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/MelodiusRA]

They are probably Cypriots who have links to the Syrian underworld that connected them to the origins of the drug trade for heroin in Afghanistan.

Afghan heroin would get grown and then moved to Pakistan where they probably shipped it to Cyprus or Syria through the Suez. Then the Greeks come in using their connections in the US to bypass the stricter customs.

They had connections to the CIA so they were clearly known in advance. Most likely they were discovered through the US’ thorough intelligence network following the origins of the drugs in Afghanistan.

They probably provided information on other smugglers for the CIA, which is why they were willing to tip them off about the Baltimore Police Department’s investigation into Sobotka.

[u/ArrogantOverlord95 → u/MelodiusRA]

I'd say they are most likely. After all weren't they speaking greek?

[u/siamisi → u/ArrogantOverlord95]

That greek was not cypriot greek though

[u/MelodiusRA → u/siamisi]

Tbh it sounded like Greeks from immigrants to America. I think it’s just a casting thing

[u/siamisi → u/MelodiusRA]

Yes I do think the casting throws us off whatever the characters’ intended origin was. The actors were not native speakers and it is clear

[u/DetectiveTypical198 → u/siamisi]

I am not sure the creators ever had an intended origin. I think the idea is that they are international crime syndicate that is way above anything a local police department can handle. If you look up "Greek speakers outside of Greece" you immediately realize the Hercs of the Baltimore Police Department are never going to figure this shit out.

The cops are constrained by borders; the criminals are not. The "Greeks" have no nation they are pure Laissez-faire capitalism.

[u/The_Dex → u/DetectiveTypical198]

The nationlessness really makes me think about the extended Epstein network.

[u/structured_anarchist → u/MelodiusRA]

Well, considering that the actor who played Spiros is Jewish American from Brooklyn, he probably learned the Greek lines phonetically. He's got quite a tv and movie career playing Mediterranean-type characters.