130 Fun Facts About Boardwalk Empire

Which actor plays Nucky Thompson in Boardwalk Empire?

Steve Buscemi looks nothing like the burly real boss; the show's creator said casting for likeness would have meant James Gandolfini, so he simply went after the best actor.

As Boardwalk Empire begins, what job does Jimmy Darmody do for Nucky Thompson?

His driver is all Jimmy is when the series opens; offered nothing better than a clerk's job under a ward boss, he hijacks a liquor shipment to prove he deserves more.

Which Sopranos writer created Boardwalk Empire?

Terence Winter never pitched the show: the network handed him a history of Atlantic City, told him to find a series in it, and he chose the Prohibition years.

Which famous film director directed the pilot episode of Boardwalk Empire?

Martin Scorsese directed only the pilot, yet it fixed the style the whole series followed; he stayed on as an executive producer and never directed another episode.

In Boardwalk Empire's pilot, Jimmy Darmody warns Nucky that he can no longer be what?

Half a gangster is Jimmy's phrase as he hands Nucky a cut of the hijacking money; two seasons later Nucky proves him right by shooting Jimmy himself.

Boardwalk Empire's episode "Family Limitation" is named after a birth-control pamphlet by which activist?

Margaret Sanger wrote Family Limitation in 1914; in the episode an older friend hands Margaret a copy as she weighs whether to move in with Nucky.

When Boardwalk Empire opens, what is Nucky Thompson's official post in Atlantic County?

Treasurer is only his title: Nucky really controls the county as its political boss, leading a double life as a politician and a gangster.

What is Nucky Thompson's real first name in Boardwalk Empire?

Enoch is the name behind the nickname; when Margaret offers to name her baby after him in the pilot, Nucky replies that she couldn't possibly be so cruel.

Whose 2002 non-fiction book inspired Boardwalk Empire?

Nelson Johnson was a lawyer for Atlantic City's planning board who went to the library to learn why City Hall was so dysfunctional, and the research grew into the book.

In Boardwalk Empire's first season, whom does Van Alden force to inject a dying witness with cocaine?

A dentist is where Van Alden stops on the road to New York once the man starts to fade; the drug rouses him just long enough to name Jimmy, who then has to flee town.

In season one of Boardwalk Empire, who does Lucky Luciano wrongly take Gillian Darmody to be?

Jimmy's wife is who Luciano thinks he has seduced while hunting Jimmy for Rothstein; it is Rothstein who tells him that Gillian is in fact Jimmy's mother.

Which act of Congress, enforcing Prohibition, takes effect at midnight in Boardwalk Empire's pilot?

The Volstead Act takes force as the clock strikes twelve, and Nucky's guests toast the death of alcohol and the bootlegging fortunes a dry country will bring them.

Which band performs "Straight Up and Down", the opening theme of Boardwalk Empire?

The Brian Jonestown Massacre recorded it in 1996; the show's creator wanted the unexpected, so psych rock rather than a Charleston plays over the 1920s title sequence.

In Boardwalk Empire, which actor plays Jimmy Darmody, Nucky's protégé who returns from World War I?

Michael Pitt lasted two seasons: once Jimmy backs a failed attempt on Nucky's life, Nucky shoots him himself, an ending the writers settled on early in season two.

Which university did Jimmy Darmody leave to serve in the war?

Princeton is where Jimmy studied until he beat up a professor who had made a pass at his mother; he left for the Army straight afterwards.

Who plays Margaret, the Irish immigrant who becomes Nucky's mistress and later wife, in Boardwalk Empire?

Kelly Macdonald's Margaret first appears as a pregnant housewife asking Nucky to find her husband a job; within a season she is living with the county's leading bootlegger.

Which actor plays Prohibition agent Nelson Van Alden?

Michael Shannon's Van Alden begins as a straight-arrow Prohibition agent hunting Nucky and ends the series as hired muscle for Al Capone, the kind of man he once chased.

What alias does Nelson Van Alden adopt while living as a fugitive in Chicago?

George Mueller is the name Van Alden lives under after killing his partner and fleeing Atlantic City; he keeps it to the end, even as a Chicago gangster's enforcer.

In Boardwalk Empire, which condition does Al Capone's young son Sonny have?

