Francis "Frank" Sobotka is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by actor Chris Bauer.

Biography[link]

Frank is a respected Polish-American secretary treasurer for the International Brotherhood of Stevedores at the Baltimore docks (Local 47). As the pater familias for the docks' longshoremen population, it is his job to manage the finances of the union and make sure that the workers are taken care of - a task made harder by the decline of Baltimore's shipping industry and the lack of available hours.

Desperate to return prosperity to the docks, Frank begins making overtures to lobbyists and politicians to support initiatives that will make the port a more attractive shipping location. His two main objectives are to have the Chesapeake & Delaware Canal dredged to increase the depth for incoming ships, and to re-open the grain pier. Bruce DiBiago, an old friend and lobbyist, serves as go-between for Sobotka and politicians such as Senator Clay Davis.

In order to obtain the necessary funds for paying the bribes, Sobotka makes an arrangement with Eastern European gangsters "The Greek" and Spiros "Vondas" Vondopoulos to smuggle illegal goods through the port. Ships with contraband such as drugs and prostitutes will be tagged by Frank's union cohort Thomas "Horseface" Pakusa, with the crates disappearing in the computer system and driven out by the Greek's man Sergei "Serge" Malatov. Frank's nephew Nick Sobotka, another union member, acts as go-between for his uncle and Vondas by passing messages and delivering lists of containers to be moved. Unbeknownst to Frank, his troubled son, Chester "Ziggy" Sobotka, often accompanies Nick to these meetings.

Frank's criminal activities begin to be suspected by the police following a feud with Major Stanislaus Valchek, whose gift of a stained glass window to a local church has been eclipsed by Sobotka's more elaborate window (a move to have the priest get Frank closer to a senator in his congregation). Suspicious of how a longshoreman could have so much disposable income, Valchek manages to persuade Deputy Commissioner Ervin Burrell to assemble a detail to investigate Sobotka's activities. The investigation gains further traction with the discovery of 13 dead girls in a shipping container ("can"), who turn out to be prostitutes smuggled in by the Greek.

Frank is enraged that human smuggling is taking place in his port, and threatens Vondas, demanding that no other live containers come through. With detectives asking questions about the dead girls, some strange goings-on with his cell-phone, and his own suspicions about his friend Officer Russell's involvement in the case, Frank becomes increasingly nervous. He demands to meet The Greek and tells him he wants out. The Greek, who needs Frank's system, objects. Nick then asks for more money for them to take on the extra risk. The Greek and Frank agree to this arrangement - Frank needs the money — but Frank is ever more uneasy, and his world proceeds to unravel.

Towards the end of the season, Frank is arrested on smuggling charges after the detail is pressured into making arrests (around the same time, his son Ziggy is also arrested for the murder of a local fence). Valchek personally escorts a compliant Frank out of the union hall in handcuffs, and the resulting media attention leads lawmakers to cut their ties. With his efforts to save the port sunk, and his family facing legal charges (Ziggy for murder, Nick for selling drugs), Sobotka decides to accept the advice of Beadie Russell and turn informant on The Greek.

However, before passing information to the police, The Greek arranges for a meeting to be held, in which Frank will be offered a deal envisaged by Spiros. The deal would exchange Frank's loyalty and silence about the criminal activity at the port for Spiros's assurance that the State's witness in his son's murder prosecution would testify that the shooting occurred in self defense. However, this attempt to secure Frank's loyalty to The Greek's organization is scuppered at the last moment, when the Greek is tipped off by his inside man in the FBI that Sobotka has scheduled a proffer session with police, in which he will inform on the Greek. The last the audience sees of Frank alive is during the closing moments of the penultimate episode of the second season - as the screen fades out we see him walking resolutely beneath a bridge to the rendezvous with The Greek, in a final effort to save his son.^[1][2]

The following day Frank's body is found in the harbor, with multiple stab wounds and his throat cut. Detectives remark that numerous defensive wounds indicate he died fighting. It is implied that Spiros slit Frank's throat, echoing a murder earlier in the season. After his death, his fellow longshoremen, in tribute to Frank, re-elect him as treasurer in defiance of federal warnings, which leads to the dissolution of his local union office.

