| 1 | [[Characters/BoardwalkEmpire Return to Boardwalk Empire Characters]] |
| 2 | |
| 3 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 4 | |
| 5 | !!Jewish mob |
| 6 | |
| 7 | [[folder:Arnold Rothstein]] |
| 8 | !!Arnold Rothstein |
| 9 | ->'''Played by''': Creator/MichaelStuhlbarg |
| 10 | |
| 11 | ->"''If I'd cause a stranger to choke to death for my own amusement, what do you think I'll do to you if you don't tell me who ordered you to kill Colosimo?''" |
| 12 | |
| 13 | [[quoteright:324:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/boardwalkempire16_1441.jpg]] |
| 14 | [[caption-width-right:324:''"Reputation takes a lifetime to build and only seconds to destroy."'']] |
| 15 | 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. |
| 16 | |
| 17 | !!Tropes: |
| 18 | * AdaptationalPersonalityChange: Rothstein is portrayed as a fairly grim, serious, intellectual and introverted figure in the show; in real life, he was more of an extraverted, thrill seeking AttentionWhore who happened to be good at math and business. |
| 19 | * AffablyEvil: He is a very polite, soft-spoken man who rarely raises his voice. He also runs a criminal empire and has no qualms whatsoever about having people killed. |
| 20 | * AllMenArePerverts: Played with: |
| 21 | ** A notable aversion for the most part, he's nearly the ''sole'' male character in the show who is never shown as even interested in a woman apart from his wife, let alone sleeping around, keeping mistresses, or behaving like a sexist pig (as the majority of the other men on the show do). At least this is the image that he is careful to maintain. |
| 22 | ** While Nucky claims Rothstein's "dead below the waist", Rothstein does not claim himself to be faithful, only discreet. |
| 23 | ** When he has a meeting with Margaret in "White Horse Pike", he tells her not to worry, because he's a married man. |
| 24 | ** Eventually, his widow reveals that A.R. had several mistresses and assumes that Margaret was one of them. |
| 25 | %%* BadassInANiceSuit |
| 26 | * BadBoss: He is overall nice to his subordinates, but if anyone crosses him or plots against him, he shows his true colours. |
| 27 | * BadGuysPlayPool: A consummate player who likes to use billiard metaphors |
| 28 | * BookEnds: The first season had Arnold Rothstein as the BigBad[=/=]GreaterScopeVillain. The Final Season had his proteges Lucky and Lansky as the BigBadDuumvirate. |
| 29 | * BrokenPedestal: For Lucky Luciano in Season 4. |
| 30 | * CardSharp: In the odd case that his natural ability is not enough. |
| 31 | * CavalryRefusal: He is unwilling to go to war with Joe Masseria (even after he okays Gyp's murder attempt against him) and refuses Nucky's appeal for help in "The Milkmaid's Lot". He later works a deal with Masseria in "Margate Sands" but Nucky, who has not forgiven Rothstein for his earlier refusal, uses it to set him up for trouble with both Masseria and law enforcement. |
| 32 | * TheChessmaster: He's an exceptionally gifted one, always thinking ahead and turning situations to his benefit. |
| 33 | * CrazyPrepared: He even makes his henchmen take out life insurance policies with himself as the beneficiary, guaranteeing that he profits off their actions regardless of whether or not they die. |
| 34 | * DeadpanSnarker: Almost always has a remark handy, usually of the cutting and condescending variety and directed at someone doing something stupid. |
| 35 | * TheDreaded: He's generally decent but everyone in the show is smart enough to know they should never get on his bad side. |
| 36 | * DroppedABridgeOnHim: [[spoiler: While his death is a matter of historical fact, it was still rather jarring for him to die in the seven year TimeSkip between seasons 4 and 5]]. |
| 37 | * EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: He has a rather cute interaction with his wife in season 2, in which she advises him about an upset stomach. Right after that, he's basically shown "putting on" the ruthless persona he displays at all other times. |
| 38 | * EvilGenius: Easily one of the smartest people in the whole series. |
| 39 | * EvilLawyerJoke: Makes one when Fallon compliments him for his ability to lie before court. |
| 40 | * EvilMentor: To Luciano and Lansky. |
| 41 | * FatalFlaw: His greed, as well as his pride (shown in his "obsession with winning" as Nucky calls it). [[spoiler:This would become a literally fatal flaw as, just as in real life, Rothstein was murdered for refusing to pay a massive debt from a poker game he insisted was rigged.]] |
| 42 | * FauxAffablyEvil: He's always polite and well-spoken and particularly witty, but is utterly ruthless. |
| 43 | * FixingTheGame: He fixed the 1919 World Series. The subsequent legal problems force him to seek the help of Nucky. |
| 44 | * ForTheEvulz: Once made a man choke to death on a billiard ball his own amusement. |
| 45 | * TheGamblingAddict: During an unusual run of bad luck in "All In", his cool demeanor disappears and he comes out looking like this. |
| 46 | * GoshDangItToHeck: Unlike other gangsters, Rothstein noticeably avoids vulgarity. |
| 47 | * GreaterScopeVillain: In Season 1, he backs the D'Alessio Brothers' bid to seize control over Atlantic City from Nucky Thompson. |
| 48 | * GreedyJew: He's called this a number of times by his antagonists. |
| 49 | * HappilyMarried: Subverted. He and his wife Carolyn seem to have a very sweet relationship, but after his death she confesses that Arnold cheated on her and only left her buckets of humiliation. |
| 50 | * HistoricalBeautyUpdate: The real Arnold Rothstein didn't fit the mainstream idea of "handsome," and was nowhere near as attractive as Michael Stuhlbarg is. |
| 51 | * HistoricalInJoke: |
| 52 | ** There are chips from the Brook Casino on his desk in "To the Lost", which was the real Rothstein's most infamous business venture. |
| 53 | ** In the pilot, Lolly Steinman believes that Rothstein is a gambling cheat and claims that if he was any other person he'd been dragged out of the casino and shot in an alley. Three guesses how the real Rothstein died. |
| 54 | * KickTheDog: He threatens Frankie Yale by claiming that he once forced a man to choke to death on for his own amusement, adding, "what do you think I'll do to you, if you don't tell me who hired you to kill Colosimo?" However, such behavior seems to be the exception rather than the rule for him; generally, he has a pragmatic approach towards violence (see PragmaticVillainy for details). |
| 55 | * KilledOffscreen: [[spoiler:Season 5 does a TimeSkip past his 1928 death with only a brief mention of it, leaving anyone who doesn't know the history with no idea what happened]]. |
| 56 | * KosherNostra |
| 57 | * [[ManipulativeBastard Manipulative]] / MagnificentBastard |
| 58 | * NonActionGuy: Rothstein is never seen doing anything violent. |
| 59 | * NothingPersonal: Has a mild dislike for Jersey/Nucky and calls him out on his cavalier behavior, but still wishes him good luck when he's refusing to help him, after pointing out [[IWarnedYou he saw everything coming]] and that Nucky is just a convenience of geography and supply. |
| 60 | * NotSoAboveItAll: He's generally level-headed but it's been shown quite a few times that Rothstein isn't as above pettiness, cruelty, personal grudges or desperation as he'd like to believe and his cool demeanor tends to disappear when his luck takes a turn for the worse and he can't figure out a way to adjust things in his favor. |
| 61 | * OOCIsSeriousBusiness: |
| 62 | ** Rothstein is not-so-cool when talking to you on the phone? No wonder Mickey Doyle shit his pants. |
| 63 | ** His veneer slips when he and Nucky discuss how to handle Gyp Rosetti. |
| 64 | --->'''Rothstein''':"Do you think I entered into this relationship because I value your companionship? You are a convenience of geography and supply. You promised a quantity and a price. You have ''failed to deliver''. And now owing to your inability to handle your affairs in ''New Jersey,'' a state I have little interest in or affection for, you expect me to start a war IN NEW YORK? '''WHERE THINGS ACTUALLY MATTER!?'''" |
| 65 | ** When Rosetti starts ranting at the other gangsters in "Resolution", Rothstein just sits at the back with a huge grin on his face. He seems to find Rosetti's meltdown highly entertaining. |
| 66 | * OutGambitted: By Nucky in "Margate Sands". After Rothstein gets word from Mickey Doyle that Nucky is in control of the Overholt distillery on behalf of USST Mellon, the biggest distillery in the country, he demands a whopping 99% of its benefits in exchange for convincing Masseria to withdraw his support from Rosetti. Masseria's support is bought by having Luciano arrested by crooked cops while dealing heroin in partnership with Masseria and confiscating his heroin, then offering Masseria a partnership as the only way to recover his investment. However, Doyle was actually acting on Nucky's behalf, and as soon as he closes the deal with Rothstein, Nucky rats out Rothstein to Mellon, who orders Rothstein's arrest. |
| 67 | * ThePlan: In Season 3, Rothstein refuses to finance Luciano and Lansky's latest heroin shipment; rather than waiting out like Rothstein wants, they go to Masseria and offer him the same deal along with information about Nucky's planned movement against him. Rothstein has Luciano arrested by crooked cops, and his heroin (which is actually Masseria's) confiscated. Rothstein then has the heroin shipped to his office, and offers Masseria to cut him as a partner in dealing ''his own heroin'' as the only way to recover his investment, while destroying Luciano and Lansky's reputation as partners in his eyes. In exchange, Masseria must agree to withdraw his support of Gyp Rosetti, which Nucky has bought by giving him a 99% share of the biggest distillery in the country. So in a single movement Rothstein punishes his minions for going their own way, makes money if Masseria refuses, and makes ''more'' money if Masseria accepts the deal, which he does. The only fault in his plan is that he didn't anticipate that [[BatmanGambit Nucky was also planning on Rothstein doing this]], and Nucky pulls his own strings to have Rothstein [[OutGambitted arrested]] in punishment for not supporting him [[BestServedCold earlier]] in his MobWar. |
| 68 | * PragmaticVillainy: |
| 69 | ** When it's in his interest, he is very willing to call off taking revenge and work with his enemies. Demonstrated with Nucky in season one and Masseria in season two. |
| 70 | ** He refuses to aid Nucky in a bloody war against Masseria, but only because he has little to gain from it. |
| 71 | ** When Luciano and Lansky propose him new criminal ventures -heroin trade-, the [[DrugsAreBad badness of drugs]] is not even an issue; he refuses to back them because the timing is awful for business, as there's a MobWar brewing in New Jersey. |
| 72 | * ProfessionalGambler: And he wins loads of money that way [[MagnificentBastard because he is that damn good.]] On the other hand if he has a run of bad luck and starts losing, the professionalism starts to disappear and he begins to resemble TheGamblingAddict. |
| 73 | * ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Not a nice guy at all, but he is fairly protective of his associates and is willing to listen to and reward good advice. |
| 74 | ** Even Nucky turns to him for advice when things in Atlantic City turn bad. Rothstein could have held a grudge and said nothing but instead he gives him solid advice on how to approach the situation. Nucky is visibly impressed. |
| 75 | ** He's quite respectful and courteous in making a deal with Margaret. |
| 76 | * TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Gives one to Nucky in "You'd Be Surprised", over his handling of Gyp Rosetti and his frivolous relationship with Billie. |
| 77 | * SesquipedalianLoquaciousness: He always speaks precisely, calmly and with impressive diction, as if he wants everyone to know how smart he is. |
| 78 | * SoftspokenSadist: Rothstein never uses profanity and almost never raises his voice. |
| 79 | * SoreLoser: He doesn't take defeat well. [[spoiler: This ends up being his undoing as he refused to pay a massive debt from a poker game he insisted was rigged and was murdered as a result, same as in real life.]] |
| 80 | * StepfordSmiler / SlasherSmile: The more he smiles, the more one should worry they're in trouble. |
| 81 | * TheStoic: That smile is just there to conceal anything resembling a real emotion. He even lampshades his nature during a fallout with Nucky, retorting that emotions are not a habit of his. |
