Boardwalk Empire Season 3
 

That trailer! Wow. Can't wait for this. In due time, this series could go down as one of the all time greats. Hoping we see a lot more Al Capone in this series.

It took me a few episodes to get into it, but I am hooked now. Looking forward to the new season. Too bad Michael Williams couldn't just be Omar who went back in time. :)

Out of all those characters only two would completely take over the entire commission decades later. It's not Capone either. I'd like to think I'm the resident scholar when it comes to this subject matter. If I were living in that era there is no doubt in my mind I would have operated a speakeasy or have been a bootlegger.

Beer baron anybody...

Great ep to kick things off with. I think that this show has the more layered characters over any other tv show out there.

Richard Harrow deserves more screen time. Silent assassin.

Gotta love the Roaring 20's! This decade defined the mafioso as we know it. It bankrolled their operations into legitimate businesses even well known figures like Friedrich Drumpf (Donald Trump's grandfather), JPK senior, Samuel Bronfman of Seagrams and many reputable companies and business today had their hand in bootlegging.

Far and away the best Show on TV that isn't fantasy.

And man. is great television on right now.

Season 3 of this, Season 7 of Dexter just started(last seasons have been pretty crappy though) and Season 3 of The Walking Dead is just around the corner.



Back on topic.

It looks like Van Alden is heading towards the dark side. hopefully he kills his boss or whoever it was that screwed him out of his bonus.

I find the ex agent to be a very dry character. I suppose that would be an irony if he joined O'Banion's crew in the North side.

Rosetti has a very short fuse. He's irrational and extremely volatile. Completely the opposite of Meyer, Arnold, and Nucky whom we all know use their intellect to reign supreme. I really wonder if they're going to last all 10 seasons til the first official mafia commission transpires just before the dawn of the Prohibition era. Then you can see each of the early gangsters graduate from local hoodlum to full fledged mafioso into an organized commission known as the five families under Charles Lucky Luciano.

Anybody who's into casinos, gambling, and the mafia should read Havana Nocturne by T.J. English. Highly recommend it. It is one of the most vivid pictures painted of post prohibition where the entire mafia bankrolled their money from bootlegging to the casinos in Las Vegas to Cuba under the Batista regime. Meyer Lansky plays a central role along with Santo Trafficante, Albert Anastasia, Charles Lucky Luciano and many other crime lords. The movie is in development.

Bugsy Segal too right?

I intentionally left his name out because sadly his fate was decided there in the commission meeting. But yah pretty much all the major figures you can think of were present or named in there.

Cuba was a strategic move.

Charles Lucky Luciano was in jail. The US asked Meyer Lansky for help so he went through a backdoor channel to use their labour union connections to warn the US government of any U-boats on the East Coast because they (mafia) controlled the docks and shipping ports. In return they allowed Lucky to be a free man, but he had to be deported to Italy, but his powerbase was in the US. Although he wasn't allowed on US soil he secretly went to Cuba for a huge commission meeting where they discussed the French Connection, casinos, and The Bugsy situation with the Flamingo Hilton. Vito Genovese wanted his position while Frank Costello ran things. Once Lucky came back he assumed power.

Later the US found out and Charles beat the crap out of Vito (Godfather of his own family) because he thought Vito leaked the info. But nobody dared step on Lucky cuz he was the boss of bosses with Meyer being basically the co-chairman.

Meyer's bodyguard wrote a bio which I'm trying to find.

I'm telling you man...this was an incredibly fascinating read. It offered an insight into the inner workings of the top members. Meyer Lanksy called the shots and everyone followed suit from the Chicago outfit to all five families.

They bankrolled all of their prohibition money (Boardwalk Empire) into casinos and
drugs.

EDIT: I just found the entire book online although I read the paper back. Enjoy.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/65001690/12/SOURCES

Recap:

This was a poignant episode about undermining ones' power.

I think Al Capone is such an interesting character in the show because you keep waiting for him to come into his own.