marlo, the young kingpin takes to learn how Joe operates including being introduced to a local pastor who launders money, defense attorney Maurice Levy (who represents all the major dealers), and organizes a passport so Marlo can go and actually "see" his money in offshore accounts. Joe also tries to advise Marlo to leave the matter with Omar alone as after the shipment robbery he had left town and went south, however Marlo still wants revenge against Omar and places a bounty on him.
Marlo further undermines Joe's efforts by sewing dissent between him and his nephew Cheese when Joe publicly berates him during a co - op meeting when dealer Hungry Man reveals that Cheese was making moves in his territory. He uses this opportunity by kidnapping and turning Hungry Man over to Cheese and bribing him with money to reveal any information about Omar leading him to learn about Butchie. Marlo then sends Chris and Snoop after Butchie who torture and eventually kill when he refuses to give up any information about Omar.
After hearing about Butchie's death Joe decides to leave town in order to avoid any retribution from Omar. He tells Slim Charles that while he suspects Cheese of giving up Butchie he will not move without solid proof as the boy is still is nephew, however he will temporally put Cheese in charge while away but leaves the actual operations to Slim with orders to watch Cheese.
As he is about to leave Cheese reveals his location to Marlo who confronts Joe in his own house. Joe who is surprised to see Marlo quickly deduces that Cheese gave him up which Marlo confirms. While Joe tries to make a deal for his life Marlo shocks him by telling him The Greeks have already agreed to make him the new supplier as "insurance" in case something happens to Joe and reasons that if he did let him go he would be "up to mischief in no time". Marlo then tells Joe to relax and signals Chris to shoot Joe in the back of the head as he watches.
Gallery[]
Trivia (To Be Added)[]
PLACEHOLDER
External Links[]
- Proposition Joe on Wikipedia
- Joseph Stewart on The Wire Wiki.
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| The Wire Villains | ||
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The Barksdale Organization The Stanfield Organization The New Day Co-Op The Greeks Others | ||