Prop Joe and Stringer had the same weakness, to greater and lesser degrees: Both are not as smart as they think they are. Both over estimated their own abilities, while under estimating everyone else. Both underestimated Avon and Marlo. Joe thought he could control Marlo and use him to bring down Avon without getting his own hands dirty. It didn't work out that way.
I think that's a pretty fair argument. They also both represent the "old school's" inability to understand the "new school", which you see in every generation gap. Joe specifically was still stuck in a world that was all but vanished, unfortunately.
Both were playing sly and doing underhanded tricks to get what they want. But Avon, Marlo, etc all survived because they were straight up. They didn't play games. They got arrested which is always going to happen but they didn't get taken out. Stringer was playing dirty tricks going behind Avon's which eventually come back and cost him big time. And Prop Joe, he was always underhanded and sly throughout the show.
I don't agree that the co-op would have lost credibility because of killing Marlo. All the members knew he was a problem and would place his own beefs over co-op aims for peaceful earning. They would get over it, that's exactly what happened when Cheese got killed
They thought Marlo and his crew were just dumb muscle. By the time they found out he wasn't, it was too late. Marlo simply took over by playing the fool so to speak. If they knew Marlo was as calculating as he was, they would have dealt with them. Marlo never showed that side of himself. Sometimes you have to play a sucka to catch a sucka.
@Cal Watch Why would they defer to Avon? String was a part of the co-op behind Avon's back. Avon wanted no part of the co-op. That's the dumbest take I've heard. Did you watch the show? lol!
this reminds me of people having bears or cougars as “pets” then people are up in arms about the bear or cougar devouring them…. “I don’t know what happened!!!”
As someone that grew up along psychos like Marlo, not the acting part, but actual cold blooded killers. You want to know what happens when someone like that dies? The block or hood celebrates. It's not like in the movies or shows where some guy is terrorizing a whole city, it's just mainly one guy that thinks he can control 2 or 3 blocks, shooting and killing kids that he played in the sand with.
That's deadass very true cool but in the meantime why IS there a celebration ? And the psycho more than half the time isn't taken out by the people he's taken out by his own psychos. Then come the party from the people. First come the jerkoffs in office that print our own money , tell us we broke as a country or there's a defic9t then give that to another country like we don't have ghettos .... ...... and then comes what the people themselves do to each other which ultimately supports their industry. I mean no shade sir but the celebration isn't cool.Bless.
This is EXACTLY how it is. Like their whole life consists of that one apt complex, that couple of blocks. They make make a lil money in those blocks but their lives don’t amount to anything. A good story. The “respect” and “honor” they claim they live by is an excuse to move how they do. Their principles change to best suit the present circumstance, and they don’t take real accountability for the damage they cause. It may LOOK good if you catch ‘em at the right moment but their lives are sad and they know it. Kinda pitiful when you think about it.
@@loronzoprice9899 You want to know what's really real. The Omar character is truer to the real hood celebrity, they are all gay at least Omar's character was out and about with it. In real life it's so hidden, it's men meeting up, leaving there wife or girlfriend after 12 am to smoke a blunt together. Then shot up the block or each other because they don't want there business to get out. Michaels character is the real truth as sad and fuck up as it is. That's why Chris character scene is so powerful that's the only time you actually see him lose control, strike that he wanted to do it.ruclips.net/video/okm4YbMAVv4/видео.html
The show definitely made Chris and Snoop out to be The Terminator or something. Every other gang has killers too. Just because they are the best muscle, doesn't mean everyone else has NO muscle. Hungry Man's people would have made war in the streets.
It's the way they did it that was unorthodox for the streets. Usually gangbangers are looking forward to get some rep from the hit but Chris & Snoop just made people disappear without any pompous story or word to go with it afterward. You have to remember that the people of Marlo's crew just stopped to see some of their fellow members on a weekly basis, simply hearing "he ain't working with us no more" when asking about them. I'm not sure the other crews had it better.
@@Xainfinen good point. If Omars rep got so blown out of proportion, and this is just one man sometimes with a partner or a small crew, you can just imagine the amount of fear someone like Marlo can generate with his body count. Sure in reality they can go after his crew, but better to play it safe and accept the losses than to try and take down what they perceived as a military like genius.
They knew taking Marlo out wouldn’t be enough. They would have to get him, snoop, and Chris which woulda been a tall task. And I think they feared him more than Avon bc Marlo had no code
Not true that's all they had to do was take out marlo if you hit the head then the rest fall in position you catch marlo alone what reason do chris & snoop have for retaliation at that point neither can run the show on their own chris & snoop either skip town with what they got or they offer their services to someone else honestly in the real world marlo doesn't make it as far as he did doin all that foul s*** the same way he said get on our package or tool up is the same way the co-OP coulda said you need to ease up or tool up against all of us matter of fact you don't even give a choice you just hit him
@@LeoSlimTV together I feel like no one is reading the title together your telling me every other organization had zero muscle zero none and no resources or connections to any????
@@LeoSlimTV not true they didn't have the muscle he had but they had some muscle you can't have NO muscle and survive in that game c'mon now like I said you hit marlo alone and it's over
I'm a former street dude from Chicago. In real life Marlo would have ended up on a t shift. A long with Snoop and Chris. Nobody here would scared of him. It's just a show. He had plot armor 😂
“Former street dude from Chicago” you’re not fooling anybody. The writers of this show were literal cops and news journalists in Baltimore they know what they’re talking about more than you do lol
I’m pretty sure that: a) The co-op didn’t try to kill Marlo in the beginning because they needed his muscle to solve problems of their own (e.g. the New York dealers), as well as consolidate power on the west side, where they had no influence or marketshare following the death of Stringer and Avon’s imprisonment. This isn’t the colonization of South America we’re talking about. Killing Marlo would not have given the co-op control of Marlo’s muscle or his operation b) The co-op were not idealists, looking to make some kind of point about how much peachier the drug game is without violence. They were thuggish businessmen who were willing to acknowledge that they stood to make more money by refraining from constant war. But this doesn’t mean they wouldn’t have been willing to use violence as an expedient to solve certain problems (as they, in fact, *did* on several occasions) c) Prop Joe was not Avon’s “arch-rival.” They represented different markets (East Side vs West). There is not a single instance in the show where Avon expresses interest in conquering the East Side drug market. Even Marlo is not initially interested in this possibility, until his experience with Joe teaches him that it’s actually an achievable goal. To sum up: Marlo and Avon share the belief that the East Side are “a bunch of bitches,” and neither of them care much for it until Marlo is able to chart a path, through the Greeks, to total domination of both sides I hope this helps?
But at the end of the day the one thing Marlo and Avon had in common was they both instilled fear into their community I honestly think Avon would have been an even bigger problem for the co op because he was more smart then Marlo and was always a half a step ahead
Co-op wanted nothing to do with Avon. After Barksdale went down in season one, stringer got a true taste of power and learning to work with Joe was more in the business direction he wanted to go into. Problem is they regurgitated a bunch of shit they pride themselves in learning to feel they were above the street shit. Undermining where their true wealth came from specially stringer. This mistake ultimately got them both killed. Avon only approved working with Joe out of necessity because his NY connect was taken down by the feds. Avon would have done the same thing Marlo did to the Eastside bitches. Shit he was the main key for Marlo to get access. Altogether the show is God dam masterpiece.
Marlo was very smart man. He lacked the wisdom to go along with his smarts, but he played prop Joe ass like a fiddle and you know how smart Joe was. And on top of that Marlo was much more ambitious than Avon because Marlo wanted what Avon already had… the crown. So I don’t think Avon would have been much more of a threat.
You mentioned Avon recognizing Marlo for what he was but how could you completely forget Slim Charles?! Especially in regards to the Co-op dealing with Marlo.
@@calwatch1496 Hell no, Bodie was an example of a good soldier; he’d even crash out unlike Slim (think “THE Clay Davis?!” scene). After Barksdale fell, Bodie stayed Westside as a good soldier would eventually falling to Marlo. How did Slim, one of the smartest, avoid that? He went over East & even under Marlo in the Co-op, played chess.