| 82 | ** NotSoStoic: When Nucky beats him at poker, he starts losing his composure and by the end of the night it seems like he is about to assault the dealer but Meyer talks him down. |
| 83 | * StraightEdgeEvil: Doesn't swear, drink, or womanize (openly). He likes milk and cake, prompting Nucky to say that Rothstein "eats like a fucking child". |
| 84 | * TheTeetotaler: He likes to stay sharp at the table. |
| 85 | * TookALevelInKindness: In a way. In season 4, his affability and civility comes off as much more genuine and friendly and less of a mask for his brutal and ruthless nature. |
| 86 | * TrademarkFavoriteFood: Milk and cake, emphasizing his StraightEdgeEvil nature. |
| 87 | * VillainousBreakdown: In "All In". |
| 88 | %%* WickedCultured |
| 89 | * YouHaveFailedMe: There's definite hints of this in season 2, when after being displeased by Luciano and Lansky, he has them serve as [[{{Mooks}} muscle]] in [[ReassignedToAntarctica transporting a liquor shipment]]. [[TheStarscream They begin to plan accordingly]]. It's finally done, [[DownplayedTrope non-lethally]] in "Margate Sands". The police that have arrested Lucky actually work for Rothstein, who steals Masseria's heroin back. When Lucky lashes out, saying he'd trusted Rothstein, Rothstein replies that for all of his effort in turning Lucky into something better than a hotheaded thug, Lucky's failed him. Rothstein tells Lansky that Luciano's position is his if he wants it, and Luciano goes over to Joe Masseria. |
| 90 | [[/folder]] |
| 91 | |
| 92 | [[folder:Bill Fallon]] |
| 93 | !!Bill Fallon |
| 94 | ->'''Played by''': Creator/DavidAaronBaker |
| 95 | |
| 96 | [[quoteright:252:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Bill_Fallon_BE_3984.jpg]] |
| 97 | |
| 98 | ->''"$80 per hour. Which also will buy you my uncanny ability to make friends with judges."'' |
| 99 | |
| 100 | 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. |
| 101 | |
| 102 | !!Tropes: |
| 103 | * AmoralAttorney: While Fallon actively seeks to cultivate this image, his practice of bribing judges and tampering with witnesses render him more of a gangster with a law license as opposed to merely being a cynical litigator who offers his services to anyone for the right price. |
| 104 | * ChessmasterSidekick: To Rothstein, despite holding himself out as an otherwise respectable member of the legal profession. |
| 105 | %%* ConsummateLiar |
| 106 | %%* DeadpanSnarker |
| 107 | * HyperAwareness: Unlike Nucky, he notices that Harlan has something important to say, which turns out to be the key to destroy Randolph's attempt to use Van Alden as a witness. Granted, Nucky could have realized it by himself if he wasn't a {{jerkass}}, but it's notable that Harlan had been working in the Ritz for almost a month by then and no one else had bothered to ask him either. |
| 108 | %%* OnlyInItForTheMoney |
| 109 | * ScrewTheRulesIHaveConnections: Fallon has all the judges in New York in his pocket, and has a self-described "talent at winning over juries". |
| 110 | [[/folder]] |
| 111 | |
| 112 | !!Morello Crime Family |
| 113 | |
| 114 | [[folder:Joe Masseria]] |
| 115 | !!Giuseppe "Joe the Boss" Masseria |
| 116 | ->'''Played by''': Creator/IvoNandi |
| 117 | |
| 118 | ->''"[[BigBrotherIsWatching I'll be watching you, boy. EVERY fucking step]]."'' |
| 119 | |
| 120 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/masseriavwx20131_83191_4953.jpg]] |
| 121 | [[caption-width-right:350:''"On my streets: [[ThereAreNoCoincidences no coincidence]]."]]'' |
| 122 | The quintessential Old World mobster, Masseria is the ruthless, greedy Sicilian don of the Morello Crime Family (predecessor of the real-life Genovese crime family) that controls NYC's West Side. He is constantly harassing Luciano to join him, since he can't just fathom the idea of a Sicilian working with anyone but Sicilians, until he succeeds in bringing him over at the end of Season 3. |
| 123 | !!Tropes: |
| 124 | |
| 125 | * AppealToFlattery: Gyp gets a second chance from Joe "the Boss" when he promises to make him Joe "the King". |
| 126 | * AscendedExtra[=/=]EarlyBirdCameo: Masseria is an [[TheDreaded ominous reference]] to the other NYC gangsters through Season 2, but appears in only one scene. He has a pivotal role in Season 3. |
| 127 | * BestServedCold: Luciano remarks that Joe keeps talking about the day he's going to kill Nucky and that Masseria will wait forever to get his revenge. |
| 128 | * BilingualDialogue: English[=/=]Sicilian. |
| 129 | * DeadpanSnarker: Though he's usually blunt, he enjoys himself in his condescension towards Gyp Rosetti. |
| 130 | * TheDreaded: Masseria holds New York's West Side in an iron grip, is backed by a virtual army of gangsters, and his resources, ruthlessness, and vengeful nature make him feared by the entire New York underworld. He's the one kingpin that [[AxCrazy Gyp Rosetti]] actively fears. About the only people who ''don't'' fear Masseria are Benny Siegel, who is too AxCrazy and HotBlooded (or too much of a FearlessFool) to care about Masseria's brutal reputation and sway in the Underworld, and Salvatore Maranzano in Season 5, who is a rival with similar sway, although possessing a less brutal and vicious reputation. Everyone else goes out of their way to ensure that no matter what happens, they will not run afoul of Masseria or earn his wrath. Even the highly ambitious Luciano instantly walks away from a potentially lucrative deal in Season 4 when he learns that his attempt at a side hustle may be reported to Masseria. |
| 131 | * TheDon: He's the boss of the Morello gang, now known as the Genovese crime family. |
| 132 | * EloquentInMyNativeTongue: He tends to speak English slowly and sometimes with odd pauses or emphasis. He is much more comfortable speaking in the Sicilian dialect. |
| 133 | * EyeAmWatchingYou: He says this to Lucky at the end of their season 2 meeting - in Sicilian, so neither Rothstein nor supposedly Lansky could understand it. |
| 134 | * ForegoneConclusion: Owen's attempt on his life is doomed from the start (the real Masseria survived numerous assassination attempts), and his insistence on recruiting Luciano to be his [[TheDragon dragon]] [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castellammarese_War isn't going to end well for Masseria]]. |
| 135 | * GratuitousItalian: Masseria tends to speak a mix of Sicilian and English, often in the same conversations. |
| 136 | * GreaterScopeVillain: He holds this position in Season 3 given that Gyp Rosetti, the story arc's BigBad, and his crew constitute merely one of several gangs comprising his vast criminal empire. However, it is not until several of his men are annihilated while under Gyp's command that he begins to take a direct interest in plotting Nucky's demise. |
| 137 | * {{Hypocrite}}: For all of his harping on Lucky for going into business with Jews and racial slurs thrown toward Rothstein in particular, he doesn't seem to have a problem cutting a deal with Rothstein for Luciano and Lansky's heroin to pay off their debt to him. Of course, he's getting a hundred thousand dollars worth of heroin out of the deal. |
| 138 | * JerkAss: Besides being a ruthless mob boss, he's generally brusque, unpleasant, bigoted and ill-tempered. |
| 139 | * KarmaHoudiniWarranty: His luck finally runs out in the last season when Charlie arranges his death to gain his rackets. |
| 140 | * LargeAndInCharge: He's an imposing presence physically and he's a feared crime boss. |
| 141 | * TheManBehindTheMan: To Gyp Rosetti. |
| 142 | * NonActionBigBad: While he's easily one of the most intimidating bosses in the series, he is never seen hitting or shooting someone himself. However, given his position and being TheDreaded in mob circles, it is likely that this was not always the case, as he killed many to become a powerful mob boss. |
| 143 | * NotSoDifferentRemark: His constant overtures to Luciano, who knows it's all hogwash and that Masseria would have him only as a pawn. |
| 144 | * OffscreenMomentOfAwesome: During what was planned as a DeadlyBath, Joe and his men somehow turn the tables on seasoned hitman [[TheHunterBecomesTheHunted Owen Sleater]] with a spectacular if gruesome outcome, off screen. |
| 145 | * PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: He is an anti-Semite, believing Jews to be passionless and untrustworthy. The fact that Luciano chooses to be business partners with Rothstein and Lansky disgusts him. [[{{Hypocrite}} Yet he's got no qualms buying heroin from the same Jewish mobsters he earlier insulted.]] |
| 146 | * PragmaticVillainy: |
| 147 | ** Initially refuses to back Rosetti's war plans because there's nothing to gain from a new war, but this changes when Gyp convinces him the Sicilians will inevitably find other gangs encroaching on their territory sooner or later or cutting them out of the best illegal markets if no action is taken. |
| 148 | ** When Nucky makes peace with Masseria after killing Gyp Rosetti and wiping out a large group of Masseria's men, it appears Masseria is willing to end hostilities and let bygones be bygones when Nucky offers Masseria a large sum of money as part of a compensation package to end the war. [[SubvertedTrope However]], it's revealed later that the cash doesn't actually appease Joe and he is bitterly determined to someday enact bloody revenge on Nucky. |
| 149 | * [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy Proud Gangster Race Guy]] |
| 150 | * ShownTheirWork: Masseria speaks Sicilian, a dialect that is barely intelligible to speakers of Standard Italian. |
| 151 | * SoundOnlyDeath: His fate. Luciano gets up and goes to the bathroom as Siegel and Tonino walk in, and we watch Luciano listen eagerly as the two assassins empty their guns into Masseria. He emerges as soon as the gunfire ceases. |
| 152 | * WeCanRuleTogether: He wants Luciano to join him, but Lucky knows he's an old-fashioned Mustache Pete truly dead-set in his archaic ways of running the mob. |
| 153 | * WeUsedToBeFriends: Not really, but Lucky grew up in a neighborhood controlled by Masseria and he knew him as a child. Masseria also likes to remind "Salvatore" of [[UsedToBeASweetKid what a sweet kid he used to be]]. |
| 154 | * YouHaveFailedMe: To Rosetti halfway through Season 3. Unlike most examples, Gyp manages to talk Joe into giving him a second chance. Which he quickly squanders. |
| 155 | [[/folder]] |
| 156 | |
| 157 | [[folder:Gyp Rosetti]] |
| 158 | !!Giuseppe Colombano "Gyp" Rosetti |
| 159 | ->'''Played by''': Creator/BobbyCannavale |
| 160 | |
| 161 | ->''"Nucky Thompson, Arnold Rothstein...Luciano and the [[PoliticallyIncorrectVillain kikes]] he runs with....'''I['ll] [[GottaKillThemAll kill 'em all]].'''"'' |
| 162 | |
| 163 | [[quoteright:304:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/20120921-bobby-306x-1348248508_1776.jpg]] |
| 164 | [[caption-width-right:304:''"[[NothingPersonal Nothing's personal]]? What the fuck is life if it's not personal?!"'']] |
| 165 | |
| 166 | A particularly violent Sicilian gangster based in New York who goes to war with Nucky after being snubbed on a large deal in season 3. Given that he answers directly to Joe Masseria despite wielding complete authority over a sizable group of men and territory, he is implied to be a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caporegime capo]] within the Morello Crime Family. |
| 167 | |
| 168 | !!Tropes: |
| 169 | * AssholeVictim: Nobody cares when he is killed. |
| 170 | * AxCrazy: Sanity got itself evicted from Gyp's mind long ago. Even by the brutal standards of the mob, Gyp is an unstable, unpredictable, and violent thug who is apt to kill even random civilians for completely imagined insults. |
| 171 | * BadassInANiceSuit: Gyp takes some time to groom his own suits. During Easter he's interrupted while doing it and he just wears a wifebeater in the dinner with the family, in which he's mocked for being a SharpDressedMan in love with his suits. Meaningfully, he's in disarray and shown wearing an A-shirt when he dies. |
| 172 | * BadBoss: He's at [[Literature/HarryPotter Voldemort]] and ComicBook/TheJoker levels of willingness to brutally murder subordinates at the slightest provocation. |
| 173 | * BattleTrophy: After he [[AllYourBaseAreBelongToUs assaults Nucky's HQ at the Ritz]], he plunders and keeps Nucky's desk as a war trophy. |
| 174 | * BerserkButton: Rosetti has an issue with being "condescended" to. Any hint that he knows less than the speaker, no matter what the subject, will set him off no matter how harmlessly the comment is intended. A good samaritan's carelessly cheerful comment about car oil prompts Rosetti to beat him to death. Later, one of his own crew explains ocean terminology, believing he's being helpful as Tonino frantically tries to shut him up. Cut to the poor man buried up to his neck for the tide. |
