Boardwalk Empire/Characters: Difference between revisions

== The Main Trio ==

 

 

[[File:Buscemi-as-Nucky_752.jpg|frame|"We all have to decide how much sin we can live with."]]

 

The primary [[Villain Protagonist]] of the series. He is the corrupt treasurer of Atlantic County and ends up somewhat accidentally in the world of organized crime after he begins investing in bootlegging. Played by [[Steve Buscemi]].

* [[Abusive Parents]]: His father was horribly physically and emotionally abusive to him.

* [[Affably Evil]]

* [[Would Not Hit a Girl]]: Although comes perilously close to it in "Under God's Power She Flourishes".

 

 

[[File:Pitt-as-Jimmy-Darmody_7416.jpg|frame|"I'm nothing but a murderer. I'm going to Hell."]]

 

Smart and resourceful, Jimmy was the product of a relationship between his teenage mother and {{spoiler|the Commodore}}. He was more or less raised by Nucky, who pressured him to pursue an education in Princeton, during which he also met his fiancée and later wife, Angela. However, he abandoned all of them to join the army during [[World War I]] and [[Shell-Shocked Veteran|came back different]] - and a ''lot'' more ambitious. Played by Michael Pitt.

* [[Abusive Parents]]: The more is known about his relationship with Gillian, the more that it looks like an evident case of this.

* [[Affably Evil]]: He's an intellectual who is a good friend and tries to be a good father and husband, but he's also a cold-blooded killer.

* [[Villain Protagonist]]

 

 

[[File:Margaret-Schroeder_4680.jpg|frame|"Is this to be our life?!"]]

 

A poor, young Irish mother of two and (thanks to Nucky) widow. She is initially aided by Nucky only out of pity, but they fall in love with each other and begin a relationship as the series progresses. Margaret begins a luxury life as a kept woman and is probably Nucky's closest emotional connection. Played by [[Kelly Macdonald]].

* [[All Girls Want Bad Boys]]: Nucky is an obvious improvement over Hans, but he's still a mob boss. {{spoiler|And ''then'' she falls for Owen}}...

* [[Armor-Piercing Slap]]

== Other Fictional Characters ==

 

 

[[File:Eli_Thompson_2952.jpg|frame|"What am I? The repudiated?"]]

 

The corrupt sheriff of Atlantic County and Nucky's younger brother. Through the series he develops an increasing desire for recognition which he feels denied because everyone else only sees him as Nucky's muscle, and that eventually leads him to {{spoiler|betray Nucky for the Commodore}}. Played by Shea Whigham.

* [[Annoying Younger Sibling]]: To Nucky.

* [[Bad Boss]]

* [[You Never Did That for Me]]: In Season 1, he feels that Nucky gives Jimmy more slack than he ever got, and it is one more thing added onto a long list of things he resents Nucky for.

 

 

[[File:Gillian-Darmody_8894.jpg|frame|"You know me. There is always a man."]]

 

Jimmy's surprisingly-young showgirl mother to whom he is a bit too close. While certainly an unconventional parent, she'll do everything for her son's well being. Played by Gretchen Mol.

* [[Absurdly Youthful Mother]]: She was impregnated at 13.

* [[Amazingly Embarrassing Parents|Amazingly Embarrassing Mother]]: To Jimmy.

* [[Teen Pregnancy]]: In her [[Backstory]].

 

 

[[File:Chalky-White_3216.jpg|frame|"Dis here ma Daddy tools."]]

 

Nucky's political connection to and equivalent in Atlantic City's black community, and also partner in the bootlegging business. He often makes clear how much Nucky owes him and he treats Nucky as an equal rather than his superior. Played by Michael K. Williams.

* [[Advertised Extra]]: He was deliberately kept at a minimum in the first season, often chaining one [[One-Scene Wonder]] after another. His role was later expanded after he had proven to be popular with the audience.