Deafness: when Sonny is bullied at school in season three, Capone tries to teach the boy to fight, pushes him too hard, and ends up singing to a son who cannot hear him.

Which actor plays the gambler Arnold Rothstein in Boardwalk Empire?

Michael Stuhlbarg's Rothstein is a feared card shark until season four, when a losing night at poker shows Nucky a man with a gambling problem and costs him a Florida deal.

Which English actor plays the young Al Capone in Boardwalk Empire?

Stephen Graham plays Al Capone from low-level Chicago hood to mob boss, ending the series on his way into court to answer for what his seized ledgers show.

Which actor plays Albert "Chalky" White?

Michael Kenneth Williams plays Chalky White, who repackages and distributes Nucky's whiskey and, just as usefully, delivers the Black voters that Nucky's machine depends on.

What is the name of Nucky's loyal German butler?

Eddie Kessler seems the gentlest man on the show, but season four reveals why he left Germany: he ran out on his wife and children, a shame federal agents use against him.

What does Richard Harrow wear to cover the war wound to his face?

A tin mask, painted to mirror the intact side of his face, hides the wound; the sculptor Anna Coleman Ladd made such masks for disfigured soldiers in wartime France.

Who plays the disfigured war veteran Richard Harrow?

Jack Huston's Harrow is a contract killer, yet after Jimmy's death he becomes the caretaker of Jimmy's orphaned young son.

What was Richard Harrow's role in the US Army during World War I?

Richard Harrow served as a sharpshooter, a skill he keeps using as a hitman; the war cost him his left eye, upper jaw and most of his left cheekbone.

In which state is Richard Harrow's home town of Plover, where his twin sister lives?

Wisconsin is where Richard's twin sister Emma nursed him after the war; he left as soon as he could look after himself and only goes home to her in season four.

Who plays Gillian Darmody, Jimmy's mother?

Gretchen Mol's Gillian starts the series as a showgirl and by season three is a madam, running an upscale brothel out of the Commodore's old mansion.

Which mentor of Nucky's, called the Commodore, is played by Dabney Coleman?

Louis Kaestner built the city's machine and put Nucky in charge of it; in season two the Commodore allies with Jimmy and Eli to take Atlantic City back from him.

Owen Sleater, who has an affair with Margaret, arrives in Atlantic City as a member of which organization?

The Irish Republican Army brings Owen to America as bodyguard to one of its fundraisers; when the man sails home, Owen stays behind and goes to work for Nucky.

Who plays the season-three villain Gyp Rosetti in Boardwalk Empire?

Bobby Cannavale's Gyp Rosetti is an easily offended hothead whose crew overruns Atlantic City in season three, forcing Nucky to go on the run until Capone arrives to help.

Who plays Dr. Valentin Narcisse, the Harlem antagonist of season four?

Jeffrey Wright plays Dr. Valentin Narcisse, a doctor of divinity and Black nationalist orator whose men, all the while, push heroin into Chalky White's community.

What is Roy Phillips, the businessman who courts Gillian in season four, secretly?

A Pinkerton detective hired by the Commodore's old lawyer, Roy fakes a killing of his own so that Gillian will confess to drowning a young drifter in her bathtub.

Which university does Eli's son Willie Thompson attend?

Temple is where Willie's revenge prank on a bully leaves a schoolmate dead; Nucky bribes the prosecutor to free him, Willie drops out, and by season five he is a prosecutor himself.

What is Mickey Doyle's real surname in Boardwalk Empire?

Kuzik is the Polish name he was born with; shortly before the series begins he swaps it for Doyle so that he can pass as Irish-American.

Which real Chicago boss, Al Capone's employer, does Greg Antonacci play throughout Boardwalk Empire?

Greg Antonacci plays Johnny Torrio, who hands Chicago to Capone and retires, then turns up in season five secretly plotting with Luciano to have Nucky killed.

Which actress plays Esther Randolph, the federal prosecutor who pursues Nucky in Boardwalk Empire?

Julianne Nicholson's Randolph spends season two trying to jail Nucky and season three working with him, once both want the Attorney General brought down.

Which real Attorney General, played by Christopher McDonald, does Nucky pay off in Boardwalk Empire?

Harry M. Daugherty takes Nucky's money through a bagman, then in season three tries to leave him to take the political fall for the administration's scandals.

