Why Wasn't Sergei Killed For His Betrayal? | The Wire Explained 

The Greeks? They're a glorified crew!

Spiros was a little sentimental guy, he hoped he shouldn't have kill Frank Sobotka but it was only possible solution, but he was relieved he didn't have to kill Nicky whom he liked very much.

The Syndicate decided that losing his hair was enough punishment, and losing his life would seem like overkill on top of that.

Season 2 is criminally underrated.

They didn't kill him because they didn't have to... Their names were not their names... All police had were the names that everybody else had... The Greek & his #2 stayed the king, always...💯💯💯

This has been my fan theory for years as well. If you get picked up, first stall the cops, allowing your bosses enough time to get out. Sergei does this by asking for vodka (for example) when he clearly knows he's not getting it. He does it by posturing about having done time in Ukraine and the American prison system not scaring him. Then he gives information that's easily covered up or fairly irrelevant to get a lighter sentence

I thought his name was Boris.

I think The Greeks had a plan for Sergei getting arrested and being 'turned' against them, and part of that was that Sergei would be allowed to 'snitch' on them to avoid the death penalty. That way, The Greeks would know to cut and run if Sergei ever did get arrested (they'd know that Sergei would 'snitch' on them if arrested, and they'd have a contingency plan in place for that), and Sergei would know that he wouldn't have to get executed for his crimes (because of his 'co-operation' with the police), and that The Greeks would still take care of him even though he was doing a life sentence (because he'd gone along with their plan). And the police wouldn't know how The Greeks had gotten away from them, even though Sergei had 'ratted' on them. The police would lose everything they had on The Greeks up until that point, and would have to start from scratch.

I believe Sergei informing was a contingency plan all sides agreed to. Marlo still had to go through Sergei to get to the Greeks so clearly they weren’t on bad terms

I love the first meeting they show with Sergei and proposition Joe. Clearly, they connect on several levels and understand that it’s all business, but seem to genuinely like each other as well.

IMO, the "Greeks" spared him for a combination of reasons. A) as you mentioned, they I fo he gave the cops was largely useless to the cops and never led to any arrests or seizures of product of the Greeks B) which is akin to reason A, the Greeks seemed overall less bloodthirsty/rep-obsessed than the way Avon was, or Marlo with his whole "My name is my name!" monologue.the Greeks, while appearing ruthless over business and/or risk from the law, they seemed way less eager than any of them use violence as a first resort. IMO, characters from even shows like The Sopranos could take lessons in restraint and laying low...

The Greeks aren’t bound by the snitch code of the streets, they would have no problem with Sergei giving up useless info to save his life

I think they all had plans to rat with info that ultimately leads nowhere

I always assumed because he went to prison and didn't snitch on anyone else but himself. By season 5 Vondas and the Greek are back hanging out at Little Johnny's like the port investigation never even happened. (Kind of silly from a plot and storytelling POV). The main reason Sergei never snitched is because he doesn't need FUHKING CANTEEN.

This was always my biggest question. I get the name is not my name thing, but he still tried to sell them out. And why would they take his call for Marlo? I wrote this before watching because I like to pontificate.

The Greeks were too connected to miss Sergei snitching. Both parties likely realized Sergei walked the tight rope and only gave up information that was already known, so no harm done. Sergei getting to live (and family probably compensated) guaranteed his loyalty AND an enforcer right in the heart of the East Coast H trade: the Baltimore prison where many deals went down. Sergei was far more valuable alive, but why he wasn't DEPORTED back to his old country is a more interesting question - what is he doing rotting in an American prison for life on American tax dollar?

Literally just got done with season two and the next day cina puts this out. Perfect timing

I don’t think he wanted to help Marlo at all , I think Avon made it clear that if he doesn’t prison will get a lot worse ….. Avon wanted Marlo to cut out the east side as he still held on to the east side west side beef ….

I thought it’s like heavily insinuated that the Greek had an FBI informant so I guess I always assumed that he was given a heads up after Sergei told on them

Isn't it possible that Sergei played both sides? He could have ratted to save his skin, and then made his first call The Greek, saying he won't be home for dinner or whatever

I think it is a slight mischaracterization to say that DeAngelo was killed as retribution for snitching. I mean, he did, but ultimately he didn't do it officially. He was killed to prevent him from having second thoughts somewhere down the line. Also, why would Sergei have been under Avon's protection? Avon never even knew who the Greeks were, if he even knew that they existed (all he knew is that Joe had a good source to heroin).

Its common in the military when people go on missions, hold out for a certain amount of time, they change codes, call names, mission parameters etc within that time then you can talk about it all you want

I always got the impression they had a protocol for what info they could safely give up if caught.

