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Mickey Doyle
Mieczyslaw "Mickey Doyle" Kuzik
Played By: Paul Sparks
"You wanna dance, you pay the piper."note
Jimmy Darmody: "If you had a brain, you'd be dangerous."
A highly obnoxious Polish bootlegger who gives himself an Irish name because "it sounds better". He is also a rival to Chalky.
- Bad Boss
- Boisterous Weakling: He tries to use Manny Horvitz's mysterious murder to make some extra money. The real killer, Richard Harrow confronts him and he quickly reveals his true colours.
- Butt-Monkey: Mickey is mocked, humiliated and assaulted many times over the course of the series.
- Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: To the very end. This ends up getting him killed.
- Deadpan Snarker: He's always making snarky comments, none of which anyone finds as amusing as he does.
- Dirty Coward: Mickey's bravery vanishes the moment he's faced with an actual threat. When Richard Harrow kidnaps him, he turns into a pleading wreck almost instantly.
- Dumbass Has a Point: In Season 2, he repeatedly tells Jimmy not to underestimate or provoke Manny Horvitz (especially since, at the time, Jimmy genuinely does owe Manny money and Manny is being pretty reasonable about it,) and his calling out Jimmy for doing so is a rare display of courage from him.
- Fake Irish: In-Universe, a trait he takes from his inspiration, Mickey Duffy
. - The Friend Nobody Likes: Everyone hates Mickey. Even Nucky has no issue selling him out to Rothstein for a big enough sum.
- Greed: Above all else, the one and only thing that matters to Mickey is money.
- Harmless Villain: Only directly.
- Not-So-Harmless Villain: On the other hand, his agenda is guaranteed to have the phone of somebody that wants to kill you for one reason or another, and he has little qualms about using it were you to piss him off.
- Hoist by His Own Petard:
Word of God even states this word-for-word in relation to Mickey finally biting it. He jokingly asked Nucky for ownership of the club, only to have Nucky oblige him a minute before Luciano demands it. And Mickey just can't let it go... - The Hyena: He tends to punctuate his sentences with chuckles whenever he is excited about something. Doubles as Giggling Villain.
- Jerkass: Quite possibly the biggest in the series, as everyone who meets him hates his guts. Almost every single male character has either threatened to kill him or assaulted him.Nucky: I know a dozen people who'd kill Mickey for free.
- Karma Houdini:
- In the first season, he brings the D'Alessios to town and makes them target Nucky. The worst that happens to him for that is somebody spitting in his drink.
- A season later, Jimmy dishes up a little payback, but it's because Mickey pissed him off, not over Nucky. Even this proves to be a blessing in disguise since Mickey used his injuries to prove that he wasn't a willing ally of Jimmy. This saved him from being killed by Manny Horvitz.
- And then Lucky and Lansky use the life insurance policy he signed for Rothstein during the D'Alessios incident to cheat him into giving away his part of their shared business in Season 2. Call It Karma, indeed.
- Not that the life insurance has stopped him - in "To the Lost", he turns around and sets up a meet between Nucky and Manny Horvitz, which facilitates Jimmy's murder. Season 3 finds him once again working for Nucky, along with Manny. Eli even asks him: "How the fuck are you still alive?"
- In season 5, his luck finally runs out.
- Laughing at Your Own Jokes: His trademark laugh is usually a response to one of his own comments.
- Malaproper
- Never Speak Ill of the Dead: He shows very little decorum.Fuck it. He can't hear me anymore.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: Based on Mickey Duffy, a Philadelphia bootlegger.
- No Honor Among Thieves: He betrays everyone he works with at the first opportunity. Even other criminals with loose morals and a sense of pragmatism think he's a despicable weasel.
- Obfuscating Stupidity: While he often seems Too Dumb to Live, he's smarter than he looks and continues to live and succeed due to his amazing talent for backstabbing his associates at the right time.
- Pay Evil unto Evil: On the receiving end. Not many people feels sorry for him when Jimmy tosses him over the balcony at Babette's in "Two Boats and a Lifeguard". Not many tears are shed when Richard threatens him into a sobbing mess in front of Nucky.