* [[Affably Evil]]

* [[Tranquil Fury]]: Whether it's shooting back at a Klansman or strangling a bad-mouthed gangster, he's not going to lose his cool.

 

[[File:Richard-Harrow_8913.jpg|frame|"How does it feel to have everything?"]]

 

A shy, socially stunted former [[World War I]] sniper who lost half his face in the battlefield and carries a tin prosthetic mask to hide what is missing. ''Very'' desensitized to violence, but at the same time craves human relations. He meets Jimmy at a military hospital in Chicago, and becomes his right-hand man. Played by Jack Huston.

* [[Affably Evil]]: He's a sensitive and polite young man who is really likable. On the other hand, his suggested strategy for drawing out an enemy was to kill their innocent family members and associates.

* {{spoiler|[[Ate His Gun]]}}: In "Gimcrack & Bunkum". {{spoiler|[[Interrupted Suicide|He gets better]]}}.

* [[Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds]]

 

[[File:eddie-kessler_1800.jpg|frame|"Mister Thompson is a very nice man."]]

 

Nucky's bumbling and put-upon German butler who is extremely loyal to him. Played by Anthony Laciura.

* [[Acceptable Ethnic Targets]]: In-universe. He has the misfortune of being German in a country that just fought in World War I.

* [[Battle Butler]]: [[Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass|Surprisingly]].

* [[Undying Loyalty]]: When he is concerned, Nucky is ''always'' innocent and ''always'' means well.

 

 

[[File:agent-van-alden_1319.jpg|frame|"This is a godly pursuit."]]

 

One of the primary antagonists, an overzealous Prohibition agent who vows to bring down Nucky. As stoic and ruthless in his private life as he is in his professional life, he and his wife are extremely Christian and trying to have children. Secretly lusts after Margaret Schroeder, but finds himself disgusted when she sets up house with Nucky. May possibly {{spoiler|be the father of Lucy Danzinger's baby}}. Played by Michael Shannon.

* [[Abusive Parents]]: Or at least fanatical ones that were the source of his preoccupations. In "A Dangerous Maid", he reveals total ignorance about the concept of theater. When questioned about it, he reveals that an aunt once took him to a Christmas pageant, which enraged his fundamentalist parents, who subsequently cut off all contact with her

** Reveals in "Under God's Power She Flourishes" that his parents were followers of a fanatical reverend who believed in the Rapture. His father sold (or just "gave away") their farm and they lived penniless for two years, waiting for a Rapture that did not come. Apparently, his father somehow blames Nelson for all of this.

* [[You Can't Go Home Again]]: {{spoiler|He is proven to be a murderer, divorced by his wife, and becomes a fugitive at the end of Season 2}}.

 

 

[[File:commodore-coleman_7925.jpg|frame|"Look around, boy. I didn't get any of this by being stupid."]]

 

Nucky's mentor and predecessor as city boss before being imprisoned as part of a PR campaign by [[Woodrow Wilson]] in the 1910s. {{spoiler|He is the victim of a poisoning attempt during the first season and breaks with Nucky after he refuses to take action against the person responsible, deciding to take Atlantic City back for himself. He is also Jimmy's father}}. Played by Dabney Coleman.

* {{spoiler|[[Anticlimax Boss]]: He suffers a paralyzing stroke after being built as the next [[Big Bad]] for a bunch of episodes}}.

* [[Badass Grandpa]]: After he recovers from his illness, he exercises to the point of being able to lift a heavy elephant tusk over his head.

* [[Why Don't You Just Shoot Him?]]: He doesn't want {{spoiler|Nucky}} killed, {{spoiler|but to go to jail like he did}}.

 

[[File:Lucy-Danziger_5027.jpg|frame|"What's your name, handsome?"]]

 

A former [[wikipedia:Ziegfeld Follies|Ziegfeld Follies]] [[All There in the Manual|dancer]], she is Nucky's lover at the beginning of the series but is destitute in favor of Margaret in the course of Season One. {{spoiler|She later has a one night stand with Van Alden, and ultimately informs him that she is pregnant and he is the father ([[Really Gets Around|which may or may not be true]])}}. Played by Paz de la Huerta.

