In The Wire, we follow the drug dealers of Baltimore and the police out to put a dent
in the drug trader. The primary drug kingpin in the first few seasons is Avon Barksdale,
the boss of the Barksdale organisation. Avon runs west Baltimore, and the east side is dominated by
the likes of Proposition Joe. Joe is much more cautious and under-the-radar than the
average drug dealer, favouring non-violent outcomes to turf and supply disputes. As such,
he is not as well known, if even known at all, to law enforcement. In fact, he is instrumental,
along with Stringer Bell, in the creation of the co-op, an alliance between rival drug deals
where problems are solved diplomatically, carrying it like Republicans and s**t.
Eventually of course, Avon goes to prison and Stringer is killed, and though the rest of the
co-op is functioning fine, the new gangster on the block, the ruthless, cold thug Marlo Stanfield,
poses a problem for Joe and the rest of the dealers. Unwilling to become a part of the co-op,
and given his reputation for violence, Marlo is an uneasy stone in the shoe for Baltimore,
and his vicious crew could prove useful for the co-op if they were on the same side,
as they could, for example, help with the issue of the encroaching New York gangsters.
As such, Proposition Joe goes about trying to civilize Marlo by mentoring him,
and also manufacturing incidents such as a card robbery done against one of Marlo’s game,
in order to show the young Marlo that sometimes working in a team is better. Eventually Marlo
comes around, but after Prop Joe’s stash is robbed by Omar, Marlo wants Joe’s story,
and the story of his nephew Cheese, cooperated to prove that Joe wasn’t working with Omar.
This kick starts a chain of events in which the devious Joe gets caught up in a web and that leads
Marlo to Sergi, and then Vondas, and then the illusive Greek, the wholesale supplier of
Proposition Joe’s drugs. It is extremely dangerous for Marlo to have direct access to the Greeks,
as he now has an opportunity to cut out Joe, the middleman, and work directly with the Greeks,
which of course is what eventually happens. In spite of Joe taking Marlo under his wing, Marlo
saw the affair as a means to him taking the street crown. As he says, he wasn’t made to play the son.
But is it feasible that the Greeks would have worked with Marlo?
When he approaches Vondas, Vondas initially rejects him, sending him away because of his
dirty money. He makes it known repeatedly that Joe is the man they work with,
that they like a man who is reliable and dependable, which Joe was,
so why on earth did the Greeks so easily decide to work with Marlo, and essentially give up Joe?
If the relationship with Joe was so good, why not tip him off that they’ve been approached by Marlo,
so Joe can kill him, or why don’t they kill him themselves? And regardless,
why would they choose some new, untested, volatile hot-headed young blood over the reliable Joe
with whom they have had a lengthy partnership with? Well, let’s discuss, and before we do,
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Marlo’s plan to cut out Joe and work directly with the Greeks, you could argue,
should have been something Joe saw coming, and accounted for. When he’s discussing this with
Cheese and Slim, his own subordinates warn him about this, and in the second episode of season 5,
even Avon works out the plan as shown when he meets Marlo in prison. That’s how obvious it was,
but Joe just didn’t envisage the Greeks working with someone like Marlo over him, and with good
reason – time and again they’ve proven themselves to be cautious, hiding in the shadows. And as
such, the Greeks choosing Marlo seems like a rare stupid decision on their part, especially seeing
as though Marlo ends up in prison and out of the game not long after. Could this quite simply be a
plot hole, or a weakness in the writing? Season 5 is often considered to be the weakest of The Wire
y many fans, mainly due to a apparent over-the-top storyline involving a fake serial killer, but
could this be another example of lazy writing that was necessary to move the plot forward and put
Marlo in a position to become the king? I mean, it is pretty weird – the Greek reveals himself to
Marlo in what seems to be Marlo’s second meeting with Vondas, when he is so mysterious that we
don’t even know if Joe was aware he ever existed. It feels uncharacteristically brazen, as does the
Greeks decision to return to Baltimore in person after season 2 and even set up shop in the exact
same diner. I have heard that even the actor who played Joe was unhappy with his character’s exit,
suggesting that this entire storyline is a bit rushed and weak. But it’s something I’ve thought
about quite a bit, and let’s try and rationalise. Of course, Vondas was fond of Joe and wanted to
continue working with him, but he’s overruled by the Greek who acts favourable towards
Marlo’s suggestion that it would be good for the Greeks to have a backup to Joe,
an insurance. Vondas advises the Greek “he is not Joe”, and the Greek repeats the line.
He looks kinda sad, but there is a twinkle in the eye and a small smile that creeps up on his face.
Essentially, the Greeks didn’t choose Marlo over Joe. The saw that Marlo was inevitable,
that he would clearly take out Joe and become the top dog, in some regard forcing the Greeks
to work with him. Marlo is relentless, and no matter how many times he is turned down, he will
keep coming back, not taking no for an answer. As the Greek says, “if we were to tell him no,
he would still come back. This he shows us.” So it wasn’t a case of choosing Marlo over Joe,
it was just that they could see Marlo would take over and they might as well go with the flow,
accept the change, even if in a perfect world they would rather continue doing business with Joe.
