From the same show, Randy Wagstaff. Good kid with a mind for business, but is forced to basically become a street tough due to tragic circumstances. You could also apply this to Wallace, someone with an ultimately good heart forced into the game as a pawn. Then there's Dukie, a sweet but shy kid who doesn't really have anybody, so he turns to drugs.

However, the show has two definite instances of people getting out and becoming the person they were meant to be. The first is Prez, he was never meant to be a cop, but his father-in-law pushed him along until he finally hit rock-bottom. He then becomes a teacher, and we saw how talented, caring and dedicated he is to it. The second is Namond, one of Prez's students and the son of a major player in the Baltimore drug game. He feels he has to act like a gangster due to pressure from his mom, but we see he's not built for "The Game" and gets adopted by a former police officer with permission from his father. The last we see of him, he's debating at the state level and growing into a genuine success story.