The Wire has been described as an examination of how the failure, amorality, and corruption within institutions eventually destroy the essentially decent individuals involved with them;^[3] within the series Frank Sobotka has come to be the classic epitome of such an individual.

References[link]

This article consists almost entirely of a plot summary and should be expanded to provide more balanced coverage that includes real-world context. Please edit the article to focus on discussing the work rather than merely reiterating the plot. (June 2011)

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Nickolas Andrew "Nick" Sobotka is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by actor Pablo Schreiber. Nick is cousin to Ziggy Sobotka, the wayward and rebellious son to his uncle Frank Sobotka.

Plot details[link]

Season 2[link]

Nick is a dockworker, and works for his uncle Frank Sobotka, the secretary treasurer for the International Brotherhood of Stevedores. He often has to keep his cousin, Frank's son Ziggy out of trouble, to whom he shows considerable patience. Nick is much more cautious and level-headed than Ziggy, a fact his uncle appreciates. He is involved in his uncle's smuggling operation and often serves as Frank's go-between in meetings with Spiros "Vondas" Vondopoulos. He would meet with Vondas at the diner which serves as the Greek's "office." Vondas would give him the serial numbers of the cargo containers The Greek was bringing into the port, and Nick would convey this information to his uncle.

Nick has a girlfriend, Aimee, with whom he has a daughter, Ashley. They want to move in together, but they are unable to afford a place of their own; Nick lives with his parents and when she spends the night with him, she has to hide from them. Though Nick very much wants to settle down with her, his lack of steady income lead to tensions between them.

Since Nick is one of the younger stevedores, seniority prevents him from getting enough work at the docks. Desperate for cash, he and Ziggy stole a trailer full of cameras, which they sold to the Greek's front man, Glekas. This brought Nick to the attention of Vondas, who asked him if he could procure large quantities of certain chemicals. Ziggy was immediately interested, but Nick was more conscientious, fearing that the chemicals would be used to make bombs. After some research on the internet, he discovered that they would be used to process drugs and he agreed to the deal.

Ziggy is into drug dealing and invites Nick to join in, but at first Nick angrily refuses. Later, when Ziggy's ineptitude nearly cost him his life at the hands of Proposition Joe's nephew Cheese, Nick asked Vondas to intervene. Vondas sent Sergei "Serge" Malatov, who forced Cheese to back off at gunpoint. Sergei then helped Nick negotiate a settlement with Prop Joe himself.

When the two cousins brought Vondas the chemicals he had requested, Nick asked for payment half in cash, half in heroin. Since Ziggy had proved incompetent, he began selling the drugs to local dealers, with much more success than his cousin. He was spotted meeting with the dealer Frog by Herc and Carver, who were doing surveillance of drug dealers near the port. When the drugs he'd received for the chemicals ran out, Vondas put him in contact with "White" Mike McArdle, who became his new supplier of heroin.

Despite Nicky's disdain for Ziggy's ineptitude and antics, he seems to genuinely care for his younger cousin, to whom he treats like a little brother. Nick is distraught when Ziggy is arrested for killing Glekas. Knowing that Ziggy's stature and temperament make him ill-suited for prison, Nick descends into a drunken depression and tearfully laments the circumstances that landed Ziggy behind bars.

Eventually a warrant was issued for Nick's arrest. The police raided his parents' house shortly after Ziggy's arrest. Though Nick was not home, his parents were aghast when the police found Nick's stash of drugs and cash in the basement.