I think "You come at the king you best not miss" applies here. As far as they know Marlo disappeared legions of snitches at will. He and his killed Stringer. He and his wounded Omar, then killed him later. None of the Co-Op had the heart or muscle to go up against that for no good reason. Besides, didn't Prop Joe's death get blamed on Omar? Only Slim Charles had any real clue, but he's the ultimate pragmatist. (I truly believe he shot Cheese because he was weak, a liability, likely to flip if/when caught, not out of real revenge for Prop Joe.)
@@sunnohh Knowing that Cheese wasn't satisfied was a very important detail that he paid attention to, which he used to his advantage to topple Prop Joe...
@@KtotheG also seeing that michael was that one after he didnt accept that money was detailed,the girl avon tried to set him up with he was detailed on that as well
Marlo was a step away from getting popped. If McNulty hadnt stayed so focused on Avon, Avon would have been able to wipe out Marlo. Slim Charles had his location and they were arming up to go take him out when the Cops rolled in. Marlo was lucky. He wasnt smarter than Avon, Avon had to deal with Stringer's delusions.
@@irwinshung809 Haha he didnt fail because Marlo was hard to kill, he was gonna get got but the police had to fuck it up that day. He's just a lucky motherfucker
@@irwinshung809 failed because???/ slim would of wiped him clean if he was like a real person in Balitmore and not a tv character he would of went in and not care about going back to see his boss off to jail.
I think it's always like this. Why doesn't a man that bleeds as any other, not get killed in these situations? You've gave several and there are probably several more. Why didn't Avon get killed, or any of the other main characters for so long, even if they eventually did? I'll say this, Marlo's last scene, with the 2 boys on the corner... it kinda shows you who he is. He got stabbed and tasted the blood and laughed AFTER ducking a head shot. #Seasoned
Plot armor lol. Every criminal organization has ruthless muscle. And if they didn’t have the muscle, they’d just put a bag on his head. Hell in real life people will kill you just to say they’re the ones who killed you. Marlo survived because the plot needed him to survive.
Let's say they killed marlo..then what happens? War to replace him? War against his crew? How is that a good thing for people who wanted to avoid attention?
@@afrosamourai400 A vacuum in drug trade is a good thing. It means you poach the soldiers and territory. Also, Marlo didn't have any loyal people near him like Avon did who would continue the war after he was assasinated.
Totally agree--my friends and i actually thought a great backstory would've been that he (and Chris and Snoop) were dishonorably discharged veterans from Afghanistan (which explains why he shows up suddenly out of nowhere in season 3). That would explain why he was able to confidently set himself apart b/c he knows that none of the other gangsters had nothing even remotely comparable to the combat and tactical training him and his crew had
Right. The problem is that people get themselves in these jams by thinking they can use a difficulty to their advantage but in consequence learn the hard way. It’s better to get the one roach now than to let it go and then you have 100 roaches to deal with later.
Despite what everyone thinks about Marlo, I rather liked his ending, as it defied viewer expectations. Besides, it can be inferred that he will prob meet the end some time after the final episode- his careless/reckless/ruthless/merciless behaviour will catch up with him. Who knows, perhaps that was what Spiros/The Greek were negotiating with Slim/Rick in the final montage. I expect Marlo would meet a similar fate to others in the game. Have a good day reader :)
The thing with Marlo at the end as well, is that he is now entangled in this paradox of on the one hand having a reputation for ruthlessness with the coop, while on the other hand likely having lost his reputation as well because the guys he ran off that corner didn't know him. Marlo would therefore have to start over with both of his most dangerous muscle being dead (Snoop) and in jail (Chris), and the coop at this point knows exactly what kind of player he is. They wouldn't be played by Marlo again and wouldn't let him rise neither.
@@DynastyLuminous46 as Tony soprano suggested (equally ambiguous ending), end up dead or in the can. Also Marlo was living his own personal hell, he is done, no street cred etc and all alone with no muscle and basically a dead man walking. Have a good day reader.
@@DynastyLuminous46 Not only is his most dangerous 2 lieutenants out but he also would have Michael(the new Omar) to worry about if he tried to come up again.
@@MrRjh63 I am also curious, which of the younger character(s) would inherit Marlo and Stringer legacy? ie Kennard? Donut? Randy? excellent writing in that show and the what ifs are equally as fascinating (if not depressing)..
A historical example is appropriate here. Prior to WW2, all of Europe could see that Germany wanted war. They expanded its military in violation of the WW1 peace treaty, it invaded disputed territory, it took over Czechoslovakia. They should have put a stop to all that early on. It was not until Germany invaded Poland when they finally acted. By then it was too late.
This is where you ultilize your defacto muscle like Slim. Slim was almost close to wiping out Marlo and some of his key personnel and he was sick with the gun game just like Marlo was. All the Co-Op had to do was delegate the task to Slim and help him get an army and let him get loose.
If Slim was having trouble finding decent soldiers for Barksdale operations, I’m not sure he’d be too confident in whatever the co op would provide him there.
The Co-op never had the overall authority of something like the commission and nobody in the cop op had the balls to to kill Marlo and they were to self serving to unite against Marlo
I think prop joe wasn’t as smart as he thought he was and thought he could control and use Marlo, but (like someone below said) Marlo didn’t have rules like the rest of them. The co-op was all about business and (I feel) by them killing Marlo would have created a vacuum in his territory, thus leading to more violence. I really wish we could have known what each member thought at any given time, because I’m sure some of them wanted him dead simply because they saw the threat of his ambition too be the king., but realized he was too powerful. Just my thoughts
Ukraine is not part of NATO (the possibility of them joining was Russia's raison d'etre for invading in the first place) so that analogy doesn't really work
They chose the wrong horse ... Avon was straight up OG and knew just how to handle Marlo because indeed he had handled many just like him coming up. Instead the Co-Op acted like they were running a corporate board as opposed to a street drug cartel. You reap what you sow ..
Exactly, you can try to debate this and make it seem logical and realistic all you want but in the end this is a show and plot armor for main characters exist until they don't.
I really like this channel and The Wire is the greatest show ever. I know of whence I speak. I am a City attorney and I work directly with police most of the time. To say The Wire "follows the drug trade of Baltimore from both the side of the cops looking to take down the drug crews, and the kingpins looking to profit from the system" is a gross understatement of The Wire. It is about the entirety of an American city at the dawn of the 21st century. Yes, the drug crews are part of it. The cops, not only chasing drug crews but all parts of policing, are part of it. Schools are part of it. Politics are part of it. Development - both where it is moving the City forward and where it is lacking - are part of it. As I said I really enjoy this channel - but - the gross understatement of what The Wire is needs to be pointed out.
Police are part of the problem not the solution. This is capitalism decaying and desperately holding onto it's grip on society. To the detriment of the people at the lowest rung of society.
The Co-op was tricked by Prop Joe to play this council game with the connect. By the rules of the game, whoever had the connect was the king. Which automatically puts a target on his head. Prop Joe created the co-op so he wouldn’t have to deal with the warring. Once Marlo shows up playing by street rules, he easily defeats the co-op. Since they are out of touch with the street rules from years of playing Prop Joe’s bs game.
Overall Prop Joe was the smartest of the three kingpins , his own nephew Cheese sold him out otherwise Marlow would have never been able to kill him!!!! Lets not forget that Prop Joe is the one who actually turned Stringer Omar & Brother Mozune all against eachother which was probably the smartest strategy in the entire show!!!!