Which real Treasury Secretary does James Cromwell play in Boardwalk Empire?

Andrew W. Mellon gets an offer from Nucky: let him run the whiskey distillery Mellon owns and, in return, have a rival bootlegger indicted.

Which real vaudeville star is played by Stephen DeRosa in Boardwalk Empire?

Stephen DeRosa plays Eddie Cantor, who turns down a part opposite Nucky's mistress until Chalky White pays him a visit and changes his mind.

What is the name of the Tampa speakeasy owner played by Patricia Arquette?

Sally Wheet becomes Nucky's partner and lover in Florida; in season five she is shot dead at a Cuban checkpoint while trying to talk her way past a patrol.

In Boardwalk Empire, Valentin Narcisse is a devoted follower of which real Harlem leader?

Marcus Garvey's movement gives Narcisse his respectable face; arrested at the end of season four, he is freed by federal agents on condition that he inform on Garvey.

The 300-foot boardwalk set for Boardwalk Empire was built in which New York City borough?

Brooklyn got the boardwalk: after scouting the real Atlantic City and Asbury Park, the producers found it cheaper to build a replica on an empty lot and extend it digitally.

Where does Jimmy Darmody first meet Richard Harrow in Boardwalk Empire?

At an army hospital, both men are waiting to take a psychological test for veterans; Jimmy sees Richard's unease, lies to the nurses and gets them both out of it.

In Boardwalk Empire's first season, Arnold Rothstein faces indictment for fixing which 1919 event?

The World Series fix ends the season's gang war: Rothstein gives up the men who attacked Nucky in return for Nucky's political help in quashing the indictment.

Hardeen, a real performer who appears in Boardwalk Empire's first season, was the brother of which star?

Harry Houdini's younger brother toured as the escape artist Hardeen and billed himself as the brother of Houdini; the show puts his act on stage in Atlantic City.

Which Rothstein protégé does Anatol Yusef play in Boardwalk Empire?

Anatol Yusef plays Meyer Lansky, first seen as Rothstein's young associate and last seen beside Luciano as they gather the country's crime bosses into the Commission.

Which film did Boardwalk Empire's creator write, earning an Oscar nomination for the screenplay?

The Wolf of Wall Street was begun first: he started adapting Jordan Belfort's memoir in 2007, the film stalled, and it reached cinemas only once the series was in its fourth year.

How soon did HBO renew Boardwalk Empire for a second season?

After a single episode: the pilot drew 4.8 million viewers, the channel's biggest premiere audience in over six years, and a second season was ordered within days.

Boardwalk Empire's pilot drew HBO's biggest premiere audience since which series debuted in 2004?

Deadwood owed its big opening to its slot: it went out directly behind The Sopranos and drew heavily on that hit's 10.1 million viewers. Boardwalk Empire's pilot reached 4.8 million.

Which award did Boardwalk Empire's Volume 1 album win at the 54th Grammys?

Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media went to a Jazz Age album with no Charleston on it: the show's creator noted that the craze only took off in the mid-1920s, a point the story had not yet reached.

Which actress plays Lucy Danziger, Nucky's mistress when Boardwalk Empire begins?

Paz de la Huerta's Lucy is dropped for Margaret, has a baby by Agent Van Alden, then leaves the child with him and walks out of Atlantic City for good.

Which singer-songwriter performs "My Man" on the Boardwalk Empire Volume 1 soundtrack?

Regina Spektor sings 'My Man', which Fanny Brice, a comedian known for parodies and funny accents, performed completely straight in 1921; the serious number became her signature song.

Which award for best drama series did Boardwalk Empire win for its first season?

The Golden Globe came in January 2011, four months after the premiere; at that year's Emmys the show was nominated for best drama but won for directing and crafts instead.

Which director won the 2012 Emmy for the Boardwalk Empire season-two finale "To the Lost"?

Tim Van Patten had lost four times as a director of The Sopranos; 'To the Lost', the episode in which Nucky kills Jimmy, finally brought him the award.

Early in Boardwalk Empire's first season, where does Nucky arrange a job for Margaret?

A French dress shop takes Margaret on at Nucky's request, to the owner's fury: she must sack her experienced assistant, and Margaret soon has to face Nucky's mistress there.

