Why Did The Greeks Return To Baltimore? | The Wire Explained

[@CineRanter]

*Please note: You may notice one or two awkward cuts in this video. This is because I have had to trim some segments of the video due to copyright. You can see the full version here:* www.patreon.com/posts/why-did-greeks-114566465?Link&

[@markangelou9368]

Bc Paulie told them to stay away from Port Newark

[@Can_O_Crayola]

Even on Sundays?!

[@EddieBaileyTSMG]

😂

[@harborwolf22]

It'$ almo$t impo$$ible to figure out why criminal$ would want to continue doing crime in citie$ like Baltimore.

[@BaronSaturday66]

They don't call it Charm City for nothing. Clearly they missed Baltimore so much they decided to return.

[@treyfrm726]

Because in cities like Baltimore where crime is rampant and there is more criminals than police the good criminals can and will last and live long successful lives

[@Noscrapsinmyscrapbook]

This guy has really run out of ideas for videos

[@DSPHistoricalSociety]

Who know$?

[@shaneodwyer6132]

The spot must be an absolute goldmine

[@sole__doubt]

Because its a huge drug market that they had control over.

[@koDaffi]

Pretty much. It's always been the main hub for drugs coming into the country. Same reason NY sends all their stuff there. I live 1 state over and people always drive the 3 hours to Baltimore to score and bring it back. It's had the largest open air drug market since forever. It's never turned into a Kensington situation either which is more intriguing to me as to why. The city knows it's there and they can't stop it, it's almost like they all have a secret agreement.

[@Livefromthewhytehouse]

@@koDaffiprob bc the people running r real criminals n know how to run it, as compared to phili where it seems like even the dealers r on hard rugs too! No one is really in control lol

[@smellsuperb1]

Because the Greek really is untouchable, and the people we know he has in his pocket probably aren't even a fraction of the people we don't know about that are also in his pocket. They operate with impunity. If they have an FBI agent on the payroll, that means they have FBI, DEA, ATF, and potentially federal level politicians.

[@kabooby0]

I've always interpreted the "I am not even Greek" to be more of tongue-in-cheek joke about them having various passports.

[@cristristam9054]

Wouldn't he say "im not even only greek" ? Or you think his greek citizenship is revoked? But then he would still be greek ethnically and probably still see himself as greek.

[@travisgames6608]

Tbf.. His accent wasn't Greek. So he was right. Prop Joe and his guys were just ignorant thugs. They didn't even know his fake alias name.

[@mikelavine9452]

I always thought this too

[@jonathanlynch5031]

I always figured they were from the Balkans when they said they weren't Greek

[@jobuswayne9354]

He's a Turk

[@Cbart23]

They owned the city. Why wouldn’t they return ?

[@madcapglass1454]

Because it's heavily implied that they "own" many cities, and Baltimore was getting hot AF.

[@goodyeoman4534]

The Greeks returned to Baltimore because the show's writers understood that they were popular with fans.

[@amirikiri4112]

Cute, fuck.

[@NotableSavage2]

@@amirikiri4112Great use of the comma

[@Handleyokandle]

They had the most boring season tbh

[@monadreher2428]

Lmaooo I'm dead. Personally I always thought basically what cine ranter said at the end. The Greek is essentially untouchable. People like him are the most successful criminals for a reason. I also always assumed that the diner guy would inform them when to come for meetings since we see Marlo make contact with Vondas through him. They probably would've involved The Greeks more into the season and plot if they had more episodes. Most likely would've still gotten away with everything in the end though either way since people like The Greek rarely if ever at all get caught. It was great seeing them again though (especially because I literally never expected to and had actually kind of forgotten about them myself tbh) in particular Spiros. I'd say it's poor writing but I enjoyed it so idc 😂😂😂

[@goodyeoman4534]

If the Greeks were involved in gun running, we need to check what wars America was involved in around that time. As for Vondas's nationality, it could be anything and isn't the key bit of evidence. If he had a background in business or something he could have built up contacts in Eastern Europe, the Middle East and the Far East over time. If I had to guess I'd say he was Israeli.