* [[Black Bra and Panties|Black]] [[Lingerie Scene]]: She's either particularly attached to her last purchase with Nucky's money, or it is the only thing she still can fit in while in her third trimester.

* [[Bottle Fairy]]

* [[Woman Scorned]]: To Margaret, but not Nucky.

 

[[File:Angela-Darmody_7524.jpg|frame|"At least we're finally being honest with each other."]]

 

Jimmy's wife and the mother of his son, Angela finds herself torn in many ways. She loves Jimmy, but his extensive trips away lead her to cheat on him with a female painter. She loves her son, but frequently has tension with Gillian, who lives with them. Played by Aleksa Palladino.

* [[Acceptable Feminine Goals]]: Painting isn't one of them; both Jimmy and Gillian discourage her talent and urge her to pay more attention to taking care of Tommy.

* [[An Offer You Can't Refuse]]: After her attempt to leave Jimmy at the end of Season One is busted, he threatens her indirectly to take Tommy away. By the beginning of Season Two, they have married.

* [[Women Are Wiser]]: More so in Season Two than Season One, though she's still the one to worry about the practicality of things.

 

[[File:mickey-doyle_7028.jpg|frame|"You wanna dance, you pay the piper."<ref>[[Annoying Laugh|Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa]]</ref>]]

 

A [[Jerkass|highly unlikable]] bootlegger who is [[Fake Irish|not actually Irish]], but gives himself an Irish name because "it sounds better". Yes, the other characters also roll their eyes when they meet him. He is also a rival to Chalky. Played by Paul Sparks.

* [[Annoying Laugh]]: Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa...

* [[Butt Monkey]]

* [[You Have Outlived Your Usefulness]]: He is regularly the intended target of this trope and barely manages to avert it each time. People are just not interested in having him around once he is no longer useful.

 

[[File:Owen-Slater_6786.jpg|frame|"What's the sense in doing something half wrong?"]]

 

A former bodyguard for a [[The Irish Question|Sinn Féin]] politician named John McGarrigle who decides to stay in America and work for Nucky rather than go back to Ireland. He used to work as an enforcer for the IRA. Played by Charlie Cox.

* [[Affably Evil]]: He's a cheeky, likable guy whose back story (as discussed in [http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/09/30/the-new-kid-in-town-charlie-cox-on-boardwalk-empire/ this interview]) is that he was a member of some fairly ruthless IRA partisans and is in America because he's wanted in Ireland for his involvement in the [[wikipedia:Bloody Sunday (1920)|1920 Bloody Sunday]].

* [[Badass]]

* [[You Can't Go Home Again]]: Well, he ''could'', but it's implied he's a wanted criminal there. When he is later given a choice to return to Ireland, he declines and says that America is his home now. He can spot the growing schism in the IRA and does not want to take sides.

 

[[File:manny-horvitz_5955.jpg|frame|"We got a deal. But just so we're clear, my icebox is filled with pieces of fellas who tried to fuck me over."]]

 

A part time kosher butcher, part time capo of Philadelphia's Jewish quarter who has a personal feud with local gangster Waxey Gordon. He becomes Jimmy's partner in crime after Mickey Doyle introduces them to each other in Season 2. Played by William Forsythe.

* [[Badass Grandpa]]

* [[Bait the Dog]]: He initially comes across as a likable [[Alter Kocker]] who loves jokes and is an "old school" man of honor, and then he begins to talk about stuffing the pieces of the guys that cross him in his fridge...

== Minor Fictional Characters ==

 

[[File:agent-sebso_3818.jpg|frame|"You can trust me, goddamit!"]]

 

Van Alden's Jewish partner at the beginning of the series and [[The Mole]] in the Prohibition Unit for Nucky. {{spoiler|He is murdered by Van Alden at the end of the first season}}. Played by Erik Weiner.

