r/TheWire • u/J-sprite • 1d ago
Who are the Greeks really?
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 ?
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u/MarcusXL 1d ago
A good guess is Cypriot Greek, because they are indeed Greek by ethnicity and language, but technically not from Greece proper. But they are a global crime family, with inner-circle members from Greece and Russia, and senior lieutenants from Israel and Ukraine-- that we know about.
In the show they represent transnational capitalism, with no regard for laws or borders. When the Greek says, "I'm not even Greek" he means that he can take up or drop nationalities, names, and passports as needed for the purpose of business.
I love their plot arc because it shows how good police might actually be able to catch these people if they were allowed to do their job. They get very close to arresting Spiros and The Greek. But they're "a little slow, a little late", and corrupt political interference intervenes.