What brand of whisky is being smuggled in the ambush that opens Boardwalk Empire's pilot?

Canadian Club is the cargo Rothstein has bought and Jimmy and Capone hijack; the episode opens on the ambush, then jumps back three days to show how it came about.

Where does Nucky give the keynote speech on the eve of Prohibition in Boardwalk Empire's pilot?

A Women's Temperance League rally hears Nucky condemn drink; he then leaves early for a supper club where the county's officials toast the fortunes Prohibition will bring them.

What is Mickey Doyle's funeral parlor really used for in Boardwalk Empire's pilot?

Mickey Doyle's funeral parlor is a front for distilling liquor; Jimmy punches Mickey there for tricking him into drinking formaldehyde.

Roughly how much does Arnold Rothstein win at Nucky's casino in Boardwalk Empire's pilot?

$90,000 at the tables leaves Nucky furious: he sees that Rothstein, who had asked to pay for his whiskey the next day, never meant to pay for it at all.

Which guest at Nucky's dinner in Boardwalk Empire's pilot declines to buy liquor, calling it too risky?

Big Jim Colosimo wants no part of bootlegging, and it costs him his life: his own deputy has him shot at the end of the pilot so that Chicago can move into liquor.

What startles Capone into opening fire during the hijacking in Boardwalk Empire's pilot?

A deer bolting from the woods startles Capone into firing, and a hijacking planned as bloodless ends with Jimmy and Capone gunning down Rothstein's men.

In Boardwalk Empire, who does Nucky have killed and framed for Jimmy's hijacking?

Hans Schroeder is beaten to death and dumped at sea after battering his pregnant wife into a miscarriage; when the body surfaces in a fishing net, Nucky pins the hijacking on him.

In Boardwalk Empire, which holiday celebration does Margaret sabotage by tipping off Van Alden?

St. Patrick's Day ends with Van Alden raiding Nucky's Celtic Dinner and smashing the beer barrels, because Margaret, ignored by Nucky, reported the garage where beer was stored.

Which political gathering does Nucky attend in Chicago in Boardwalk Empire's "Hold Me in Paradise"?

The Republican National Convention is where Nucky trades New Jersey's delegates to outsider Warren Harding, in return for sinking the senator who had denied him road money.

Which Philadelphia crime family allies with Rothstein against Nucky in Boardwalk Empire's first season?

The D'Alessio brothers rob Nucky's collectors and send a gunman after him; once Rothstein makes peace he gives up their hiding place, and Jimmy, Capone and Harrow kill them.

Where does Van Alden's confrontation with Agent Sebso end in "Paris Green"?

At a river baptism held by a Black congregation, Van Alden dunks Sebso again and again for refusing to repent and drowns him; the churchgoers who watched later help end his career.

Which real event does Boardwalk Empire's season-one finale, "A Return to Normalcy", build to?

The 1920 election: Harding wins the presidency on the slogan the title quotes, and Nucky's machine holds on at home by getting Edward Bader elected mayor.

What did Nucky's abusive father Ethan scar his hand with?

A fireplace poker left the scar on Nucky's hand; years later, shown around his renovated childhood home, he calmly strikes a match and burns the place down.

What drug does the disfigured prostitute Pearl become addicted to before her suicide?

Laudanum, an opium tincture, dulls the pain of Pearl's slashed face until she shoots herself; Jimmy later sees to it that Liam, the gangster who cut her, is killed.

What is Nucky arrested for at the start of season two?

Election fraud is the charge a deputy US attorney arrests Nucky on as the season-two premiere ends, an episode that opens with the Commodore's allies steering the Klan into attacking Chalky's warehouse.

In season two, what happens to the Commodore that forces Jimmy to take control of his operation?

A massive stroke leaves the Commodore unable to speak just as his coup against Nucky begins, so Jimmy has to run it; Eli later kills an alderman who threatens to talk.

What interrupts Richard Harrow's suicide attempt in the woods in "Gimcrack & Bunkum"?

A stray dog turns up as Richard puts a shotgun in his mouth; chasing it, he finds two hunters at a campfire who talk him into going on living.

Which disease strikes Margaret's daughter Emily in season two?