- Pet the Dog: After slapping Eli's son Willie for trying to steal a box of booze, he allows Willie to take it anyway. So he's either a Jerk with a Heart of Gold inside or a Dirty Coward who was making sure that Willie wouldn't tell Eli...
- Rewarded as a Traitor Deserves: In Season 5, Mickey attempts to switch sides to Luciano, but is shot and killed as a result.
- The Stool Pigeon: His contacts include dirty Prohibition Agents.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: It turns out a well-known track record for betraying everyone you work with at the first chance and an obnoxious personality to boot are not exactly going to endear to people you try to ally with to save your own skin. When Mickey tries to ditch Nucky and join Luciano, Charlie simply shoots him dead on the spot.
- Too Dumb to Live: While not known for his intelligence, exploiting the death of Manny Horvitz and claiming the kill as his own when the real killer murdered him for personal reasons is probably the dumbest thing he could have done. Richard Harrow takes severe offense at someone else taking credit for his work.
- Finally played straight near the end of season 5, where he just can't keep his mouth shut while in the presence of Lucky Luciano and his crew, who were most certainly not there to play around.
- You Have Failed Me: Surprisingly averted. Despite making two colossal mistakes on the job, he was not killed.
- 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. On the other hand, the times he has been told this and managed to escape in one piece are so much by the third season that it begins to get lampshaded in the dialogue:Eli: Let me ask you something, Mickey. How the fuck are you still alive?
Bill McCoy
William Frederick "Bill" McCoy
Played By: Pearce Bunting
"See that scotch that keeps you warm at night? Don't you forget who put it there."
A veteran seaman that gives up fishing to become liquor smuggler, shipping it down from Canada and the Antilles and delivering it at night. He is Nucky's main supplier and a trusted ally.
- Artistic Licence – History: He is seen drinking on numerous occasions. The real William McCoy was teetotal.
- Berserk Button: He is incensed when the Commodore tries to recruit him to work against Nucky because he considers it akin to a mutiny.
- Chekhov's Skill: Cutting coconuts with a machete is not that different from hacking someone's head with the same.
- Drowning My Sorrows: "Acres of Diamonds", after Nucky turns down a deal he set up.
- Father Neptune
- Historical Domain Character
- Just Got Out of Jail: His historical arrest and jail time in late 1923 (after which he retired to Florida) happen offscreen and are referenced in "Acres of Diamonds".
- The Mole: In Season 3, Nucky tasks him to become Gyp Rosetti's supplier so he can report everything about Gyp's importing operation back to Nucky.
- Noble Bigot: Nope, he is not fond of Italians. Or the Irish. Or Jesus Christ.
- Sir Swears-a-Lot: He is a sailor after all.
- Undying Loyalty: To Nucky.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: His scoffing at the idea of rogue waves (which were considered an Urban Legend in the 1920s) seals Tonino's cousin's fate.
Archie Ortiz
Arquímedes César Plutarco "Archie" Gavilán y Ortiz
Played By: Paul Calderón
"I kill them. I don't kill them. Whatever you say."
A Cuban assassin who has become Nucky's latest bodyguard and muscle.
- Creepy Souvenir: Cuts off a single ear of those who he kills.
- Dashing Hispanic
- Gratuitous Spanish: He seems to understand English just fine, but is almost unable to speak it.
- Overly Long Name
- The Stoic: Doesn't speak or react much to anything.
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: To Owen Sleater and Richard Harrow, a foreign hitman and a cold-blooded proficient killer respectively.
Damien Fleming
Damien Fleming
Played By: Victor Verhaeghe
"Gosh, Nucky, I don't know what to say!"
One of the four original Ward Bosses of Atlantic City, later rewarded with a promotion to County Treasurer for remaining loyal to Nucky.- Affably Evil: It's debatable if he even counts as "evil", considering his only crime is working for Nucky Thompson politically.
- Conflicting Loyalty: Slips into Undying Loyalty rather quickly.