Later that day Vondas approached Nick with an offer to help Ziggy, in exchange for his and Frank's silence. The young Sobotka eagerly conveyed the offer to his uncle. Frank told Nick he would go see the Greek alone. Just before the meeting, the Greek learned from his FBI mole that Frank had offered to testify against him, so he had the elder Sobotka killed. A grieving Nick turned himself in to the police, agreeing to become a witness against the Greek and his gang. As his uncle had, he refused to incriminate members of his union. When Daniels's detail interrogated him he identified the Greek in a photograph, giving the detail its first picture of its main target.

At the end of season two, Nick, Aimee and Ashley entered federal witness protection. The last scene of the second season focuses on him looking at the decaying shipping shoreline from behind a chain-link fence. After shedding a few tears, he walks away on a sidewalk leading uphill. The scene symbolized the season's main theme, the death of blue-collar work in American industry.^[1]

Season 5[link]

Nick makes a brief appearance in season five, heckling Mayor Carcetti's ribbon-cutting ceremony for the conversion of the old Granary into condos and waterfront commercial space instead of the docks for which his uncle Frank had hoped. This, together with the appearance of another former dockworker in a homeless encampment earlier in the season, suggests that the Port of Baltimore was continuing job cuts between the end of season two and the beginning of season five. No information about Nick's life since the end of season two was provided, although Simon has since said that Nick left the witness protection program after missing his friends and family, as many who are enrolled in the witness protection program do.^[2]

References[link]

Stanislaus "Stan" Valchek is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by actor Al Brown.

Biography[link]

Valchek is the Polish-American commander of the Southeastern district, home to many of the remaining white ethnic neighborhoods in Baltimore. A politician more than a policeman, he is well-connected and is on good terms with various Democratic organizations close to City Hall, most notably the politically influential developer Andrew Krawczyk. In Season 4 Tommy Carcetti suggests that Valchek was named commander of the Southeastern Police District because it is a position reserved for either Greek American or Polish American commanders in the department. His political savvy led to a quick and easy rise through the ranks, despite being disliked by commanding officers such as Commissioner Ervin Burrell and Deputy Commissioner William Rawls. Valchek is Roland Pryzbylewski's father-in-law.

Season 1[link]

Valchek only appeared once, in a meeting with Deputy Commissioner Burrell and Lieutenant Daniels, trying to smooth over Prez's drunken blinding of a fourteen-year-old. Valchek told Daniels that if Daniels helped Prez, Valchek would owe him a favor.

Season 2[link]

Valchek was the impetus behind the investigation into corruption at the docks, due to a petty feud he had with Dockworker Union Treasurer Frank Sobotka, another American-Pole. Both men wanted to donate stained glass windows to a local church, and Sobotka refused to withdraw his larger, more expensive window which had been installed first. Valchek became curious as to how the struggling union could afford the expensive window. He ordered his subordinates (including Sergeant Ellis Carver) to begin harassing Sobotka and his union, putting parking tickets on their cars and pulling them over for breathalyzer tests directly outside the bar they frequent. The union responded by stealing Valchek's valuable district surveillance van and shipping it from port to port, sending him photographs from each destination.

Valchek discussed the union with Krawczyk, who knew of Sobotka making numerous campaign contributions. Valchek felt there was a possibility of illegal activity, while at the same time noticing Deputy Commissioner Burrell's nomination for Acting Commissioner. Knowing that Burrell had trouble finding support with the first district council members, Valchek offered Burrell political influence in exchange for a special unit devoted to investigating Sobotka, with Prez as the lead investigator. Burrell had Colonel Rawls send an investigative team from CID to Valchek, all "highly recommended" officers, who were in fact dead-weight "humps." When Valchek witnessed the task force's lack of work ethic, he demanded a real police detail led by Cedric Daniels as commander (on Prez's recommendation and repaying the favor owed to Daniels from Season 1), threatening to derail Burrell's effort to become Commissioner if he did not agree. Burrell obligingly recreated Daniels' task force.