Emily contracts polio in season two and is left in leg braces; Margaret reads it as divine punishment for her life with Nucky and considers testifying against him.

What does Nucky offer the IRA in Ireland in exchange for Irish whiskey?

Surplus Army weapons, Thompson guns carried to Belfast in his father's coffin, buy Nucky the whiskey he then floods his home market with to undercut Jimmy.

Which Philadelphia gangster murders Angela Darmody in season two?

Philadelphia butcher-bootlegger Manny Horvitz shoots Angela and her lover Louise at the Darmody home, revenge for the failed hit Jimmy sent over a $5,000 debt.

Which alderman do Jimmy and Richard kill and stage as a suicide to help Nucky's case?

James Neary is forced at gunpoint to write a statement blaming Eli, then shot so that it looks like suicide; with the chief witness dead, Nucky's trial ends in a mistrial.

Where does Nucky kill Jimmy in Boardwalk Empire's season-two finale?

At the Atlantic City War Memorial, Jimmy arrives alone and unarmed, knowing the meeting is a trap, and tells Nucky he really died in the trenches; Nucky shoots him twice.

Whom does Margaret sign Nucky's valuable land deed over to at the end of season two?

Margaret signs the land over to her church, St. Finbar's, stripping Nucky of the acreage he planned to profit from in a road-construction deal.

Which real boxer appears in season two, played by Devin Harjes?

Jack Dempsey moves his training camp to the shore at Nucky's invitation, and his title fight with Georges Carpentier is the broadcast Jimmy and Richard listen to in the episode named after it.

Season three of Boardwalk Empire opens with Nucky's lavish Egyptian-themed party on which holiday?

New Year's Eve: as 1923 arrives, guest Gyp Rosetti learns Nucky will now sell liquor only to Rothstein, insults the whole room and storms out, starting the season's war.

Which product does the good samaritan mention before Rosetti beats him to death?

3-in-One Oil is the passing motorist's tip for Rosetti's rusted wheel nuts; Rosetti hears condescension in it, kills him with a tire iron and drives off with the man's dog.

Which small New Jersey town does Gyp Rosetti seize to blockade Nucky's shipments?

Tabor Heights sits about halfway up the coast road to New York and has the last gas station on the route, so holding the town lets Rosetti stop every one of Nucky's trucks.

Which Italian phrase from Nucky does Rosetti take as an insult, restarting the feud?

Buona fortuna, good luck, is Rosetti's own toast; when Nucky skips their farewell and sends it back in a note as 'bone for tuna', Rosetti takes offence and burns a sheriff alive.

Who carries out Rothstein's failed hit on Gyp Rosetti in season three?

Benjamin Siegel, the future 'Bugsy', gets into the building posing as a paperboy and kills several of Rosetti's men and the real delivery boy, but Gyp himself survives.

What is the name of the New York showgirl who becomes Nucky's mistress in season three?

Billie Kent, the Broadway showgirl played by Meg Chambers Steedle, becomes Nucky's mistress in season three and dies in the Babette's explosion meant for Nucky in 'The Pony'.

What job does Van Alden take in Chicago while on the run at the start of season three?

Clothing iron salesman is his cover in Chicago, where coworkers mock his failure to sell anything until he snaps and burns one tormentor's face with an iron.

Who kills Gyp Rosetti in Boardwalk Empire's season-three finale?

Tonino, on Nucky's orders, stabs his own boss as Gyp urinates on a beach, then is told to send the body to Gyp's New York backer and never come back.

Where is Owen Sleater killed in "A Man, a Plan..."?

During a hit on Masseria in New York, Owen is caught at a Turkish bathhouse and killed by Masseria's men, just after Margaret told him she was carrying his child.

Which Ohio bootlegger, played by Glenn Fleshler, does Nucky have arrested in season three?

George Remus speaks of himself in the third person, as the real Cincinnati bootlegger was known to do; his indictment is the price Nucky asks for running a cabinet secretary's whiskey plant.

Where does Richard Harrow meet Julia Sagorsky's father Paul?

At the American Legion, Richard watches Paul Sagorsky take a beating in a fight and looks after him until his daughter Julia comes to collect him, which is how the two meet.

In which season-three episode do Nucky and Eli reconcile during a dinner at Eli's home?

