** The HBO Series "The Wire" Question & Answer Thread **

[BDR]

Its a rare time where nepotism was the right choice. he was built for the business, he was groomed since youth. Shit the only reason Stringer was #2 is because he happen to be friends with Avon growing up so let's not act like he worked his way up through the ranks either.

Thank you

The hell complex talkin bout lmaoooo

This is true, but both Avon and Stringer were flawed.

I'm not sure why some of you think Avon was this great leader.

Here is something you missed Avon stayed in his lane and kept the business where it belonged

String on the other hand took the shit where it didn't need to go and a area he didn't know jack shit about.

Everybody knew string was pussy he going got by on Avon's name it's the only reason was he was untouchable until of course string disrespected the game

Getting deangleo killed and playing both sides of the fence.. He got in way over his head

And it's fitting who gave the order to get rid of him

Funny u also missed the part where Omar even told Avon he respected him but string gotta go and the only reason string ain't get got was because of Avon..

 

[Teknique310]

People want to cap for Stringer but the fact he could not look for a supplier on his own should tell how much he really knew about the business. Dude is in the drug business and cannot even begin to look for a supplier, he gotta go to Avon. FOH...

Thats the fiction in the writing to make a larger point. Ala Hamsterdam.

 

[geechiedan]

People want to cap for Stringer but the fact he could not look for a supplier on his own should tell how much he really knew about the business. Dude is in the drug business and cannot even begin to look for a supplier, he gotta go to Avon. FOH...

he did find a supplier on his own..prop joe.

 

[Djmarkxr7]

Thank you

The hell complex talkin bout lmaoooo




Here is something you missed Avon stayed in his lane and kept the business where it belonged

String on the other hand took the shit where it didn't need to go and a area he didn't know jack shit about.

Everybody knew string was pussy he going got by on Avon's name it's the only reason was he was untouchable until of course string disrespected the game

Getting deangleo killed and playing both sides of the fence.. He got in way over his head

And it's fitting who gave the order to get rid of him

Funny u also missed the part where Omar even told Avon he respected him but string gotta go and the only reason string ain't get got was because of Avon..

What show were you watching, exactly who disrespected Stringer?

People who get respect thru name get disrespected thru other ways a la "The Godfather's" Fredo, he was NEVER solely put in charge of anything and when next to a real boss, always got punked, when did this EVER happen to String?

Everyone felt that Stringer was wrong for killing D'Angelo, but try to remember just how did the police catch Wee-Bay?!?

Remember more that Wallace was ready to drop dime, String was correct in making that call as well, that move also made D'Angelo even more upset with Stringer, and thus turned him into a liability.

Further, we all saw that Avon ran the prison he was in, just how long does the respect in prison last with D acting out of pocket EVERY time he saw him?

Avon stayed in his lane true, but what makes anyone think that Stringer wouldn't have done the same if their supply wasn't interrupted?

Avon asked for time to get a better connect but outside Bodie and the rest were letting guys go because no product was being sold, peeps keep talking about diminishing sales, how about close to zero?

Avon NEVER had to deal with this, NO ONE HAD before, why spend money, time, and lives on territory no one is coming to to buy anything?

I understand that Avon wanted to keep his corners and his Towers especially, they represented his strength, but to dismiss what people thought about the Barksdale name when he now couldn't even sell garbage on the streets is more short-sighted than the moves that Stringer made because of this.

 

[Teknique310]

he did find a supplier on his own..prop joe.

Point taken. But Prop was still a middle man, that got a better deal for himself by bringing in more money to cop wieght.

His first proposition to String was share retail & get a deal wholesale. Then the co-op.

One of the most successful crews in late 80's early 90's Oakland was a Co-op. Too Short might not have been the Too Short you know without one of those dudes bankrolling him.

Felix nephew had action at Short first, but got popped. 30-35 years in the FED. Little D might be home soon. Little D is Avon to Felix's empire ala the Barksdales. He had the grit to expand the empire. Too flossy, too public though. Nigga was star in Oakland.

 

[BDR]

What show were you watching, exactly who disrespected Stringer?

People who get respect thru name get disrespected thru other ways a la "The Godfather's" Fredo, he was NEVER solely put in charge of anything and when next to a real boss, always got punked, when did this EVER happen to String?

Everyone felt that Stringer was wrong for killing D'Angelo, but try to remember just how did the police catch Wee-Bay?!?

