The Greeks of The Wire

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On the fictional TV series The Wire, a powerful Organized crime organization is led by a man known only as The Greek. Based in Highlandtown in Southeastern Baltimore, a predominantly Greek neighborhood of the city, they pay off the I.B.S. dock workers to facilitate the importation and distribution of drugs and illegal goods through the port. They were a tangential part of the investigation in season two, but the organization survived largely intact.

The following is a list of characters associated with that organization.

[edit] The Greek

The Greeks

Main article: The Greek (The Wire)

Crime Boss of an organized crime organization who shrewdly avoids any police investigation and always puts business first. Is not actually Greek.

[edit] Spiros "Vondas" Vondopoulos

Main article: Spiros Vondas

The second-in-command of an international organized crime organization known as "The Greeks."

[edit] Sergei "Serge" Malatov

Serge, Lieutenant and Enforcer for an international smuggling organization, played by Chris Ashworth

• Played by: Chris Ashworth
• Appears in

Season Two: "Ebb Tide"; "Collateral Damage"; "Hot Shots"; "Hard Cases"; "Undertow"; "All Prologue"; "Backwash"; "Duck and Cover"; "Stray Rounds"; "Storm Warnings"; "Bad Dreams" and "Port in a Storm".

Season Five: "Unconfirmed Reports"

Serge acts as a driver and muscle for The Greek. He is Ukrainian, although Americans often assume he is Russian. He hates this and their subsequent tendency to nickname him "Boris" (based on Boris Badenov). He is responsible for picking up containers of stolen goods from the port and taking them to The Greek's front warehouse to be fenced.

Sergei Malatov is a trusted lieutenant in The Greek's nefarious import business. When fresh supplies of Russian vodka, appliances, electronics — and even Eastern Bloc women to serve as sex workers — arrive to Baltimore, Sergei is there to ensure the cargo is delivered to their associates in the city.

Sergei is supposed to collect a container carrying prostitutes, but when the Greek's crewman on board the ship that delivered the cargo fails to signal him, he abandons the container. The Greek later learns that the girls were killed, and Sergei is sent to the ships next destination to find the crewman. He infiltrates the Philadelphia port and captures the crewman. When The Greek and Spiros "Vondas" Vondopoulos arrive, the crewman tells them everything about how the girls were killed, and Spiros murders him. Sergei is charged with disposing of the body and The Greek instructs him to make sure there was no face or fingerprints. The body is later found and identified by a tattoo the crewman had.

Sergei is friendly with drug kingpin Proposition Joe, who is supplied by The Greek. He intervenes on behalf of Ziggy Sobotka when he gets into debt with Proposition Joe's people because of The Greek's ties to the Sobotka family.

When security camera footage of him abducting the crewman is discovered by a police detail investigating the deaths of the girls and smuggling on the docks, Sergei is perusaded to become an informer and turn on The Greek and Spiros, but The Greek has already escaped.^[1]

Several years later, as rising kingpin Marlo Stanfield gets a line on Spiros "Vondas" Vondopoulos and the Greeks, he has Chris Partlow investigate the port investigation, as well as Sergei's criminal record at the courthouse. Upon learning that Sergei is locked up in Jessup, Marlo arranges a meeting with him. Initially, Marlo's access to Sergei is blocked by Avon Barksdale, who is effectively running the criminal activities within the prison, but after Marlo makes a payment to Avon's sister, Avon grants Marlo access to Sergei.

Sergei, despite receiving a great deal of money from Marlo, is disrespectful and states that he does not need Marlo's help or money. However, Marlo points out that Sergei can win back some favor with the Greeks if he gets a message to Vondas regarding Marlo's intentions to do business with them. Avon encourages Sergei to cooperate with Marlo, and Sergei, realizing that Marlo is right that he can claim some credit if the deal happens, agrees to get in touch with Vondas.

[edit] Eton Ben-Eleazer

• Played by: Lev Goren
• Appears in season two: "All Prologue"; "Stray Rounds"; "Storm Warnings"; "Bad Dreams" and "Port in a Storm".

Born in Israel, Eton Ben-Eleazer is a top lieutenant of the Greek's crime organization in charge of Drug Distribution in Baltimore that supplied narcotics to smaller drug organizations such as Proposition Joe, "White" Mike McArdle and Petey Dixon. He is arrested on a weapons charge and put on trial for Racketeering and Drug Trafficking following the detail's investigation of smuggling through the Baltimore docks and Union although the outcome of his trial is not shown, he may have been convicted.

[edit] George "Double G" Glekas

• Played by: Ted Feldman
• Appears in season two: "Ebb Tide"; "Hard Cases"; "Duck and Cover"; "Stray Rounds" and "Storm Warnings".

Glekas runs a warehouse and appliance store for The Greek under the name Pyramid Industries and acts as the organization's fence. Glekas often gets advice from Spiros "Vondas" Vondopoulos on important deals. The retail store he owns was used as a front to move their stolen goods from the docks.

Prior to appearing in the series Glekas had been charged with fencing stolen goods in San Diego, but dropped for lack of evidence. Glekas was indicted in the smuggling investigation but was not arrested because he was shot and killed by Ziggy Sobotka in a dispute over payment for a stolen car smuggling deal. Ziggy confesses to the murder and was shown serving time for the crime.

[edit] References