* [[Affably Evil]]: While he's corrupt and on the take, he's a rather likable guy and is presented much more sympathetically than Van Alden.

* [[And Call Him George]]: {{spoiler|He drowns when Van Alden tries to baptize him/make him confess he ruined the case against Jimmy on purpose}}.

* [[Yiddish as a Second Language]]

 

[[File:hans-schroeder_4367.png|frame|"You sit down or you'll get the belt!"]]

 

Margaret's abusive husband, an unemployed baker assistant with a gambling addiction. He is killed under orders of Nucky at the end of the pilot and used to pin the Woods Massacre on. Played by Joe Sikora.

* [[Acceptable Ethnic Targets]]: In-universe. His German heritage makes him an easy scapegoat in post-[[World War I]] America.

* [[Asshole Victim]]

* [[Sacrificial Lamb]]: You don't actually expect Nucky to whack him in the pilot.

 

[[File:pearl-boardwalkempire_3008.jpg|frame|"Who is going to love me now?"]]

 

* [[Break the Cutie]]

* {{spoiler|[[Death by Disfigurement]]}}

* {{spoiler|[[Stuffed Into the Fridge]]}}

 

[[File:Nuckys-Father_5657.jpg|frame|"Look who's here: the big shot."]]

 

Nucky and Eli's old and progressively more senile father. He was abusive to the first and protective of the second during their childhood, and still remains more attached to Eli in the modern day - in part, however, because he knew that the more intelligent Nucky was more capable of making his way into life. Played by Tom Aldredge in his last role.

* [[Crazy Cat Lady|Crazy Cat Guy]]: In his old age.

* [[Domestic Abuser]]: To Nucky and Eli.

* [[Shown Their Work]]: "Ethan"'s popularity as a baby name was nonexistent from the 1880s-about 1970 and spiked in the '80s to a peak around 2000. Therefore it just doesn't conjure up an old man in [[The New Tens|viewers' minds]], however it might've in [[The Roaring Twenties]].

 

 

A violent gang [[Siblings in Crime|formed by six out of nine brothers]] from Philadelphia (not counting sisters). They are brought to Atlantic City as associates of Mickey Doyle's bootlegging business and lead to conflict with Nucky after Doyle is arrested and Nucky gives his business to Chalky.

* [[Big Bad]]: Leo, the eldest brother. Played by Max Casella.

* [[Boom! Headshot!]]: {{spoiler|Lucien, Sixtus, and Pius die this way}}.

* [[White Sheep]]: There is apparently one adult brother in Philly, Adrian, that did not pursue a criminal career, and instead became a dentist.

 

[[File:isabelle-jeunet_small_502.jpg|frame|"Do you bathe?"]]

 

The French owner of the haute couture dress shop ''La Belle Femme'', set next to the Ritz-Carlton Hotel. Nucky forces her to fire her long time assistant and give the job to Margaret in order to help her, and she doesn't take it well at all (nor makes any attempt to hide it). Played by Anna Katarina.

* [[Bad Boss]]: To Margaret, and after she leaves, to her replacement.

* [[French Jerk]]

* [[This Is My Name on Foreign|This Is Your Name On Foreign]]: She addresses Margaret as "Marguerite".

 

[[File:annabelle-BE_4670.png|frame|"Us girls all help each other here. You know, the concubines."]]

 

A long-time mistress for rich men, she becomes Margaret's neighbor and sort of friend after she accepts to move to a mansion paid by Nucky. Played by Megan Reinking.

* [[False Friend]]: She ceases all contact with Lucy after she's thrown out and only hangs out with Margaret because she's with Nucky now, showing she holds friends in the same esteem as boyfriends.

* [[Five-Finger Discount]]: She has amassed almost $4000 by stealing whatever is in Harry's pocket when he is sleeping. Unfortunately for her, he discovers her stash and invests it in the [[Trope Maker|original]] [[Ponzi]] scheme.