| 175 | * BigBad: Of Season 3, and way [[BlackAndGrayMorality more clear-cut]] than any of Nucky's previous nemeses. Joe Masseria is the GreaterScopeVillain. |
| 176 | * BlatantLies: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QS8lbfHUI3Q&t=146s Why, he's old D. L. Collingsworth and this is his gas station.]] They are out of gas. Seriously. That stuff pouring out of the gas pump? Nothing of importance. |
| 177 | * BlueAndOrangeMorality: In "A Man, A Plan..." he feels the need to tell the world that he is the proud son of a brick-layer and that he has contempt for fishermen. He is [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} that]] [[AxCrazy kind]] [[{{Jerkass}} of guy]]. |
| 178 | * BodyguardBetrayal: In "Margate Sands", he is stabbed to death by his second, Tonino, while his other two remaining men watch without interfering. |
| 179 | * BondageIsBad: He is a dangerous criminal who enjoys bondage and erotic asphyxiation. |
| 180 | * BookEnds: He's contemplating the Atlantic Ocean in his first and last appearances. |
| 181 | * BulletproofHumanShield: He uses the poor waitress he was having sex with as cover in "You'd Be Surprised". |
| 182 | * BullyingADragon: His ReasonYouSuckSpeech [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJT3xZ9C5Ew to the assorted gangsters]] is already bad, but directing a large and offensive portion of it to [[MagnificentBastard Arnold]] [[FauxAffablyEvil Rothstein]] does not seem particularly germane to Gyp's continued existence. A.R. downplays it when Gyp half-apologizes much later, but in any case, Rothstein puts a hit on him just after said apology. |
| 183 | * BunnyEarsLawyer: Gyp is a shrewd tactician... and a violent, unstable psychopath. Masseria puts up with Gyp's "quirks" because of his loyalty and skill, but it doesn't take long before he threatens Gyp with a [[YouHaveFailedMe permanent form of retirement]]. |
| 184 | * {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: Gyp has a tendency to show up in public settings with an off-putting accessory (dog, colonial general's hat, etc.) |
| 185 | * ComplimentBackfire: Nucky wishes him "good luck" in Italian, in deference towards Rosetti and his mother tongue. Gyp takes the note, "Bone For Tuna," as a poorly written and condescending gesture and goes ballistic over it. |
| 186 | * CruelMercy[=/=]BaitTheDog: In "A Man, A Plan...". During one of his {{Disproportionate Retribution}}s, Gyp buries alive Franco, the cousin of his second Tonino, in the beach leaving only his head out so he'll have a long, painful agony before dying of exposure or drowning with the tide. Tonino begs Gyp for mercy, leading Gyp to [[HopeSpot pick back the shovel]]... and crush Franco's skull until well after he dies. Gyp then tells Tonino that ''he owes him'' for sparing Franco ''the wait''. [[spoiler:Eventually, [[TheDogBitesBack Tonino gets even]] in the season finale.]] |
| 187 | * DeadpanSnarker: Gyp has a very dry wit, often commenting quite sarcastically on current affairs. |
| 188 | * DeathByIrony: [[spoiler:He's ultimately killed by Tonino, who did it out of threat to his life. In other words, his death was ''nothing personal''. The very thing Gyp despises the most.]] |
| 189 | * DirtyCoward: Rosetti is good at killing unarmed and helpless individuals. This includes the driver who tries to fix his wheel, the portly Sheriff of Tabor Heights, the waitress he uses as a human shield, Tonino's cousin etc. When he really needs to man up, he runs. When Richard Harrow is massacring Rosetti's men, Rosetti runs and abandons his men (including Tonino) to die. Compared to Nucky, who an episode ago risked his own life to save his own butler. He also becomes noticeably more timid around Joe Masseria and absolutely panicked when he believed Masseria was about to have him killed, desperate to try and talk his way out of it. |
| 190 | * DisproportionateRetribution: Rosetti is quick to reply in an [[ExaggeratedTrope exaggerated way]] to slights, some of which only exist in his mind. |
| 191 | ** He beats a mechanic to death with a tire iron for implying offhandedly that he was ignorant of car technology. |
| 192 | ** The Sheriff of Tabor Heights wishes Gyp good luck when Gyp is in a bad mood. Gyp douses him in gasoline and sets him on fire. |
| 193 | ** Gyp's response to a priest telling him to quiet down in a church is to beat the priest up and rob his church. |
| 194 | ** His response to Nucky causing trouble for his booze trade is to order the bombing of Babette's. |
| 195 | ** Tonino's cousin happening to know a little more about waves causes Rosetti to bury him neck deep in the sand to drown, and then, when Tonino protests, bash his head in with a shovel. |
| 196 | * DragonWithAnAgenda: Despite paying tribute to Joe Masseria, Rosetti often plots ways to expand his power and influence without his boss's knowledge. His operation in New Jersey is entirely his idea - and he [[YouHaveFailedMe nearly gets killed by his own boss]] for it. |
| 197 | * EstablishingCharacterMoment: In the first scene of season three, he beats a Good Samaritan to death for an offhand comment he takes as an insult. |
| 198 | * EvilIsPetty: When not exploding into violent rages, he often finds smaller ways to be a dick to people. One scene has him beat and rob a priest for no other reason than being in a bit of a bad mood. |
| 199 | * EvilSoundsDeep: Bobby Cannavale's natural deep voice adds a level of menace to Rosetti that wouldn't otherwise be possible. |
| 200 | * {{Expy}}: Rosetti's [[HairTriggerTemper hair-trigger temper]] and [[AxCrazy unbridled bloodlust]] is highly reminiscent of the [[TheSociopath psychopathic]] mobster, Richie Aprile from ''Series/TheSopranos''. He also resembles Tony Soprano's ambitious captain, Ralph Cifaretto, in that he regularly squanders his [[HiddenDepths surprisingly wide range of talents]] on account of [[EvilIsPetty his own pettiness]], fancies himself as a [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy natural-born "warrior" due to his Italian heritage]], and is depicted as a sexual masochist. |
| 201 | * FauxAffablyEvil: He ''tries'' to act charming and likable, but it doesn't take much for him to drop the act and erupt into screaming anger. |
| 202 | * {{Foil}}: |
| 203 | ** Nucky Thompson is a businessman who doesn't take things personally. Gyp... well, takes everything personally. |
| 204 | ** To Chalky White. Both men come from "poor but honest" backgrounds and have little to nothing in the lines of formal education, and don't like it when people look down on them for these features. They're also both feared and respected by the men they work with, but dominated ([[BondageIsBad literally, in Rosetti's case...]]) by strong women at home. However, Chalky respects education and is only involved in organized crime to provide a good life/social mobility for his family, Gyp loves being a gangster, and plays out his resentment by sadistically toying with other people. |
| 205 | * GratuitousItalian: Gyp has a tendency to pepper his dialogue with Italian, especially when annoyed. |
| 206 | * HairTriggerTemper: Flies into explosive rages over pretty much anything. Gyp's the kind of man who could find an insult in a bouquet of roses. |
| 207 | * HandsomeLech: A relentless flirt; if he isn't macking on some lady or other, give him five minutes. |
| 208 | * HasAType: Gyp specifically mentions Gillian's red hair as part of his attraction to her. He also keeps flirting with the redheaded waitress at the Tabor Heights diner, and when he hires whores, they tend to be redheaded. |
| 209 | -->'''Gyp''': (to Tonino) Which of them waitresses do you think is cuter? |
| 210 | -->'''Tonino''': The little one - with the bobbed hair. |
| 211 | -->'''Gyp''': I'm gonna fuck the redhead. |
| 212 | * TheHeavy: His actions drive the plot of season 3. |
| 213 | * HenpeckedHusband: While Gyp is quick to lash out savagely against almost everyone around him at the slightest provocation, he actually seems ''afraid'' of his hot-tempered wife, Giaconda. In "Sunday Best", he does little more than glare and grumble ineffectually at his spouse despite becoming increasingly agitated as she and her family relentlessly mock him, while begging Tonino to stay just so he isn't steamrolled over here. |
| 214 | ** When he muses exile from Atlantic City, he implies he'll abandon Giaconda, an unexpected bonus in all the ruin. |
| 215 | * HiddenDepths: Gyp is not entirely made of rage, he established himself as a successful businessman in [[RememberTheNewGuy the gap between seasons 2 and 3]]. "Spaghetti and Coffee" shows that he is smarter than he first appeared, and that he actually likes to test people by feigning ignorance rather than truly being uneducated. His acumen is made evident when he quickly exploits Tabor Heights' [[ChokepointGeography strategic relevance]] and is able to talk his way out of permanent retirement with "Joe the King". |
| 216 | * HotBlooded: Like you wouldn't believe. Gyp spends his entire screen time either in a state of barely coherent rage or close to devolving into one at the slightest provocation. |
| 217 | * HotGuyUglyWife: His wife and daughters are not exactly as attractive as him. |
| 218 | * InTheBack: [[spoiler:He's stabbed in the back by his own right-hand man.]] |
| 219 | * ItsAllAboutMe: Despite professing [[UndyingLoyalty unwavering devotion]] to Joe Masseria, Gyp has no regard for anyone or anything other than himself. |
| 220 | * ItsPersonal: Gyp takes everything, no matter how minor, as a personal affront. |
| 221 | * {{Jerkass}}: Rivals, if not exceeds Mickey Doyle in terms of how many people he's pissed off and wants him dead. |
| 222 | * JerkWithAHeartOfJerk: Exemplified in "Bone For Tuna" and "Sunday Best". |
| 223 | * KarmaHoudiniWarranty: He gets a way with a lot of horrible stuff over the course of season 3 but his luck runs out in the finale and he's [[spoiler:given an exceptionally undignified death.]] |
| 224 | * KarmicDeath: [[spoiler:As befits a guy who terrifies the people he works with, treats his men horribly, and displays no honor or bravery, he's stabbed in the back by one of his henchmen. To add insult to injury, Tonino apologizes while doing so and tells Gyp it's nothing personal, the kind of remark that sent Gyp into a rage all season.]] |
| 225 | * KickTheDog: A dog-kicker extraordinaire. Since he perceives anything as an affront, the punts are covered under DisproportionateRetribution. A unique example has him gleefully mocking Nucky over the death of his mistress, Billie, for which he was responsible. |
| 226 | * KilledMidSentence: [[spoiler:And it's "Barney Google with the Goo Goo Googly Eyes," of all things, that he's singing when Tonino stabs him in the back. Oh, the indignity.]] |
| 227 | * LargeAndInCharge: He towers over the rest of his crew and is even taller than his boss, Joe Masseria. |
| 228 | * LargeHam: In all likelihood, Bobby Cannavale is still finding bits of scenery between his teeth. |
| 229 | * LaserGuidedKarma: [[spoiler:Stabbed in the back by the very men he had terrorised for an entire season.]]. |
| 230 | * MaleFrontalNudity: In "You'd Be Surprised", during Bugsy Siegel's failed hit. Considering he's just been in a gunfight and is covered in blood, there's a bit of FanDisservice. |
| 231 | * MadBomber: He blows up a restaurant full of people in an attempt to kill Nucky and Rothstein. |
| 232 | * ManipulativeBastard: Throughout his appearances in the series, Gyp has proven himself startlingly adept at exploiting other characters' egos and [[ObfuscatingStupidity underestimations of his own intelligence]] to his advantage. When faced with the prospect of being whacked by Joe Masseria's men due to his past failures, Gyp makes a successful appeal to Masseria's vanity which not only earns him an extended lease on life but Masseria's full backing in an all-out war against Nucky Thompson. Similarly, he deceives a [[TheVamp cunning seductress]] like Gillian into believing he is a lovestruck DumbMuscle wrapped around her finger so he can pump her for information to facilitate his conquest of Atlantic City. |
| 233 | * NeighbourhoodFriendlyGangsters: Gyp, of all people, buys off Tabor Heights at $200 per citizen instead of merely relying on intimidation (although [[AnOfferYouCantRefuse the implication]] is also there). He even enjoys himself with a friendly NewEraSpeech about ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSPPxhYxF8k the importance of reading!]]''. [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking And he cancels Bible Camp...]] |
