The original Boardwalk Empire ... the real deal. Click topic for LINK.
Atlantic City, New Jersey
Master mind of a network of vice, the fiefdom of Enuch "Nucky" Johnson, city and Republican party boss 1911-1941 - his father had been sheriff with Nucky as his deputy. Referred to as Czar of the Ritz or Prisoner of the Ritz, where he lived in a suite, he was the man who pulled the strings in the shadows.
First oceanside amusement pier in the United States. Imagine a live jazz band playing at water's edge? The first Miss America then named Inter-City Beauty Contest was held there in 1921. Don't forget the building in the shape of an elephant!
With musicians, performers and celebrities, A.C. was the prototype Las Vegas. Jack Dempsey's 1921 world championship heavy weight match up against France's Georges Carpentier was the first million dollar gate in Jersey.
"We have whiskey, wine, women, song and slot machines ..... the people want them." - Nucky Johnson.
East Coast organized crime characters, a cabal of bootleggers called the Combine joined forces with Nucky Johnson in 1927 with famous names - Meyer Lansky, Lucky Luciano, Al Capone, Arnold Rothstein. The infamous Atlantic City Conference of organized crime figures who became the Organized Crime Syndicate were guaranteed a law-enforcement free zone by Johnson for the 1927 meeting.
Undone by a woman. William Randolph Hearst toppled Johnson with headlines that declared his corruption after both squared off for the affections of a showgirl.
"When I lived well, everyone lived well." Generous and beloved by his constituents, Nucky Johnson.
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