* [[Single Mom Stripper]]

 

[[File:Rose-Van-Alden_8690.png|frame|"I want to give you a son, Nelson."]]

 

Agent Van Alden's very proper, very Christian wife. She wants to be a good woman and [[Law of Inverse Fertility|desires a child more than anything in the world]]. She also worships the ground her husband walks on, at least for now. Played by Enid Graham.

* [[All Women Are Prudes]]: She dresses conservatively and only has sex with the lights off.

* [[The Dog Bites Back]]: Rose is ''not'' okay with Nelson {{spoiler|getting Lucy pregnant and intending to keep her baby and pass it off as theirs}}, no matter how desperately she wants a child. She {{spoiler|slaps and bites him in a confrontation after Abigail's birth, and two episodes later, serves Nelson with divorce papers}}.

* [[Women Are Wiser]]: Though a conservative Christian, she has the common sense to put her beliefs aside when the situation requires. She considers surgery in order to cure her sterility and {{spoiler|she takes care of Lucy right after she gives birth instead of trying to blame her for her husband's infidelity}}. She also has an easier time displaying her emotions and showing preoccupation for her husband's well being, in contrast to her spouse's icy demeanor.

 

[[File:Lenore-White_1595.jpg|frame|"Albert, you have a family waiting that loves you."]]

 

Chalky's wife, a highly-educated and well-spoken woman. She tries her best to "civilize" him and further the educations of their three children. Played by Natalie Wachen.

* [[Apron Matron]]

* [[But Not Too Black]]: In the language of the times, she's referred to as "high-yellow".

* [[Women Are Wiser]]

 

[[File:10228610-large_8579.jpg|frame|"I can make your life very difficult, Mr. Neary. In fact, I might enjoy it."]]

 

The current Assistant US Attorney prosecuting Nucky for election rigging. Unlike her predecessor, who was on the take, she represents a challenge to Nucky because of her professionalism and the fact that she can't be bought by [[Hookers and Blow|the usual means]] since she is a teetotaler and [[Captain Obvious|a woman]]. She is also assigned the same room where Van Alden has his office, causing conflict with him. Played by Julianne Nicholson.

* [[Brainy Brunette]]

* [[Deadpan Snarker]]

* [[Sympathetic Inspector Antagonist]]

 

 

Eli's trusted, big, and dumb as a brick [[Number Two]] in the AC Police Department. Played by Adam Mucci.

* [[The Brute]]

* [[Butt Monkey]]

* [[Undying Loyalty]]: To Eli again. {{spoiler|Subverted ''big time'' once he realizes that Eli was complicit in his beating for talking to Esther Randolph}}.

 

[[File:Dunn-Purnsley_3187.png|frame|"What I don't like 'bout you?"]]

 

A large and intimidating Baltimore criminal that Chalky meets in jail. After being on the receiving end of a [[No-Holds-Barred Beatdown|beat-down]] from Chalky and his men, he becomes Chalky's [[Number Two]]. Played by Eric LaRay Harvey.

* [[Angry Black Man]]: The 1920's version thereof.

* [[Ascended Extra]]: Was supposed to only be in "Ourselves Alone", but the creative team loved his performance so much they brought him back as Chalky's new [[Number Two]].

 

== Historical Figures ==

 

[[File:Al_Capone_2_5206.jpg|frame|"[[Pre-Ass-Kicking One-Liner|I'm makin' a statement.]]"]]

 

Introduced as a low-ranking thug, he will soon [[From Nobody to Nightmare|become a notorious crime boss]]. He develops an odd friendship with Jimmy and is Torrio's right-hand man. Played by Stephen Graham.

* [[Brooklyn Rage]]

* [[The Dragon]]: To Torrio, though history tells us he's likely a [[Dragon with an Agenda]].

* [[Young Future Famous People]]

 

[[File:johnny-torrio-BE_4974.jpg|frame|"Let's say the whole thing was a series of misunderstandings."]]