| 234 | * TheNicknamer: Dubs Gillian "Red" and "Strawberry". Luciano gets called "[[ForgottenTrope short pants]]". |
| 235 | * NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: His HairTriggerTemper and sadistic personality is largely modeled off of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tommy_DeSimone Tommy DeSimone]], an enforcer for the Lucchese crime family who also served as the RealLife inspiration for Tommy [=DeVito=] in ''Film/{{Goodfellas}}.'' Similarly, Rosetti is also reminiscent of other bloodthirsty and homicidal figures in La Cosa Nostra such as [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Anastasia Albert Anastasia]], the notorious "CEO" of MurderInc, Roy [=DeMeo=], Tony Spilotro, Carmine Galante and Vito Genovese. |
| 236 | * NothingPersonal: Nucky tries to point this out, but for Gyp, everything is personal. |
| 237 | -->Everyone's a person, though, right? ''(later)'' Nothing's personal? What the fuck is LIFE if [[ItsPersonal it's not personal]]?! |
| 238 | * NotSoDifferentRemark: Tries to use the non-white/wasp/men from working class roots angle with Chalky, who doesn't fall for it. |
| 239 | -->'''Gyp:''' We got a lot in common, huh? We both got left out in the sun too long. Maybe you a little longer, huh? |
| 240 | -->'''Chalky:''' You just ain't done cooking yet, friend. |
| 241 | * ObfuscatingStupidity: See HiddenDepths. |
| 242 | * OneSteveLimit: Averted. He and Masseria do share a common first name of "Giuseppe", but use different variations of it. Rosetti uses "Gyp" and Masseria uses "Joe". |
| 243 | * ParentalNeglect: He is not even sure of what his daughters' ages are. |
| 244 | * PetTheDog: He keeps the dog of the mechanic he kills on the road, and seems to genuinely like the animal. He bluntly gives the dog to Margaret but later recovers it and shows concern for the pet. |
| 245 | * PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: Much like Joe Masseria, Gyp is [[MasterRace openly contemptuous of all non-Italians]] but seems to harbor a particularly virulent hatred towards Jews. |
| 246 | * ProudWarriorRaceGuy: Gyp likes to refer to Italians as conquerors and shows contempt for the Irish, Jews and Italians who work for non-Italians. |
| 247 | * RagsToRiches: His family was so poor that he lived in a cave during his childhood. In the present day he's a well-off dandy. |
| 248 | * ReasonYouSuckSpeech: After he finds out that Nucky will not sell him any more liquor, he tells all the assembled gangsters exactly what he thinks of them. |
| 249 | * RuthlessForeignGangsters: Born and raised in Sperlinga, Italy, he's an extremely violent and unstable gangster based in New York and who tries to conquer Nucky's turf. |
| 250 | * SmugSnake: Despite proving to be an unexpectedly formidable adversary for the series' protagonists, his overconfidence in his own skills as a tactician as well as his vast underestimation of Nucky's resourcefulness leads to his downfall. |
| 251 | * TheSociopath: A [[http://www.millon.net/taxonomy/summary.htm reputation-defending]] example (i.e.: one with many traits characteristic of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narcissistic_personality_disorder narcissistic personality disorder]]). He consistently [[HairTriggerTemper displays a pronounced lack of impulse control]] by spontaneously going from being [[FauxAffablyEvil seemingly charming and humorous]] to becoming paranoid and aggressive over the most trivial slight or inconvenience. Additionally, he displays [[LackofEmpathy no concern for the feelings or well-being of those around him]], including his own wife and children, whom he regularly neglects to pursue his own ambitions and carnal appetites. Furthermore, even when in a "good mood", he [[ForTheEvulz delights in inflicting pain and suffering as well as sadistically intimidating others with the threat of violence]]. Consequently, [[BlackandGreyMorality in a show filled with sadistic killers and cold-blooded crime lords]], he distinguishes himself as the most depraved and deranged character encountered in the entire series thus far. |
| 252 | * StartMyOwn: His takeover of Tabor Heights was meant to simply force Nucky into selling him liquor directly rather than have Rothstein acting as a middle man. However, he soon realizes that he can start his own smuggling operation and supplant Nucky as Rothstein's main supplier. |
| 253 | * StupidEvil: Masseria is willing to overlook Gyp's flaws because Gyp is effective and loyal enough. However, Gyp proceeds to enrage every other prominent player on the board, forces a mob war, murders people at the slightest provocation and even terrorizes his own crew to the extent nobody has any personal loyalty to him over anything but fear. When his plans inevitably collapse, Gyp is completely expendable with nobody to speak for him and his crew happily take the time to dispose of him, all because of his own shortsighted brutality. |
| 254 | * TallDarkAndHandsome: Given his physical appearance and impeccable taste in fashion, he is certainly capable of evoking this trope. [[http://www.esquire.com/cm/esquire/images/vV/esq-gyp-0912-xlg.jpg (See image)]]. However, any charm he possesses proves to be short-lived once his more unsavory qualities become apparent. |
| 255 | * TooCleverByHalf: Gyp is a legitimately skilled tactician and a good earner, but his arrogance, vile temper, and tendency to make enemies of almost everyone he encounters ends up doing him in. |
| 256 | * TooDumbToLive: It's obvious from day one that anyone as addicted as he is to pointlessly sadistic StupidEvil nonsense is a dead man walking in the brutally Darwinist world of American organised crime. The only question is how long it takes him to fall over. To his credit, he's got enough tactical nous to put off his inevitable doom for a reasonable while, but his eventual fall is inevitable. |
| 257 | * {{Troll}}: Gyp feigns taking offense after seemingly construing Nucky's statement that men have come along way from "living in trees" to imply that he's comparing him to a monkey. However, he breaks the ice by [[ActuallyPrettyFunny performing a rather humorous ape impression that even Nucky finds amusing]]. |
| 258 | * TunelessSongOfMadness: After ''appearing'' to pull back from his VillainousBreakdown, he begins singing the Barney Google theme in an increasingly demented voice. |
| 259 | * UndignifiedDeath: Goes down in a beach, stabbed in the back by Tonino while urinating, yelling "Barney Google" after losing all of his men and Masseria's backing. Adding insult to injury, Tonino -who has plenty of reasons to kill Gyp- apologizes and all but states it's NothingPersonal, a motif hated by Gyp. |
| 260 | * VillainHasAPoint: While he responds to it in an extremely insulting and later violent manner, he is correct that Nucky is being incredibly arrogant and short-sighted to try to cut the Italians out of the booze trade by declaring he will only sell liquor to Rothstein and then trying to condescend to Gyp by telling him to enjoy his stay in Atlantic City when he was there for business. Joe Masseria agrees when Gyp points out that Nucky and Rothstein are trying to squeeze them out of the liquor trade and gives him the manpower to continue waging a war on Nucky. |
| 261 | * VillainousBreakdown: Not that he [[HairTriggerTemper all that]] [[AxCrazy stable to start with]] but he has a few moments: |
| 262 | ** While praying in ''"Sunday Best"''. It culminates with him punching a priest in the face, then robbing the church. |
| 263 | ** In "Margate Sands", after Masseria abandons him and Richard Harrow kills most of his remaining men, Rosetti imitates Nucky, rambles about a delusional plan to rebuild his criminal empire from nothing out west, and begins singing the Barney Google theme song maniacally until Tonino stabs him in the back mid-song. |
| 264 | ---> "Relax, it's a party. I'm making a big decision. From now on, I'm only selling hooch every other Thursday! Because I have important friends. I'm an important person. I have important garters, holding up my very important socks! Do you have any idea who the fuck I am? Do you? Do you! ... I'm Barney Google! With the googoogoogly eyes! And I never, ever, take anything PERSONAL!!" |
| 265 | * YouHaveFailedMe: Masseria tells him this in "Sunday Best". Gyp is given [[SubvertedTrope a second chance]] when he is able to talk his way out by making a point about encroachment and [[MurderIsTheBestSolution promising a pile of corpses]] to Masseria. Unfortunately, Gyp only buys himself some time. When he fails to deliver on his promise, Masseria finally sells him down the river. |
| 266 | [[/folder]] |
| 267 | |
| 268 | [[folder:Tonino Sandrelli]] |
| 269 | !!Tonino Sandrelli |
| 270 | ->'''Played by''': Creator/ChrisCaldovino |
| 271 | |
| 272 | [[quoteright:288:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ToninoSandrelli_6535.jpg]] |
| 273 | [[caption-width-right:288:''"You know, I'm just asking."'']] |
| 274 | |
| 275 | Gyp's right-hand man and polar opposite. Much put upon. |
| 276 | |
| 277 | !!Tropes: |
| 278 | |
| 279 | * AllThereInTheManual: His last name is not stated onscreen. |
| 280 | * AffablyEvil: All things considered, a pretty decent and reasonable guy. Especially compared to his boss. |
| 281 | * AnOfferYouCantRefuse: After surviving Richard Harrow's rampage on Rosetti's men at the brothel due to hiding in a closet, he is discovered later by Nucky and Eli, and allowed to live and leave town (permanently, or else Nucky will kill him himself) on the condition he murder Rosetti. |
| 282 | * ApologizesALot: A life serving psycho Gyp Rosetti has reduced him to this. Hell, he apologizes even as he stabs him in the back despite the fact that Gyp had given him multiple reasons to do so at that point. |
| 283 | * BeenThereShapedHistory: [[spoiler:Although he's a fictional character, he's depicted as one of Masseria's killers in the season 5 premiere.]] |
| 284 | * BestServedCold: [[spoiler:Nucky has him killed after a meeting next to a caricature of Billie Kent, who was killed in the bomb he set at Babette's eight years before]]. |
| 285 | * BodyguardBetrayal: He stabs Gyp in the back while he's taking a leak and singing loudly, then stabs him in the gut for good measure. [[spoiler:He goes on to become Masseria's right-hand man, and eventually he and Benny Siegel assassinate Masseria]]. |
| 286 | %%* BumblingSidekick |
| 287 | * ButtMonkey: Tonino mainly exists in Season 3 for Gyp to comedically abuse. It gets less comedic when Tonino is forced to watch Gyp murder his cousin for absolutely no reason. |
| 288 | * ChronicBackstabbingDisorder: He manages a quite impressive amount of it in his relatively small amount of screentime. [[spoiler:And oddly enough, it's not this that does him in, but something he did all the way back for his first boss]]. |
| 289 | * TheConsigliere: Not so much to Gyp, whom Tonino knows ''far'' better than to offer unsolicited advice to. But Luciano appreciates Tonino's advice and counsel, while Tonino is far happier serving the pragmatic and ambitious young mobster. |
| 290 | * TheDogBitesBack: But takes no pleasure in killing Gyp, and only does it out of necessity. |
| 291 | * TheDragon: Only in a TheConsigliere quality, since Gyp is single-handedly more badass than Tonino. |
| 292 | ** DragonAscendant: Tonino becomes Masseria's right hand man after killing Gyp, a position far bigger than Gyp ever dreamed of. |
| 293 | * ExtremeDoormat: Tonino has very little personal ambition and serves Gyp Rosetti out of fear, taking constant abuse. [[spoiler:Until the Season 3 finale when he kills Gyp to save his own life.]] |
| 294 | %%* FirstNameBasis |
| 295 | * {{Foil}}: To Gyp. |
| 296 | * TheGenericGuy: Tonino could disappear in a crowd of four. Nothing sets him apart from other mobsters. |
| 297 | * HonestAdvisor: Tonino tactfully tells Gyp how weakening was his mischief on Tabor Heights in regard to his New York operations. |
| 298 | * HopeSpot: He is smart enough to realize that he is about to be on a receiving end of YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness from [[spoiler: Luciano and Lansky]]. When Nucky takes interest in what is going on in New York, Tonino jumps at the opportunity to get Nucky's protection and offers to work for Nucky. Nucky seems to seriously consider the offer and Tonino seems to have saved himself once again. Then Tonino realizes that [[spoiler: their meeting took place in a restaurant with a memorial to Billie Kent, Nucky's mistress, who died when Tonino bombed Babette's on behalf of Rosetti. Tonino is dead by the end of the episode.]] |