The Greek clearly weighed his options – perhaps he saw Marlo’s strength and knew one way or another
he would overthrow Joe, that he was an individual who would not allow his shipments to be robbed.
Times change, and Joe was slipping, allowing his shipment to be seized by Omar which damaged
his reputation, no doubt. The fact that Marlo is cutting Joe out from under his nose and he
can’t see it shows the Greeks that Joe is weak and someone, if not even Marlo, might take out
Joe down the line and they might as well align themselves with the next man who will wear the
crown. By going along now, at least they hold leverage over Marlo, who’s practically begging
them to work with him, instead of him taking out Joe and forcing the Greeks to go with him,
thus being in a position to dictate terms. Maybe they thought Marlo had earned his
dues by being smart and relentless enough to find out about them and getting a meeting,
plus the large sum of cash he gave them. Joe’s weakness was that he had old school values,
but the game has become more vicious and cruel. Because of his relationship with the Greeks,
he just never thought that they would choose someone as unruly as Marlo over him. He was going
all soft and grandfatherly – there’s a scene where he talks with Vondas and he ends by asking him
“where you say you were off to again”. If this was a serious question and not a joke,
it highlights Joe mistaking business cordialness for friendship, which ties in with his weaknesses
regarding trusting the people around him, trusting that relationships count for something,
that family counts for something, what with his nephew Cheese also betraying him later on.
Joe was confident that the Greeks carefulness, and the fact that they know him,
would mean they would not work with Marlo if approached. But Marlo of course uses the robbery
to persuade the Greeks that Joe isn’t impeccable. In contrast, Marlo was in his prime and more
ruthless – perhaps the Greek recognised some of his own ruthlessness in Marlo.
The wolf recognising the scorpion. In fact, Joe bought it upon himself by opening the line up to
the Greeks – that also put the Greeks in slightly more danger as now more people know about them,
which is what they don’t want. They wouldn’t have appreciated that Joe had caused an outsider to
show up at their doorstep, and their relationship with Proposition Joe was all business anyway-
they were not going to stick out their neck for him and get involved in bloodshed by taking out
Marlo. They don’t kill unless they absolutely have to, like with Frank Sobotka, because it of course
attracts cops. And they don’t get involved in the streets. Getting involved in a street war would
be even more risky than simply letting Marlo take over. They are more concerned with the stability
and continuity of their sales. They preferred Joe, but if he has to die, so be it. They will
be pragmatic, and one could argue that there is no guarantee that Joe would be able to kill Marlo
if the Greeks tipped him off. It could cause a war to erupt between Marlo and Joe, impacting the
Greeks’ sales. The alternative is that Marlo simply gets a monopoly and there is peace.
The Greeks would have done their homework on Marlo. Marlo had to go through Avon to
get to Sergi, and Avon’s name carried weight. One could also argue that Joe
would have been a better businessman than Marlo, meaning he could negotiate better prices
for himself against the Greeks, whereas Marlo would just accept whatever price he was given,
a bit like he does when Avon tells him to send 100K to his sister. Think the mafia’s relationship
with Jimmy Hoffa in The Irishman, compared to their relationship with Frank Fitzsimmons.
The fact is, much as they like Joe, the Greeks were major wholesalers whose operations are far
bigger than the streets of Baltimore. As long as someone is buying their drugs, they are happy,
and the street politics is irrelevant to them. Baltimore is small potatoes,
so who cares if Joe gets taken out. There will be more Joes and more Marlos,
like how Slim Charles ends up getting the connect to the Greeks after Marlo is out of the game.
Perhaps some viewers may want to speculate that the Greeks were setting up Marlo for failure.
After all, it is only after Vondas gives Marlo a phone that the police are able to get a wire
on his line, but this idea is a bit farfetched and probably not worth looking into too hard.
Interestingly, David Simon, the creator of The Wire, has addressed this issue about
the Greek himself, saying in an interview: I think he realized, much as Joe did not, that
Marlo was going to kill him anyway. Marlo would have killed him and taken lesser dope in order
to be the top guy. Getting the connection would be icing on the cake and would allow him to wholesale
to the co-op, to co-opt the co-op. But if the Greek had said no way, he would have killed Joe
and then come back. The way we felt about it was this is pure power and pure power is inexorable,
there's no mitigating it. Pure capitalism recognized pure power -- takes one to know one.
The way he said 'He kept coming back with money and wouldn't take no for an answer.'
They both didn't exchange the 'I am that I am' moment with each other,
but they did in their eyes. And he says it to Vondas: 'He would keep coming back.'
For The Greek to choose this guy, it's not so much of a choice except it establishes a different
dynamic for the supplier, on a practical level, if you have given the guy the wink and said,
'Do what you're gonna do and we'll talk later.' You're now in a position where there is some
degree of gratitude, as opposed to Marlo coming back into the diner saying, 'Well, Joe's dead, I
killed him, here are my terms if you want to keep wholesaling in Baltimore.' That whole thing was
Aesop's Fable of the turtle and the scorpion and Joe didn't recognize the scorpion. The Greek did.
So there you have it! Why do you think the Greeks chose Marlo over Joe?
Let me know in the comments below, subscribe to the channel, and thanks for watching.