You keep referring to these things that we all know and that we all acknowledge, we know that Stringer failed @ all of these because this is what they showed us in the present, the question to you is, HOW DID HE GET IN THAT POSITION TO BEGIN WITH?
This has been the point I and others on the board have been trying to make to you, from what we are told from character bios and the show itself, Avon and Stringer came up together, built the organization together, went to war together, and up until Avon was arrested, planned almost every move that the Barksdale organization did, together.
They ran things like Picard and Riker on Star Trek:TNG, while Picard was the captain (Avon) Riker was his "Number 1" (Stringer) charged with running the day-to-day and was a vital key in the chain of command, NO ONE came thru to speak to Avon without talking to Stringer, EVERYTHING had to go thru Stringer first.
The only people that didn't follow the was D'Angelo, since he was family, and @ times Wee-Bay, since they all grew up together.
Remember the new territory that they were going to take over?
That information first came to Stringer who then recommended it to Avon who ok'ed it.
Unfortunately for them this is when Omar made his move against them, resulting in Wee-Bay getting shot and the other guy (I forget his name) being killed.
Fredo was NEVER put in that position and was second-guessed from day one because NO ONE trusted his decision making, remember that it was a running joke that he couldn't even handle his own wife.
You give A LOT of credit to Avon, but if Stringer was as bad throughout as you say doesn't Avon have to take the hit for making and further keeping him as his #2?
This relationship between the two of them ONLY changed when Avon got out of jail, everything changed between them after that.
BTW, Michael made the decision to kill Fredo, in fact the ONLY reason he lived/survived so long was that Michael waited until their mother died, we know from this that if Fredo wasn't family, HE NEVER WOULD HAVE BEEN IN THAT POSITION TO BEGIN WITH!
It was Sonny that sent him to Vegas to protect him and for him to learn the casino business.
I know that we're both really arguing over semantics here (just exactly how long was Stringer a fuckup) but I (and most others) believe that this is core to Stringer's character, that the realization of his dream clouded his judgement and in the end, turned him against his best friend.
This was his character flaw.
Avon's judgement was ALSO clouded in his bloodlust to go to war with first Omar and then Marlo, the former almost getting him killed in front of Orlando's, and the latter ultimately resulting in him going back to jail because even though Stringer dropped dime on the safehouse, a true boss doesn't "strap up" with his soldiers, Michael Corleone killed the guy (and the cop) responsible for the attempt on his father BEFORE HE WAS BOSS, but when he became boss he had all of his enemies taken out while he attended the baptism of his nephew.
See, here is where you are putting in your own input directly against what the writers/producers are telling you.
This is not a compliment, IT IS A DIRECT STATEMENT OF FACT ABOUT THE CHARACTER!
The simple addition of words like "Believing that he was..." changes the entire meaning of the statement and would bolster your argument.
There are several things that could have been said there, but what they chose is what he is.
Do you accept the fact that Cutty was a good soldier when, from what they showed, he had no taste for the game?
The same goes for D'Angelo, who, from what we were shown, was leaving the game as well.
These two along with Stringer were exhibiting changes/growth in their characters, for better or for worse.
Let's leave Martha Stewart alone, she essentially went to jail for accepting a phone call and receiving a tip (and subsequently lying about it), something that we all know is done hundreds of times a day!
From a show that prided itself and was showered with critical acclaim about its writing, YES!
We are shown that Stringer became incompetent in the present, and this is only AFTER we are shown his dream of going "legit" in world of real estate.
When I said that he ran out of time I was referring to the fact that he was killed long before the condos were finished.
I STILL point out that only YOU refer to Stringer as stupid, the writers and producers of The Wire do not.
Buying the property wasn't part of the long con, Davis was using that property for his long con, remember as Levy told Stringer, if things come thru he takes credit, if they don't that's just the way business was.
Either way some of the real estate they had would be bought up by the city for Economic Empowerment Zones and once the B&B condos were renovated they would sell units.
As far as Avon telling him to "sit tight", he had been doing so already and Avon hadn't come thru and we are shown that in the short term his decision was correct, their profits had been way down with the inferior product and had gone back up with superior product AND LESS TERRITORY!
True, Stringer DID want to be a Baltimore Trump, no argument here, that was his dream.
The places you listed were viable fronts for laundering money but NOT big money-makers themselves which is what Stringer was looking for in the condo arena.
It was THIS that we are saying lead to his downfall, that made him "stupid" if you will, that before this he made good, sound business decisions for the Barksdale organization that helped put them where they were.
The Barksdale organization DIDN'T have equal product, they were losing out to the new kid on the block (Marlo) due to this.
THIS is where the writing comes in, the writers created a situation that forced moves by BOTH Stringer and Avon that ultimately led to their downfalls!
If the Barksdale product had remained the same there would have been no reason for Stringer to make any deal with Prop Joe.
The interruption with the connect pushed Stringer into dealing with Prop Joe and the destruction of the Towers pushed Avon into wanting Marlo's "prime real estate", remember that Avon had no idea who Marlo was BEFORE the destruction of the Towers.
Stringer's move was the correct move for the organization (read HIMSELF) @ the time he did it as well as Avon's move to go against Marlo was correct @ the time he did it, FOR EACH ONE'S VISION OF WHERE THEY WANTED TO BE!!!
Stringer was about money and profit, BOTH achieved with his agreement with Prop Joe.
Avon was about power and fear of the Barksdale name, both would be achieved by going to war and taking corners (prime real estate) away from Marlo.
Marlo had fear and intimidation on his side and with these came power.
He ALWAYS had good product and used fear and intimidation, in the forms of Snoop and Chris, to expand his empire.
Remember that to him his "name" was of the utmost importance, this was the same for Avon, they were BOTH cut from the same cloth.
