Melvin "Cheese" Wagstaff (named "Flagstaff" during Season 2, and referred to as "Calvin" by HBO before being changed to "Melvin") is a fictional character on the
HBO television series
The Wire. He is portrayed by
hip hop recording artist
Method Man. He is a crew chief for his uncle,
Proposition Joe's drug organization and after turning his uncle over to the
Stanfield Organization he works for them until his death at the hands of
Slim Charles in the series finale. He is also the father of
Randy Wagstaff according to creator
David Simon, though this is never explored on the show.
[1][2]Cheese is the nephew of Proposition Joe and a crew chief in his Eastside drug crew. He supplied Ziggy Sobotka with a narcotics package and, when he could not return its value, torched his car and threatened to kill him. Nick Sobotka and La La intervened on Ziggy's behalf but could only convince Cheese to give Ziggy more time. Cheese was forced to back down when Nick involved The Greek (Proposition Joe's suppliers). Cheese subsequently moved into Barksdale territory following an agreement with Stringer Bell, starting a rivalry with Bodie Broadus. Avon Barksdale was unaware of the agreement, and hired Brother Mouzone, who then shot Cheese.
In Season three, Cheese was one of the major case unit's first targets as a possible route to Proposition Joe himself. Cheese avoided their surveillance efforts through disciplined use of his subordinates to make phone calls and only discussing business face to face, and was promoted to supplying other dealers.
Cheese kept a pet dog and participated in underground dog fights. When his dog lost a fight, Cheese shot it rather than seek treatment for its injuries. Cheese's soldier Tree suggested that Dazz, his opponent, might have cheated with another dealer, Jelly. Tree killed Jelly which triggered two further deaths and a short war between the rival crews. The major case unit arrested Tree in the course of preparing for yet another skirmish. The unit mistakenly presumed Cheese was using code words to discuss a murder when they overheard him on a tapped phone describing how he shot his dog. After arresting Cheese, the unit interrogators revealed their faulty wiretap evidence to him in an effort to force his confession. Once the unit realized Cheese had been talking literally about killing an animal, he was released and promptly relayed his newfound knowledge of a wiretap program to his uncle, who alerted the gang to change their communication strategies to thwart further investigation.[2]
