Frank Sobotka

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Frank Sobotka
Played by Chris Bauer
First appearance Ebb Tide (episode 2.01)
Last appearance Port in a Storm (episode 2.12)
Cause/Reason Murdered
Statistics
Age 40s
Year of Death 2003
Occupation Union Leader, Smuggler
Title Secretary Treasurer
Family Louis Sobotka (brother), Nick Sobotka (nephew)
Spouse Unseen wife
Children Chester "Ziggy" Sobotka
Episode Count 12
Portrayed by Chris Bauer
Created by David Simon

Frank Sobotka is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire played by actor Chris Bauer.

[edit] Biography

Frank was a Polish-American longshoremen's union leader who worked with "The Greek" to smuggle goods through the Baltimore docks. Sobotka became involved in smuggling to fund political campaign contributions to try to sway politicians into funding initiatives that would save the Baltimore port. Sobotka's two main objectives were to have the docks dredged to increase the depth for incoming ships and to re-open the grain pier.

Sobotka had a family consisting of his wife, who was never seen, and his son Chester "Ziggy" Sobotka. His brother Louis Sobotka and his nephew Nick Sobotka both lived near by. Both Ziggy and Nick worked in Frank's union. Nick often acted as go-between for Frank and the Greek passing messages back and forth and giving Frank lists of containers to move to The Greek. Frank relied on his old friend and fellow union man Thomas "Horseface" Pakusa to move these containers for him and made sure he was always assigned to ships with contraband on board. Ziggy was involved in crime in Baltimore but Frank was largely unaware of his activity and did not include him in his association with The Greek.[1]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Character profile - Frank Sobotka. HBO (2004). Retrieved on 2006-08-16.


The Wire
Episodes | Season 1 | Season 2 | Season 3 | Season 4
Characters
Police: Jimmy McNulty Kima Greggs Bunk Moreland Lester Freamon Ellis Carver Herc Hauk
Command: Ervin Burrell William Rawls Cedric Daniels Jay Landsman Stanislaus Valchek Raymond Foerster
School: Roland Pryzbylewski Howard Colvin Namond Brice Michael Lee Randy Wagstaff Duquan Weems
Street: Omar Little Bubbles Wee-Bey Brice Dennis Wise Chris Partlow Snoop
Kingpins: Avon Barksdale Stringer Bell Marlo Stanfield Proposition Joe The Greek Slim Charles
Dealers: Bodie Broadus D'Angelo Barksdale Poot Carr Wallace Cheese Donut
Politics: Tommy Carcetti Clarence Royce Rhonda Pearlman Clay Davis Norman Wilson Coleman Parker
Docks: Frank Sobotka Nick Sobotka Ziggy Sobotka Spiros Vondas Sergei Malatov Beadie Russell