Sunday Best is the Easter episode: Nucky's family dines at Eli's house and the two men finally make peace, while Gyp Rosetti sits through dinner with in-laws who plainly do not respect him.

What is the name of Chalky's boardwalk venue in season four?

The Onyx Club opens on the site of Babette's, bombed the season before, and Chalky's first headache there comes when his right-hand man kills a booking agent.

Which real lawman turns out to be Agent Knox's true boss in season four?

J. Edgar Hoover, a rising Bureau of Investigation man, is the boss Knox secretly reports to; Knox later walks out of a meeting when Hoover takes the credit for his work.

What is Agent Warren Knox's real name?

Jim Tolliver is the name Gaston Means has known all along; his warning to Nucky about a 'skunk in the cellar' is what finally exposes the agent and shows that Eli has been turned.

How does Nucky's butler die in season four?

He jumps from his window after Agent Knox, threatening deportation over crimes in his past, forces him to give up a detail of Nucky's business; the guilt is more than he can bear.

Which hotel does Nucky live in during season four?

The Albatross Hotel, at the far end of the boardwalk, is where Nucky retreats after the Rosetti war, keeping out of the limelight he once courted at the Ritz-Carlton.

Which singer, booked into Chalky's club by Narcisse, begins an affair with Chalky in season four?

Daughter Maitland arrives as Narcisse's protégée, sent to work on Chalky, but when Dunn Purnsley comes to kill him she stabs Dunn instead and saves Chalky's life.

Which Capone brother is shot dead by deputized Chicago agents in season four?

Frank Capone is gunned down by police deputized for Cicero's 1924 election, much as the real Frank was; a grief-stricken Al later kills a policeman in the street.

Where does Chalky hide out with his old mentor Oscar Boneau in season four?

Havre de Grace, Maryland, is where Oscar Boneau, played by Louis Gossett Jr., takes Chalky in; the blind old man is shot dead when gunmen sent after Chalky storm the house.

Whom does Richard Harrow accidentally kill in Boardwalk Empire's season-four finale?

Chalky's daughter Maybelle steps in front of Narcisse in the instant Richard, who has hesitated too long, finally fires; she dies and one of Narcisse's guards shoots Richard.

Where does Richard Harrow die at the end of season four?

Under the pier, shot and bleeding, Richard dies picturing himself walking up to his sister's farmhouse, where his new family is waiting and his face is whole again.

How does Eli finally deal with Agent Knox in season four?

He kills him with his bare hands in a living-room brawl after the agent threatens his son Willie; Nucky then sends Eli to Chicago, where Van Alden is waiting for him.

As Boardwalk Empire's final season opens, young Nucky swims after what?

Coins: the Commodore throws them into the sea for local boys to chase, and Nucky comes up with none; the show's very last shot is of that boy in the ocean, finally catching one.

In Boardwalk Empire's 1897 flashbacks, what job does the young Nucky hold?

Deputy sheriff: the flashbacks follow Nucky from a boy doing odd jobs for the Commodore to a young lawman who is handed the sheriff's badge once his own boss quits in disgust.

Which rum company does Nucky court in Cuba at the start of season five?

Bacardi is the prize: betting that Prohibition will soon end, Nucky brings a US senator to Havana to win the company over and go legitimate.

Which mob boss is gunned down at a table after Luciano excuses himself in season five?

Joe Masseria is shot at the table once Luciano slips away to the washroom, the show's version of the real 1931 killing, arranged by his own lieutenant, that ended the Castellammarese War.

Which future political patriarch turns down Nucky's rum partnership in season five?

Joseph P. Kennedy, played by Matt Letscher, declines Nucky's rum partnership in season five, telling him that scotch and rum don't mix.

What scheme makes Nucky and Margaret a last fortune in Boardwalk Empire's finale?

Short-selling a stock: through the brokerage where Margaret works, Nucky bets against Mayflower Grain and cashes in as its other holders rush to dump their shares.

Which two movie stars visit Al Capone in Chicago in season five?

George Raft and Paul Muni turn up at Capone's side a year before they starred in Scarface, the crime film whose lead was modelled on Capone himself.

Who shoots Van Alden dead in season five?

Undercover agent Mike D'Angelo shoots Van Alden in the head as Van Alden lunges at Capone, silencing him before he can expose the federal investigation.