| 299 | * NothingPersonal: Implied when he says "I'm sorry, I gotta" while he's killing Gyp, a very ironic touch. |
| 300 | * NumberTwo: To Gyp. Becomes Masseria's right-hand man in season 4. |
| 301 | * PayEvilUntoEvil: [[spoiler:Betraying your boss and literally stabbing him in the back and when he has his pants down would be a cowardly and reprehensible act if directed at anyone other than Gyp Rosetti.]] |
| 302 | * PunchClockVillain: Tonino has no sadism or cruelty to him at all. He simply does what he's ordered to do, no more, no less. |
| 303 | %%* TheQuietOne |
| 304 | * RedOniBlueOni: Blue to Gyp's red. |
| 305 | * TheStarscream: In ''Margate Sands''. He is ''[[ExtremeDoormat forced]]'' to become one. Then again, Gyp had killed his cousin despite Tonino begging him no to. |
| 306 | * TheStoic: Pretty much a job requirement. |
| 307 | ** NotSoStoic: He visibly tears up while watching Gyp split his cousin's head with a shovel. He also eventually stops putting up with Gyp's constant bullshit. |
| 308 | * RewardedAsATraitorDeserves: [[spoiler:When he realizes he's in a precarious position in Season 5, Tonino attempts to jump ship to Nucky's side. However, Nucky is aware of the many bosses Tonino has (in one case literally) backstabbed, as well as his role in Billie Kent's death. Tonino is dead by the end of the episode.]] |
| 309 | [[/folder]] |
| 310 | |
| 311 | !!Five Points Gang |
| 312 | |
| 313 | [[folder:Frankie Yale]] |
| 314 | !!Frankie Yale |
| 315 | ->'''Played by''': Creator/JosephRiccobene |
| 316 | [[quoteright:197:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Frankie_Yale_Boardwalk_9463.png]] |
| 317 | [[caption-width-right:197:''"You're singing a different tune from last time I come."'']] |
| 318 | |
| 319 | A Calabrian gangster established in Brooklyn and old friend of Johnny Torrio and the Capone brothers. |
| 320 | |
| 321 | !!Tropes: |
| 322 | |
| 323 | * AffablyEvil: Always polite and compromising. If he didn't kill people for a living he'd be the NiceGuy. |
| 324 | * AnOfferYouCantRefuse: Rothstein makes him one in order to make Yale tell him who ordered the death of Colosimo. |
| 325 | * DeadlyEuphemism: "Visiting a friend". |
| 326 | * EvilMentor: Served as one for the Capone brothers before Al came under Torrio's wing and moved with him to Chicago. |
| 327 | * OldFriend: Of Torrio and the Capones. |
| 328 | * ProfessionalKiller: Hired by Torrio in the pilot to murder his boss, Big Jim Colosimo. |
| 329 | |
| 330 | [[/folder]] |
| 331 | |
| 332 | !!Harlem Mob |
| 333 | |
| 334 | [[folder:Doctor Valentin Narcisse]] |
| 335 | !!Valentin Narcisse |
| 336 | ->'''Played by''': Creator/JeffreyWright |
| 337 | |
| 338 | |
| 339 | [[quoteright:328:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/valentinnarcissevwx2013_73221_980.jpg]] |
| 340 | [[caption-width-right:328:''"Only kings understand each other."'']] |
| 341 | |
| 342 | A Harlem crime boss. An immigrant from [[UsefulNotes/TrinidadAndTobago Trinidad]] and a member of UsefulNotes/MarcusGarvey's Universal Negro Improvement Association (even working out of Garvey's main office), he introduces himself as a philanthropist and "[[NotThatKindOfDoctor doctor of divinity]]". He is nevertheless one of the biggest heroin pushers among the Black communities of the Northeast. He has deals with Nucky and Chalky in Season 4. |
| 343 | |
| 344 | !!Tropes: |
| 345 | |
| 346 | * TheAggressiveDrugDealer: After getting his supply from Arnold Rothstein he manipulates [[spoiler: Dunn Purnsley]] into selling heroin in Atlantic City behind his boss's back. |
| 347 | * AsTheGoodBookSays: He's fond of quoting the Bible. |
| 348 | * AssholeVictim: [[spoiler: He is gunned down outside a church by Lucky's hit-men in [[Recap/BoardwalkEmpireS5E08ElDorado El Dorado]].]] |
| 349 | %%* BadBoss |
| 350 | * {{Blackmail}}: He stops every act on The Onyx Club until Nucky and Chalky agree to make concessions [[spoiler: for the death of his booking agent at the hands of Dunn Purnsley]] |
| 351 | * BeardOfEvil: He has a beard and is as bad as they come. |
| 352 | * BigBad: Of Season 4 along with [[spoiler: Special Agent James Tolliver]] as part of a BigBadEnsemble. While Tolliver initially poses the most imminent threat to Nucky Thompson and his associates, Narcisse's scheme to expand his influence into New Jersey ultimately becomes a catalyst for instability in Atlantic City, thereby bringing him into direct conflict with Nucky himself. |
| 353 | * BigBadWannabe: He has fallen into this trope by the time Season 5 rolls around. He talks a good game about upstaging the likes of Lucky, Meyer, and the rest of white-privileged society. Unfortunately for him, being WickedCultured and a VillainWithGoodPublicity aren't much use against aggressive mob expansionists whose policies boil down to shooting anyone in their way, [[spoiler: even in broad daylight in the middle of an adoring public.]] |
| 354 | * BoomerangBigot: He shows contempt for interracial sex and blacks who work with white people. Yet he himself is very pale skinned and works with white people on a regular basis. |
| 355 | * BoomHeadShot: [[spoiler:He's shot several times by his assassins, before getting a final bullet to the head.]] |
| 356 | * CharacterTics: Whenever he no longer wishes to speak to someone, he turns to the side, crosses his leg, places his elbow on his knee, and put his hand to his face. |
| 357 | * CreepyMonotone: The tone of his voice, thoughtfully measured and calculating, can come off as quite unsettling at times. |
| 358 | * DastardlyWhiplash: The closest example in the series, down to the pointed mustache asking to be twirled - and he eventually does. |
| 359 | * DudeWhereIsMyRespect: Narcisse doesn't like segregation. Not as much as because it treats blacks unfavorably compared to whites, as it is about how it treats ''him'' unfavorably. |
| 360 | -->Where I come from there are no such things as niggers, Mr. Thompson, and I refuse to be treated like one. |
| 361 | * EvenEvilHasStandards: |
| 362 | ** He is subtly disgusted at Alma Pastor claiming rape after her game with her husband is exposed, stating he has heard this tale "one time too many." |
| 363 | ** In exchange for Chalky "working" for him, [[spoiler:both men knowing that it means Narcisse will have him killed immediately,]] he releases Daughter Maitland for a better life. |
| 364 | * EvilCounterpart: To Chalky White, of whom he also counts as a {{foil}}. |
| 365 | * EvilMentor: To [[spoiler:Dunn Purnsley and Daughter Maitland]]. |
| 366 | * EvilSoundsDeep: He's the main villain of season 4 and has Jeffrey Wright's magnificent, sonorous voice. |
| 367 | * {{Expy}}: |
| 368 | ** Fans have noted he's essentially a Harlem Renaissance-era Brother Mouzone from ''Series/TheWire'', especially given the similarities between Mouzone's line that the most dangerous thing in America is "a nigger with a library card" and Chalky dismissing Narcisse as "a nigger with a dictionary." |
| 369 | ** He's also been compared to ''Series/BreakingBad'''s Gus Fring as both are soft-spoken and sophisticated but ruthless villains who operate illegally under the façade of legitimate business. Though a key difference between them is that Gus' politeness was [[AffablyEvil genuine]] whereas Narcisse's is an [[FauxAffablyEvil act]]. |
| 370 | ** He's basically an evil version of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._E._B._Du_Bois#Racial_violence W.E.B Du Bois]]. Both are light-skinned and highly educated black civil rights advocates who show a fierce pride in their race through social action and artistic expression. Narcisse wears the same Van Dyke and pointed mustache that Du Bois wore for most of his life. |
| 371 | * FauxAffablyEvil: Don't get fooled by his polite manners. He's bad. |
| 372 | * {{Foil}}: To Chalky White. Both are self-made gangsters. However, where Chalky remains in touch with his humble roots and looks out for the poorer African-American community, Narcisse looks down at the lower class, and sees them only as people to be exploited in the heroin trade. |
| 373 | * GiftedlyBad: He fancies himself a great playwright. No one agrees. |
| 374 | * HolierThanThou: Thinks of himself as morally above others and isn't afraid to say as much. |
| 375 | * HumiliationConga: [[spoiler:He ends season 4 with J. Edgar Hoover personally forcing him to betray all his principles and rat out the politician he most admires. And he has to call Hoover "sir."]] |
| 376 | ** And then in season 5 [[spoiler:he's put firmly under the thumb of Lucky and Meyer, having to clear all his business with them while pathetically talking about how he's going to rise against them one day. Not much later, he's assassinated in public on Lucky's orders.]] |
| 377 | * InsistentTerminology: '''Doctor''' Narcisse. |
| 378 | ** He refers to all blacks as "Libyans" with seemingly academic assurance. |
| 379 | ** And everyone gets the Mr./Mrs. treatment, even if he despises them. |
| 380 | * ItsAllAboutMe: It's pretty clear that his rhetoric about uplifting his race is mainly built around his own ego and getting the admiration he feels he's owed. |
| 381 | * LargeHam: To an extent. At any rate he has a real theatricality to him and tends to be a bit overdramatic. He even dies overdramatically. |
| 382 | * LifeEmbellished: His play ''Ominira'' is based on his "rescue" of Daughter Maitland as a child. [[spoiler: In that version, the mother kills herself.]] |
| 383 | * MalcolmXerox: He sees himself as a "Libyan" nationalist and considers racial mixing as degrading. |
| 384 | %%* ManipulativeBastard |
| 385 | * ManOfWealthAndTaste: He even adopts the dueling stance before shooting. |
| 386 | * MeaningfulName: His name fits his high opinion of himself as being above everyone he encounters, particularly other black characters. |
| 387 | * MorallyAmbiguousDoctorate: Not a medical doctor or psychiatrist but he insists on the title anyway. As for the "morally ambiguous" part, just look at the other tropes here. |
| 388 | * MostWritersAreWriters: Playwriter of seemingly highbrow, {{anvilicious}} works about the improvement of the Libyans, aka negroes. |
| 389 | * NeighborhoodFriendlyGangsters: His philantropist persona in Harlem, his own turf, which is interwoven with his [[RuthlessForeignGangsters aggressive but sneaky expansion]] to the Northside. |
| 390 | * NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: He is based primarily on the Harlem mobster [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casper_Holstein Casper Holstein]], according to Jeffrey Wright, with [[CompositeCharacter influences from other prominent]] African-American thinkers and gangsters from the era. |
| 391 | * NonActionGuy: Usually, but as shown in "White Horse Pike", he carries a gun and knows how to use it. |
| 392 | * NotThatKindOfDoctor: He is not a medical professional, but a doctor of divinity. |
| 393 | * NoTrueScotsman: According to him, there are plenty of "Libyans" that keep the race down and should be paid accordingly. |
| 394 | %%* NWordPrivileges |
| 395 | * ParentalSubstitute: To Daughter Maitland. [[spoiler: One of the creepiest examples ever, since he became that after killing her mother in front of her, and tells her to this day that her mother is burning in Hell.]] |
| 396 | * PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: He is against race mixing and very racist towards white people (to the point of wiping his hand after shaking hands with Arnold Rothstein). |
| 397 | * PunnyName: Well, he seems to love himself. |
| 398 | * RichBastard: He's wealthy and an absolute monster. |
| 399 | * ScrewTheRulesIHaveConnections: He is an ally of gangster Owney Madden, owns a piece of several African-American artists and as of "White Horse Pike" [[spoiler: has established a business relationship with Joe Masseria ''and'' a political alliance with Mayor Bader.]] |
| 400 | * SesquipedalianLoquaciousness: Chalky notes his tendency to use big words, describing him as a "nigger with a dictionary". |
| 401 | * SoftSpokenSadist: He's soft-spoken and polite, but he [[spoiler:has a woman brutally murdered in cold blood in the first episode he appears.]] |
| 402 | ** OOCIsSeriousBusiness: After Chalky's [[spoiler: failed assassination attempt,]] Narcisse, visibly rattled, yells at Nucky, raising his voice for the first time. |
| 403 | * VillainWithGoodPublicity: He is visibly upset when [[spoiler:Purnsley]] meets him in Marcus Garvey's office, since he's trying to keep his criminal dealings and his labor as a philanthropist in Harlem separate. |
