Spiros Vondas
Encyclopedia
Spiros "Vondas" Vondopoulos (Greek
: Σπύρος Βονδόπουλος; born June 10, 1960) is a fictional character
on the HBO drama The Wire
played by actor Paul Ben-Victor
.
's second-in-command and acted as a buffer between The Greek and his illegal activities, using a small cafe as his base of operations. The name Spiros Vondopolous is one of a range of identities that he has available to him. He holds Hungarian
and Croatia
n passports but it is unclear if he is really a citizen of these countries. He is later shown destroying his Hungarian passport during a meal with The Greek. His Hungarian name is Janos Kovats and he comes from Budapest. His Croatian name is Kirko Skaddeng and he is ostensibly a medical assistant from Osijek
. He tells Nick Sobotka
that he has "many names, many passports." Vondas's actual name and nationality are unknown, though his alias is Greek in origin.
's point of contact for his smuggling with The Greek. He was even-tempered and patient, often having to soothe an increasingly angry and frightened Sobotka as the Baltimore police began a serious investigation into Sobotka's union. He also handled much less savory tasks: when a sailor in the Greek's employ, Sam, murdered fourteen girls meant for work as prostitutes Vondas killed the man once the Greek had interrogated him. Vondas managed the Greek's drug dealing through their Israeli lieutenant Eton Ben-Eleazer. His own personnel involved in the smuggling operation included driver and enforcer Sergei "Serge" Malatov
and organization fence George "Double G" Glekas.
He often met with Nick Sobotka
, who frequently served as Frank's go-between, and Vondas took an almost paternal interest in the younger man. Impressed with Nick's intelligence, he gave him the task of stealing a shipment of chemicals. He intervened in a dispute over a debt between Nick's cousin Ziggy Sobotka
and a drug dealer supplied by the Greek, Cheese Wagstaff
. Despite a personal dislike for Ziggy he ordered Serge to argue his case to Proposition Joe, Cheese's uncle and superior. Vondas' distrust of Ziggy proved correct when Ziggy killed Glekas in an argument over payment for stolen goods. Ziggy was arrested soon afterwards and Vondas distanced the murder from the rest of the operation by removing all evidence of the business from the warehouse.
When Lieutenant Daniels
's port detail began investigating the Greek's activity Frank Sobotka realized and tipped Vondas. During the finale outset's of the investigation, the detail finally got a photo of Spiros when he was meeting drug lieutenant Eton on the waterfront of Baltimore. The detail then surveilled his home and followed him to meetings at hotel rooms and the diner where he met with associates.
The Greek ordered Vondas to shut down the smuggling temporarily and replaced all of his personnel's telephones. The Greek withdrew from their meeting place at the cafe and began meeting Vondas in hotel rooms.
When the detail began rounding up the members of the Greek's smuggling ring, they held off on Vondas as they felt he could lead them to the Greek. When Sobotka was arrested Vondas suggested that they could broker his loyalty by having a witness against Ziggy change his story. He put the proposition to Frank through Nick. Frank had already agreed to testify against the Greek's crew, but decided to meet with them for Ziggy's sake. The Greek learned of Frank's agreement through his inside man at the FBI, agent Koutris, and had Vondas murder Frank.
Following the murder Vondas left the country under a fake passport with the Greek, using the alias Kirko Skaddeng. Before Vondas left he met with Proposition Joe to assure him that the Greek's operation would continue to supply him using new personnel after a short break to avoid the investigation.