Remember more that Wallace was ready to drop dime, String was correct in making that call as well, that move also made D'Angelo even more upset with Stringer, and thus turned him into a liability.

Further, we all saw that Avon ran the prison he was in, just how long does the respect in prison last with D acting out of pocket EVERY time he saw him?

Avon stayed in his lane true, but what makes anyone think that Stringer wouldn't have done the same if their supply wasn't interrupted?

Avon asked for time to get a better connect but outside Bodie and the rest were letting guys go because no product was being sold, peeps keep talking about diminishing sales, how about close to zero?

Avon NEVER had to deal with this, NO ONE HAD before, why spend money, time, and lives on territory no one is coming to to buy anything?

I understand that Avon wanted to keep his corners and his Towers especially, they represented his strength, but to dismiss what people thought about the Barksdale name when he now couldn't even sell garbage on the streets is more short-sighted than the moves that Stringer made because of this.

I never said who disrespected stringer I said string disrespected the game.. He disrespected Avon


But to answer your question Marlo had no type of respect for string

 

[Teknique310]

And just to back it up to point Cranrab was making that business or organizations remain the same when the head of the operation is jailed or remote.

6-9 Ville who ran Oakland for a few years fell apart & got hit from several angles once Little D went down. Black who took over, I think got an L ,Jeter, Squirrel, all got merked or sent up. The Village later created their own co-op with Sobrante Park 11-5 to hold on to crumbs.

And the the crew that took them down. The Flowers & the Lacys all suffered the same fate a few years after conquering. The murder game & fame will crush every crew.

Meanwhile the majority of the cats from that Co-op I speak of in the previous post are still living & free. One is even lawyer, put himself through Boalt Hall at Cal.

I aint talking out of turn ,all of this is public record.

 

[geechiedan]

I never said who disrespected stringer I said string disrespected the game.. He disrespected Avon


But to answer your question Marlo had no type of respect for string

marlo had no type o respect for anyone other than chris and snoop

 

[Complex]

Here is something you missed Avon stayed in his lane and kept the business where it belonged

String on the other hand took the shit where it didn't need to go and a area he didn't know jack shit about.

Everybody knew string was pussy he going got by on Avon's name it's the only reason was he was untouchable until of course string disrespected the game

Getting deangleo killed and playing both sides of the fence.. He got in way over his head

And it's fitting who gave the order to get rid of him

Funny u also missed the part where Omar even told Avon he respected him but string gotta go and the only reason string ain't get got was because of Avon..

What the fuck are you talking about?

Getting D'Angelo killed?

That's actually smart what Stringer did, because Avon wouldn't have been able to make that decision. Wee Bay saw that shit and what was happening when he talked to Avon after D was killed. What wasn't smart was Avon doing the hot shots. Shit, that could have killed D'Angelo. Luckily D'Angelo really didn't take part.

D'Angelo was a liability who would have snitched on everyone. His final conversation with his mom and him telling her about the hot shots.

 

[^SpiderMan^]

And just to back it up to point Cranrab was making that business or organizations remain the same when the head of the operation is jailed or remote.

6-9 Ville who ran Oakland for a few years fell apart & got hit from several angles once Little D went down. Black who took over, I think got an L ,Jeter, Squirrel, all got merked or sent up. The Village later created their own co-op with Sobrante Park 11-5 to hold on to crumbs.

And the the crew that took them down. The Flowers & the Lacys all suffered the same fate a few years after conquering. The murder game & fame will crush every crew.

Meanwhile the majority of the cats from that Co-op I speak of in the previous post are still living & free. One is even lawyer, put himself through Boalt Hall at Cal.

I aint talking out of turn ,all of this is public record.

Of course I've heard about Lil D and the Lacey's,but I never heard about all of that Co-op shit(can I read up on that?).6-9 was taken down due to infighting. Felix Mitchell had that shit running smooth,but after he died,it got way too violent and nobody could really make money consistently.

 

[Djmarkxr7]

that's being overly generous.

Agreed.

many of his decisions were based on being a nervous emotional bitch.

His early decisions made jointly with Avon were not, but as time moved on and Avon was behind bars this changed, this has ALWAYS been my contention.

entering into the deal with prop joe. people conveniently forget stringer bell's futile attempts to apply his book learning to his criminal enterprise. rename the product. imposing english parliamentary procedure during meetings. his frustration got the better of him.