- Happily Married
- Mistaken for Racist: He assures Nucky that "spooks", among others, will help ensure a Republican electoral victory; after this elicits a Big "WHAT?!" from Chalky, he clarifies that he was referring to adding votes from dead people.
- Morality Pet: Nucky treats him as one in "Home".
- Nice Guy
- Only Sane Man: Of the Ward Bosses, Fleming is the only one to remain loyal during the attempted coup in Season 2. Ultimately his gut impulse to side with Nucky is right, as all of his fellow ward bosses end up dead or demoted.
- Token Good Teammate: Barely involved in the bootlegging business outside from collecting money and orders for Nucky and seems genuinely concerned about Nucky's well-being.
Sally Wheet
Sally Wheet
Played By: Patricia Arquette
"Anybody who says money doesn't buy happiness, doesn't know where to shop."
A no-nonsense single woman that runs a speakeasy frequented by gangsters in Tampa, Florida. She becomes Nucky's connection down south after he establishes an alternate shipping route through there.
- Action Girl: Not afraid to break out the shotgun on some unruly customers, or to captain a convoy of bootleg alcohol to make sure that it arrives in its destination. She also sleeps in the porch with the shotgun tucked to her side during the summer.
- The Bartender
- The Collector of the Strange: This being Florida, she has her bar littered with stuffed reptiles.
- Deadpan Snarker
- Dropped a Bridge on Her: In that her death comes about very suddenly as a consequence of the unrest in Cuba as opposed to something to do with Nucky's storyline.
- Foil: To Margaret. Both are poor women attracted to rich gangster Nucky, but Sally doesn't play wishful ignorance or fancy herself a good person. She also has a job and makes a point of earning her money and taking part in the bootlegging business rather than living off a man as a trophy girlfriend/wife. Finally, Sally's answer to when Nucky tries to slide into his Lonely at the Top routine is to shut him up with a punch rather than listening to any of it.
- Get A Hold Of Yourself Man: Nearly everything she says to Nucky.
- Iron Lady: A reliable, zero-nonsense commanding woman.
- One of the Boys: Does she even know other women?
- Operation: Jealousy: She flirts with Mickey Doyle, of all people, to rise Nucky's interest in her.
- Slap-Slap-Kiss: With Nucky in "The North Star".
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: A commanding, tough, bold, independent bartender who nonchalantly hangs around bad guys? She's Babette expanded to Love Interest. Downplayed a bit as Babette was a tertiary character.
Owen Sleater
Owen Sleater
Played By: Charlie Cox
"What's the sense in doing something half wrong?"
A former bodyguard for a 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.- Affably Evil: He's a cheeky, likable guy whose back story (as discussed in 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 1920 Bloody Sunday.
- Anyone Can Die: Dies off-screen after getting caught trying to whack Joe Masseria.
- Boom, Headshot!: When his body is found he has two bullet holes in one side of the head.
- The Casanova: He admits that he has a history of entering houses through the balcony and seems to lose interest in Katy altogether after he gets in her bed.
- Doomed by Canon: He is sent to kill Joe Masseria in 1923 when history says Masseria will stay in the picture for a few more years.
- The Dragon: Becomes Nucky's in Season 3.
- Dragon with an Agenda: Owen never was the most loyal henchman and will pursue his own goals even if they clash with those of his boss, be it in Ireland or in America.
- Dropped a Bridge on Him: A very savvy enforcer who is killed offscreen. On the other hand the sudden reveal of his corpse makes up for it.
- Expy: Of Furio of The Sopranos. Both are seasoned muscle from "the old country" who are hired by the ethnic-American gangster protagonist, becoming his dragon, they are characterized by being likable Mr. Fanservice but also more ruthless than their American counterparts. Both have a sexual tension with the wife of the boss, resolved in Owen's case, and for different reasons, they don't stay around too long.
- The Hunter Becomes the Hunted: Masseria and his men turn the tables in what was planned as Masseria's Deadly Bath.
- Punch-Clock Villain: He prefers to be in America making "a big pile of dosh" with the mob to the fight for Irish independence. In Season 3 Nucky forces him to confess that he is only loyal because he gets paid for it.