[@jonw8271]

'Business, always business'

[@bigghurt187]

Thinking in real world situations. Baltimore was the perfect hub for them. Especially being there money maker is heiron. During the 90s and early 2000s crack was the main drug everywhere except Baltimore. The market is there and all there connections. Its not like now where opiates/heiron/fentanyl are in all major states back then it was a small market in most states except Baltimore

[@Jasonification2]

they would never have given up prop joe for freaking MARLOW

[@Livefromthewhytehouse]

Well not really bc they know time changes n w changing time is changing of environment; people like prop eventually would either die or retire if lucky, bc people n violence gets worse.. there’s always a upgrade in anything

[@monadreher2428]

Spiros would've never. The Greek himself though...clearly on a different type of timing.

[@DSPHistoricalSociety]

It wasn't their choice

[@Jasonification2]

@@Livefromthewhytehouse but it shows a lack of loyalty to a well-loved business associate

[@Livefromthewhytehouse]

@@Jasonification2 ure wrong tho they did give up Prop Joe, remember there was a point where they could’ve shut marlo down n they let him take out Prop.

[@jimbozium]

To get to the other side.

[@TheShahofBaltimore]

We need more THE WIRE!!

[@apstrike]

Because they have plot armor.

[@jessejohnson94]

As well as the wire is wrote and is realistic in many aspects. I agree with your answer

[@grahambuckerfield4640]

@@jessejohnson94 Watching in effect the follow up, ‘We Own This City’, based more heavily on more recent and some well publicized cases, nothing would surprise me about the Baltimore PD, in terms of incompetence, corruption and events, some based on reports even in the international press, that the writers of The Wire might have thought, ‘too much, not credible’.

[@jpmnky]

I always figured they were just that well connected to someone up high of this.

[@thelizardking3036]

because it’s just a very Greek thing to pretend to leave a city, and to then sneak back. Word to the wise, remember Troy!

[@lproof8472]

At the end of season 2 it was foretold that the port would be taken over by the feds. The Greek works with the feds. It makes sense they’d be back.

[@kaganms]

I always interpreted the line " And of course I'm not even Greek" not to mean that he wasn't from Greece but that the passport and whatever identity he was using was not Greek. As Vondas says "Many names, many passports... We can do many things"

[@jobuswayne9354]

He's a Turk...them Islamic prayer beads gave it away

[@shawnbbunbbbybbb3942]

I love that one scene where they called one of the Greeks guys asking if a body was theirs and he just said did he have a head? Yes Did he have hands? Yes Then it wasn’t us

[@yads2k1]

I truly have a Wire topic that no one ever touched on, I really wanna say it but I want the channel person to know first. I'm telling you it's a real topic and I need someone to do video about it.

[@Thestray187]

I think maybe the cops wouldn't think they come back to the exact place they were before

[@World0fWowcraft]

It might be like in Bronx Tale's, availability. It’s a wise strategy against cutthroat competitors, and we saw they got connections to the Feds

[@DrtyALGreen]

I think a bigger example of poor writing is that Nikki is supposed to take his family to witness protection from the Feds. Then during the grain pier condo ribbon cutting Nikki is there with the rest of the union guys. In fact Nikki is being the loudest.

[@erics362]

Better question is HOW? They were already identified (not in name, but by appearance, locations, and associates) by local and federal law enforcement. Returning to Baltimore without raising police attention seems impossible.

[@slothretaliation1752]

They must have gotten the info that the BPD is in dire straits and the feds arent pursuing the leads they had

[@damnitfreddy3993]

Racism,it’s not explained but it’s implied multiple times thru out series,perfect point was season 2,when they were talking about the deal they gave white mike

[@breadbread4226]

Known to like 5-10 people in the police force, mostly the same 5-10 that took some time to realise Avon was out of jail whilst they were investigating his organisation iirc.