, Joe set up a meeting with Vondas and Marlo Stanfield
in order to assuage Marlo's suspicions that Joe had set him up in order to make him pay twice for the same shipment. It was thus revealed that Vondas had returned to Baltimore some time after the Major Crimes investigation of the docks had ended, and that he had resumed his working relationship with Proposition Joe. While Marlo was satisfied with Vondas' explanation, he placed a tail on him in order to learn more about his role in importing the shipments into Baltimore.
felt secure enough in making a move to establish a direct relationship with Vondas and the Greeks. He researched the port case and discovered that former Greek soldier Sergei Malatov was incarcerated at Jessup. After paying prison gang leader Avon Barksdale
to gain access to Sergei, Marlo used him to locate the Greeks' diner headquarters and dropped off a large sum of money in order to persuade Vondas to grant him a meeting. Vondas was displeased that Marlo had brought him dirty money, from the street, and insisted that all business would continue to go through Joe, then sent him on his way. Marlo quickly cleaned his cash, and dropped off the fresh money at the diner, telling Vondas' man that he didn't mean for there to be any misunderstanding.
Marlo once again meets with Vondas, and attempts to sell himself as an insurance policy for the Greeks, implying that if something were to happen to Proposition Joe
, they would need another agent they could do business with. While Vondas believes that all that matters is that the Greeks already have a secure relationship with someone they trust, The Greek
states that Marlo makes a valid point that it is wise to have an insurance policy in volatile times, implicitly telling Marlo that if he moves on Joe, they will not stop him. After Marlo leaves, Vondas and the Greek seem resigned to Joe's demise and to initiating a new business relationship with Marlo, believing that Joe's time has come, and that Marlo's tenacity and ambition will not allow him to accept the Greeks' rejection of his business overtures.
After Marlo has Proposition Joe murdered, he received the blessing of Vondas to be Joe's replacement as agent between Vondas' drug shipments and the New Day Co-op's drug distribution activities.
Later, Stanfield's first re-supply with the Greeks is busted by the Major Crimes Unit, and as part of a deal with the State's Attorney's office, Stanfield is forced to retire from his life of crime. To set himself up for life, Stanfield sells the connection to the Greeks to whoever can pay him ten million dollars. In the series finale, Vondas is seen meeting with Fat Face Rick and Slim Charles at Little Johnny's Diner. They are discussing the new business arrangement while The Greek
quietly listens in the background.
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
: Σπύρος Βονδόπουλος; born June 10, 1960) is a fictional character
Fictional character
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
on the HBO drama The Wire
The Wire (TV series)
The Wire is an American television drama series set and produced in and around Baltimore, Maryland. Created and primarily written by author and former police reporter David Simon, the series was broadcast by the premium cable network HBO in the United States...
played by actor Paul Ben-Victor
Paul Ben-Victor
Paul Ben-Victor is an American actor.Ben-Victor was born Paul Friedman, in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Leah Kornfeld, a playwright, and Victor Friedman. Ben-Victor debuted on the small screen in 1987 in the made-for-TV movie Blood Vows: The Story of a Mafia Wife and on an episode of Cagney &...
.
Biography
Vondas is The GreekThe Greek (The Wire)
The Greek is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by actor Bill Raymond. The Greek is the head of an international criminal organization involved in narcotics and human trafficking....
's second-in-command and acted as a buffer between The Greek and his illegal activities, using a small cafe as his base of operations. The name Spiros Vondopolous is one of a range of identities that he has available to him. He holds Hungarian
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
and Croatia
Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
n passports but it is unclear if he is really a citizen of these countries. He is later shown destroying his Hungarian passport during a meal with The Greek. His Hungarian name is Janos Kovats and he comes from Budapest. His Croatian name is Kirko Skaddeng and he is ostensibly a medical assistant from Osijek
Osijek
Osijek is the fourth largest city in Croatia with a population of 83,496 in 2011. It is the largest city and the economic and cultural centre of the eastern Croatian region of Slavonia, as well as the administrative centre of Osijek-Baranja county...
. He tells Nick Sobotka
Nick Sobotka
Nickolas Andrew "Nick" Sobotka is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by actor Pablo Schreiber. the character of Nick is cousin to, Ziggy Sobotka, the wayward and rebellious son to his uncle Frank Sobotka...
that he has "many names, many passports." Vondas's actual name and nationality are unknown, though his alias is Greek in origin.