I think Sergei was acting because he was so quick to give them up.

Sergei should have known that being sentence to death, especially in a state like Maryland, means you will more than likely die of old age.

The Greeks knew he talked. Marlo and Chris found him through court paperwork that was a matter of public information. No way the Stansfield Organization knew about his documented cooperation and the Greeks didn’t.

I always thought Sergei worked with Marlo because Avon had told him too!! I think he just told Marlo about the Diner it wasn’t a bar!!

According to the book “The Godfather of the Kremlin,” a large percentage of Russian mafia, especially in the upper echelons of power, are former KGB, which would mean that they have specific training in how to avoid giving really important information during interrogation. One technique, is to give information that may seem like gold to interrogators, but is in fact of little value. “The Greek” would have known that Sergei had been arrested, and if he was former KGB himself, he would not only have known that Sergei would give up ‘Something’; but likely have known exactly what Sergei would say.

Great vid. Sergei was one of the best side characters.

good stuff.

There is no way they wouldn’t know he snitched.

I always struggled with seasons 1 & 2

We really have no clue as to how Sergei was related to the connect itself? Could be simply a case of that if anything happens to Sergei, the dope connect goes south? 🤔

I never understood why Vondas and The Greek returned to Baltimore after their close call with police there.

The first theory makes the most sense.

I know I'm late to the party, but I believe a season 6 that was focused on the prison system would have been super dope. Bringing Avon back to the main character which would bring the the show Full Circle. As far as the streets, they could have had secondary story lines of who ended up taking the place of certain characters and the development of others but the story of showing how much of an authority figure Avon actually is in prison and the effect that it has on the the streets would have been a complete closure to the series in my opinion

Guarantee he was told he could give the fake names in order to save himself. The only thing I didn’t get is he knew they would leave so in season 5 how did he know they were back ? Unless they reached out to him somehow.

Haven't watched the video. But I kind of always felt that Sergio was the perfect soldier / Fall Guy kind of like what El Chapo is 2 El Mayo

It was probably established that he could tell them all that on purpose. Cuz he never told the cops about the little deli they operated out of. Or else they would’ve set up cameras there waiting for Greeks to return.

They weren't exactly long gone though lol cigs were still warm

Why bother risk getting caught killing a guy who is now nothing and in jail and can do nothing to hurt you.

Sergei had fake names, only faces, and on top of that was a BMF nobody wanted to mess with

they didn't kill him because they didn't have to. anyway, i think the more interesting question is why did avon ok the transfer on the connect to marlo for a measly 100 large. that always struck me as a false note. and tbh, i'd like to know if, in a real life version of this plot, would marlo really have been able to get 10 million from the co-op? seems like there were too many people involved in that deal to make it a good bet.

Why would Joe think Marlo was business orientated? He knew that he was beefing with Avon over corners and he had no interest in the co-op or any of those Eastside bosses. Also there is no breaking of the code in killing Marlo. That code applies only to members of the co-op and as stated Marlo didn't care for the co-op. The simple truth is that Marlo had more muscle than all those guys put together. We knew this all of those East Side guys could drive the New Yorkers from THEIR OWN TERRITORIES. They had to get Marlo on it. It would have been cool to see if one of em could get Brother Mouzone to get at Marlo. That would have been fun to watch

Clearly the greeks had no beef with Sergei if marlo had to go directly through him to get the connect.

Sergei wasnt a snitch he did what he was told thats y he was still able to reach out to them.

I think the writers used Sergei to help unfold the plot. He is the character that connects 3 elements of the story in season 2; the docks, the police and 'the greeks'.

Next vid...why did herc tell levy about the wiretap?

I miss this show

Big fact

Can't help but notice a lot of these "why did-?" questions about The Wire come from season 5. Could it have just been substandard writing (and I don't mean bad writing per se, just substandard from the amazing writing of the previous seasons. There's a bunch of stuff about S5 that doesn't make any sense and I don't think it's anything more than a bit of a duff season.

he gave them exactly what he was supposed to give them. what we dont see is what probably would have happened: counter-terrorist agency gave him witness protection before the trial ever started and serge reconnected with the greeks down the line.

i think they were structured, and hence, i buy the line of sergey knowing it was ok to give info. they would know in due time about the information given, and disappear. win win. it is about win win for them to supervise, as seen through the season.