Yeah, moving into those areas was comedy, while some of those moves did work regarding sales, other moves he did just wouldn't go over in the streets, it assumes that all sides are coming in as gentlemen of honor, it is also this same reason that the Co-op couldn't work in the long run, while it was a good idea and did indeed accomplish it's short term goal, it assumes too much of its participants.

pitting omar little against brother mouzone. that's what happens when you're too pussy to get your own hands dirty. not to mention omar little and brother mouzone uncovered stringer bell's ploy.

Are you talking about the same Omar that Avon put a price on yet he still almost got got?!?

EVERY drug crew in Baltimore was scared of Omar (and had been robbed by him) and most (except Cheese) had heard about Brother yet you assign cowardice in dealing with both to just Stringer, right?

Most of us have seen your bias against Stringer, maybe reading back your own words might open your eyes a little.

killing d'angelo. whether 1 agrees or disagrees in the necessity, there is no denying that stringer bell arrived at his decision out of fear.

Just like most who have the power/authority to give this kind of order, it is made out of fear... fear of being caught.

wanting slim charles to kill clay davis. no further elaboration required. i hope.

Now THERE is where frustration REALLY set in, absolutely NO argument here, lol!!!

 

[Teknique310]

Of course I've heard about Lil D and the Lacey's,but I never heard about all of that Co-op shit(can I read up on that?).6-9 was taken down due to infighting. Felix Mitchell had that shit running smooth,but after he died,it got way too violent and nobody could really make money consistently.

Thats the point. When Little D took the reigns the organization took on a new phase & the same once he caught his case. As often with leadership.

The Co-op is the old 9-9 Dirt road. The Plymouth rock. Aint much news about them and thats the whole point I was making. Cats made real money & for the most part stayed out of the funk. They lost soliders. But several are millionaires TODAY.

Shit I dont even know if cats still post on Dirt Road. If its the same cats I knew back in the day , shame. The game done changed.

And Ant Flowers & fam who ran Oakland in the early 90's came out of that crew on Dirt Road. But Flowers was like Marlo, but with 15 cars & multiple houses. His Colombian connect turned on him & got a deal from the FEDS.

Colombians have wiped their hands with connecting here. Mexicans are the middle now. The money well has dried up from where it was. Little D robbed a connect through LA , and some Colombians. Dude was ruthless.

 

[Djmarkxr7]

I never said who disrespected stringer I said string disrespected the game.. He disrespected Avon

My bad.

Yes he did.

But to answer your question Marlo had no type of respect for string

marlo had no type o respect for anyone other than chris and snoop

Exactly.

Marlo was a sociopath.

Sociopaths exhibit @ least 3 of the following:


1.Callous unconcern for the feelings of others;
2.Gross and persistent attitude of irresponsibility and disregard for social norms, rules, and obligations;
3.Incapacity to maintain enduring relationships, though having no difficulty in establishing them;
4.Very low tolerance to frustration and a low threshold for discharge of aggression, including violence;
5.Incapacity to experience guilt or to profit from experience, particularly punishment;
6.Markedly prone to blame others or to offer plausible rationalizations for the behavior that has brought the person into conflict with society.


A LOT of what people ascribed to Marlo, such as being a cool, calculating smart individual were in fact simply behavioral traits, but don't get it twisted, you DO NOT want to EVER deal with a sociopath!

 

[Teknique310]

Of course I've heard about Lil D and the Lacey's,but I never heard about all of that Co-op shit(can I read up on that?).6-9 was taken down due to infighting. Felix Mitchell had that shit running smooth,but after he died,it got way too violent and nobody could really make money consistently.

Little D had Hammer down here pitching his story for Nick Cannon to produce it. Hollywood aint buying ruthless ,smart ,black kingpin stories these days. If you do it, gotta go indy which means you will more than likely lose money on it & not have enough money to make it respectable. The wider audience likes white criminals, hence The Sopranos getting multiple awards & The Wire never winning. Tough sell in the comic book/vampire market.

 

[BDR]

What the fuck are you talking about?

Getting D'Angelo killed?

That's actually smart what Stringer did, because Avon wouldn't have been able to make that decision. Wee Bay saw that shit and what was happening when he talked to Avon after D was killed. What wasn't smart was Avon doing the hot shots. Shit, that could have killed D'Angelo. Luckily D'Angelo really didn't take part.

D'Angelo was a liability who would have snitched on everyone. His final conversation with his mom and him telling her about the hot shots.

