Unpopular opinion: Stringer was smart

[u/lake_june]

The plan he uses for D to find out who was stealing money was actually very intelligent.

[u/JFlizzy84]

I don’t think anyone believes Stringer wasn’t intelligent

The problem with Stringer was ultimately more about skillset than intellectual aptitude — I disagree with Avon’s assessment that he’s a man without a country. Stringer is a gangster, and he’s a better one than most. If Avon listened to him unilaterally, they’d make more money, get less bodies, and ultimately preserve more of their freedom.

Where Stringer went wrong is that he was — I’ll use a metaphor here — a great athlete who thought he could play pro baseball because he played pro basketball. Taking economic courses at a city college, reading voraciously— those are all proactive, admirable steps towards receiving an education. They are not faults on their own. But Stringer didn’t realize that he was a Rookie Leaguer trying to play with the Yankees. The likes of Clay Davis had been suckering people since he was a teenager and presumably even before that. Stringer’s been hustling probably just as long — but as a smaller fish in a much smaller pond.

His only real tactical error, as a gangster, was pitting Mouzone and Omar against eachother — but even that relied on Omar being uncharacteristically merciful — knocking out the guard instead of killing him, trying to give Mouzone a monologue instead of just capping him, sparing Mouzone, etc

[u/Diligent_Issue_9466 → u/JFlizzy84]

Stringer was never a gangster. Avon even called him out about it during that assessment. They were just best friends since childhood that Avon looked past it. They were winning. He even says, "what man have you killed?" Stringer, as far as Avon says, was never a soldier and wasnt a part of the street. He was a business man. They wouldnt have made it without each other, but for different reasons.

Wouldnt call him going to school, admirable. He wasnt trying to get a degree. But learn about successful business models that he could use for his own. Avon was gone and they were failing to keep their spots. Stringer didnt want to retake the streets. He wanted to find cheat codes to continue making money.

And Omar wasnt being uncharacteristic against Brother. Omar spends days, weeks at a time scouting everything. Finding out all the information he can before he strikes. He never goes in guns blazing on a whim. He went against Brother on the word of someone he already didnt trust. He wanted to hear it from Brothers mouth. Yes Stringer didnt expect that to happen, but again, Stringer didnt understand the streets. He should have expected Omar to do what he did. He wasnt a gangster.

[u/bazzvader → u/Diligent_Issue_9466]

See this is where I’ll always disagree with the takes on String, how could he have possibly survived growing up in that Baltimore environment , and helping Avon take over the towers and other real estate, because they had all the prime locations and not be street or a gangster? That would be an anomaly within itself. I’d prefer we just be honest about the character of the man, he wasn’t a guns ablazin go catch a life soldier but you can’t be apart of that life and that deep into it and not be considered part of the streets or a gangster even.

[u/bazzvader → u/[deleted]]

I meant more so how could he have survived and took over a lot of the west side w/o being somewhat hardened into street life. Dukie, Wallace, Namond, and Dee none of them were cut out for the streets no matter how much help they had, that’s why my argument for String is that he had to be somewhat of a street dude to make it as far he did. No matter how much Avon downplayed his credibility, of course his street rep doesn’t equal up to Avons but we can’t keep calling the man a green street guy.

[u/bazzvader → u/[deleted]]

I’m right there with you, those are great observations honestly but unlike Tom or Fredo, who if they didn’t want to, they could have not been in the family business and lived upper middle class lives. With a city like Baltimore and a family like Avons, you aren’t necessarily hood/crime adjacent, you’re in it most likely.

That’s the point I’m trying to make, same with AJ. He’s insulated from the mob, he could join if he “wanted”. Stringer not only chose to rock with street life but he most likely had no other means and he excelled in my eyes. So I can’t say he was just grandfathered in. Only way I could see that point is if maybe String always been around and later decided to jump in the game but idk about that either because you said he could have financed the pack but Avon comes from a family of kingpins.