| 404 | * VisionaryVillain / WellIntentionedExtremist: He is a member of the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Negro_Improvement_Association_and_African_Communities_League UNIA-ACL]] and wants to improve African-American society at heart. [[BlackAndGrayMorality In every other show he'd be the hero.]] That being said, he has no problem selling heroin to those he considers "lesser" Libyans and ordering a hit on a preacher who suspects him of such. |
| 405 | * WhatDoYouMeanItsNotSymbolic: Seconds after quoting Ecclesiastes 1:4, "One generation passeth away, another generation cometh, but the earth abideth for ever," [[spoiler: he is murdered on the orders of the ascendant Lansky and Luciano.]] |
| 406 | * WickedCultured: He's cultured, educated, well-spoken and absolutely monstrous. |
| 407 | * WouldHitAGirl: [[spoiler:He has Alma Pastor murdered, and brutally beats up Daughter Maitland when he finds out that she betrayed him. It's also implied that it's not the first time he beat her. Not to mention his outright murder of Daughter's prostitute mother right in front of her..]] |
| 408 | * YouHaveFailedMe / YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: [[spoiler: Alma Pastor was likely going to die no matter what she said.]] |
| 409 | [[/folder]] |
| 410 | |
| 411 | [[folder:Daughter Maitland]] |
| 412 | !!Daughter Maitland |
| 413 | ->'''Played by''': Creator/MargotBingham |
| 414 | |
| 415 | [[quoteright:315:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/daughter-maitland-1024_7021.jpg]] |
| 416 | [[caption-width-right:315:''"Spend your life walking over the world and never find your place, 'cause there isn't one."'']] |
| 417 | |
| 418 | A jazz singer who performs at The Cotton Club in New York City; she acts in The Onyx after Valentin Narcisse gets a 10% of the establishment in Season 4. [[spoiler: In "William Wilson", she is revealed to be a spy entrusted by Dr. Narcisse with the task of gathering information on Chalky's activities.]] |
| 419 | |
| 420 | !!Tropes: |
| 421 | |
| 422 | * BeautyIsNeverTarnished: [[spoiler:Averted. Dear God, and how! She's barely recognizable after Narcisse's beating.]] |
| 423 | * BelligerentSexualTension: With Chalky White. |
| 424 | * BloodIsTheNewBlack: [[spoiler: After Chalky is forced to kill a corrupt cop in the car they are moving in.]] |
| 425 | * CastTheExpert: Bingham is a Broadway singer in real life. |
| 426 | ** TheCastShowOff: Two of Bingham's songs can be found on the released Season 4 soundtrack. |
| 427 | * ConvenientlyAnOrphan: For Dr. Narcisse, to raise the way a "real Libyan" should. [[spoiler: He's the one that made her orphanhood possible too.]] |
| 428 | * TheChanteuse: Sultry lounge singer? Check. Surrounded by an air of melancholy? Check. Involved with the villain? Check. |
| 429 | * CommonalityConnection: Her interest for Chalky doubles when she learns that he also lost a parent when he was young and has been on his own ever since, just like her. |
| 430 | * DarkAndTroubledPast: See Daughter Of A Whore bellow. |
| 431 | * [[SonOfAWhore Daughter Of A Whore]]: Her mother was a prostitute who was killed "on duty" [[spoiler:by Narcisse]]. |
| 432 | * FallenOnHardTimesJob: In season 5, we learn that [[spoiler:after she left Narcisse, he had her blacklisted and she was forced to find work scrubbing toilets.]] |
| 433 | * HoneyTrap: [[spoiler:Sleeps with Chalky in order to spy on him for Dr. Narcisse]]. |
| 434 | * MadeASlave: [[spoiler:In practice, by Narcisse. He abducted her as a child after killing her mother. Now he pimps her to other men in order to fulfill his agenda, and if she shows any kind of attachment to them he hits her.]] |
| 435 | %%* PrettyInMink |
| 436 | * RagsToRiches: Part of her {{backstory}}. |
| 437 | %%* SassyBlackWoman |
| 438 | * SexFaceTurn: [[spoiler:She sleeps with Chalky so she could spy on him for Narcisse. However, when Narcisse sends Purnsley to kill Chalky, she ends up stabbing Purnsley in the back, saving Chalky's life.]] |
| 439 | * SlapSlapKiss: [[spoiler: With Chalky in "The North Star".]] |
| 440 | * StatuesqueStunner: Bingham even used to be a basketball player. |
| 441 | * StepfordSmiler: Since Narcisse advises her to not let her "melancholy" take ahold of her. |
| 442 | * StockholmSyndrome: [[spoiler: Narcisse killed her mother and abducted her. He then raised her with the promise that she might sleep with other men, but her heart would always be his. When he punches her face until it becomes unrecognizable, she still extorts Chalky to not kill him.]] |
| 443 | %%* UnresolvedSexualTension: With Chalky White. |
| 444 | * WhoNamesTheirKidDude: Someone who could only think of ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin, apparently. [[spoiler: It's revealed in "Havre Le Grace" that she was too young to remember her real name when she was adopted by Dr. Narcisse, so he simply named her Daughter.]] The show's writers may have been inspired by the legendary blues musician Son House. |
| 445 | * YouHaveFailedMe: [[spoiler: Narcisse bashes her face in after finding that he has lied about the Chalky/Dunn fight in her apartment.]] |
| 446 | |
| 447 | [[/folder]] |
| 448 | |
| 449 | !!The Castellammarese Gang |
| 450 | |
| 451 | [[folder:Salvatore Maranzano]] |
| 452 | !!Salvatore Maranzano |
| 453 | ->'''Played by''': Creator/GiampieroJudica |
| 454 | [[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/maranzano_boardwalk_empire.png]] |
| 455 | |
| 456 | ->"''Kingdoms raise, kingdoms falls, pretenders reach for the throne, but only Caesar can rule, and the pretenders, fade away''" |
| 457 | |
| 458 | A Sicilian mob kingpin who controls the Williamsburg-based Castellammarese gang and is the ArchEnemy of Joe "the Boss" Masseria. He often fancies himself as the Mafia's version of Julius Caesar. |
| 459 | |
| 460 | !!Tropes: |
| 461 | |
| 462 | * AffablyEvil: A soft-spoken, easy-going mobster who tries [[NothingPersonal not to take things personally]], even after an assassination attempt. |
| 463 | * AnalogyBackfire: Likes to compare himself with Caesar. Nucky points out that UsefulNotes/JuliusCaesar was backstabbed. [[spoiler:And indeed, just like Caesar, Maranzano is betrayed by an ally and stabbed to death.]] |
| 464 | * ArchEnemy: Masseria saw him as a rival, hence why the Castellammarese War broke out. |
| 465 | * BigBadWannabe: Fancies himself a highly sophisticated urban kingpin who's always one step ahead of his enemies. [[spoiler:He's not.]] |
| 466 | * DeathByIrony: [[spoiler:Maranzano, who idolized Julius Caesar, is betrayed and murdered by a gang of men with knives.]] |
| 467 | * TheDon: He's the boss of the Castellammarese gang, nowadays known as the [[UsefulNotes/TheMafia Bonanno crime family]]. |
| 468 | * ForegoneConclusion: Him taking Luciano as his NumberTwo [[spoiler:[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castellammarese_War didn't end well for Maranzano]].]] |
| 469 | * ItsAllAboutMe: After winning the Castellammarese War, he immediately declares himself the boss of bosses, reneging on the peace deal he made with Luciano. This causes Luciano to [[spoiler:have him killed at the end of Season 5.]] |
| 470 | * OffscreenMomentOfAwesome: His triumph in the [[MobWar Castellammarese War]]. Only the ending is partially depicted in season 5 with the assassination of [[spoiler:Masseria]]. |
| 471 | * RememberTheNewGuy: Attributable to the long TimeSkip. He's introduced in the Season 5 premiere, at which point, he is the most powerful gangster of New York. |
| 472 | * UnderestimatingBadassery: Much like Nucky and Masseria, he saw Luciano and Lansky as upstarts and wannabes who are way out of their league. [[spoiler:Those same upstarts manage to claw into Nucky's weak point and intimidate him into backstabbing Maranzano.]] |
| 473 | * WeCanRuleTogether: Like Masseria before him, Maranzano wants Luciano to join him as an underling. But Lucky knows that he and Masseria are dead-set Mustache Petes unwilling to cooperate with other Italian gangs, let alone other ethnic groups like the Irish, Jews, etc. |
| 474 | * WickedCultured: Frequently likes to compare himself to Caesar. He's also power-hungry, wanting to become the Mafia's overlord. |
| 475 | [[/folder]] |
| 476 | |
| 477 | !!The Commission |
| 478 | |
| 479 | [[folder:Salvatore "Sal" "Charlie" "Lucky" Luciano]] |
| 480 | !!Charles "Lucky" Luciano |
| 481 | ->'''Played by''': Creator/VincentPiazza |
| 482 | |
| 483 | [[quoteright:275:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/lucky-luciano-BE_1648.jpg]] |
| 484 | [[caption-width-right:275: [[labelnote:Click here to see Luciano in 1931]] https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/hd_wallpaper_boardwalk_empire_lucky_luciano_hbo_film_charles_luciano_boardwalk_empire_vincent_piazza_new_jersey_character_tv_show_lucky_luciano_tv_series_atlantic_city_acting_historical_character_actorc.jpeg]] [[/labelnote]] |
| 485 | |
| 486 | He begins the series as Rothstein's [[TheDragon number two]], an angry, hot-blooded young man prone to violent outbursts. He soon develops a rivalry with Jimmy Darmody, which gets exacerbated when he begins spending his time by sleeping with Jimmy's mother Gillian. Seasons 2 and 3 see him try to climb the gangster's social ladder, first by getting involved in the heroin business, then a short lived agreement between he, Jimmy and Lansky to overthrow the old guard of Nucky and Rothstein, but when that quickly falls apart he continues working under Rothstein, despite Masseria attempting to recruit him. When Rothstein betrays him at the end of season 3, however, Luciano takes Masseria up on his offer, becoming TheDragon for Joe the Boss, albeit a DragonWithAnAgenda, as he knows he can only go so far if he keeps working for Masseria... |
| 487 | |
| 488 | !!Tropes: |
| 489 | * TheAggressiveDrugDealer: He starts this aspect of his business during the series: |
| 490 | ** 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". |
| 491 | ** Backfires on him in "Two Imposters"; Charlie attempts to cut a deal for five pounds of heroin to a friend of a friend. Turns out the guy is actually NYPD, and Charlie finds himself in handcuffs. |
| 492 | * AwesomeMomentOfCrowning: Via Sicilian blood bond after [[spoiler:he arranges Masseria's death.]] |
| 493 | * TheBadGuyWins: [[spoiler: In "Friendless Child", Nucky surrenders and give all his Atlantic City holdings to Luciano.]] |
| 494 | * BerserkButton: He has [[HairTriggerTemper quite a few]] but any disrespect or condescension is a really big one. |
| 495 | * BigBadDuumvirate: With Lansky in season 5. Although Lucky does get more screen time. |
| 496 | * BookEnds: The first season had Arnold Rothstein as the BigBad[=/=]GreaterScopeVillain. The Final Season had his proteges Lucky and Lansky as the BigBadDuumvirate. |
| 497 | * BrooklynRage: He grew up on the Lower East Side of Manhattan and he's ''very'' short-tempered and emotional. |
| 498 | * TheBrute: He's the more physical and easily enraged of the two with Lansky. |
| 499 | * ButtMonkey: Things go against him so often it makes his famous nickname seem bitterly ironic.[[note]]In real life it ''may'' have been a semi-ironic nickname; while it's not known for sure how he got the nickname and Luciano was known to have good fortune at gambling, the popular story is that he was nicknamed "Lucky" by Lansky after surviving a vicious beating and knife attack, or in other words, he was lucky to be alive after that.[[/note]] While he does have one moment of unquestionable amazing fortune in the first season (when Van Alden arrives at just the right time to prevent Jimmy Darmody from killing him), the pattern of bad things happening to him and suffering numerous setbacks doesn't change until the final season, by which time he has learned to control his temper and act in a more calculating manner. At this point his luck takes a noticeable upswing, leaving him about to become one of the biggest crime bosses in the country as the show concludes. |
| 500 | * BullyTurnedBuddy: Lucky was a bully running with a gang already, and Meyer was a poor immigrant kid living nearby. Lucky attempted to bully Meyer, only for Meyer to refuse to give in to him, despite getting a couple of beatings for it. After two such occasions failed to make him act more compliant, Lucky became impressed with Meyer's guts and invited him to join Lucky's gang. The two then went on to become lifelong friends and business partners. |
| 501 | -->'''Meyer Lansky:''' One day on my way to school, I got stopped by a gang of older boys. The leader said he wanted my lunch money. I told him to go fuck himself. He laughed, said he'd beat it out of me. So I spit in his face. He did beat me, they all did, and they took my money. Next day, same thing. Again I spit in his face, again we fought. But the third day? The kid asked me to join his gang. He was Charlie Luciano, and that's how we teamed up. |
