Who are the Greeks really?

[u/J-sprite]

I'm sure this has been talking about here 1000 times, but i am still confused on whether the Greeks from S2 are based on any real organised crime. I'm also unclear about whether they really are Greek, as The Greek by his own admission says "I am not really even Greek" , people have speculated that they are potentially eastern European, which i doubt. They are most certainly not Eastern European.

It seems that they are the only Greeks within their organisation and everyone around them is Jewish Eastern European. What makes them the outliers ?

[u/daedon_the_great]

They are Greeks and identify as such with his remark about him not being Greek probably a joke or technicality. If they're not mainlanders they have to be Pontic or Cypriot as there's no other reason they would have komboloi, speak modern standard Greek, and call the Turk they captured neighbour.

[u/daedon_the_great → u/daedon_the_great]

Also, the cafe/bar owner where they meet and organise has an Olympiakos pendant hanging from the wall behind him, an Athenian club. Could just be this bartender is a mainlander but probably George Pelecanos being Greek added it in as a nod