As the investigation expanded to cover Greek drug traffickers, Sobotka ceased to be the primary target, angering Valchek. Valchek went to the FBI to try to refocus the investigation, turning it into a racketeering case, but the bureau remained more focused on the union and port than Sobotka. Valchek confronted Daniels' team publicly; he insulted and shoved Prez, who responds by punching Valchek in the face. Furious, he disowned his son-in-law and threatened to have him removed from the department. Daniels convinced him to reduce Prez's punishment, pointing out that any official action would have to mention that Valchek provoked the attack (Daniels even offers to have the BPD rewrite the statements on Valchek's behalf but claims the FBI agents who witnessed the attack would not follow suit). Valchek grudgingly assigned Prez two months of duty on the midnight shift of the district's narcotics unit and accepted a letter of apology in exchange for not charging him.

At the close of the investigation, Valchek delighted in personally making the arrest of Sobotka, and held him in the union offices until he could be publicly dragged out in front of the press. Sobotka was ultimately killed, but the surveillance van was still being shipped around the world.^[1]

Season 3[link]

Valchek set up a meeting between acting Commissioner Burrell and Tommy Carcetti, a city councilman from Valchek's district, knowing that Carcetti was setting up deals behind the back of Mayor Clarence Royce.

When the Mayor pressured the department to lower the crime rates, Valchek claimed he would put more foot patrols in his district's housing projects, use more of his flex squads, request more overtime and cheat the stats if he needed to (turning burglaries into larcenies, and downgrading assault charges amongst other things) in order to reduce the crime in the southeastern district. In the midst, Valchek was surprised and amused to hear remarks made by Bunny Colvin, the Western District commander, who stood up to Deputy Rawls questioning how to "juke the stats" with regard to dead bodies. When talking with the other commanders, Valchek also overheard Colvin suggesting drug legalization (ostensibly as a joke) to decrease the felonies in his district.

Later, during the pursuit of a suspect, Prez accidentally shot and killed a plainclothes officer, a mistake further complicated by racial implications (the killed officer was black). Despite disowning him earlier Valchek used his influence to have the charges dismissed, and although Daniels and several other African-American officers were willing to testify (per Valchek's request) that Prez was not racist, Prez chose to leave the department.^[2]

Season 4[link]

Valchek mentored Herc in political maneuvering, after the officer stumbled across Mayor Royce being fellated by one of his secretaries. Acting on Valchek's advice, Herc was promoted to sergeant.

When Tommy Carcetti ran for Mayor, Valchek supported his campaign, leaking him information such as the murder of a state's witness named Braddock. When Valchek later leaked Burrell's replacement of a veteran detective with a rookie on the Braddock case, the fallout led to the Mayor deciding to replace Burrell as commissioner. Before this happened, Carcetti was elected Mayor, and Burrell managed to keep his appointed position for the time being.

Carcetti informed Rawls that Valchek will be promoted to Deputy Commissioner of Administration as a reward for his loyalty, but described him as a "hack" and asks Rawls to keep him from doing any damage. At the promotion ceremony, Valchek's wife and daughter are present while Prez is conspicuously absent. As departmental power shifted, and Carcetti began plotting to oust Burrell, Valchek pointed out to Deputy Commissioner Rawls that newly promoted Colonel Daniels was more likely to be the next Police Commissioner than Rawls, if only because Daniels is African American.^[3]

Season 5[link]

Valchek is shown early in the season leaking the department's real police statistics over the increased crime rate to Mayor Tommy Carcetti. He urges that both Burrell and Rawls should be fired for two straight quarters yielding a 4% increase in violent crime. He also suggests that Carcetti should promote him to Acting Commissioner at least until Cedric Daniels or another African American is named to the permanent post. Carcetti and assistant Norman Wilson both agree that Valchek is unfit to deal with the city council president and minister's alliance, even on an acting basis, but keep the statistics nonetheless. It is later revealed that Valcheck is a prime source for Baltimore Sun reporter Roger Twigg.