 

The current Italian crime boss of Chicago, he was the [[Number Two]] to Big Jim Colosimo before he made the error of not getting into the illegal alcohol business and was [[Deadly Euphemism|forcibly retired]]. Torrio is, however, far from being ruthless and always tries to use diplomacy first when dealing with other gangsters. Played by Greg Antonacci.

* [[Affably Evil]]: Easily the nicest mafioso seen in the series.

* [[Benevolent Boss]]: For a mob boss, he's pretty nice to his employees. He treats the girls at the bordello well, and takes Al under his wing.

* [[Team Switzerland]]: For now, at least. In season one, he spent most of his time mediating between New York (Rothstein and Luciano), Philadelphia (the D'Alessios), and Atlantic City (Nucky). In season two, he seems to be staying out of things entirely, and the Young Turks seem to regard him as less of a threat than Nucky or Rothstein - probably due to Capone's protectiveness.

 

[[File:Colosimo-BE_2474.png|frame|"You should all come to my restaurant. If you like to eat, you eat. If you don't like to eat... uh-hu-hu."]]

 

An old style mafioso and mob boss of Chicago till he retired in early 1920 [[Running Joke|on account of a bullet to his head]]. Played by Frank Crudele.

* [[Completely Missing the Point]]: Due to his limited understanding of English.

* [[The Don]]

* [[Sacrificial Lamb]]: He's set up to be a pretty big deal... and then he gets killed during the ''pilot''.

 

 

[[File:arnold-rothstein_1284.jpg|frame|"Reputation takes a lifetime to build and only seconds to destroy."]]

 

A high-level Jewish gangster with his fingers in every pie in New York. He rigged the 1919 World Series and is being investigated for it, but is a much more level-headed crime boss than any of the others. Played by Michael Stulhbarg.

* [[Badass in a Nice Suit]]

* [[Bad Guys Play Pool]]

* [[You Have Failed Me...]]: There's definite hints of this in Sason 2, when after being displeased by Luciano and Lansky, he has them serve as [[Mooks|muscle]] in [[Reassigned to Antarctica|transporting a liquor shipment]]. [[The Starscream|They begin to plan accordingly]].

 

[[File:lucky-luciano-BE_1648.jpg|frame|"I'll fucking bury this in your fucking head!"]]

 

Rothstein's [[The Dragon|number two]], an angry, hot-blooded young man prone to violent outbursts. Really doesn't like Jimmy, especially when his plan to sleep with Jimmy's wife goes sideways and Lucky ends up having an affair with Jimmy's ''mother'' instead. Played by Vincent Piazza.

* [[The Aggressive Drug Dealer]]: He's just starting this aspect of his business, but he spends most of season two trying to get Jimmy and Capone to sell heroin. He succeeds in bringing Rothstein into the heroin trade in "To the Lost".

* [[The Brute]]

* [[Young Future Famous People]]

 

[[File:meyer-lansky-BE_3105.jpg|frame|"Nobody wants to be in school forever."]]

 

Rothstein's other main enforcer, he instead relies upon his intelligence and guile (as opposed to brute force) to get ahead in the world of bootlegging. Played by Anatol Yusef.

* [[Affably Evil]]: Lansky is excruciatingly polite to almost everyone.

* [[All Jews Are Cheapskates]]: Wants very much to dispel this assumption, thinking that if he and Luciano carry around fake watches to sell, they'll look bad.

* [[Young Future Famous People]]

 

 

[[File:eddie-cantor_tv0_6753.jpg|frame|"Lovely girl. Lovely family. Her father died of a throat ailment: They hanged him."<ref>Bad-dum tsk!</ref>]]

 

A prominent Vaudeville actor and comedian of the era. He is also a personal friend of Nucky and Lucy. Played by Stephen DeRosa.

* [[Camp Straight]]: While as in history, he's presumably straight, he has rather flamboyant mannerisms that would qualify him as this due to [[Values Dissonance]].