String called that shit on his own
Did he run it by Avon? Nope

 

[Djmarkxr7]

What the fuck are you talking about?

Getting D'Angelo killed?

That's actually smart what Stringer did, because Avon wouldn't have been able to make that decision. Wee Bay saw that shit and what was happening when he talked to Avon after D was killed. What wasn't smart was Avon doing the hot shots. Shit, that could have killed D'Angelo. Luckily D'Angelo really didn't take part.

D'Angelo was a liability who would have snitched on everyone. His final conversation with his mom and him telling her about the hot shots.

Peeps forget D'Angelo snitched on Wee-Bay's whereabouts in Philly.

 

[Cock Head Jones]

you hold your water and wait for avon barksdale to acquire a new connect, like he said he would.

what connect did avon acquire?

 

[RunawaySlave]

I always got the feeling that if all else failed Avon would have taken the fight to the east side and tried to take over that drug connect
That's why Joe always kept his distance. He knew there was no manipulating gonna happen

It's just a feeling though....don't bite my head off

 

[godofwine]

except for one glaring fact.

even if you assume a (larger) net profit, stringer bell sold out avon barksdale's organization for a short term gain.

what he got in return was long term instability that proved to be a poison pill (individually and collectively).

They would have lost the towers anyway. Drug trade ain't long term. With the weak product they had they would have lost the towers or the business sooner, but with Prop Joe's connects they bled the cash cow dry instead of just letting it die of starvation in the street. It was going to die anyway, so they got the most out of it that way.

 

[geechiedan]

what connect did avon acquire?

still waiting for an answer to that question

 

[Diamels]

I always got the feeling that if all else failed Avon would have taken the fight to the east side and tried to take over that drug connect
That's why Joe always kept his distance. He knew there was no manipulating gonna happen

It's just a feeling though....don't bite my head off

Hmmm possible. makes you wonder why he did not see the same thing in Marlo...

 

[Djmarkxr7]

I always got the feeling that if all else failed Avon would have taken the fight to the east side and tried to take over that drug connect
That's why Joe always kept his distance. He knew there was no manipulating gonna happen

It's just a feeling though....don't bite my head off

Two things you're forgetting...

1. They were trying to expand when Omar caught them out there working by himself and were still in protect mode vs him.

2. The New York crews trying to move in that the Co-op, with Marlo's help, eliminated.

This is assuming that you mean that Avon wouldn't have joined the Co-op of course.

Also, here's one thing about war in the streets that peeps tend to forget and that Stringer was always trying to stress, it's bad for business.

Your thinking is correct though, since his product was so bad, getting rid of the competition was actually an option, but the problem with it was Avon & Stringer would've had to dig deep into their own pockets to finance it since their drugs sales basically had ground to a halt.

 

[Cock Head Jones]

still waiting for an answer to that question

exactly.

 

[largebillsonlyplease]

What show were you watching, exactly who disrespected Stringer?

People who get respect thru name get disrespected thru other ways a la "The Godfather's" Fredo, he was NEVER solely put in charge of anything and when next to a real boss, always got punked, when did this EVER happen to String?

When was Stringer ever out on his own without Avon's name and reputation to carry anything he had to do in the street? NEVER. It was if you didn't listen to string you answer to AVON if you fucked with string you answer to AVON if you disrespected string AVON had his backing and you would be fucked up.

The brother came to AVON and recognized that AVON was playing the game right, and gave him the real game options which is why AVON knowing the game gave string up. and still had his open line to

Avon stayed in his lane true, but what makes anyone think that Stringer wouldn't have done the same if their supply wasn't interrupted?

because he didn't him making those moves away from the street had absolutely nothing to do with the supply NOTHING.

 

[largebillsonlyplease]

what connect did avon acquire?

Avon never got the chance to acquire a new connect. the move was made. all of his connects distanced themselves once he got locked up.
That's not to say or think that Avon couldn't ever acquire a new connect, that's silly to assume.

The move was made before he even had a real chance to do anything.

I don't disagree with the move but let's not act like they were waiting for years and then Stringer pulled the trigger.

 

[geechiedan]

I always got the feeling that if all else failed Avon would have taken the fight to the east side and tried to take over that drug connect
That's why Joe always kept his distance. He knew there was no manipulating gonna happen

It's just a feeling though....don't bite my head off

he couldn't.. and its the limitation of the writing thats the reason. Avon was a big deal in jail yet couldn't or didn't find a connection there?

