Slim Charles

Slim Charles is a fictional character in the HBO drama The Wire, played by Anwan Glover. An enforcer for the Barksdale Organization and later the top lieutenant of kingpin Proposition Joe, he is portrayed as principled, loyal, and competent throughout his career.

The saga of the Barksdale Organization and the Stanfield Organization makes up the backbone of The Wire. Of the 30 or so characters connected with these gangs and those of Proposition Joe and Omar Little, Slim Charles is effectively the "last man standing," as by the end of the series most of the others are dead, and all the rest are incarcerated, neutralized, or have quit. As such, he can be viewed as the only winner in the drug trade plotline, particularly as in the series finale he progresses, along with Fat Face Rick, to the leadership of the New Day Co-Op and the pinnacle of the Baltimore drug trade.

Slim Charles is hired as "muscle" by Stringer Bell, who is acting boss of the Barksdale Organization following the arrests of Avon Barksdale and several of the organization's original enforcers. Slim is first seen at the Barksdale strategy meeting following the demolition of the high rise projects. Shortly after, Omar Little attempts to rob a stash house that is under Slim's charge. Omar detains three of its guards, but is surprised by Slim Charles and three others, who recover the drugs in a firefight, during which Tosha and Tank are killed.

When Avon is released, Slim Charles is the only person he consults upon making a decision to go to war with Marlo Stanfield. On Avon's orders, Slim Charles puts together a team to strike against Marlo's subordinates. The team is headed by the experienced trio of Cutty, Country and Slim Charles, but on the opening day of hostilities Country is killed and Cutty quits, leaving Slim as the unquestioned Barksdale chief enforcer in the war.

Although Charles proves himself a capable and loyal soldier on many occasions, the support he gathers around himself is not up to the task. He is involved at an organizational level with the assassination attempts on Marlo and Omar, although he has a hands-on role in neither of the plans. When the operation against Marlo backfires and Avon is wounded, Charles brings a surgeon to the warehouse where the Barksdales regroup.

Meanwhile, when Gerard and Sapper sight Omar and phone Charles to confirm that he wants them to kill him even though it is a Sunday morning, he does not answer the phone - Gerard dismissively says that Charles must be sleeping in. However, after this operation too is botched, Charles angrily reproves the pair before sending them to answer to Avon himself.

Near the end of the war, he is taken aback by Stringer's demand that he must kill Senator Clay Davis, protesting that "...murder ain't no thing, but this here's some assassination shit." Shown up as a gangster without the political sensitivity of even Slim Charles, Stringer storms off and is caught in a fatal ambush set up by Omar and Brother Mouzone.

Slim Charles consoles Avon after Stringer's death. When Avon tells Charles that he has lost heart for the war and that Stanfield was not responsible for the crime, Charles, now the organization's second-in-command, reminds him that they are in a war with no way to back down, and they must blame Stanfield in order to rally their troops. Shortly after, Slim Charles sees another opportunity to kill Stanfield when he finds him at Vinson's rimshop with little protection.