Season 2
Vondas manages all aspects of the Greek's illicit shipping business, but keeps a low profile, and is very surveillance-conscious. He is Frank SobotkaFrank Sobotka
Francis "Frank" Sobotka is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by actor Chris Bauer.-Biography:Frank is a respected Polish-American secretary treasurer for the International Brotherhood of Stevedores at the Baltimore docks...
's point of contact for his smuggling with The Greek. He was even-tempered and patient, often having to soothe an increasingly angry and frightened Sobotka as the Baltimore police began a serious investigation into Sobotka's union. He also handled much less savory tasks: when a sailor in the Greek's employ, Sam, murdered fourteen girls meant for work as prostitutes Vondas killed the man once the Greek had interrogated him. Vondas managed the Greek's drug dealing through their Israeli lieutenant Eton Ben-Eleazer. His own personnel involved in the smuggling operation included driver and enforcer Sergei "Serge" Malatov
Sergei Malatov
Sergei "Serge" Malatov is a fictional character on the HBO drama series The Wire, played by Chris Ashworth. He acts as a driver and muscle for The Greek. He is Ukrainian, although Americans often assume he is Russian. He hates this and their subsequent tendency to nickname him "Boris"...
and organization fence George "Double G" Glekas.
He often met with Nick Sobotka
Nick Sobotka
Nickolas Andrew "Nick" Sobotka is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by actor Pablo Schreiber. the character of Nick is cousin to, Ziggy Sobotka, the wayward and rebellious son to his uncle Frank Sobotka...
, who frequently served as Frank's go-between, and Vondas took an almost paternal interest in the younger man. Impressed with Nick's intelligence, he gave him the task of stealing a shipment of chemicals. He intervened in a dispute over a debt between Nick's cousin Ziggy Sobotka
Ziggy Sobotka
Chester Karol "Ziggy" Sobotka is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by actor James Ransone. Though his father Frank Sobotka was a well-respected stevedore union leader, Ziggy's often reckless and juvenile behavior gained him little respect among other members of the union and...
and a drug dealer supplied by the Greek, Cheese Wagstaff
Cheese Wagstaff
Calvin "Cheese" Wagstaff is a fictional character on the HBO television series The Wire. He is portrayed by hip hop recording artist Method Man. He is a crew chief for his uncle Proposition Joe's drug organization and later works for the Stanfield Organization after betraying his uncle and...
. Despite a personal dislike for Ziggy he ordered Serge to argue his case to Proposition Joe, Cheese's uncle and superior. Vondas' distrust of Ziggy proved correct when Ziggy killed Glekas in an argument over payment for stolen goods. Ziggy was arrested soon afterwards and Vondas distanced the murder from the rest of the operation by removing all evidence of the business from the warehouse.
When Lieutenant Daniels
Cedric Daniels
Cedric Daniels is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by actor Lance Reddick. He is a well regarded officer in the department whose focus is on good police work and quality arrests...
's port detail began investigating the Greek's activity Frank Sobotka realized and tipped Vondas. During the finale outset's of the investigation, the detail finally got a photo of Spiros when he was meeting drug lieutenant Eton on the waterfront of Baltimore. The detail then surveilled his home and followed him to meetings at hotel rooms and the diner where he met with associates.
The Greek ordered Vondas to shut down the smuggling temporarily and replaced all of his personnel's telephones. The Greek withdrew from their meeting place at the cafe and began meeting Vondas in hotel rooms.
When the detail began rounding up the members of the Greek's smuggling ring, they held off on Vondas as they felt he could lead them to the Greek. When Sobotka was arrested Vondas suggested that they could broker his loyalty by having a witness against Ziggy change his story. He put the proposition to Frank through Nick. Frank had already agreed to testify against the Greek's crew, but decided to meet with them for Ziggy's sake. The Greek learned of Frank's agreement through his inside man at the FBI, agent Koutris, and had Vondas murder Frank.
Following the murder Vondas left the country under a fake passport with the Greek, using the alias Kirko Skaddeng. Before Vondas left he met with Proposition Joe to assure him that the Greek's operation would continue to supply him using new personnel after a short break to avoid the investigation.