Who kills Mickey Doyle in "Friendless Child"?

Lucky Luciano, fed up with Mickey's patter in the middle of a hostage exchange, shoots him in the throat; getting Willie back alive then costs Nucky everything he owns.

In Boardwalk Empire's finale, what is the true identity of Joe Harper, the teenager who shoots Nucky?

Tommy Darmody, Jimmy's son, has hung around Nucky all season under a false name; he shoots him three times, once in the cheek, echoing how Nucky killed his father.

Where does Gillian Darmody spend Boardwalk Empire's final season?

In a mental hospital, by court order: its Dr Cotton is modelled on a real New Jersey asylum chief who pulled teeth and cut out organs to cure madness, and Gillian begs Nucky to free her.

Where is Narcisse assassinated in Boardwalk Empire's finale?

In front of his church in Harlem, Narcisse is shot dead on the orders of the New York bosses, who are busy founding the Commission that will govern American organized crime.

How is Chalky White killed in season five?

Executed by Narcisse's men, Chalky goes knowingly: he trades his life for the freedom of the singer he loved and her child, and for her new record to be heard.

Which four actors left Boardwalk Empire's main cast between seasons four and five?

Laciura, Huston, Livingston and Stuhlbarg all left after season four, their characters dead or written out when the story jumped ahead seven years; Ben Rosenfield was promoted in their place.

What flower did the real Nucky Johnson wear fresh daily on his lapel?

A red carnation, fresh each day, was his trademark, and he was just as open about his rackets: of the resort's whiskey, women and slot machines he said he would neither deny nor apologize for them.

Which nickname belonged to the real Nucky Johnson?

Czar of the Ritz: the real Nucky lived on the ninth floor of the boardwalk's Ritz-Carlton, and under his rule Prohibition went all but unenforced in Atlantic City.

What crime finally sent the real Nucky Johnson to prison in 1941?

Tax evasion on his racket income finally stuck in 1941: the real Nucky drew a ten-year sentence and was paroled after four, having married a showgirl just before he went in.

What was the name of the real Nucky Johnson's first wife?

Mabel Jeffries, his sweetheart since his teens, died in 1912 after six years of marriage; he is said to have taken to drink and the fast life only after her death.

What did the real Nucky Johnson host in May 1929?

A mob summit: Al Capone and other leading racketeers met in Atlantic City as his guests, and Capone was arrested for carrying a gun in Philadelphia straight afterwards.

Which political boss did the real Nucky Johnson succeed after a 1911 corruption trial?

Louis Kuehnle built the machine but was convicted in Governor Woodrow Wilson's 1911 clean-up of the resort; Johnson, indicted in the same sweep, walked free and took over.

Which real gangster is the bootlegger Mickey Doyle based on?

Mickey Duffy, a leading Philadelphia beer bootlegger, was shot dead in an Atlantic City hotel in 1931, the year the show's Doyle also meets his end.

What was Lucy Danziger's job before becoming Nucky's mistress?

Ziegfeld Follies dancer was Lucy's old life; she gave up the stage for Nucky, later bore Van Alden a daughter under a paid arrangement, and fled back to Broadway leaving the baby with him.

Which actor plays Eli Thompson, the sheriff of Atlantic County, in Boardwalk Empire?

Shea Whigham plays Eli, who betrays Nucky in season two, serves time for it, and ends the series as a drunken debt collector for Capone's outfit in Chicago.

Which Hollywood actor was an executive producer of Boardwalk Empire?

Mark Wahlberg never appears on screen: his part came earlier, when he and his producing partner optioned the book the series is based on.

Who plays Angela Darmody, Jimmy's wife?

Aleksa Palladino plays Angela, an artist who plans to flee to Paris with her lover Mary, a photographer's wife, only for the couple to leave without her.

How does Sigrid first enter Van Alden's household?

As his daughter's nanny, Sigrid follows Van Alden into hiding and marries him, then clubs a visiting Prohibition agent over the head to protect him, though the man had only come to complain.

Where does Chalky White first meet Dunn Purnsley?

In a jail cell: Purnsley needles Chalky until the other inmates, friends of Chalky's, beat him, yet he rises to be Chalky's second-in-command before defecting to Narcisse.