This is pretty common. Look at Stalin. Dude was exiled multiple times. Let out of prisons over and over after failed rebellions. Even Lenin warned about him. But yet he still became the ultimate heartless ruler of the Soviet Union for almost 30 years til he died in 1954 All the red flags were there but he was never taken out
They could've hired Brother Mouzone to kill him Brother was good at that and shit Omar would've took him out if they payed him well for the hit shit Slim Charles would've
Marlo looked like the winner of the Avon war so na that was not gone happen if they couldn’t run New York off on they own then plain and simple the co op as a whole was weak
Very good. Your analysis of The Wire is well thought out and insightful, but is just a thought experiment. Your referencing the war in Ukraine was a lame shot at relevance akin to name dropping at a party. In that case keep in mind that Ukraine is not a NATO member, not just yet, and so there are no rules, (treaties), of engagement. NATO is not scared of Russia, not at all. You are right though that Russia is the uncivilized Marlo. NATO does not jump into other peoples wars, only those that affect NATO members. That is the whole point of that grand organization, to defend one another in case attacked by the Warsaw Pact. Marlo doesn't have nuclear weapons, which is the other reason there is a conservative reserve demonstrated by the leaders of NATO concerning Russia. Nuclear war is bad for business, everybody loses. Just as violence in the streets draws too much heat to continue operation. Anyone who remembers Rayful Edmonds the crack king of Washington DC can attest to that. (He allegedly made a hundred million a year before being indicted. Some sources say he made three times that amount, but at what cost? From 1985-1989 DC was very dangerous, more dangerous than usual. It was a war zone.) By comparison Baltimore was a junkies paradise. The Wire is as accurate a depiction of the drug trade in Baltimore as we will ever see. I was a junkie in and around Baltimore for decades. It was obvious to us consumers that there is a great deal of unity by the groups controlling Baltimore's drug trade. It is always inherently dangerous, people buying drugs get robbed soon after buying them, sometimes they get shot trying to buy them, and there was always the police to consider, or overdosing and dying when good dope hit the streets. But Baltimore was a much safer environment than other big cities, particularly on the west coast where rival gangs turned major cities into war zones. Baltimore managed to avoid such bloodshed for the most part. I was working as a research assistant (guinea pig) at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center subcontracting for the National Institute for Drug Abuse. Testing experimental narcotics in trials to determine efficacy and dosage. They paid me to get high. Anyway, the show was still being filmed while I was at Bayview. I met one of the extras for the Wire in the program I was in. They only hired junkies due to our familiarity with narcotic compounds. The show is as real as it gets. Thanks for sharing your take on it. To all my cousins stacking that paper. Good looking out yo. I got nothing but love for Baltimore. (All you brothers up on N.Carey tell Lenny to holler at a brother when he gets out.) Peace
The co-op was a very weak imitation of the Mafia Commission in New York. The Mafia Commission doesn't just exist as a trade organization that works as a cartel against outsiders. It also disciplines its own members. If one of the Five Families in New York went rouge, the Commission is at least to some degree supposed to reign in and strike down against renegades. The members of the co-op were still effectively gangs, not organized crime families and therefore failed to see things structurally and into the future. Marlo can't both be an effective force against the gangs from New York invading Baltimore, while at the same time be regarded as insignificant. Marlo is either dangerous or he isn't. If one crew can refuse to join the co-op one day, other crews can do so tomorrow. Marlo's loyalty could not be trusted either. So he had to go and the Mafia would have killed him quickly. And While Marlo had some great muscle, the combined forces of the co-op must under any circumstance have been able to decimate Marlo and his top lieutenants. And yes, when Marlo had the connect, it was all over. Prop. Joe was simply going against basic rules when he gave the connect to Marlo.
@@devzeppilin I find your comment very strange and ignorant. I think you talk like Cheese. In what way is what I am writing "crap"? And how does the Italian Mafia in New York need to be "hyped up"? If the Mafia acted like the middle aged gangbangers in Baltimore and the Wire, they would have been taken down a long time ago instead of controlling much of the economy and the underworld in the world's financial center. And the Mafia controlled the importation of most of the heroin going to the U.S. from the 20's to the 90's. The Bonnano family Mafia boss Carmine Galante got greedy and tried to monopolize the entire East Coast heroin trade in the 70's and that sealed his fate. The rest of the New York Mafia Commission gave him the death sentence and his own Sicilian rectruited bodyguards executed him. That is how the co-op should have dealt with Marlo. Why do you think prop Joe enacted the co-op and Stringer tried to streamline the money-laundering? Because they studied and learned from great men before them. Marlo got to be king for a short while until bodies started showing up in the vacant buildings. Stringer ratted on Avon so as to stop him from committing a bloodbath that would have taken the entire Barksdale organization down anyway.
Strings problem was that he thought that he was the smartest nigga in the room, corporately and on the Streets….. Never think that you are intellectually superior than those around you! You can always learn from others.
The Co-Op didn't take him out because the leader was soft. 1st convo they had was about the Co-Op needs him for muscle. Then says nobody messes woth any of them. Lie. Omar tore their asses up. So right there Marlo sensed weakness. The only one that had heart was Slim Charles. Joe, Hungry Man, Fat Face Rick, all soft.
You summed it all up, the co-op feared Marlo, Slim Charles warned Prop Joe when he said The Boy Marlo know some shit, and Prop Joe was a complete idiot to attempt to civilize and make an alliance with that man, to even bring him to the co-op plus he was Westside, just like Avon. So the Co-op crumbling was all of Prop Joe's fault, Hungry Man's death Prop Joe's fault, his own death his fault. He should've let Marlo do his own thing, but the Co-op could've killed Marlo and got the connect🤷🏿♂️
Joe tried to be close Marlo and treat him like a son. Marlo wanted to get close to snake him and he did. All thru the meetings Marlo watched for weakness. Avon was Marlo only threat but they were so weak by the time they clashed.
Joe tried to kiss up hoping to earn Marlo favor to spare his life only for Marlo to sense fear and weakness Prop actually outsmarted himself right into a box😅
If The Co-op moved like The Italian-American Mafia. They would’ve taken Marlo OUT. As soon as he made a move on any Co-op members. Marlo had no reason to fear The Co-op. SMH 🤦🏾♂️ No real organization.
@@khametrick “Crazy” Joe Gallo played his hand like Marlo. He took out a boss, Joe Colombo. Remember how that worked out? A year later they killed him at his birthday dinner, Umberto’s.
Not really. The US is primarily NATO. And it is primarily US mercenaries at war with Russia in Ukraine. If it was only Ukraine soldiers against Russia, they most likely would have been decimated within a few months.
Because Marlo is a story device. Its why he's impervious and his team is the best and then they arent. The whole point was to show that dynasties like the old Barksdale crews are freying under the drug trade and younger men are more violent. Its the same reason why Omar was killed the way he was - to show that social bonds are fraying further but the drug trade keeps going.
I want an 8 or 10 episode stand alone season 6 or spin off with as many of the same characters as they can back Heck david simons so good he could do it realy well like a season v slim v marlo or an entirely different issue or no issue just like as nothing hurts more then life
The answer is much more simple: Co-op was a bunch of pussai bachas Seriously, they were. But also Marlo had plot armor, story would not be as deep without him. In the street it would not happen like that.
The co-op saw Marlo and his crew as effective muscle for-hire. They were all too arrogant to see how smart and ambitious Marlo was. One guy didn't sleep on Marlo, though. Slim Charles saw what Marlo was cooking up in one of the co-op meetings. He even warned Prop Joe to look out for Marlo, the second Slim smelled it. Throughout the show, Slim always knew what was up. Only other soldiers, like Marlo and Avon, recognized how sharp Slim Charles was.
In real life he would have got banged by Avon. This was a little Hollywood. Avon was written as smart. When they went to war it would have been over for Marlow. You can't let dealers take your corners. It makes you soft on the block. The most dangerous dealers always got dropped.
The Eastside was about business. The Westside were the killers. That's why Joe wanted Marlo apart of the CO-OP in my opinion. Killing Marlo would collectively make the business vulnerable to outsiders again. Joe rested on his relationship with the connect. Ain't no loyalty if the next man or woman is offering more. Marlo was indeed offering more. Makes me wonder who Marlo's connect was prior to joining the CO-OP!? Cause what made Joe think that Marlo wouldn't find out about the Greeks. Marlo was already his OWN boss on the WESTSIDE. It was ONLY a matter of time before he cut Joe out the picture.
There’s an interesting parallel between Marlo and Putin and the new day co op and nato. I liked that you touched on it but it’s a topic that deserves to be fleshed out fully.
Honestly it's not. NATO is barley helping and that's because Ukraine isn't really a NATO member. Ukraine wasn't even an ally to the US before the invasion.
@@afrosamourai400 he was an animal seasoned killer, he was opposes to the commission and seen himself as the only boss of all five families and would kil anybody in his way,mainly he had the connect for the heroine supply from Italy, he had the monopoly on the heroine in new york and wasn’t sharing,that was his undoing.
@@taffy9966 do you know how he happened to be the only one with the plug and monopole of heroin? And how could he be stronger than the commission by his own?