- Replacement Goldfish: In-universe. "To the Lost" has Owen and Jimmy commenting on how he's taken over for Jimmy's old job.
- Retirony: Starts to plan a new life outside of crime, kicks the bucket not long afterwards.
- Worthy Opponent: Recognizes Richard Harrow as one and is likewise recognized by Richard as this.
- You Can't Go Home Again: 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.
Ray Halloran
Sheriff's Deputy Raymond "Ray" Halloran
Played By: Adam Mucci
"You killed Mary Pickford?"
Eli's trusted, large, and dumb as a brick Number Two in the AC Police Department.- Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal: He refuses to give Esther Randolph any information that would incriminate Eli. However, Eli knows he met with her and is afraid that Halloran is being a Stool Pigeon, so Eli orders a brutal No-Holds-Barred Beatdown to be inflicted on Halloran. Within seconds of realizing that Eli was behind it Halloran starts giving Randolph all the information she needs.
- No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: He confesses to his role in Hans Schroeder's murder and agrees to testify against Nucky and Eli in exchange for a plea deal. However, since the case against them is ultimately dismissed, Halloran is found sole murderer of Schroeder and sent to Leavenworth to serve a long prison sentence, perhaps for life.
- Politically Incorrect Villain: He is racist and possibly misogynist.
- The Starscream: Becomes one in "Georgia Peaches", in contrast with his behaviour up to that point.
- Undying Loyalty: To Eli again. Subverted big time once he realizes that Eli was complicit in his beating for talking to Esther Randolph.
James Neary
James "Jim" Neary
Played By: Robert Clohessy
"To the Irish — they drink when they're happy, they drink when they're sad."
A boisterous Alderman of Atlantic City and former beat cop, who participates in the attempted coup against Nucky.- Ate His Gun: Force-fed his gun by Richard Harrow.Neary: Real nice, fellas. A fuckin confession signed at gunpoint.
Darmody: It's not just a confession.
Harrow: It's a suicide note.
- Officer O'Hara: He was born in Wicklow County, eastern Ireland.
- He Knows Too Much: Neary refuses to recant his testimony against Nucky when Jimmy orders him to do so as part of his Hazy-Feel Turn at the end of Season 2. Nucky then has Jimmy and Richard murder Neary and make it look like a suicide, making him write a note exculpating Nucky before pulling the trigger.
- One-Steve Limit: One of the most notables among many other aversions, as he shares a given name with main character James Darmody, though you'd have a hard time mistaking the two.
- Politically Incorrect Villain: Does a cringe-worthy impression of a black man in "Georgia Peaches".
- Sex Signals Death: Porks the secretary one last time before his demise.
- The Starscream: He is the most enthusiastic of Nucky's minions that decide to betray him. This is because he got arrested for stashing the alcohol to Nucky's Irish-American club party, and Nucky denied involvement in order to protect himself.
George O'Neill
George O'Neill
Played By: William Hill
"The little bastard called me fat."
An Alderman of Atlantic City who joins the coup against Nucky in Season 2.
- Accidental Murder: His shouting leads a drunken Eli to strike him in the neck with a wrench, just to shut him up.
- Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: After the D'Alessio brothers have mugged O'Neill, robbed the casino and shot Eli, O'Neill is still peeved about Pius making fun of his weight.
- Conflicting Loyalty: Unlike Fleming, he ends choosing the wrong side.
- Dirty Coward: He has every intention of abandoning the coup and returning to Nucky on his hands and knees once he learns that the Commodore's had a stroke, and instantly panics when Eli stands up to dissuade him.
- Facial Horror: His face gets caved in with a wrench.
- Finishing Move: Inverted. Eli accidentally seals George's fate with a wrench to the throat, then proceeds into the messy task of finishing him off.
- Heel–Face Door-Slam: When he realizes that the Commodore is out of commission, he tries to run back to Nucky with his tail tucked between his legs, but a drunken Eli beats him to death.
- Sickening "Crunch!": Every crushed bone is heard as Eli beats him to death.
Al Boyd
Al Boyd
Played By: Edward Mc Ginty
"Psychology."
