

What Do Real Thugs Think of The Wire? - tyn
http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/01/09/what-do-real-thugs-think-of-the-wire/

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whimsy
Full list of links to the story.

1: [http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/01/09/what-do-
rea...](http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/01/09/what-do-real-thugs-
think-of-the-wire/)

2: [http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/01/18/what-do-
rea...](http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/01/18/what-do-real-thugs-
think-of-the-wire-part-two/)

3: [http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/01/25/what-do-
rea...](http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/01/25/what-do-real-thugs-
think-of-the-wire-part-three/)

4: [http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/01/31/what-do-
rea...](http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/01/31/what-do-real-thugs-
think-of-the-wire-part-four/)

5: [http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/02/07/what-do-
rea...](http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/02/07/what-do-real-thugs-
think-of-the-wire-part-five/)

6: [http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/02/12/what-do-
rea...](http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/02/12/what-do-real-thugs-
think-of-the-wire-part-six/)

7: [http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/02/22/what-do-
rea...](http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/02/22/what-do-real-thugs-
think-of-the-wire-part-seven/)

8: [http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/02/28/what-do-
rea...](http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/02/28/what-do-real-thugs-
think-of-the-wire-part-eight/)

9: [http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/03/10/what-do-
rea...](http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/03/10/what-do-real-thugs-
think-of-the-wire-part-nine/)

(This is worse than multi-page stories. =( )

~~~
pavel_lishin
> This is worse than multi-page stories. =(

But I bet dead simple to write. I mean, sure, getting in touch with these
people and getting them to speak honestly to you is hard, and keeping them
coming back probably isn't easy either, but... you go hang out with them,
write down what they say, and type it out.

~~~
whimsy
Ah, I was merely commenting on the format of the story. It wasn't HARD to get
this list, but it was non-trivial.

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jonathanjaeger
The Wire is, in my opinion, the best show in the history of television (or at
least of what I've seen). The Wire seems to have received a lot of critical
acclaim and a cult following, especially after its end. Too bad it never got
the popularity it deserved when comparing it to The Sopranos. Although I like
The Sopranos, I think The Wire brought a lot more to the table in terms of
writing, gritty realism, and pure entertainment.

~~~
proemeth
One thing that can be both a quality and a problem, is that The Wire is very
demanding. A lot of what happens is implicit or not directly seen on camera.
Also, episodes are not as self-contained as, for instance Mad Men, where you
can watch one stand-alone, without needing too much background on who's who,
and what happened before.

~~~
jonathanjaeger
Exactly, especially when story arcs last a complete season and sometimes
longer. You find that many people can't commit to it. It's not Law & Order..

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thristian
On a related note, a video game journalist gets Yakuza bosses to play and
review Sega's "Yakuza 3":

<http://boingboing.net/2010/08/10/yakuza-3-review.html>

~~~
prodigal_erik
Cool. Have to admit I'm surprised they sought anonymity. I remember Dave Barry
writing

> The _yakuza_ are about as clandestine as the National Football League.
> Everybody knows who they are. Many of them get large tattoos and chop of
> finger joints to demonstrate loyalty or some other important gangster
> quality. Also they're the only people in Japan who wear double-breasted
> suits, white ties, and sunglasses. "Hi!" their outfits shout. "We're
> gangsters!"

~~~
wahnfrieden
Everyone knows who is a yakuza, but they don't necessarily broadcast their
individual identities.

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rudenoise
As I see a few Wire fans replying here, I'd like to recommend two related
books that will give more insight and provoke some thought (if you haven't
done so already):

Homicide (a year on the killing streets), David Simon
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homicide:_A_Year_on_the_Killing...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homicide:_A_Year_on_the_Killing_Streets)

The Corner: A Year in the Life of an Inner-City Neighborhood, David Simon and
Ed Burns
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Corner:_A_Year_in_the_Life_...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Corner:_A_Year_in_the_Life_of_an_Inner-
City_Neighborhood)

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mise
Spoiler alert for the first point.

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WalterBright
Apparently this reporter is capable of actually doing real research on thug
life, rather than the Harvard professors who use "The Wire" as a lazy
alternative to studying reality.

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ojbyrne
They got some things right, as I recall:

"Shine proposed that Marlo would kill Prop Joe; the youngest attendee, the
29-year-old Flavor, placed $2,500 on Clay Davis escaping indictment"

~~~
kenjackson
In the Netflix era, spoilers son, spoilers!

I would have been interested to get their take on Omar.

~~~
llimllib
I suspect it would require some heavy editing to be suitable for the Times.