@@afrosamourai400 He was a proper first generation italian with close ties to Sicily where they were bringing in the heroine. And in the mob money is power. He was bringing in stone killers called zips from italy as muscle also.you should type him in to youtube theres a few very good documentaries on him
They weren't as ruthless as Marlo, they're all old school type dudes. Making money, very few bodies and whatnot. Meanwhile Marlo is highly organized and super willing to kill, I think they knew they weren't a match for him or terrified of him
The co-op should have killed Marlo, just to show that no one can get too big, and that it’s a true co-op. would have kept everyone honest knowing everyone was willing to do the right thing.
When Joe said “For a cold group of gangsters I’m proud to see y’all carry it like Republicans, they took that seriously and started acting like republicans instead of gangsters smh.
In the streets ya find different types of people, some coulda been anything but got into tit for tat murder beef after their homie was killed, some are natural hustlers but lacked opportunities, some are so generationally deep in it all they don't even realize something is off to the outside world (like ya moms bringin ya food at work like it's an office job or something), some are only concerned about power, some are absolute psychopaths and love hurtin folks, mostly people are just people and are decent beyond what they've done to survive, there are some Marlo's - but still, most ain't. Pretty much nobody chooses it, you're born into it in some way or fall into it. Joe is 100% gangster but it's different flavors. He's really the "my mind in my 9" type G instead of the "bang it out" type. We're given a telling scene where he says they do sometimes have to go for the gun but that they ain't gotta live by it. The fact that he sat all day in that repair shop also tells us he not only likes fixing things but also likes the challenge. He probably saw the potential benefits of keeping people like Avon and his more extreme counterpart Marlo, and once he decided to try and get em in line with his vision he almost certainly wanted to see it through even when others woulda given up. Plus he didn't seem to have kids so fixing street kids may have been a substitute. But he was also an intelligent and practical cat. Say the Barksdale and Stanfield orgs fall, that's a massive vacuum that woulda seen wars rocking the city for years. Not ideal for anybody. And regardless of if it's one big kingpin runnin the whole West or smaller crews making it work, it was best to have em in the co-op for a number of reasons. Also, it was a test of the co-op itself. Sure, folks will throw in for a rate and do some small favors to stay in good graces, dealing with a multifaceted challenge like Marlo was a in some ways the ultimate test. And ya can't go around preaching cooperation and avoiding violence for business only to wack your own people lol There has to be a level of trust inside and out of the organization. And yeah, in the end he was the plug and was essentially untouchable in the meantime. The real question is why did Joe ever let Marlo get close enough to pull it off. I'd also add that I do think it was likely to come to blows right before Marlo gains the incentive to join and right before he's arrested and just lucked up both times.
There is no logical explanation for this, because it was ridiculous - a whole bunch of gangsters don't have balls or muscle to take out one kingpin? That just doesn't add up. Just as ridiculous was a fact that they needed his crew to chase away NY dealers. And in the end if Marlo was out of the picture Greeks would easily find another buyer on their own, that's not a rocket science for professional criminals on this level (btw, the fact that they just let him kill Prop Joe whom they valued so much as business partner was also bizzare). As great as The Wire was, it did not avoid certain flaws in plot, and those are just some of them.
@@bringinthedope5929 Definitely. Despite some flaws, the social commentary it provides is beyond anything any other show even tries to offer. Characters are generally greatly written and the realism... In my opinion, it's one of those pieces of art that just changes your mind forever.
Ukraine is not part of Nato mate. Thats actully one of the reasons russia attacked Ukraine in the first place. It was to prevent them from becoming part of the NATO alliance
Bad writing. Marlo was able to do things that were clearly illustrated in earlier seasons to merit a well deserved death. Antagonists that are allowed to operate with protagonists seemingly afflicted by plotdumb seem much more threatening, the very end when he wasn’t immediately smoked by the 2 corner boys cemented this idea to me
slim gave him the down low marlo man he a snake be carefull with him, too bad joe did not takeing him too the greaks thinking he felt how you felt, you look at him like a son but he did not look at you like a dad, he just used you and when you had no more that he felt like you could teach him he got rid of you its okey joe breathe easy.
Because they thought it was one way, but it was another way
lol
😂😂😂 facts
With the lollipop 😅
"Stop saying that!"
😂😂😂😂
They took him as seriously as a 40 degree day.
😂😂
Who give a fuck about a 40 degree day 🤷🏾♂️🤦🏿♂️
Stringer bell🤣🤣🤣
😂😂😂😂facts 💯💯💯💯
Nobody gives a fluck about a 40 degree day
I clicked this vid faster than Slim Charles bagged up that 15k for Cutty
Faster than Bubbles runnin after he stole something!
Or how fast he shot cheese.
All that for a few likes?
🙄Smfh how far you done fallen
Ah a fellow fan 😢😂😊
Faster than Michael killed snoop
Prop Joe and Stringer had the same weakness, to greater and lesser degrees: Both are not as smart as they think they are. Both over estimated their own abilities, while under estimating everyone else. Both underestimated Avon and Marlo. Joe thought he could control Marlo and use him to bring down Avon without getting his own hands dirty. It didn't work out that way.
I think that's a pretty fair argument. They also both represent the "old school's" inability to understand the "new school", which you see in every generation gap. Joe specifically was still stuck in a world that was all but vanished, unfortunately.
Like Nucky on Boardwalk Empire said, “Dumber than I knew.” And Lucky’s response, “Good words for the headstone.”
They both were betrayed by lesser people
Prop Joe was smart,his nephew a bitch
Both were playing sly and doing underhanded tricks to get what they want. But Avon, Marlo, etc all survived because they were straight up. They didn't play games. They got arrested which is always going to happen but they didn't get taken out. Stringer was playing dirty tricks going behind Avon's which eventually come back and cost him big time. And Prop Joe, he was always underhanded and sly throughout the show.
I don't agree that the co-op would have lost credibility because of killing Marlo. All the members knew he was a problem and would place his own beefs over co-op aims for peaceful earning. They would get over it, that's exactly what happened when Cheese got killed
Marlo became weak at the end chris got a life sentence snoop got killed, one of his captains got sentenced 6:23
You are correct.
@@asimhusain8087 Avon in prison with guys all day, Joe String and Omar dead. Marlo free with $10mm if that was JayZ u would say he’s a genius
Lose credibility to who? They the everyone running things in b more…
Exactly, that was the only corny thing about The Wire. Marlo was a problem for everyone. Avon should have killed Marlo, Chris & Snoop simultaneously
They thought Marlo and his crew were just dumb muscle. By the time they found out he wasn't, it was too late. Marlo simply took over by playing the fool so to speak. If they knew Marlo was as calculating as he was, they would have dealt with them. Marlo never showed that side of himself. Sometimes you have to play a sucka to catch a sucka.
No they were because they ruined themselves
@Cal Watch Why would they defer to Avon? String was a part of the co-op behind Avon's back. Avon wanted no part of the co-op. That's the dumbest take I've heard. Did you watch the show? lol!
Exactly. Marlo and Slim are cut from the same cloth as far as that's concerned
@@claudewashington5247that makes no sense
this reminds me of people having bears or cougars as “pets” then people are up in arms about the bear or cougar devouring them…. “I don’t know what happened!!!”
“If yew happy to dew for me? I’m happy to dew for yew. Yew just dew as yew dew” - Your true and loyal friend, Proposition Joe.
As someone that grew up along psychos like Marlo, not the acting part, but actual cold blooded killers. You want to know what happens when someone like that dies? The block or hood celebrates. It's not like in the movies or shows where some guy is terrorizing a whole city, it's just mainly one guy that thinks he can control 2 or 3 blocks, shooting and killing kids that he played in the sand with.
That's deadass very true cool but in the meantime why IS there a celebration ? And the psycho more than half the time isn't taken out by the people he's taken out by his own psychos. Then come the party from the people. First come the jerkoffs in office that print our own money , tell us we broke as a country or there's a defic9t then give that to another country like we don't have ghettos ....
...... and then comes what the people themselves do to each other which ultimately supports their industry. I mean no shade sir but the celebration isn't cool.Bless.
This is EXACTLY how it is. Like their whole life consists of that one apt complex, that couple of blocks. They make make a lil money in those blocks but their lives don’t amount to anything. A good story. The “respect” and “honor” they claim they live by is an excuse to move how they do. Their principles change to best suit the present circumstance, and they don’t take real accountability for the damage they cause. It may LOOK good if you catch ‘em at the right moment but their lives are sad and they know it. Kinda pitiful when you think about it.