Season 4
After a shipment from the Greek to Proposition Joe's New Day Co-Op was stolen by Omar LittleOmar Little
Omar Devone Little is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, portrayed by Michael K. Williams. Omar is a renowned stick-up man who lives by a strict moral code and never deviates from his rules, foremost of which is that he never robs or menaces people who are not involved in "the game"....
, Joe set up a meeting with Vondas and Marlo Stanfield
Marlo Stanfield
Marlo "Black" Stanfield is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by actor Jamie Hector. Stanfield is a young, ruthless and ambitious player in the Baltimore drug trade who gains control of West Baltimore and is the head of his own drug crew.-Character background and plot...
in order to assuage Marlo's suspicions that Joe had set him up in order to make him pay twice for the same shipment. It was thus revealed that Vondas had returned to Baltimore some time after the Major Crimes investigation of the docks had ended, and that he had resumed his working relationship with Proposition Joe. While Marlo was satisfied with Vondas' explanation, he placed a tail on him in order to learn more about his role in importing the shipments into Baltimore.
Season 5
Once the Major Crimes investigation into his organization was shut down, Marlo StanfieldMarlo Stanfield
Marlo "Black" Stanfield is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by actor Jamie Hector. Stanfield is a young, ruthless and ambitious player in the Baltimore drug trade who gains control of West Baltimore and is the head of his own drug crew.-Character background and plot...
felt secure enough in making a move to establish a direct relationship with Vondas and the Greeks. He researched the port case and discovered that former Greek soldier Sergei Malatov was incarcerated at Jessup. After paying prison gang leader Avon Barksdale
Avon Barksdale
Avon Randolph Barksdale is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire portrayed by actor Wood Harris. Avon is the dominant drug dealer of Baltimore's West Side, running the Barksdale Organization...
to gain access to Sergei, Marlo used him to locate the Greeks' diner headquarters and dropped off a large sum of money in order to persuade Vondas to grant him a meeting. Vondas was displeased that Marlo had brought him dirty money, from the street, and insisted that all business would continue to go through Joe, then sent him on his way. Marlo quickly cleaned his cash, and dropped off the fresh money at the diner, telling Vondas' man that he didn't mean for there to be any misunderstanding.
Marlo once again meets with Vondas, and attempts to sell himself as an insurance policy for the Greeks, implying that if something were to happen to Proposition Joe
Proposition Joe
Joseph "Proposition Joe" Stewart is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire played by actor Robert F. Chew. Joe is an Eastside drug kingpin who preferred a peaceful solution to business disputes when possible...
, they would need another agent they could do business with. While Vondas believes that all that matters is that the Greeks already have a secure relationship with someone they trust, The Greek
The Greek (The Wire)
The Greek is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by actor Bill Raymond. The Greek is the head of an international criminal organization involved in narcotics and human trafficking....
states that Marlo makes a valid point that it is wise to have an insurance policy in volatile times, implicitly telling Marlo that if he moves on Joe, they will not stop him. After Marlo leaves, Vondas and the Greek seem resigned to Joe's demise and to initiating a new business relationship with Marlo, believing that Joe's time has come, and that Marlo's tenacity and ambition will not allow him to accept the Greeks' rejection of his business overtures.
After Marlo has Proposition Joe murdered, he received the blessing of Vondas to be Joe's replacement as agent between Vondas' drug shipments and the New Day Co-op's drug distribution activities.
Later, Stanfield's first re-supply with the Greeks is busted by the Major Crimes Unit, and as part of a deal with the State's Attorney's office, Stanfield is forced to retire from his life of crime. To set himself up for life, Stanfield sells the connection to the Greeks to whoever can pay him ten million dollars. In the series finale, Vondas is seen meeting with Fat Face Rick and Slim Charles at Little Johnny's Diner. They are discussing the new business arrangement while The Greek
The Greek (The Wire)
The Greek is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by actor Bill Raymond. The Greek is the head of an international criminal organization involved in narcotics and human trafficking....
quietly listens in the background.