[@NikiK57]

Remember that the Wire setting is totally different from today. They have no facial recognition or anything around. Also remember how the police department is portrayed in the series - mismanaged, totally lacking manpower and proper training, leadership reassigning people to whatever makes them look better etc. How many times did Daniels, Mcnulty and others fcked themselves over just because they wanted to do real police work and do things properly till the end? Everyone hated them for that... Most of the cases in the series ended up pretty much flat compared to what they did...

[@ra0929]

Not impossible with the number of names and passports they supposedly had access to. And they also had a mole in the FBI, that could presumably run counter to local law enforcement efforts. And they fly under the radar, never calling attention to themselves.

[@KingBluetooth66]

I think Baltimore was just one of the cities they had business in. They would travel around the country only staying in a city for a few weeks.

[@CBS68]

Are you ever gonna talk about "the shield"?It's a great show so underrated

[@BaronSaturday66]

You recognize the same actor from both no doubt.

[@fabianking997]

It's repetitive

[@MrN0where]

Would definitely like to see him cover The Shield. An underrated show.

[@steelydan449]

It was better before Kurt Sutter got involved.

[@koDaffi]

​@@steelydan449Kurt Sutter was writer since it first started...

[@Cbart23]

Cineranter you should upgrade your audio. Don’t compromise like Uncle Philly.

[@dakf660]

The audio was fine

[@3einEye]

How would anyone recognise him? He shaved his moustache

[@shaneodwyer6132]

The Wire, The Sopranos & Breaking Bad really are the holy trinity of great TV... We'll never see anything to match any of them again. The fact videos are being made regularly about all 3 years later says it all about their genius and longevity.

[@seed2smoke]

They never left

[@jaycareaga9929]

We saw them leave but they left someone else in charge of the connection. kzbin.info/www/bejne/d4bTmXeMaLWdrdksi=x36Rl74Zfi0TFuQx

[@slthjawa5062gggghhjjjjjkkkk]

Why did the Greeks come back ? ... maybe ... just maybe ... there's a high demand for their product, zero danger from law enforcement, so they cooked up this zany scheme to keep makeing money. Who needed it explained?

[@monadreher2428]

I mean I never did 😂 That's clearly the route the show is taking for their story arc. I for one enjoyed seeing The Greek and Spiros again but I definitely don't think it's wrong for people to take criticism at their return. Personally I always thought that more episodes would've made everything involving The Greeks in Season 5 more sensible. Instead it's just passable at best and ridiculous at worst lml

[@daveb305]

Budget reasons?

[@tad1980]

i don't actually remember this, but did they ever leave? like couldnt' they have been in the background during season 3?

[@1bigstash]

The Greeks never left. They changed their names. They said shipments would continue in a week. It business is continuing surely they would be close by

[@asavelakuse6865]

Shipping and location. I noticed in one of the videos that even after the whole Sobotka thing cargo was still being unloaded at the docks while nothing was being loaded since moving drugs like heroin from Asia goes two ways Afghanistan and the golden triangle. The asians supply the south americans via Mexico thru going to Panama. While from the east herion goes thru central asia to Europe then America at the time Europeans were as concerned with drugs that much plus with old criminal organisations like the french connection and Italians losing power in their respective places by early 2000s corruption in occupied Afghanistan led to high levels of opium poppies being farmed globalisation taking root and only the war on terror ongoing before iraq insurgency. For the greeks having established routes for human trafficking meant having routes for drugs something that doesn't need oxygen to survive meant Baltimore was a good place to base themselves plus the didn't only supply in Baltimore. When you operate like the greeks usually it's transnational with other organisations involved Sergei a russian of working for a greek who is not greek who might be Albanian, Armenian or Balkan I'm taking it from the conversation he had with that Turk they killed bad history all in between. Transnational organisations operate with limited contact that means if you arrest a colombian who was supplying bikers who were supplying african americans then apart from getting another supplier these organisations couldn't depend on the other to survive as someone else will replace them.