@@loronzoprice9899 You want to know what's really real. The Omar character is truer to the real hood celebrity, they are all gay at least Omar's character was out and about with it. In real life it's so hidden, it's men meeting up, leaving there wife or girlfriend after 12 am to smoke a blunt together. Then shot up the block or each other because they don't want there business to get out. Michaels character is the real truth as sad and fuck up as it is. That's why Chris character scene is so powerful that's the only time you actually see him lose control, strike that he wanted to do it.ruclips.net/video/okm4YbMAVv4/видео.html
@@loronzoprice9899 that's why all the real gangsta rappers are basically emos with aggressive lyrics and guns. fr.
🧢🧢🧢
The show definitely made Chris and Snoop out to be The Terminator or something. Every other gang has killers too. Just because they are the best muscle, doesn't mean everyone else has NO muscle. Hungry Man's people would have made war in the streets.
It's the way they did it that was unorthodox for the streets. Usually gangbangers are looking forward to get some rep from the hit but Chris & Snoop just made people disappear without any pompous story or word to go with it afterward. You have to remember that the people of Marlo's crew just stopped to see some of their fellow members on a weekly basis, simply hearing "he ain't working with us no more" when asking about them. I'm not sure the other crews had it better.
@@Xainfinen good point. If Omars rep got so blown out of proportion, and this is just one man sometimes with a partner or a small crew, you can just imagine the amount of fear someone like Marlo can generate with his body count. Sure in reality they can go after his crew, but better to play it safe and accept the losses than to try and take down what they perceived as a military like genius.
It depends on the size of your army and war chest. Ple like Joe want money not rep so he avoids war
Chris had military training and taught his soldiers how to shoot, this is a greatly understated advantage for Marlo’s gang.
Hungry man ain't really have muscle. Nobody in the west has muscle. That was discussed.
They knew taking Marlo out wouldn’t be enough. They would have to get him, snoop, and Chris which woulda been a tall task. And I think they feared him more than Avon bc Marlo had no code
Not true that's all they had to do was take out marlo if you hit the head then the rest fall in position you catch marlo alone what reason do chris & snoop have for retaliation at that point neither can run the show on their own chris & snoop either skip town with what they got or they offer their services to someone else honestly in the real world marlo doesn't make it as far as he did doin all that foul s*** the same way he said get on our package or tool up is the same way the co-OP coulda said you need to ease up or tool up against all of us matter of fact you don't even give a choice you just hit him
@@jordanflores5687 ho had the muscle to take him out besides Avon?
@@LeoSlimTV together I feel like no one is reading the title together your telling me every other organization had zero muscle zero none and no resources or connections to any????
@Jordan Flores why do you think they wanted Marlo? That's exactly why they wanted him! He had the only Muscle.
@@LeoSlimTV not true they didn't have the muscle he had but they had some muscle you can't have NO muscle and survive in that game c'mon now like I said you hit marlo alone and it's over
I'm a former street dude from Chicago. In real life Marlo would have ended up on a t shift. A long with Snoop and Chris. Nobody here would scared of him. It's just a show. He had plot armor 😂
Tell it 💯
“Former street dude from Chicago” you’re not fooling anybody. The writers of this show were literal cops and news journalists in Baltimore they know what they’re talking about more than you do lol
I’ve always thought that they greatly underestimated how ruthless Marlo was. Joe and Stringer were no match for him.
I’m pretty sure that:
a) The co-op didn’t try to kill Marlo in the beginning because they needed his muscle to solve problems of their own (e.g. the New York dealers), as well as consolidate power on the west side, where they had no influence or marketshare following the death of Stringer and Avon’s imprisonment. This isn’t the colonization of South America we’re talking about. Killing Marlo would not have given the co-op control of Marlo’s muscle or his operation
b) The co-op were not idealists, looking to make some kind of point about how much peachier the drug game is without violence. They were thuggish businessmen who were willing to acknowledge that they stood to make more money by refraining from constant war. But this doesn’t mean they wouldn’t have been willing to use violence as an expedient to solve certain problems (as they, in fact, *did* on several occasions)
c) Prop Joe was not Avon’s “arch-rival.” They represented different markets (East Side vs West). There is not a single instance in the show where Avon expresses interest in conquering the East Side drug market. Even Marlo is not initially interested in this possibility, until his experience with Joe teaches him that it’s actually an achievable goal. To sum up: Marlo and Avon share the belief that the East Side are “a bunch of bitches,” and neither of them care much for it until Marlo is able to chart a path, through the Greeks, to total domination of both sides
I hope this helps?
Ok but how come Marlo's supply was never threatened?
@@Sabz811111 I want my bread.
THIS
But at the end of the day the one thing Marlo and Avon had in common was they both instilled fear into their community I honestly think Avon would have been an even bigger problem for the co op because he was more smart then Marlo and was always a half a step ahead
Co-op wanted nothing to do with Avon. After Barksdale went down in season one, stringer got a true taste of power and learning to work with Joe was more in the business direction he wanted to go into. Problem is they regurgitated a bunch of shit they pride themselves in learning to feel they were above the street shit. Undermining where their true wealth came from specially stringer. This mistake ultimately got them both killed. Avon only approved working with Joe out of necessity because his NY connect was taken down by the feds. Avon would have done the same thing Marlo did to the Eastside bitches. Shit he was the main key for Marlo to get access. Altogether the show is God dam masterpiece.
Marlo was very smart man. He lacked the wisdom to go along with his smarts, but he played prop Joe ass like a fiddle and you know how smart Joe was. And on top of that Marlo was much more ambitious than Avon because Marlo wanted what Avon already had… the crown. So I don’t think Avon would have been much more of a threat.
You mentioned Avon recognizing Marlo for what he was but how could you completely forget Slim Charles?! Especially in regards to the Co-op dealing with Marlo.
Slim was the smartest character on the show to me..like a black Tom Hagen from the godfather but willing and ready to bust his gun if need be
Slim charles was fa sure the smartest on the show
@@calwatch1496 Hell no, Bodie was an example of a good soldier; he’d even crash out unlike Slim (think “THE Clay Davis?!” scene). After Barksdale fell, Bodie stayed Westside as a good soldier would eventually falling to Marlo. How did Slim, one of the smartest, avoid that? He went over East & even under Marlo in the Co-op, played chess.
@@brandonwilson9101In no way was Hagen smarter than Vito.
I think "You come at the king you best not miss" applies here.
As far as they know Marlo disappeared legions of snitches at will. He and his killed Stringer. He and his wounded Omar, then killed him later.
None of the Co-Op had the heart or muscle to go up against that for no good reason. Besides, didn't Prop Joe's death get blamed on Omar?
Only Slim Charles had any real clue, but he's the ultimate pragmatist. (I truly believe he shot Cheese because he was weak, a liability, likely to flip if/when caught, not out of real revenge for Prop Joe.)
I kinda think it was both but I lean more towards to him being an opportunistic snake
@@beautifullyblessed2768luck and Chris lol
It was also pretty clear at that point that Cheese was in it for Cheese and Cheese only.
He never wounded Omar. He didn’t really kill stringer.
Nor did his own kill Omar.
Marlo moved different from everyone on the show. He paid attention to every detail.
Hah no, stacking bodies in empty homes wasn’t detail oriented, Marlo was just ruthless and lucky only to be owned by the next marlo type thug
yet he never noticed omar spying on him multiple times
@@sunnohh Knowing that Cheese wasn't satisfied was a very important detail that he paid attention to, which he used to his advantage to topple Prop Joe...
@@KtotheG also seeing that michael was that one after he didnt accept that money was detailed,the girl avon tried to set him up with he was detailed on that as well
Marlo was a step away from getting popped. If McNulty hadnt stayed so focused on Avon, Avon would have been able to wipe out Marlo. Slim Charles had his location and they were arming up to go take him out when the Cops rolled in. Marlo was lucky. He wasnt smarter than Avon, Avon had to deal with Stringer's delusions.
15 years after the last season, the wire still gets talked about and examined. That shows u how great thos show was
Simple. Marlo had all the muscle. The Co-Op couldn't even run them NY boys off without Marlo.
I agree. Avon was more war ready than the Co-op, and failed in his attempts on Marlo's life.
