How It All Goes Down
The Golden Age of Nucky
- Nucky's regular driver is out of town, so poor Joe Hamilton has to stand in this evening. Although he's known about Nucky's proclivities, he didn't quite expect to look back and see Nucky getting frisky in the back seat with one of his many gal pals.
- Nucky was born in 1883 in a small "bayside farming village" (5.4) just north of Atlantic City. He first became acquainted with the city's political system after his dad became a sheriff in the region. Although Nucky married his high-school sweetheart, Mabel Jeffries, tragedy soon struck and she died in 1913, leaving Nucky to focus even more on politics.
- The newly-crowned boss has learned a thing or two from the whole Woodrow Wilson debacle. Specifically, if he's going to maintain his hold over Atlantic City, Nucky will need to "become a force statewide" (4.15).
- This is where Walter Edge comes in. Although Edge was born and bred in corrupt Atlantic City, he's actually an honest dude—and a perfect candidate for governor. Some political shenanigans and plenty of voter fraud later, Nucky now has a trusted comrade for governor. Winning.
- In 1919, Congress passes the Volstead Act, which bans the production and sale of alcohol throughout the United States. Although you might expect this to hurt Atlantic City, it's actually the best thing that ever happened to the town. After all, it's not like Atlantic City ever cared about liquor laws before—why start now? Basically, "as far as Atlantic City was concerned, the 18th amendment [...] never existed" (5.25). Ha. And with this, more visitors than ever flock to Atlantic City. The city even becomes a popular spot for business conventions, for reasons that should be obvious.
- By the 1920s, Atlantic City is going wild. There are popular shows playing every night, tons of visitors ambling about the boardwalk, and—yes—enough illegal activity to go around. Nucky rules his town like a king, strolling the Boardwalk with his right-hand-man Louis Kessel and showing up at every major event.
- The most important key to this success is the structure of Nucky's organization. Nucky hand-selects each employee, making it perfectly clear that they'll need to stay "in the good graces of the organization" (5.61) to keep their jobs.
- Similarly, Nucky used ward leaders—low-level politicians who oversee individual neighborhoods—to further solidify his power. These ward leaders ensure that regular folk have everything they need to get by, and that they know that everything comes from Nucky.
- Not everyone is happy with Nucky's style, though (shocking, we know). An organization called "'the Committee of One Hundred'" (5.69) forms, dedicated to exposing corruption in Atlantic City. This has happened before, but never from Atlantic City residents.
- In the late 1920s, Nucky joins a group called the Seven Group. Founded by mobster Meyer Lansky, it consists of leaders from all of the East Coast's major crime groups.
- This relationship comes to a head in 1929, when Lansky's protégé Lucky Luciano calls a meeting of all of the major bosses. Where else but Atlantic City could this happen? Naturally, Nucky plays a great host. Though this meeting doesn't end with a group hug or anything, it does set the stage for the first nationwide crime syndicate. Hey—it's something, right?