* [[The Cast Showoff]]: Stephen DeRosa sings the [[Crowning Music of Awesome|Crowning Song Of Awesome]] of the Season 1 finale while in character as Cantor.

* [[Seinfeld Is Unfunny]]: His comedic number in the pilot can come as this.

 

[[File:hague_boardwalkempire_9053.jpg|frame|"I'm just proposing we call a spade, a spade."]]

 

The corrupt mayor of Jersey City. Unlike his homologues in Atlantic City who are just pawns of Nucky, he is in full charge of his town and deals with Nucky himself. Played by Chris Mulkey.

* [[Chronic Backstabbing Disorder]]: He could apparently side, backstab and come back to Nucky multiple times in the same week. [[wikipedia:Frank Hague|History]] tells us that he was already doing that years before the timeframe of the show.

* [[Demoted to Extra]]: He only appears in the second season to introduce Jack Dempsey to Nucky.

* [[Straw Misogynist]]: He is put in his place by Margaret right after his introduction.

 

[[File:BE_Nan-Britton_5639.png|frame|"He loves me. And he loves his baby daughter. But America needs him, and so I have to sacrifice."]]

 

Former mistress of Senator and later President [[Warren Harding]] and mother of a baby daughter, she is completely deluded that Harding is in love with her and that he will dump his wife and take her to the White House as soon as he wins the 1920 election. She meets Nucky during a Republican convention in Chicago, who decides to take her to Atlantic City and place her in Margaret's house until the election is over in order to avoid a scandal. Played by Virginia Kull.

* [[Clingy Jealous Girl]]

* [[The Ditz]]: Not the brightest bulb in the box.

* [[Wide-Eyed Idealist]]

 

[[File:christopher-mcdonald-boardwalk-empire_9231.jpg|frame|"Suppose I play ball."]]

 

The ''massively'' corrupt campaign manager of Warren Harding and US Attorney General after his presidential election. Nucky uses his connections to help Harding get the nomination in exchange for some favors in the future, but when he finally needs them Daugherty just keeps making excuses. Played by Christopher McDonald.

* [[I Lied]]: He phones Nucky twice to tell him that, in essence, he is not saving his ass.

* [[The Man Behind the Man]]: To Harding.

* [[Stock Visual Metaphors|Visual Metaphor]]: He puts on [[Convenient Color Change|green shoes]] when he decides to sell Nucky down the river in order to save himself.

 

[[File:remus-boardwalk-empire_9696.jpg|frame|"[[Third Person Person|Remus]] owns the trucks that hijack his own liquor."]]

 

[[Third Person Person|George Remus]] is a prominent Cincinnati lawyer and major supplier of "legal" alcohol, as Remus exploits a loophole in the Volstead Act that permits its trade for medicinal purposes. Played by Glenn Fleshler.

* [[Amoral Attorney]]

* [[Double-Speak]]: Remus is a master of it.

* [[Verbal Tic]]

 

[[File:Bill_Fallon_BE_3984.jpg|frame|"$80 per hour. Which also will buy you my uncanny ability to make friends with judges."]]

 

Arnold Rothstein's silver-tongued lawyer, tasked with keeping him out of being prosecuted for rigging the 1919 World Series. He returns in Season 2 to take Nucky's defense in his election-rigging case. Played by David Aaron Baker.

* [[Amoral Attorney]]

* [[Deadpan Snarker]]

* [[Screw the Rules, I Have Connections]]: Fallon has all the judges in New York in his pocket, and has a self-described "talent at winning over juries."

 

A teenaged hoodlum, working as a gofer for Lansky and Luciano. He's a bit strange, but he hasn't started shooting people yet. Played by Michael Zegen.

* [[The Artful Dodger]]: Is most likely all of 15, yet hangs around gambling dens and gangsters.

* [[Deadpan Snarker]]

* [[Young Future Famous People]]