| 502 | * CallForward: |
| 503 | ** A number of Luciano's scenes with Joe Masseria foreshadow Luciano's eventual killing of Masseria for making attempts on his Jewish allies (Lansky and Siegel, particularly). |
| 504 | ** Luciano is also the one in "The Milkmaid's Lot" to ask Nucky how a four-city alliance of gangsters would work, foreshadowing the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantic_City_Conference Atlantic City Conference]]. |
| 505 | * CharacterDevelopment: He is much more calm and calculating in Season 5. |
| 506 | * DemotedToExtra: In season 4; despite this, he's still [[AdvertisedExtra listed in the opening credits]] while Lansky, who has had far more screentime in the season, isn't. |
| 507 | * TheDragon: To Arnold Rothstein in Seasons 1-3, Joe Masseria in Season 4 and Sal Maranzano in the early episodes of Season 5. |
| 508 | ** DragonWithAnAgenda: Like his real-life counterpart, he did harbor ambitions of upstaging them. By the end of season 5, [[spoiler:he has outlived Rothstein, played a key role in assassinating Masseria, overthrown Maranzano, taken over Atlantic City from Nucky, and established a Commission to regulate the American Mafia's activities, with him becoming the first Chairman of the Commission.]] |
| 509 | * EarnYourHappyEnding: In a sense, despite being a villain. [[spoiler: Despite all the shit he's put through, he ends the series stronger than ever and on track to becoming one of the most powerful crime bosses in the country.]] |
| 510 | * {{Foil}}: To Jimmy. NumberTwo to a powerful man, hot-tempered, and involved with Gillian. Unfortunately, they're also both holding a grudge over the Gillian thing. |
| 511 | * FromNobodyToNightmare: Like his real-life counterpart, he starts out as a young hoodlum working for Rothstein, works his way up to the criminal ladder, and by the end of Season 5, [[spoiler:he has finally come into his own. Not only is he now the most powerful man in the New York underworld, but the creation of the Commission will make him ''de facto'' the most powerful and influential crime boss in the country.]] |
| 512 | * EvilMentor: He turned Lansky to the 'Dark Side' when they were children. |
| 513 | * FauxAffablyEvil: Becomes this by Season 5. He always talks in a cool and calm tone of voice even when speaking to despised enemies or rivals, but it's clear that he's merely masking his contempt for his enemies or rivals. |
| 514 | * FriendlyEnemy: He and Jimmy team up at the end of "Age of Reason", due to Lansky's [[WeCanRuleTogether suggestion]]. He has aspects of this with Capone, too. |
| 515 | * ForegoneConclusion: His break with Rothstein in season 4 and alliance with Masseria? [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castellammarese_War It's not going to end well for Masseria.]] |
| 516 | * HairTriggerTemper: It takes very little to set him off. |
| 517 | * HeterosexualLifePartners: With Lansky. |
| 518 | * HiddenDepths: Despite his bluster and his bad temper, Charlie has frequently shown that he is most definitely not stupid. When he finally learns to reign his emotions in and loses his need to be seen as a tough guy and apply various lessons he's learned over the years, he becomes an exceptionally skilled opponent who rises very quickly in Rothstein's absence and shows exactly why he ended up one of the leaders of organized crime in the states. |
| 519 | * HistoricalBeautyUpgrade: The real Luciano had a slightly bloated face from smallpox. |
| 520 | * HotBlooded: He's ''very'' hot-tempered and emotional, especially compared to Lansky and Rothstein. |
| 521 | * IHaveManyNames: To the point that Jimmy (in S2) and Masseria (S3) lampshade it. |
| 522 | * ItWillNeverCatchOn: He's generally regarded as little more than a violent thug who will never amount to anything, even by those he works for with Rothstein clearly expecting him to end up dead or in jail before long. A cop tells this to Luciano in "Margate Sands", regarding Luciano himself: |
| 523 | -->''Pricks like you, they come and go. No one remembers them. The only thing that remains is the law.'' |
| 524 | * {{Jerkass}}: Unlike his more polite (and intelligent) boss, Charlie has trouble reigning in his temper and worst impulses and is generally surly, foul-mouthed and abrasive. |
| 525 | * MaleFrontalNudity: In "Family Limitation". |
| 526 | * MistakenIdentity: Mistakes Darmody's mother for Jimmy's wife and starts a romance with her. This spiteful plan turns out to be an EpicFail when he learns of the real kinship. |
| 527 | * [[MySpeciesDothProtestTooMuch My Ethnicity Doth Protest Too Much]]: Lucky is a Sicilian gangster working in a Jewish mob, something very unusual. This is why Masseria, the head of the Sicilian mafia, insists on trying to bring him back to his "people". |
| 528 | * OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: Very few people get to call him "Charlie" (Rothstein, Lansky, Gillian); everyone else uses "Lucky" or "Mr. Luciano". Even fewer people (Capone among them) call him by his birth name - Salvatore. Not that he particularly enjoys it: |
| 529 | --->'''Luciano''': What are you, my priest? Back off. |
| 530 | * RageAgainstTheMentor: When he discovers Rothstein's double-cross. |
| 531 | * TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: He attempts one on ''Rothstein'', of all people, in the Season 3 finale. [[HotBlooded It needs more work]]. |
| 532 | -->You fucking set me up. Who the fuck do you think you are? I worked for that! I busted my ASS for that! It was MY idea, MY deal. You did not lift a finger. Sit on your desk, making phone calls! I'm out there in the fucking world! |
| 533 | * RedOniBlueOni: Red to Lansky (and Rothstein's) blue. |
| 534 | ** Though he and Lansky seem to have switched roles in Season 5. |
| 535 | -->'''Lansky''': I say we move now, just take him the fuck out. |
| 536 | -->'''Lucky''': It's too soon, we don't got the support. |
| 537 | * SirSwearsALot: So much so that even Nucky, himself no stranger to profanity, calls him on it. |
| 538 | * TheStarscream: Turning against Rothstein is really more Lansky's idea, but Lucky doesn't really protest too much and begins to embrace the idea. |
| 539 | ** [[spoiler: To Masseria in the Season 5 premier, as he orders his death.]] |
| 540 | ** [[spoiler: And to Maranzano too, in "Friendless Child", he strong-arms Nucky into ordering his death.]] |
| 541 | * TheStoic: In Season 5. He shows no emotion and speaks in a quiet and calm tone of voice. |
| 542 | ** NotSoStoic: But his stoicism is broken as soon as Mickey Doyle starts talking. |
| 543 | -->'''Mickey''': I've been running that place the last seven years. You don't need to be throwing the baby out... |
| 544 | -->'''Lucky''': SHUT THE FUCK UP! [[spoiler: *Shoots Mickey in the throat"]] |
| 545 | * TaughtByExperience: By the time of the final season, Luciano has finally begun applying all the lessons that he's learned throughout a long lifetime as a gangster, and also applying lessons learned from seeing the rise and fall of other gangsters. As a result the final season shows him finally dropping his need to impress people, he's learned how to play his cards close to chest, who to trust and not trust, (notably, he refuses to get involved in an alliance with anyone who has ever backstabbed somebody before) he controls his temper, and he never makes a move without calculating it out and being sure it's going to work for him. This is why he winds up as the top man in the American Underworld at the end of the show. |
| 546 | * TookALevelInBadass: See CharacterDevelopment. |
| 547 | * UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: His pursue of a heroin deal with Masseria ends resulting in Owen Sleater's death. And ultimately, of a lot of Masseria's men too. |
| 548 | * UsedToBeASweetKid: According to Joe Masseria. Forgive us for doubting Masseria's word and sincerity. (According to Lansky, Luciano was the leader of a whole pack of bullies who beat him up for his lunch money, although at least Luciano was quickly impressed by Lansky's guts and refusal to simply give in to Luciano, and this prompted Luciano to befriend Lansky). |
| 549 | * VillainousFriendship: With Meyer Lansky and, to a slightly lesser degree, Benny Siegel. Luciano and Lansky have known each other and been friends since childhood, and despite their differences one thing you can count on is that Luciano will never abandon or betray his old friend. |
| 550 | * VitriolicBestBuds: He's constantly needling Lansky: |
| 551 | -->'''Jimmy''': A lot has changed in a year. |
| 552 | -->'''Luciano''': Sure, Meyer's started to shave. |
| 553 | * YouHaveFailedMe: Hits this with Rothstein in season three's "Margate Sands", when it's revealed his arrest was set up by Rothstein as punishment for going through with the heroin deal when Rothstein told him not to. Rothstein reveals his sadness that Charlie has apparently learned nothing from him in all the years he's been mentoring him. |
| 554 | * YoungFutureFamousPeople: Starts the series as an intimidating but otherwise unimportant enforcer. Will eventually rise to become the premier mobster in the entire country. |
| 555 | [[/folder]] |
| 556 | |
| 557 | [[folder:Meyer Lansky]] |
| 558 | !!Meyer Lansky |
| 559 | ->'''Played by''': Creator/AnatolYusef |
| 560 | |
| 561 | ->''"Charlie and I have learned a great deal from Mr. Rothstein....but nobody wants to be in school forever."'' |
| 562 | |
| 563 | [[quoteright:282:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/meyer-lansky-BE_3105.jpg]] |
| 564 | [[caption-width-right:282:''"All you have to do is recognize an opportunity."'']] |
| 565 | One of Rothstein's two main enforcers, he instead relies upon his intelligence and guile (as opposed to brute force) to get ahead in the world of bootlegging. He's also got his own protégé in Benny Siegel. |
| 566 | |
| 567 | !!Tropes: |
| 568 | * ADayInTheLimelight: "All In". |
| 569 | * AllJewsAreCheapskates: Wants very much to dispel this assumption, thinking that if he and Luciano carry around fake watches to sell, they'll look bad. |
| 570 | * AvengingTheVillain: A case where the original villain isn't killed: during "All In" Lansky painfully confesses to Nucky that he regards his father as weak, and possibly a coward, while at the same time defending Rothstein as a great man. (Which raises the question of whether some part of Lansky views "A.R." as a ParentalSubstitute.) During the course of the episode he has to watch as the "great man" is repeatedly insulted, demeaned, humiliated and defeated by a boorish anti-Semite in a game of poker, until finally Lansky has to all but drag a suddenly pitiable Rothstein away from the table, like the child of an alcoholic who needs to bring daddy home from the bar. Is it any wonder that Lansky later ambushes and delivers a NoHoldsBarredBeatdown to the other poker player? |
| 571 | * BastardUnderstudy: To Rothstein. |
| 572 | * BerserkButton: He can put up with a lot but Anti-Semitism seems to be one of the few things that can make him genuinely angry and violent, as evidenced by the brutal beatdown he delivers on a card player who makes such remarks. The real Lansky even used his influence to break up pro-Nazi rallies and even worked with the government to prevent sabotage of Navy ships during WWII. |
| 573 | * BewareTheNiceOnes: Despite being far more diplomatic and level-headed than most of his criminal associates, he is nonetheless equally capable of startling acts of brutality when sufficiently provoked as witnessed in "All In". |
| 574 | * BigBadDuumvirate: With Lucky in Season 5. |
| 575 | * BilingualBonus: Harangues a boorish gambler in Yiddish as he beats him to death with a blackjack: |
| 576 | -->'''Lansky:''' (''Yiddish'') You fat slob! How do you like this? Do you still feel like a winner? How's that for a taste of the God of Abraham? |
| 577 | * BookEnds: The first season had Arnold Rothstein as the BigBad[=/=]GreaterScopeVillain. The Final Season had his proteges Lucky and Lansky as the BigBadDuumvirate. |
| 578 | * TheCassandra: Warns Luciano in "Two Imposters" that no matter how badly they need the money from a heroin deal to pay back Joe Masseria, cutting a deal with an unknown party is a bad plan. Luciano goes ahead anyway and is arrested for drug trafficking, as the friend of a friend that he decided to sell to was an undercover cop. |