Unable to take disciplinary action for a crime increase due to the department's lack of funding, Carcetti decides he will give Burrell a free pass assuming honest statistics are delivered. When Burrell delivers juked stats showing no increase or decrease in the crime rate, he is unaware of the crime stats Valchek has leaked to the Mayor. With the clean and juked statistics in his possession, Carcetti has ammunition to fire Burrell and leaks a story to the Baltimore Sun with Cedric Daniels' photograph in an effort to appease the city's African American voters about the consideration for a change of Police Commissioner.

In the series finale, Cedric Daniels is named commissioner but resigns to prevent an FBI case against him from going public. Valchek is then promoted to the position of Police Commissioner (with a full five-year term) by new mayor Nerese Campbell. Valchek is not well regarded for his police work throughout the department as mentioned by Detective Leandor Sydnor who speaks with Judge Daniel Phelan about a case and how the current police commissioner "doesn't have an idea of what police work is".

References[link]

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 The Greek's crime organization.

Biography[link]

Ziggy is Frank Sobotka's son and Nick's cousin. Ziggy was a dock worker in his father's stevedores union, but he was also involved in criminal activity. Like most of the port workers, Ziggy frequented Delores' bar, where he amuses the other customers with his drunken antics. He was known for publicly exposing himself. His work on the docks was often poor and his father would regularly fire him and then reinstate him. Due to his lack of seniority, Ziggy received little work. He is often portrayed as a clumsy and inept beneficiary of his father's hard work and stewardship of the union who is more interested in goofing off than working hard. He is close to his older cousin Nick, who often bails him out when his various money-making schemes backfire. Despite his shortcomings, however, he has a better understanding of technology than many of his colleagues. He uses his computer research skills to assist Nick in his dealings with the Greeks.

Ziggy had been dealing drugs supplied by "White" Mike McArdle for some time. He sold them at street level using an East side dealer known as Frog. Ziggy had trouble intimidating Frog and often came up short with the money from his packages. Frog would keep the money and tell Ziggy he had been robbed. Eventually, White Mike refused to supply Ziggy with further drugs because he knew that he was not a sound investment.

Ziggy often tried to convince his more streetwise cousin Nick Sobotka into joining him in his drug dealing enterprise but Nick refused. When Ziggy suggested that they steal a container of digital cameras from the docks, Nick was more accepting. They worked alongside their friend Johnny "Fifty" Spamanto, a checker, to move the container through the port. Ziggy and Nick visited George "Double G" Glekas, a front man for an international smuggling operation that the Sobotka family had been working with, to offer him the container. Ziggy's research about the street value of the cameras allowed Nick to negotiate a better deal with Glekas. Ziggy upset Glekas by taking his photo with one of the cameras during the meeting and Glekas angrily snatched it from Ziggy and smashed it on the floor.

Ziggy also accompanied Nick to a meeting to discuss Frank's smuggling of containers through the docks. Ziggy's chatter embarrassed Nick and he vowed not to take him again. The Greeks asked Nick to obtain shipments of chemicals through his work at the port. Unsure what the chemicals would be used for, fearing they may be used for terrorism, Nick was reluctant to get involved. Ziggy used his share of the money from the stolen cameras to buy a new leather coat and Nick chastised him for flashing his newfound wealth. Nick also chastised him for talking to everyone about being paid and flashing his money around the bar.

Ziggy turned to a drug dealer named Cheese for a fresh supply. Cheese was a lieutenant in "Proposition" Joe Stewart's network of drug dealers, who we find out in later seasons is Prop Joe's nephew. Ziggy continued to use Frog and again came up short on his profits (Frog deliberately shorts him) and found himself unable to pay Cheese back. Cheese was more brutal than White Mike and delivered a swift beating to Ziggy and stole his prized car (a Camaro which Ziggy called "Princess"). Cheese threatened to kill Ziggy if he was not able to pay by the end of the week. Nick and La La, a friend from the union, visited Cheese on Ziggy's behalf hoping to bargain the value of the car that Cheese had taken against Ziggy's debt. They found that Cheese had burned the car and was now asking for more money but willing to give Ziggy a little more time. Ziggy was distraught when he heard this news.