Marlo's hard to kill.
true dat
@@irwinshung809 Haha he didnt fail because Marlo was hard to kill, he was gonna get got but the police had to fuck it up that day. He's just a lucky motherfucker
@@irwinshung809 failed because???/ slim would of wiped him clean if he was like a real person in Balitmore and not a tv character he would of went in and not care about going back to see his boss off to jail.
Marlo and Chris always the Emperor and Darth Vader of the Wire Saga!
I think it's always like this. Why doesn't a man that bleeds as any other, not get killed in these situations? You've gave several and there are probably several more. Why didn't Avon get killed, or any of the other main characters for so long, even if they eventually did? I'll say this, Marlo's last scene, with the 2 boys on the corner... it kinda shows you who he is. He got stabbed and tasted the blood and laughed AFTER ducking a head shot. #Seasoned
Most people don't want to go to jail
IN REAL LIFE THEY WOULD HAVE KILLED MARLO AND OMAR REAL QUICK
You are right
You know omar is based on a real person right?
@afrosamourai400 yeah the person he's based on is,dead
Shows you how street smart Avon was vs everyone else..It's street smarts vs business smarts often in this series that tends to clash.
Avon was the only person who saw Marlo for what he was
@@vegardgeiner1045 yes
This was that other thing.
"When i ran my shop, and the Co-Op dropped, I damned sure did something about it". Marlo
"Take the younglings with you..." - Anakin
@@insuchaway 😂😂😂
Choosing between Marlo and Joe is like choosing between a s*** sandwich or strawberry s*** sandwich
I always wondered why. Its simple kill Marlo and wait for the Greeks to come knocking. These are all gangstas, not business men
The co-op bleeds green
Marlo bleeds red
Plot armor lol. Every criminal organization has ruthless muscle. And if they didn’t have the muscle, they’d just put a bag on his head. Hell in real life people will kill you just to say they’re the ones who killed you. Marlo survived because the plot needed him to survive.
Let's say they killed marlo..then what happens? War to replace him? War against his crew? How is that a good thing for people who wanted to avoid attention?
@@afrosamourai400 A vacuum in drug trade is a good thing. It means you poach the soldiers and territory. Also, Marlo didn't have any loyal people near him like Avon did who would continue the war after he was assasinated.
Totally agree--my friends and i actually thought a great backstory would've been that he (and Chris and Snoop) were dishonorably discharged veterans from Afghanistan (which explains why he shows up suddenly out of nowhere in season 3). That would explain why he was able to confidently set himself apart b/c he knows that none of the other gangsters had nothing even remotely comparable to the combat and tactical training him and his crew had
@@CuriousInquiror marlo and snoop are too young to be veterans,they're only in their 20's
They should have gotten rid of him at the first red flag when someone shows you who they are believe it, he was selfish and reckless
Right. The problem is that people get themselves in these jams by thinking they can use a difficulty to their advantage but in consequence learn the hard way. It’s better to get the one roach now than to let it go and then you have 100 roaches to deal with later.
Because not everyone is a killer. That's life . Damn I love these videos. When marlo meets Avon, best scene in the series!
They're a bunch of drug gangsters
Despite what everyone thinks about Marlo, I rather liked his ending, as it defied viewer expectations. Besides, it can be inferred that he will prob meet the end some time after the final episode- his careless/reckless/ruthless/merciless behaviour will catch up with him. Who knows, perhaps that was what Spiros/The Greek were negotiating with Slim/Rick in the final montage. I expect Marlo would meet a similar fate to others in the game. Have a good day reader :)
The thing with Marlo at the end as well, is that he is now entangled in this paradox of on the one hand having a reputation for ruthlessness with the coop, while on the other hand likely having lost his reputation as well because the guys he ran off that corner didn't know him. Marlo would therefore have to start over with both of his most dangerous muscle being dead (Snoop) and in jail (Chris), and the coop at this point knows exactly what kind of player he is. They wouldn't be played by Marlo again and wouldn't let him rise neither.
@@DynastyLuminous46 as Tony soprano suggested (equally ambiguous ending), end up dead or in the can. Also Marlo was living his own personal hell, he is done, no street cred etc and all alone with no muscle and basically a dead man walking. Have a good day reader.
@@DynastyLuminous46 Not only is his most dangerous 2 lieutenants out but he also would have Michael(the new Omar) to worry about if he tried to come up again.
@@MrRjh63 I am also curious, which of the younger character(s) would inherit Marlo and Stringer legacy? ie Kennard? Donut? Randy? excellent writing in that show and the what ifs are equally as fascinating (if not depressing)..
Don’t underestimate Marlo , dude was smarter than all them cats in the co - op .
A historical example is appropriate here. Prior to WW2, all of Europe could see that Germany wanted war. They expanded its military in violation of the WW1 peace treaty, it invaded disputed territory, it took over Czechoslovakia. They should have put a stop to all that early on. It was not until Germany invaded Poland when they finally acted. By then it was too late.
Even more resemble the co-op of PRC into Globalization system, only made them too powerful, and The Wire was written a decade ago.
they was cowards all that power they had they could have banded together n took out such a huge threat to them all
This is where you ultilize your defacto muscle like Slim. Slim was almost close to wiping out Marlo and some of his key personnel and he was sick with the gun game just like Marlo was. All the Co-Op had to do was delegate the task to Slim and help him get an army and let him get loose.
If Slim was having trouble finding decent soldiers for Barksdale operations, I’m not sure he’d be too confident in whatever the co op would provide him there.
Maybe they should outsource Omar himself if the timing was right.
@@syntax2004 you're just reaching at this point 🥱
The Co-op never had the overall authority of something like the commission and nobody in the cop op had the balls to to kill Marlo and they were to self serving to unite against Marlo
Sorry, but what NATO nation is at war right now?
I think prop joe wasn’t as smart as he thought he was and thought he could control and use Marlo, but (like someone below said) Marlo didn’t have rules like the rest of them. The co-op was all about business and (I feel) by them killing Marlo would have created a vacuum in his territory, thus leading to more violence. I really wish we could have known what each member thought at any given time, because I’m sure some of them wanted him dead simply because they saw the threat of his ambition too be the king., but realized he was too powerful.
Just my thoughts
Ukraine is not part of NATO (the possibility of them joining was Russia's raison d'etre for invading in the first place) so that analogy doesn't really work
They chose the wrong horse ... Avon was straight up OG and knew just how to handle Marlo because indeed he had handled many just like him coming up. Instead the Co-Op acted like they were running a corporate board as opposed to a street drug cartel. You reap what you sow ..
The reason no one killed Marlo is because the writers needed a new villain
Plain and simple lol
Exactly, you can try to debate this and make it seem logical and realistic all you want but in the end this is a show and plot armor for main characters exist until they don't.
Just say you don’t get the show.
@@bigwilly43729 if yo dumbass thinks there was a in world logical reason why 8 to 12 crews couldn't kill Marlo then you must think Atlantis is real
Marlo soldiers would have took them to a long dragged out war and the money coming in would have slowed down
@Cal Watch shit happens
Marlo utilized fear.
I really like this channel and The Wire is the greatest show ever. I know of whence I speak. I am a City attorney and I work directly with police most of the time. To say The Wire "follows the drug trade of Baltimore from both the side of the cops looking to take down the drug crews, and the kingpins looking to profit from the system" is a gross understatement of The Wire. It is about the entirety of an American city at the dawn of the 21st century. Yes, the drug crews are part of it. The cops, not only chasing drug crews but all parts of policing, are part of it. Schools are part of it. Politics are part of it. Development - both where it is moving the City forward and where it is lacking - are part of it.
As I said I really enjoy this channel - but - the gross understatement of what The Wire is needs to be pointed out.
Police are part of the problem not the solution. This is capitalism decaying and desperately holding onto it's grip on society. To the detriment of the people at the lowest rung of society.
The Co-op was tricked by Prop Joe to play this council game with the connect. By the rules of the game, whoever had the connect was the king. Which automatically puts a target on his head. Prop Joe created the co-op so he wouldn’t have to deal with the warring. Once Marlo shows up playing by street rules, he easily defeats the co-op. Since they are out of touch with the street rules from years of playing Prop Joe’s bs game.