[@Georgious]

Their FBI handler (who is Greek) has a backdoor into every local police department! As soon as trouble arises they learn almost emidiately! Also the Greek is a Greek no matter what his passport says. Vondas is Greek, the electronic store owner is Greek. The Greek tells the Turkish sailor; I don't hate the Turks thats the old world. That guy doesn't know him as "the Greek", he's a Turkish sailor not even from B-more. So two options: 1. fake identity. 2. Greek diaspora are legion! Hell there's a Cretan community in Syria lmfao! Dude is op top of things well informed and protected. We don't give Mcnulty and Freamon enough credit. No one else would've even gotten close!

[@johnshooter4763]

Could he be from the Balkans?

[@r.plante2916]

I was thinking he was Armenian from his reaction to the Turkish flag.

[@johnshooter4763]

Do armenians look turkish? We have the Kardashian sisters forced on us 🤔

[@virgolife8832]

Still waiting on the big clearance from oz retrospective 😂😂😂😊

[@JeffTheHokie]

How do you know it was the same exact restaurant? They could easily be working out of a different diner. Also how do you know they are even in Baltimore? Maybe Marlo just had to drive a little to get there.

[@zamplify]

I'm not even Greek

[@RD-zj6vc]

It just hit me that the Russian from the Sopranos must have decided to switch families and join the Greeks in Baltimore.

[@frankmurphy7234]

Correct me if I'm wrong but what does he like a government asset in some way or capacity if so the criminal justice system doesn't work the same for him as it does most people

[@benoitwaffle5439]

They did like Avon said when they waited for someone else "to stop a bullet" and the police moved onto other matters so they can get back to work. Wee-Bey went to Philly to lay low, but the plan wasn't for him to stay there. They took a break to wait for the heat to die down, and then returned. Port cities have a lot of value for smugglers. Rotterdam and Antwerp aren't centers of the European drug trade because there is something unique about those people. The location matters. You want to deal with a busy port to get lost in the crowd. I-95 runs right through the city, and takes you to all the major cities on the east coast. It makes no sense to do a real relocation. Also, the Greek might have been Cypriot or Albanian. If he wants an alias that is hard to track, that is one way to do it. If he speaks Greek, nobody is going to give a second thought to whether he is actually Greek or not. If the police start looking at visas of Greek nationals or whatnot to try to get a name, it is a deadend.

[@Stevemontana19]

What about boris? How is he still alive? Wouldn’t the greeks know he ratted them out? Bein that they have so many connections?

[@paulgordon6949]

The greeks returned because they knew the investigation on them was over and they were home free. If it heated up again then they would just move on again. The only odd thing was that they set up shop again in thst same diner. In reality im sure they would find a new spot. But that was just because its fiction and the fans would recognise the old diner and it works for the purposes of the show.

[@foggylungs]

My name is not my name. That should always be a street code.

[@JMJGrandson]

Easiest answer, they weren’t scared😭😭

[@justinbieber8028]

Why are all these videos full of editing errors

[@CineRanter]

Please see the pinned comment

[@JK-gu3tl]

Baltimore has a port.

[@scs2850]

Who else will be the plug

[@HabitualLine-Stepper]

Because the script is the script... Always.

[@KHLB516]

Cus they r making money in Baltimore and their ports

[@lambrosk3790]

Kaltros is a Greek last name. Even the actor playing agent Kaltros looks Greek. Plus they all speak the language and The Greek looks like he could be the agent's father. I just assumed Kaltros was compromised and most likely had a personal relationship with the Greek. Especially when he got the call to check the shipment of coke. Kaltros had a "cat that ate the canary," look while on the phone. Then there's the diner. Sure a man who is an asset to the government might set up shop in the same location. But the fact that the Greek is intent on being there just seems to be a move a man who's used to cheating the system would do. Much like being framed in court can be more dangerous than being guilty, but, having a fair trial; having a corrupt agent can yield far more benefit than having to report to a legitimate one.