Nick went to the Greeks to ask for help with the problem. He found that they were the suppliers of Proposition Joe's entire operation and were able to negotiate with him directly. Nick attended a sit-down with Joe on Ziggy's behalf. Because of their association with the Greeks, Joe agreed to give Ziggy compensation for the car minus the original debt he owed.

Ziggy helped Nick to research the chemical the Greeks were looking for and found that they were used in the processing of cocaine. Reassured with this knowledge, Nick decided to go ahead and steal them as asked. After Nick and Ziggy delivered the chemicals they were offered payment in either narcotics or cash. Knowing the street value of the narcotics was greater, Ziggy pushed for drugs. Nick opted to receive half in cash and half in heroin. Nick kept Ziggy out of dealing with the drugs due to his previous ineptitude. Nick took them to Frog himself. He faithfully delivered a share of the profits to Ziggy each week. Ziggy's pride was hurt by Nick sidelining him and his inability to match his cousin's success. Ziggy dramatically refused his share of the money, tossing it onto the street from Nick's newly purchased truck (bought with his share of the drug profits).

Ziggy had a long running feud with a dock worker named Maui. Maui took issue with Ziggy stealing from the docks and confronted him; intentionally spilling coffee on the coat that Ziggy had purchased with the money from the stolen cameras. Ziggy responded by replacing Maui's desktop image with pictures of his genitalia. In retaliation Maui faked a paternity lawsuit against Ziggy, which drove him to a drinking binge. Nick realized that the letter Ziggy had received from a law firm was false and identified Maui as the culprit. Urged on by La La and other stevedores, Ziggy attacked Maui while working at the docks. He was easily overcome by his much larger opponent, and as a result of the fight, Ziggy was forced to endure another indignity; Maui used a fork lift truck to strand Ziggy on top of a stack of containers.

Ziggy purchased a pet duck and bought it a diamond necklace (again showing that he is making money). He took it to Delores' bar pretending it was a seeing eye fowl. He was compelled to provide the duck with saucers of liquor, claiming that it "Could drink like a stevedore." The duck died at the bar, driving Ziggy into another depressive episode. When Nick approached Ziggy outside the bar, Ziggy attacked his cousin.

Ziggy began smuggling cars with Johnny Fifty. He offered to supply them to Glekas, who reluctantly agreed to participate. Ziggy faked the theft of their cars to look like an outside job by cutting a hole in the port fence, and making a track across a grassy area. Rather than using these constructions, he drove the cars into containers to be delivered to Glekas's customers overseas. When Ziggy delivered the cars, Glekas refused to pay him the agreed sum and Ziggy flew into a rage. Glekas beat Ziggy and threw him out of his warehouse. This was the last indignity Ziggy could endure; he took a gun from his car and shot Glekas and a boy working at Glekas's electronics store, killing Glekas and badly wounding the boy. Horrified at his own actions, Ziggy was unable to drive away and broke down in tears.

He was picked up by Sergeant Landsman of the homicide unit and gave a full confession to the murder. Frank visited Ziggy in prison and apologized for not doing more to help his son. Ziggy told Frank that the union had always come before him, harkening back towards the memories they had shared previously on the docks. Ziggy was convicted of the murder and was last seen serving out his sentence.^[1]

Origins[link]

The actor who portrays Ziggy, James Ransone, is a Baltimore native and has described the character as representative of the difficulties people face just trying to get by in Baltimore. The character's creators have deemed him "the angry prince of goofs."^[2]

In an online interview David Simon stated that Ziggy is loosely based on a real stevedore named Pinkie Bannion whose antics have become a local legend around the docks. According to Simon, Bannion "used to take his duck to the bar and repeatedly expose 'pretty boy' and all else. As they said in Bawlmer about Pinkie: 'That boy ain't right.'"^[3]

References[link]