Avon was apparently familiar with the greeks and knew who they dealt with since he introduced one of them to marlo..you could make a case that maybe he didn't know them during his first bid or they weren't in jail with him then.

If push came to shove and avon really couldn't find a new connect then he would have dealt with joe it would be clearly understood that its just a temporary deal and joe and stringer would have understood that too. Stringer would then be forced to make a decision to do what he knows is right with the co-op and force a schism in the crew. Now going with that they could have taken the story arch in the direction of Stringer either trying to usurp avon or avon construing strings moves as an affront to his authority as leader and the criss cross happens that way (which would probably have been more realistic)

 

[largebillsonlyplease]

he did find a supplier on his own..prop joe.

find?
or did prop joe come to him with a proposition?

 

[largebillsonlyplease]

I never said who disrespected stringer I said string disrespected the game.. He disrespected Avon


But to answer your question Marlo had no type of respect for string

Sure as fuck didn't
Marlo had little to no respect for anyone outside of his circle sans AVON and Slim Charles.

 

[largebillsonlyplease]

marlo had no type o respect for anyone other than chris and snoop

that's a lie.
He respected Avon and Slim charles "tall man"

 

[Diamels]

still waiting for an answer to that question

Well what time did he give him? Everybody is acting like the supply problem was a permanent one and the Barksdale organization could not withstand a temporary problem with supply. The problem is not that he did a deal with Prop Joe it is all he had to give up make the deal. Not only did he have to give up some of the Towers he also had to sabotage the good muscle he had. I have heard cats before say that season 2 was the worst and was not necessary and I see it different in that season 2 laid the groundwork in explaining how season 3 came to pass for the Barksdale organization.

 

[Cock Head Jones]

that's a lie.
He respected Avon and Slim charles "tall man"

and mike.

 

[Diamels]

he did find a supplier on his own..prop joe.

as it was stated before Prop Joe came to him...

 

[geechiedan]

find?
or did prop joe come to him with a proposition?

as it was stated before Prop Joe came to him...

what difference does that make? How did avon get his connections? Did he approach the Colombians or did they approach him? Was it grandfathered in when he took over the organization from his uncles or whatever relative was running it before him? Does it really matter? If it does then you would have to establish how avon got his connections to make a fair comparison.

 

[Djmarkxr7]

When was Stringer ever out on his own without Avon's name and reputation to carry anything he had to do in the street? NEVER. It was if you didn't listen to string you answer to AVON if you fucked with string you answer to AVON if you disrespected string AVON had his backing and you would be fucked up.

When Avon was in jail Stringer was by himself, but that's not the point, as I alluded to with Fredo in "The Godfather", his family was always around and he STILL got disrespected, remember even his own family NEVER put him in charge of anything important, meanwhile as I said earlier in Season 1 EVERYTHING had to go thru Stringer, on top of that most decisions were made jointly by Stringer and Avon, NO OTHER CREW HAD THIS TYPE OF DYNAMIC, Prop Joe made his own decisions and Marlo mainly used Chris as a sounding board to cosign his ideas.

Even when Avon was in jail Prop Joe and the others in the Co-op and members of the Barksdale crew still showed respect and in some cases fear (the meetings in the funeral parlor) of Stringer, people in the streets know who the real deal is, did you see ANYONE give respect to Ziggy, even though they knew his cousin had his back, that same cousin that was NEVER disrespected not once?!?

We are also shown how Avon deals with screw-ups, from demoting D'Angelo to the low-rises for catching a case to murking the kid who actually shot Griggs, if Avon felt that Stringer was soft or a screw-up he wouldn't have been a #2 as he was, Avon understood that image was everything, if the guy that reps him is soft/stupid, then, as Avon would say, "How that look?!?"

Soft people, regardless of who's got their back, are still soft and are treated and spoken of as such, outside of Marlo, who didn't give a fuck about anyone, can you name one person that mentioned or acted as if Stringer were soft?

The brother came to AVON and recognized that AVON was playing the game right, and gave him the real game options which is why AVON knowing the game gave string up. and still had his open line to

100% TRUE, no argument here, Avon was tailor-made for the game, Stringer was basically in the right place at the right time, but while we can speculate that Avon could've gotten where he was w/o String, we were shown him getting there WITH him!

 

[largebillsonlyplease]

and mike.

only reason i didn't add mike to the list is because mike actually came into the fold. he tried to get charles to but charles wasn't having it. and you already know avon wasn't going to join him.