[@NateG219]

They barely left, they were on a business trip

[@Notslimy]

My honest question is, why they didn't kill Nick? It was just because Vondas see him like a son?

[@JMJGrandson]

Maybe, he probably felt bad for the kid and wanted 2 give him a chance🤷🏾‍♂️

[@gmac8852]

I thought that they came primarily because of the dead girls in the container.

[@r.plante2916]

"Mary-Land"

[@cristristam9054]

Maybe it is an IRAN-contra situation where they are authorized from the highest level of the government to sell drugs. In case of someone on the lower levels (police ,citizens etc) figures them out ,the higher-ups who authorized them have nothing to fear as the files get declassified WAAAY after they(higher-ups) are dead and in that case they get processed as regular criminals.

[@indiansummer5122]

Having a brutal monopoly is not a function of capitalism, it is manipulation of the system. Why we blame the system instead of the people who have corrupted it, is beyond me. Must be easier than contemplating nuance.

[@ERRATAS0707]

Maaaaaan stop with your BS. This is the true depiction of absolute capitalism. Leaving morals out for maximum profit.

[@indiansummer5122]

@ spoken like a true dolt. Take some responsibility and maybe you wouldn’t be in the situation you are in. Stop blaming people who are just genuinely better than you, make better decisions, and will have a far superior life. Grow up little one.

[@MyNameisMyName25]

Bmore was a gold mine

[@cococock2418]

The greeks just out of nowhere saying "ok, screw prop joe, we're gonna deal with marlow now" is such bad writing I'm sorry. They would have never done this.

[@Therock007dmx]

@cococock2418 The Greeks knew that Marlo was going to kill Prop Joe so why not be cool with the guy who was going to be king rather you liked it or not.

[@Rupe_Singh]

It actually fits well with the Greeks mantra of its business, it’s always business

[@Bobbibouchersmumwasright]

Balti-moor…. (Look into it .. start with Bunk MOOR-LAND) etc etc also “ we are not even Greek!” … there’s enough clues.

[@mikef6063]

Are any of them actually Greek? Whatever happened there

[@mikef6063]

Except Vondas obviously

[@taysmith9321]

You ever heard of hiding in plain sight thats what the greek did

[@jacobrathbun5570]

i think he was greek, he only said he wasn’t because he has passports that say he is from other places

[@DrtyALGreen]

You Agamemnon not Agent Caltross 😂

[@mach1mustangguy992]

I always wondered that myself. You think they woulda sent in underlings. But guess they figured they won. I mean they did have that FBI guy on their team. I don’t think he was a handler I think he was part of the team bro. They always got a man up in the govt. ask the mob. I know that for a fact.

[@johnshooter4763]

I wanted the greek gone, he was a government informant and was not a stand up guy! Had Jimmy pinched him, he would had got killed in prison yard to shut him up!

[@spencerb9998]

Because who other than a Baltimore crew can move your shit off the docks, on time, and where it's supposed to go. All of it.

[@scottboyd3838]

Cypriot I'd say

[@rufusblue8044]

Did he have head? Did he have hand? Why is it always boris?

[@mRipX]

to oversee the business they left someone else run while they hid for a bit

[@Thestray187]

They came back because come on they had the world by the b+lls so why not come back and clean up they were doing great

[@keez994]

He’s too big to fail.

[@kemperboyd1209]

Bad writing is why.

[@C.O-EDITS]

One of the few moments where the wire was unrealistic

[@JazJaz-su6nb]

Never heard this take on some of them weak a** soprano episodes you glorify so much

[@PhilLeotardosGhost]

The Wire sucks. Overrated, slow, & boring.

[@drizzlemaan]

Hey Cineranter. As a fan and someone who’s watched all of your videos, I’d love to see some of your takes on The Godfather of Harlem series. There’s actors from The Sopranos, The Wire, and more that create an awesome ‘gangster + social commentary’ show. Cheers and Va Fangool 🤌

[@CineRanter]

@@drizzlemaanThank you. I do plan to see it some day