GOD BLESS UNDERCOVER BLACK MAN

David Mills, Television Writer and Producer, Dies

By DAVE ITZKOFF

David Mills, an Emmy Award-winning writer and producer for crime dramas like “The Wire” on HBO and “Homicide: Life on the Streets” on NBC died on Tuesday in New Orleans, a press representative for HBO said. The New Orleans Times-Picayune reported that Mr. Mills died from a brain aneurysm; a statement from the cable channel was expected shortly. HBO is about to broadcast the debut of a new series, “Treme,” on which Mr. Mills worked as a writer and producer.

After Mr. Mills made his television writing debut with “Homicide,” which his friend, David Simon, helped to create, he wrote for “NYPD Blue” and “ER.” He was also a co-writer and co-producer on “The Corner,” adapted from Mr. Simon’s book about drug abuse and poverty in Baltimore, which won three Emmys. Mr. Mills also created the NBC series “Kingpin,” about a Mexican drug cartel, which was shown in 2003.

Before he wrote for television Mr. Mills was a journalist who gained national attention for a 1992 interview with the hip-hop performer Sister Souljah in The Washington Post, in which she said, “If black people kill black people every day, why not have a week and kill white people?” When the Rainbow Coalition later invited Sister Souljah to speak at its convention, the group was criticized by Bill Clinton, then a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination, who cited Mr. Mills’s interview.