The fourth original Ward Boss of Atlantic City who participates in the coup against Nucky.
- Out of Focus: The one alderman you see or hear from less.
- Punishment Detail: Demoted to janitor after his role in the failed coup.
Paddy Ryan
Patrick "Paddy" Ryan
Played By: Samuel Taylor
"My reputation is on the line!"
The young Chief Clerk of Atlantic City's Fourth Ward, and participant in the coup against Nucky.- Always Someone Better: Jimmy hates him purely because he was appointed to a position that he felt entitled to for being Nucky's pupil. Keep in mind that Jimmy had just returned from an unexplained absence of three years.
- Foil: Serves to show us how Jimmy probably would have ended up if he'd stayed in Princeton.Jimmy: Good old Paddy Ryan. How's politics?
Paddy: Swell. Nucky's taking real good care of me.
Jimmy: Oh, really? Then he must have pimped your mother out as well. - Only in It for the Money: He turns on Nucky as soon as he is proposed to by the Commodore.
- Put on a Bus: After the coup fails, Paddy Ryan is quietly removed from the show.
- Replacement Goldfish: Nucky's replacement for Jimmy after he ran off and joined the war. Nucky rubs Jimmy's face in it during the pilot, when he appoints him as Paddy's "man friday".
Isaac Ginsburg
Isaac "Gicky" Ginsburg
Played By: Peter Van Wagner
"My friend, you need to have a chat with your lawyer."
Nucky's attorney. He schemes to have Nucky's trial-rigging case taken to federal court with the hope of using his connections with Harry Daugherty.- Didn't See That Coming: It does not occur to him that Daugherty might sell-out Nucky to save his own skin.
- Dirty Old Man: Just like the people he hangs with.
- "Eureka!" Moment: When he finds out Nucky has shipped prostitutes across state lines. This gives him the idea to take the case federal.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: When his trial strategy backfires, and Nucky finds himself at the mercy of a competent and straight-arrow prosecutor and his connections nowhere to be found.
- Screw the Rules, I Have Connections!: He plans on using Nucky's relationship with Daugherty to get the charges dropped.
- You Have Failed Me: Nucky fires Ginsburg after his gambit backfires.
Nucky's Domestic Servants
Eddie Kessler
Edward Anselm "Eddie" Kessler
Played By: Anthony Laciura
"I tend only to you. That is all I do. That is my life."
Nucky's bumbling and put-upon German butler who is extremely loyal to him.- Battle Butler: Surprisingly.
- Beware the Nice Ones: Shows in "Belle Femme" that he's apparently more than just a loyal butler.
- Bilingual Bonus: In "Two Impostors", it's Rudyard Kipling he's quoting in German.
- The Cassandra: Attempts to warn Nucky in "Two Imposters" that Nucky has no bodyguards around who aren't being paid. It turns out to be irrelevant because Rosetti kills them before they have an opportunity to defect anyway.
- The Cast Show Off: Besides being an actor, Anthony Laciura is a voice instructor and opera singer. He displays his talent in "What Does the Bee Do?" and "All In".
- A Death in the Limelight:
- Averted in "Two Impostors". He gets shot, gets a lot more screen time than usual, but is operated on and survives.
- Played straight in "Erlkönig".
- Driven to Suicide: In "Erlkönig", after Agent Knox breaks him and he spills information about Nucky's organization.
- The Driver: Doubles as Nucky's chaffeur after Jimmy decides to pursue his own business.
- Dude, Where's My Respect?: In season 4, he grows tired of Nucky's abusive treatment and demands respect. Deconstructed in that Nucky obliges and gives him a greater responsability, but this also brings the attention of the feds, which turns out to be fatal.
- Fallen-on-Hard-Times Job: Building on the Backstory revealed in "Erlkönig",
it's very possible that being Nucky's manservant was an example of this in the beginning.
- Hidden Depths:
- He is a talented opera singer and can recite Kipling and Goethe by heart.
- "All In" reveals that he actually has a life outside Nucky, he has friends, and he does not like to shine Nucky's shoes despite having done so for 11 years.