The line-of-thinking near the end of the video seems the most acceptable. The Greek's probably wouldn't have deep reach into the American prison system and simply cut their losses figuring Sergei couldn't do any more damage anyway (due to their cautious nature and knowing he is facing death they would assume he talked). Some of the comments that Sergei would know the Greek's have already cut their losses and limits his cooperation to mostly corroborating what they already know is reasonable. It is heavily implied by the nationalities of their members and Russia prison tattoos they are a trope/caricature of a 'Russia mafia' family. As for Sergei needing Avon's protection in prison: how many white prisoners did you seen in all the season 2 prison scenes? Sergei is tough, but he's in there for a life. Marlo didn't even understand online banking so it's doubtful Sergi gave him a Tor/Freenet or other online way to contact them. All the phone numbers he knew would be burned. And, since Vondas gives Marlo a phone specifically for contacting them, it seems Sergei simply gave Marlo the location for Johnny's Diner (which I think would actually piss them off more...). Nick or Sergei never gave up the Diner to the police, and the other other people alive who knew about it is Ziggy and maybe Johnny Fifty. In the show's final montage we see Fat-Face-Rick and Slim Charles meeting Vondas at the Diner, again suggesting Marlo simply gave them the location. The diner stuff is a bit thin, but most of this is S5 which has a lot of thin and rushed plot points. But, it's good enough two bring back two fan-favorite characters: Avon and Sergei. Also, if you've read this far there is a funny easter egg involving the diner where in S2 Ziggy asks about the pie and Nick says 'it's shit- lets go' and in S5 we see Snoop eating pie at the counter during the meet.

BTW, there's no such last name like Malatov, although it may sound similar. I was always wondering why scenarists don't use normal names, instead of weird ones - Foma Kiniajev, Malatov. It could be Malakhov or Molotov, but not Malatov. Like englishman with last name Jucksen, or something like that.

Not enough transpired for Sergei to be on let alone be seen on any "Discovery" report, but also, The Greek said it himself ...he's not even Greek lmao

Does he have hands? A face? Yes? Then it wasn't us.

Sergei popping up in season 5 and not dead was just as unrealistic as Marlo being able to meet the Greek in person or the Greek located in the hood. First, the death of the women in the container was national news and his capture would have been big news. Second, if dude just disappeared the Greek would have wanted to find out why because Sergei knows all about the operation. Third, arrests are public records, a couple of phone calls and anyone with a phone can find out who's been pinched. Season 5 was good, but it was the only season that was not realistic.

. In that business it is inevitable that people are going to get locked up with heavy sentences, getting rid of them is a costly and risky, so it is better to keep them in your pocket as they might end up being useful in prison.

Where is Merry Land?

He got their ear for marlo ,so they must be still in someway conected

One thing people don't understand about the game.. No one reaches the upper echelon without working with the folks.. Like it or not.. Even the cartels worked with their government and the us government

That was a long and entertaining video. They didn’t kill him because they didn’t have to. 🤷🏾‍♂️

Going by your theory, why did they kill Frank Sobotka then?

Sergei? Thought it was Boris.

So if Avon had access to the Greeks from the inside why not sell it to another Westside ninja and not Marlo?

I don't think the greeks forgave Sergei. Avon is probably protecting him in exchange for protection. Avon and the greeks knew Marlow would burn out because he was too vicious. Avon and Prop Joe were stable influences on the game, and with Joe dead, Avon was the only OG who could smooth out all the dealers and get the money flowing again.

Vhy always Boris? 😂

That wasn't a bar. That was a diner.

It would also be to the Greek's advantage to have a skilled killer in prison, to do their bidding.

The Greeks could also take street credit for getting Sergei out of the death penalty. That likely got traction with their other minions.

They are truly just business men. They’ll do whatever makes them the most money for least risk.

Sergei wasn't taken out, as he could still serve as an asset, even from his cell.

Any criminal operation needs guys who are willing to "talk" because they know enough to know what not to say and what's gonna be found out no matter what. If your operation depends on total isolation/deniability of upper management, there's not much that anyone below that level can damage more than cops and feds will. That's why you only tell subordinates what they NEED to know and get rid of anyone who suggests they outta know more than they should. If you truly take care of your people and give them no reason to doubt the safety of their family, you'll have people willing to fall for the cause, knowing their loved ones aren't being left out in the rain. It's easy to turn traitor if you feel like the other side will give your dependents a better chance.

Sergie snitched point blank period and they didnt know he did

H is a letter..not a word...

Probably because his testimony didn't matter do to no Greeks, no Vondas. So they likely have it on file but wasn't used in court. The Greeks may or may not know about Sergei talking, but there is no Vondas, no Greek.

First of all. They didn’t know enough. Apart from spiros, none of them really knew the Greek. Secondly, if they hurt or killed him, it could possibly put them in a position where not even the FBI could protect them.

Why kill a loyal, trusted soldier that will always help.?

Probably because Boris is too dangerous. He’s obviously a professional.