Overall Prop Joe was the smartest of the three kingpins , his own nephew Cheese sold him out otherwise Marlow would have never been able to kill him!!!! Lets not forget that Prop Joe is the one who actually turned Stringer Omar & Brother Mozune all against eachother which was probably the smartest strategy in the entire show!!!!
This is pretty common.
Look at Stalin. Dude was exiled multiple times. Let out of prisons over and over after failed rebellions. Even Lenin warned about him. But yet he still became the ultimate heartless ruler of the Soviet Union for almost 30 years til he died in 1954
All the red flags were there but he was never taken out
One word kept Marlo alive, CHRIS
They could've hired Brother Mouzone to kill him Brother was good at that and shit Omar would've took him out if they payed him well for the hit shit Slim Charles would've
Marlo looked like the winner of the Avon war so na that was not gone happen if they couldn’t run New York off on they own then plain and simple the co op as a whole was weak
Ukraine is not a member of Nato. This is part of the whole discussion.
It may sound like semantics but it is actually important.
Ukrain is not part of NATO if that is the country that you refering here.
Very good. Your analysis of The Wire is well thought out and insightful, but is just a thought experiment. Your referencing the war in Ukraine was a lame shot at relevance akin to name dropping at a party. In that case keep in mind that Ukraine is not a NATO member, not just yet, and so there are no rules, (treaties), of engagement. NATO is not scared of Russia, not at all. You are right though that Russia is the uncivilized Marlo. NATO does not jump into other peoples wars, only those that affect NATO members. That is the whole point of that grand organization, to defend one another in case attacked by the Warsaw Pact. Marlo doesn't have nuclear weapons, which is the other reason there is a conservative reserve demonstrated by the leaders of NATO concerning Russia. Nuclear war is bad for business, everybody loses. Just as violence in the streets draws too much heat to continue operation. Anyone who remembers Rayful Edmonds the crack king of Washington DC can attest to that. (He allegedly made a hundred million a year before being indicted. Some sources say he made three times that amount, but at what cost? From 1985-1989 DC was very dangerous, more dangerous than usual. It was a war zone.) By comparison Baltimore was a junkies paradise.
The Wire is as accurate a depiction of the drug trade in Baltimore as we will ever see. I was a junkie in and around Baltimore for decades. It was obvious to us consumers that there is a great deal of unity by the groups controlling Baltimore's drug trade. It is always inherently dangerous, people buying drugs get robbed soon after buying them, sometimes they get shot trying to buy them, and there was always the police to consider, or overdosing and dying when good dope hit the streets. But Baltimore was a much safer environment than other big cities, particularly on the west coast where rival gangs turned major cities into war zones. Baltimore managed to avoid such bloodshed for the most part. I was working as a research assistant (guinea pig) at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center subcontracting for the National Institute for Drug Abuse. Testing experimental narcotics in trials to determine efficacy and dosage. They paid me to get high. Anyway, the show was still being filmed while I was at Bayview. I met one of the extras for the Wire in the program I was in. They only hired junkies due to our familiarity with narcotic compounds. The show is as real as it gets. Thanks for sharing your take on it.
To all my cousins stacking that paper. Good looking out yo. I got nothing but love for Baltimore.
(All you brothers up on N.Carey tell Lenny to holler at a brother when he gets out.) Peace
They was all scared of Marlo cause Marlo crew put in work out of loyalty and was rewarded for it
The co-op was a very weak imitation of the Mafia Commission in New York. The Mafia Commission doesn't just exist as a trade organization that works as a cartel against outsiders. It also disciplines its own members. If one of the Five Families in New York went rouge, the Commission is at least to some degree supposed to reign in and strike down against renegades.
The members of the co-op were still effectively gangs, not organized crime families and therefore failed to see things structurally and into the future. Marlo can't both be an effective force against the gangs from New York invading Baltimore, while at the same time be regarded as insignificant.
Marlo is either dangerous or he isn't. If one crew can refuse to join the co-op one day, other crews can do so tomorrow. Marlo's loyalty could not be trusted either. So he had to go and the Mafia would have killed him quickly. And While Marlo had some great muscle, the combined forces of the co-op must under any circumstance have been able to decimate Marlo and his top lieutenants.
And yes, when Marlo had the connect, it was all over. Prop. Joe was simply going against basic rules when he gave the connect to Marlo.
A lot of this is cap, just to hype up Italian mafia shit. 😂
@@devzeppilin I find your comment very strange and ignorant. I think you talk like Cheese.
In what way is what I am writing "crap"? And how does the Italian Mafia in New York need to be "hyped up"?
If the Mafia acted like the middle aged gangbangers in Baltimore and the Wire, they would have been taken down a long time ago instead of controlling much of the economy and the underworld in the world's financial center.
And the Mafia controlled the importation of most of the heroin going to the U.S. from the 20's to the 90's.
The Bonnano family Mafia boss Carmine Galante got greedy and tried to monopolize the entire East Coast heroin trade in the 70's and that sealed his fate. The rest of the New York Mafia Commission gave him the death sentence and his own Sicilian rectruited bodyguards executed him. That is how the co-op should have dealt with Marlo.
Why do you think prop Joe enacted the co-op and Stringer tried to streamline the money-laundering? Because they studied and learned from great men before them.
Marlo got to be king for a short while until bodies started showing up in the vacant buildings. Stringer ratted on Avon so as to stop him from committing a bloodbath that would have taken the entire Barksdale organization down anyway.
Valid points
Old Heads don’t understand that they the only ones following them old rules and the young lions don’t respect the old ways of doing business!
I get what you were saying about NATO and whatnot but Ukraine is not a NATO member state
Strings problem was that he thought that he was the smartest nigga in the room, corporately and on the Streets…..
Never think that you are intellectually superior than those around you! You can always learn from others.
Off top 💯
They didn’t kill him because they didn’t have the heart… only Avon and Omar had the heart to go at Marlo
Because he had the connect. They didnt. Also he benefited them. He had leverage. Make no sense to kill someone they benefit
The Co-Op didn't take him out because the leader was soft. 1st convo they had was about the Co-Op needs him for muscle. Then says nobody messes woth any of them. Lie. Omar tore their asses up. So right there Marlo sensed weakness. The only one that had heart was Slim Charles. Joe, Hungry Man, Fat Face Rick, all soft.
Chris was the zombie master had them all shook
Slim Charles also saw Marlo was making a move.
They didn't kill Marlo because the show creators wrote it that way. There's no actual logical reason that would hold up in real life
Exactly 💯
Common sense. In real life homeboy would’ve been escorted to the exit.
You summed it all up, the co-op feared Marlo, Slim Charles warned Prop Joe when he said The Boy Marlo know some shit, and Prop Joe was a complete idiot to attempt to civilize and make an alliance with that man, to even bring him to the co-op plus he was Westside, just like Avon. So the Co-op crumbling was all of Prop Joe's fault, Hungry Man's death Prop Joe's fault, his own death his fault. He should've let Marlo do his own thing, but the Co-op could've killed Marlo and got the connect🤷🏿♂️
Joe tried to be close Marlo and treat him like a son. Marlo wanted to get close to snake him and he did. All thru the meetings Marlo watched for weakness. Avon was Marlo only threat but they were so weak by the time they clashed.
Joe tried to kiss up hoping to earn Marlo favor to spare his life only for Marlo to sense fear and weakness Prop actually outsmarted himself right into a box😅
If The Co-op moved like The Italian-American Mafia. They would’ve taken Marlo OUT. As soon as he made a move on any Co-op members. Marlo had no reason to fear The Co-op. SMH 🤦🏾♂️ No real organization.
@@khametrick “Crazy” Joe Gallo played his hand like Marlo. He took out a boss, Joe Colombo. Remember how that worked out? A year later they killed him at his birthday dinner, Umberto’s.
Your comparison of the Co-Op's wartime position to that of individual NATO members vis-a-vis the Russia-Ukraine war is faulty.
Not really. The US is primarily NATO. And it is primarily US mercenaries at war with Russia in Ukraine. If it was only Ukraine soldiers against Russia, they most likely would have been decimated within a few months.
@@anthonythemoniker You're confused. "The US is primarily NATO"? What does that mean? I stand by what I said.
Because Marlo is a story device. Its why he's impervious and his team is the best and then they arent. The whole point was to show that dynasties like the old Barksdale crews are freying under the drug trade and younger men are more violent. Its the same reason why Omar was killed the way he was - to show that social bonds are fraying further but the drug trade keeps going.