- And "Erlkönig", that he is also a fan of Franz Schubert and Karl May.
- Hyper-Competent Sidekick: He takes care of everything, but Nucky doesn't compliment him at all. More like the opposite.
- Let's Get Dangerous!: He saves Nucky from an assassination attempt, takes the gun from the shooter and shoots him in the back.
- Morality Pet: Increasingly one for Nucky, culminating in Nucky's reaction to his shooting in "Two Impostors".
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: Based on Enoch Johnson's own German manservant and bodyguard, Louis Kessel, who he called "the most loyal man I ever knew".
- Obfuscating Stupidity: It's revealed in Season 4 (and hinted at in previous seasons) that he's well aware of Nucky's criminal activities. However, he pretends to be unknowing due to his Undying Loyalty.
- Out of Focus: Eddie appears in most episodes, but we know nearly nothing of his inner thoughts or life before serving Nucky. Neither does Nucky.
- Servile Snarker:
- A hilarious blink-and-you'll-miss-it comment in "Two Boats and a Lifeguard", to a soldier making anti-German comments:Asshole.
- It's more pronounced in Season 4."Mr. Thompson is a part of everything. He is in the sky and sea. He is in the dreams of children at night. He is all that there is, forever."
- A hilarious blink-and-you'll-miss-it comment in "Two Boats and a Lifeguard", to a soldier making anti-German comments:
- Shoot the Shaggy Dog: He barely survives his gunshot wound in "Two Impostors", only to commit suicide 5 episodes after (10 months, chronologically).
- Stiff Upper Lip: Not even getting shot will stop him from trying to do his job and apologizing when he can't!
- Undying Loyalty:
- When he is concerned, Nucky is always innocent and always means well. In "Two Imposters" he refuses to leave Nucky's side even when Nucky orders him to and when he is shot and bleeding out from the wound his only concern is Nucky's safety.
- Is extended to an extreme when held and interrogated by Knox, and forced under threat to give up a minor bit of incriminating information. This is such an embarrassment to him that it leads to Eddie arranging Nucky's socks for the last time, putting on his best note, writing a suicide note and jumping out of a window.
- Yank the Dog's Chain: Eddie catches a break when Nucky starts treating him with a much-earned respect and trusts him with greater responsibilities. This leads to Eddie being arrested by the feds in his very first mission as a bagman and to his eventual suicide.
- You Can't Go Home Again: Why he left Germany. Eddie was a manager in a store in Hannover that had an extra-marital affair with a secretary. The two fled to America after stealing some of the store's money but the woman ended leaving him. He is still sought by German justice and Eddie's sons were so angry with him that (according to Knox at least) they changed their surname.
Katy
Katy
Played By: Heather Lind
"Probably thinking I'm pinching the silverware. I should too, what she pays me."
A maid working in the Thompson family home during Season 2 and Owen's girlfriend.- Adult Child: Enough to drive Owen off her - he mentions her individually named Kewpie doll collection.
- Betty and Veronica: Betty to Margaret's Veronica.
- Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: She disappears after season 3. Presumably, after Margaret left with the kids, there was no longer a need for her services.
- First-Name Basis: We don't even know her last name, because everyone calls her "Katy".
- Giver of Lame Names: She calls Owen's... 'thing'... "Mr. Poofles".
- Ms. Fanservice: Oh yes.
- The Missus and the Ex: Technically, with Margaret.
- Two-Faced: She is nice around Margaret and bitter when she is not.
- Woman Scorned
Harlan
Harlan
Played By: Julian Rozzell Jr
"Yes, sir."
A shoe-shiner that caters to the clients of the Ritz. He briefly works for Nucky as a butler during a strike in the hotel.- Cannot Spit It Out: He was present when Van Alden killed Sebso. He tries to tell Nucky about it, but his Jerkass attitude scares him from talking.
- Chekhov's Gunman: His information destroys Van Alden's credibility as a witness, providing the first blow to Randolph's until then solid case against Nucky.
- First-Name Basis
- Happily Married: He also has four kids.
- Nice Guy
- The Quiet One