We actually never see the Greeks in a bar, mostly just a diner, family. I personally think it can be more than one of these at a time. In the streets there is a code. And while it's not as adhered to as it once was it is still followed by plenty. Snitchin is one of the absolute worst thing ya can do. Not necessarily civilians witnessing, not necessarily civilians reporting crimes that happen to em, but being in the dirt and selling others out when the heat comes to save yourself is just foul on so many levels and can't be tolerated or it all falls apart. But that's the streets. It's actually pretty common at high levels for the people involved to rat with a quickness, sometimes even as a preemptive measure to get protection down the road (like it kinda seems like the Greeks may have done, or they never were actually informants but their man on the inside had em listed as such for protection). A lotta these high level mfs give it up. They aren't in the streets like that, they aren't as emotional about these things, they're typically pretty greasy themselves so they have to be more pragmatic about others doing the same. It's less a must to end rats and more calculated, might happen, or a dozen other things might. It also probably wasn't the easiest thing to get em touched even if they wanted and they probably didn't think he could hurt em in any meaningful way. If they could easily get him maybe they would, but it's also just as likely that they didn't know exactly what he said in the box, only that he put himself in. I know when I used to be out there before a job, a lick, or a run it was routine for me and whoever I was with to game plan and come up with a story, Plan B, what to do if we got pinched, all that. Ya gotta be a fool to play with your life without a plan. So it's very possible they also had that set up ahead of time for him and others to fall on their sword and give em some useless info. But even though it kinda appeared so initially, he didn't seem to be on that inner circle like that so they may not have even needed to plan it, all he ever had was bs. I always wondered this too, but I guess for them they need to pick and choose who they wack. They rely on their ability to be ghosts and if they go around dropping anybody and everybody for every little betrayal and infraction it's hard to stay low-key. It's also possible that even a compromised Ukrainian is still potentially useful down the road so that saved his life for the time being. Who knows.

The big question: what gets The Greek up in the morning? The short answer is 'business; always business'. But that doesn't feel wholly convincing. With Tony Soprano, he is a degenerate gambler and has numerous ties that bind him to his life - not least an oath to the Di Meo family. The Greek....it just doesn't feel that way.

I think they probably just knew he didn't know anything so no reason to waste there time killing him.

I guess thet knew that he never had the making of a varsity athlete.😂😂 Those who know, will laugh.

Can you make an analysis video on the Breaking Bad Super Bolw thing? What's going on in the video; did Walt and Tuco fake their deaths and Jesse went back to the game? Tuco laid low until everyone in the cartel was whipped by Gus, and when Gus was gone, Tuco came out of hiding. Walt and Jesse came with elaborate plan to get a fake walt body in the morge. The D game is too hot so they move into baked chips business and find Tuco is in too. Thanks mate.

Phil did 20 years

Did he have hands?

It was so fuckin badass when Sergei tells Marlo that US prison is fucking nothing compared to Ukrainian prison, and he doesn’t want or need his fuckin money

Great show.🤙🤙🤙Highly unrealistic.💯💯💯

Y’all should’ve just asked me 🤔😂

He was, of course, Ukrainian, no small difference…not least these days.

“Highly realistic” really?

You overstimate how much did he know.

Why would they kill Sergei when he most likely is serving a life sentence w/o the possibility of parole? Even if he flipped on them, they have many passports, many identities. They'll, most likely, never be caught. He takes the dead bodies in that can, as well as the trafficking that's caught on the wire. The Greek will compensate him, or he'll leave him where he is. Either way, Sergei is not a threat.

Probably wasn’t worth the trouble to have Sergei killed. The Greeks being about business and nothing else it probably would have just brought more heat onto them. If they have him killed it’s probably a sign that their either still around or back. Why stole the flames when they can let them die down and resume business later when no one is looking.

Sergei is from Ukraine. He corrects Ziggy on this.

He is in jessup md in prison. There we literally HUNDREDS of “ bikes “ ( cellphones ) throughout jci. I even had one myself from 2016- till I was transferred to wci in Cumberland at the end of 2017. He could easily contact them. Not to mention Sergei looks like he’s put on weight. That’s not from working out. That’s from Sitting in a cell eating commissary and watching tv. You gotta have money for that. Not to mention Sergei is a stone cold killer. A man with skills like that can make ALOT of money in prison. Especially Maryland. The Greeks definitely didn’t know and took care of Sergei.

Sergey was Ukrainian though, he clarifies that with Ziggy.

As i got older, i realized season 2 went into depth regarding corruption, human trafficking, foreign mobs, business moves, strategies etc. Only low level minds want shootouts and corner beefs from season one 24/7

Sergei isn't Russian. He's Ukrainian, which was a significant difference to him in that scene with Ziggy and a massive difference nowadays.