They didn't take he serious until it was too late to do anything about it.
Yes Joe's strategy was to thwart the Barksdales. It was also Avon's aim to help Marlo so he would end up killing Joe out of revenge
I want an 8 or 10 episode stand alone season 6 or spin off with as many of the same characters as they can back Heck david simons so good he could do it realy well like a season v slim v marlo or an entirely different issue or no issue just like as nothing hurts more then life
The answer is much more simple: Co-op was a bunch of pussai bachas
Seriously, they were.
But also Marlo had plot armor, story would not be as deep without him. In the street it would not happen like that.
The co-op saw Marlo and his crew as effective muscle for-hire. They were all too arrogant to see how smart and ambitious Marlo was.
One guy didn't sleep on Marlo, though. Slim Charles saw what Marlo was cooking up in one of the co-op meetings. He even warned Prop Joe to look out for Marlo, the second Slim smelled it. Throughout the show, Slim always knew what was up.
Only other soldiers, like Marlo and Avon, recognized how sharp Slim Charles was.
In real life he would have got banged by Avon. This was a little Hollywood. Avon was written as smart. When they went to war it would have been over for Marlow. You can't let dealers take your corners. It makes you soft on the block. The most dangerous dealers always got dropped.
He went to jail tho... twice.. can't go to war with heat on you already
The Eastside was about business. The Westside were the killers. That's why Joe wanted Marlo apart of the CO-OP in my opinion. Killing Marlo would collectively make the business vulnerable to outsiders again. Joe rested on his relationship with the connect. Ain't no loyalty if the next man or woman is offering more. Marlo was indeed offering more. Makes me wonder who Marlo's connect was prior to joining the CO-OP!? Cause what made Joe think that Marlo wouldn't find out about the Greeks. Marlo was already his OWN boss on the WESTSIDE. It was ONLY a matter of time before he cut Joe out the picture.
There’s an interesting parallel between Marlo and Putin and the new day co op and nato. I liked that you touched on it but it’s a topic that deserves to be fleshed out fully.
Honestly it's not. NATO is barley helping and that's because Ukraine isn't really a NATO member. Ukraine wasn't even an ally to the US before the invasion.
Also Ukraine is not in NATO.
Marlo had to much muscle too many killers
Simple put it the co-op was using Diplomacy by appeasement. Marlo only seen it as weakness.
The mafia had a similar situation with their commission, against carmine galane, they eventually killed galante.
Why were they afraid of galante?
@@afrosamourai400 he was an animal seasoned killer, he was opposes to the commission and seen himself as the only boss of all five families and would kil anybody in his way,mainly he had the connect for the heroine supply from Italy, he had the monopoly on the heroine in new york and wasn’t sharing,that was his undoing.
@@taffy9966 do you know how he happened to be the only one with the plug and monopole of heroin? And how could he be stronger than the commission by his own?
@@afrosamourai400 He was a proper first generation italian with close ties to Sicily where they were bringing in the heroine. And in the mob money is power. He was bringing in stone killers called zips from italy as muscle also.you should type him in to youtube theres a few very good documentaries on him
They weren't as ruthless as Marlo, they're all old school type dudes. Making money, very few bodies and whatnot. Meanwhile Marlo is highly organized and super willing to kill, I think they knew they weren't a match for him or terrified of him
The co-op should have killed Marlo, just to show that no one can get too big, and that it’s a true co-op. would have kept everyone honest knowing everyone was willing to do the right thing.
When Joe said “For a cold group of gangsters I’m proud to see y’all carry it like Republicans, they took that seriously and started acting like republicans instead of gangsters smh.
They thought they where smart enough to use him against New York for example. Marlo was only accepting people below him Not anyone above.
Cause Marlo had real
Killers under him and they was scared of him.
In the streets ya find different types of people, some coulda been anything but got into tit for tat murder beef after their homie was killed, some are natural hustlers but lacked opportunities, some are so generationally deep in it all they don't even realize something is off to the outside world (like ya moms bringin ya food at work like it's an office job or something), some are only concerned about power, some are absolute psychopaths and love hurtin folks, mostly people are just people and are decent beyond what they've done to survive, there are some Marlo's - but still, most ain't. Pretty much nobody chooses it, you're born into it in some way or fall into it.
Joe is 100% gangster but it's different flavors. He's really the "my mind in my 9" type G instead of the "bang it out" type. We're given a telling scene where he says they do sometimes have to go for the gun but that they ain't gotta live by it. The fact that he sat all day in that repair shop also tells us he not only likes fixing things but also likes the challenge. He probably saw the potential benefits of keeping people like Avon and his more extreme counterpart Marlo, and once he decided to try and get em in line with his vision he almost certainly wanted to see it through even when others woulda given up. Plus he didn't seem to have kids so fixing street kids may have been a substitute.
But he was also an intelligent and practical cat. Say the Barksdale and Stanfield orgs fall, that's a massive vacuum that woulda seen wars rocking the city for years. Not ideal for anybody. And regardless of if it's one big kingpin runnin the whole West or smaller crews making it work, it was best to have em in the co-op for a number of reasons.
Also, it was a test of the co-op itself. Sure, folks will throw in for a rate and do some small favors to stay in good graces, dealing with a multifaceted challenge like Marlo was a in some ways the ultimate test. And ya can't go around preaching cooperation and avoiding violence for business only to wack your own people lol There has to be a level of trust inside and out of the organization.
And yeah, in the end he was the plug and was essentially untouchable in the meantime. The real question is why did Joe ever let Marlo get close enough to pull it off.
I'd also add that I do think it was likely to come to blows right before Marlo gains the incentive to join and right before he's arrested and just lucked up both times.
A fascinating read, I think you hit the nail on the head with empathy with the real world analysis.
Ukraine is not part of NATO (and hopefully never will be). Stick to what you know, good advice for everybody...
I love your content. Even my father likes your videos.
Someone from within the co-op had to take the initiative and take out Marlo. No one did. Marlo wins
There is no logical explanation for this, because it was ridiculous - a whole bunch of gangsters don't have balls or muscle to take out one kingpin? That just doesn't add up. Just as ridiculous was a fact that they needed his crew to chase away NY dealers. And in the end if Marlo was out of the picture Greeks would easily find another buyer on their own, that's not a rocket science for professional criminals on this level (btw, the fact that they just let him kill Prop Joe whom they valued so much as business partner was also bizzare). As great as The Wire was, it did not avoid certain flaws in plot, and those are just some of them.
Is the show in your top 3 of all time though?
@@bringinthedope5929 Definitely. Despite some flaws, the social commentary it provides is beyond anything any other show even tries to offer. Characters are generally greatly written and the realism... In my opinion, it's one of those pieces of art that just changes your mind forever.
Ukraine is not part of Nato mate. Thats actully one of the reasons russia attacked Ukraine in the first place. It was to prevent them from becoming part of the NATO alliance
Bad writing. Marlo was able to do things that were clearly illustrated in earlier seasons to merit a well deserved death.
Antagonists that are allowed to operate with protagonists seemingly afflicted by plotdumb seem much more threatening, the very end when he wasn’t immediately smoked by the 2 corner boys cemented this idea to me
Because the plot needed him alive, stop defending shitty writing.
09:00 The Ukraine isn't part of NATO, hence why Putin striked when he did.
In other words; "it's just a kid..."
slim gave him the down low marlo man he a snake be carefull with him, too bad joe did not takeing him too the greaks thinking he felt how you felt, you look at him like a son but he did not look at you like a dad, he just used you and when you had no more that he felt like you could teach him he got rid of you its okey joe breathe easy.
When you apply logic to how everyone here is cold blooded the only thing protecting Marlo is plot armor. If it weren't for that he would be cadavarous
There are surely police around this day who do exactly what you’re asking
Yeah, Ukraine isn't a member of NATO. I'm not sure what other war you are referring to
They didn't kill him cuz he had the plug and was a beast on the streets...one order and they'd end up in a vacant
Marlo was Walmart amongst Grandpa’s, Sears and JC Penny. The only one that saw Marlo coming was Tall man and Avon (AKA Target). 😆
Irl, Marlo would have lasted as long as Chris and Snoop