| 579 | * CommonalityConnection: Tries to use [[YiddishAsASecondLanguage Yiddish]] as one with Rothstein, who sees right through the trick and lampshades it. This could also be interpreted as a way of showing the barrier between Rothstein, whose Yiddishkeit is barely noticeable, and the very Jewish Lansky. (Rothstein was born in Manhattan to a successful businessman of German Jewish origins; Lansky was born in the town of Grodno, then in the Russian Pale of Settlement[[note]]Today it's in Belarus, but at the time Lansky was born the local goyim were mostly Polish; the region was part of interwar Poland[[/note]] to a poor family.) |
| 580 | * DawsonCasting: There is no way [[http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0992195/ this guy]] is 18. |
| 581 | * DeadpanSnarker: Always has a dry quip or witty remark. |
| 582 | * DontExplainTheJoke: Yes, he got it, thank you. |
| 583 | * TheDragon: Becomes Rothstein's in Season 4 when Luciano leaves Rothstein's organization to join Joe Masseria. |
| 584 | * EvilGenius: Possibly the only character in the show to rival Rothstein's intellect and regularly shows why he is on track to becoming as powerful as he did. |
| 585 | * EvilMentor: Early in Season 2 it's shown that despite Meyer's young age, he already has one disciple, [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bugsy_Siegel "Benny" Siegel]]. |
| 586 | * FacePalm: His reaction to Lucien D'Alessio taunting Jimmy in "The Emerald City" can only be described as this, even though his hands were tied. |
| 587 | * FakeGuestStar: Yusef is still billed as a guest star, despite being as prominent to the main plot and having as much screentime as Piazza, who is main credited, from the second season. |
| 588 | * FakeNationality: Russian immigrant Meyer is portrayed by Anatol Yusef (English of Turkish descent). |
| 589 | * FauxAffablyEvil: Lansky is excruciatingly polite to almost everyone. Even when what he really wants to do is beat them to death. |
| 590 | * FromNobodyToNightmare: The unimpressive young man whose introduction consisted of Chalky taunting him for his age and cheap suit will be one of the most powerful men in the United States in little more than a decade. |
| 591 | * HeterosexualLifePartners: With Luciano, since they met in school. Well, when Meyer was going to school, that is. |
| 592 | * HiddenDepths: He's regularly looked down upon, but will eventually show just how capable he truly is. He's also just as capable of terrifying violence as Luciano as "All In" showed. |
| 593 | * HistoricalPersonPunchline: Introduced this way in "Home". |
| 594 | * ItWillNeverCatchOn: Like Luciano, he's generally seen as little more than a hired goon, more intelligent and sophisticated than most perhaps but still just a low-level gangster who will never be anything more than a pawn for more powerful men. |
| 595 | * JewishAndNerdy: In as much as a ruthless gangster can qualify as this. |
| 596 | * KosherNostra: He's Jewish and a gangster and future crime boss. |
| 597 | * NonActionGuy: Although "The Age of Reason" shows that he also knows how to use a gun, brains were the thing that got him out of trouble again. However, as witnessed in Season 4, he can be a ''vicious'' physical combatant when sufficiently angered. |
| 598 | * OnlySaneMan: He spends much of his time with Luciano and Benny as their voice of reason. |
| 599 | * PragmaticVillainy: Takes after his boss in this regard, believing that one shouldn't "let the past get in the way of the future." Even in "Margate Sands", when Rothstein reveals he's behind Luciano's arrest and has all their dope, Meyer admits he understands why Rothstein did it and stops Luciano's wrath because it will get them killed. When Rothstein behaves like a dick at a poker game, Meyer counsels A.R. to stop, but only because he's projecting an image of weakness in public. |
| 600 | * RageBreakingPoint: An anti-Semite is making fun of Rothstein all through a long card game that goes badly for him. This causes Rothstein an uncharacteristic VillainousBreakdown and finally manages to send Lansky over the edge. The result is glorious. |
| 601 | * RedOniBlueOni: Blue to Luciano's and Siegel's red. |
| 602 | * SesquipedalianLoquaciousness: He always speaks in a very precise and educated manner. |
| 603 | * TheSmartGuy: He is probably the smartest character on the show, even more so than Rothstein. |
| 604 | * SmokingIsCool: Just about everyone smokes, but it's Lansky who's frequently smirking and getting the better of someone while puffing on a cigarette. Probably as foreshadowing to his death by lung cancer. |
| 605 | ** Meyer's also shows off his smoke rings. He never comments on it, but he's showing off. |
| 606 | * StepfordSmiler: Almost as much as his mentor, Rothstein. Though Lansky's are less evil and more "can't we all just cooperate and make money?" |
| 607 | * StiffUpperLip: Displays this as a kind of RefugeInAudacity when dealing with other gangsters. |
| 608 | * TheStarscream: Believes he and Luciano - with the help of Jimmy and his associates - can overthrow the old guard of Rothstein and Nucky. |
| 609 | * TookALevelInBadass: We knew from season two that Meyer could use a gun, but "Bone for Tuna" has him shooting two of Masseria's goons in cold blood to save Benny's life. This continues in Season 4, where he is seen physically assaulting someone for the first time. In Season 5, after the long time skip, he is much more outgoing and confident. |
| 610 | * TranquilFury: Especially compared to the HotBlooded Luciano. |
| 611 | -->"Fifty pounds. One hundred. ''Thousand''. [[PrecisionFStrike Fucking]] dollars." |
| 612 | ** Even more so in "All In." During his [[RageBreakingPoint brutal beatdown]] of the Anti-Semite in the back alley, he keeps up a steady stream of Yiddish, barely raising his voice or altering his tone, even as he beats the guy into a bloody pulp. |
| 613 | * VerbalTic: Says "yes" when he is trying to defuse a situation. |
| 614 | -->Gentlemen, I'm running a business here! Yes?!\ |
| 615 | Charlie, if you don't shut up, we are both dead, yes?! |
| 616 | * VitriolicBestBuds: With Luciano, especially considering how they met: |
| 617 | -->'''Meyer''': One day on my way to school, I got stopped by a gang of older boys. The leader said he wanted my lunch money. I told him to go fuck himself. He laughed, said he'd beat it out of me, so I spit in his face. He did beat me, they all did, and they took my money. Next day, same thing. I spit in his face and then we fought. The third day, the kid asked me to join his gang. The kid was Charlie Luciano, and that's how we teamed up. |
| 618 | * VillainousFriendship: Type I with Lucky and Benny. |
| 619 | * WiseBeyondTheirYears: Well, he is supposed to be a teenager in the first two seasons. |
| 620 | * YiddishAsASecondLanguage: As a first language, actually, given that he was born to a Jewish family in Grodno. At the end of "All In" he even makes an entire (untranslated) rant in it while kicking the shit out of a guy. |
| 621 | %%* YoungFutureFamousPeople |
| 622 | [[/folder]] |
| 623 | |
| 624 | [[folder:Benjamin "Benny" Siegel]] |
| 625 | !!Benjamin "Benny" Siegel |
| 626 | ->'''Played by''': Creator/MichaelZegen |
| 627 | |
| 628 | [[quoteright:256:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/michael_zegen_BE_4567.jpg]] |
| 629 | [[caption-width-right:256:''"So, should I tell [Rothstein] to go fuck a duck?"'']] |
| 630 | A teenaged hoodlum, working as a gofer for Lansky and Luciano. He's a bit of an odd kid, but watch out when he gets his hands on a gun. |
| 631 | |
| 632 | !!Tropes: |
| 633 | %% * ADayInTheLimelight: "Friendless Child" |
| 634 | * AffablyEvil: He's a charming and funny guy right up until he starts shooting innocent people. |
| 635 | * TheArtfulDodger: He debuts as a 15-year old, yet regularly hangs around Meyer and Lucky's gambling den. |
| 636 | * AxCrazy: Given his bad temper, sadism and ease in killing, it's not hard to see where his eventual, famous nickname and the reputation that led to it would come from. |
| 637 | * BerserkButton: As "Bone for Tuna" demonstrates, do not attempt to bully him. A couple of Masseria's thugs jump Benny and he flies wildly off in an unhinged response. As soon as he recovers, from his beating enough to stand, he chases Masseria's men into the street with no regard for his own safety, screaming a stream of hate and curses at them, shooting his gun in thier direction and promising to kill them all. |
| 638 | %% * TheBrute: In Season 3. |
| 639 | * DeadpanSnarker: Wen he's not overcome with anger, he's usually making sarcastic quips. |
| 640 | * TheDragon: To [[BigBadDuumvirate Lucky and Lansky]] in Season 5. |
| 641 | * FromNobodyToNightmare: The kid making chicken noises? Give him a few years and he'll be one of the most feared hitmen in the country. Oh, and he'll invent Las Vegas. |
| 642 | * HairTriggerTemper: He wouldn't be Bugsy Siegel without this, even if he's not yet at the level of his real life counterpart. |
| 643 | * HistoricalInJoke: Not long after being introduced Luciano calls him a "crazy" little kid, but he's not quite "Bugsy" yet. |
| 644 | * HotBlooded: To a degree that he makes even Luciano at his youngest and angriest look restrained and sedate in comparison. Imagine what he'd do if Lansky wasn't there to rein him in. |
| 645 | * InformedAbility: Despite his reputation as a ruthless assassin, he botches more contracts than he pulls off smoothly: [[spoiler:he misses every shot he fires at Masseria's men in "Bone For Tuna", kills everyone but Gyp — including a woman and child — in "You'd Be Surprised", and is late arriving to Masseria's assassination in "Golden Days for Boys and Girls". He isn't present for Narcisse's assassination, but orchestrated the hit, and gets the timing wrong there too — Lansky says to finish it before the Commission meeting but Narcisse dies after it.]] |
| 646 | * KarmaHoudini: Benny is a remorseless murderer who never receives any comeuppance for his actions during the show's run. Granted, anyone who's familiar with the real Benny Siegel's history will know that he'll get what's coming to him later in life. |
| 647 | * KosherNostra: He's Jewish and a mobster. |
| 648 | * OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: Inverted. His famous nickname is never mentioned on the show. Probably for the best as the real Siegel famously ''hated'' being referred to by it and it was one of the main ways to set off his legendary temper. |
| 649 | * PityTheKidnapper: [[spoiler: When he is kidnapped by Nucky in "Friendless Child", he sings bawdy songs in an obnoxiously-loud voice, that even Mickey Doyle finds annoying.]] |
| 650 | * PluckyComicRelief: When first introduced in Season 2, he's a smartmouthed kid who always has a line or retort for everything, from his nonchalant inquiry of what Lansky and Luciano want him to do about Rothstein ("oh, so I should tell him to go fuck a duck?") to his mother-henning of Lansky when told to go out and pick up some halvah ("that stuff'll rot your teeth"). His sense of humor is lost on Jimmy, however. |
| 651 | * ProfessionalKiller: For Lucky and Lansky in Season 5. |
| 652 | * PsychoForHire: Seems to take ''too'' much pleasure from killing people, and [[BloodKnight genuinely enjoys the carnage and chaos of his hits]]. In the wake of his failed hit on Rosetti, during which Siegel killed both numerous gangsters and civilians, he is crowing with delight and exuberance once he makes it out of the building alive, with absolutely no regard for the two innocent people he killed along the way. |
| 653 | * RedOniBlueOni: Again, Red to Lansky's Blue. |
| 654 | * TeensAreMonsters: He's in his teens at the start of the show and is already a brutal hitman. |
| 655 | * TookALevelInBadass: "You'd Be Surprised" shows us a glimpse of the infamous hitman Benny will become - aggressive, bloodthirsty, and audacious. Though he's still got work to do - he doesn't get his target, Gyp Rosetti. Come Season 5, he is shown to be much more precise and efficient. |
| 656 | * TriggerHappy |
| 657 | * [[WouldHitAGirl Would Shoot A Girl]]: When Rosetti uses the woman he's with as a HumanShield, Benny shoots her without hesitation. In season 5, Benny and another hitman ruthlessly gun down several prostitutes just to send a message [[spoiler:to Narcisse.]] |
| 658 | * WouldHurtAChild: While he's looking to you in the eye, pleads you to not shoot and has shown himself to not be a threat already. |
| 659 | * YoungFutureFamousPeople: He's first shown as a low-level smart aleck associate in a crime syndicate. Viewers familiar with the history of organized crime in America know he will become one of the most famous mob assassins in history. |
| 660 | [[/folder]] |
| 661 |
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