The Boardwalk Empire series finale hits tonight.
Enoch Johnson, the real Nucky Thompson, made it all possible.
Johnson was part of the Big Seven group of east coast bootleggers.
He hosted the Atlantic City Conference in 1929, whichBoardwalk Empiredidnt cover.
Johnson wasnt really a gangster, he never shot anyone or ordered anyone shot.
He never made his bones, he just took a cut.
Nucky wont get busted for the numbers rackets until 1938 and wont go to jail until 1941.
He wont die until the sixties when hes 85 years old.
OnBoardwalk Empire, Enoch Johnson is called Enoch Thompson and is played by Steve Buscemi.
Enoch Lewis Nucky Johnson unofficially ran Atlantic Citys Republican political machine from the 1910s to the 1930s.
Johnson was born in Smithville, N.J. in 1883.
He graduated from Atlantic City High School in 1900.
Johnsons father was sheriff of Atlantic City and in 1905 Nucky became undersheriff.
When his fathers term expired in 1908, Nucky was elected sheriff.
In 1909, Enoch became secretary of the Atlantic County Republican Executive Committee.
He became boss in 1911, when Louis Kuehnle went to jail for corruption.
Johnson married Mabel Jeffries in 1906.
Mabel died of consumption in 1913.
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Johnson was named Atlantic County Treasurer in 1914.
He was also the County Tax Collector, and put out a weekly newspaper.
Johnson was known as a nappy dresser.
He wore a red carnation in the lapel of his suits.
Nucky Johnson was the Boss of Atlantic City in 1925.
Nucky Johnson hosted The Atlantic City summit that split up the criminal empire of America in May, 1929.
Meyer Lansky had just gotten married and spent his honeymoon in Atlantic City.
Morris Moe Dalitz and Louis Lou Roddy Rothkopf came in from Cleveland.
The Purple Gang came in from Detroit.
Santo Trafficante and Sylvestro Silver Dollar Sam Carolla came in too.
Al Capone and Nucky Johnson almost got into a fight over hotel accommodations.
Legalizing booze hit Atlantic City and Johnson hard because they had been so good at circumventing prohibition.
Nucky Johnson moved into the numbers rackets.
Nucky was indicted for tax evasion on May 10, 1939.
He didnt report about $125,000 that he made running numbers during 1935, 1936 and 1937.
He was convicted in July 1941.
Johnson was fined $20,000 and sentenced to ten years in federal prison.
Nucky and the Philadelphia showgirl had been engaged for three years.
Johnson was 58 years old.
After a ten day honeymoon, Johnson went into Lewisburg Federal Penitentiary on August 11, 1941.
Frank S. Farley became Atlantic Citys big political honcho.
Johnson was paroled four years later on August 15, 1945.
He skipped out on the $20,000 fine by taking a paupers oath.
Nucky never went back to politics.
He was a salesman for the Richfield Oil Company and Renault Winery.
Johnson died on December 9, 1968 at the Atlantic County Convalescent Home in Northfield, New Jersey.
Johnson is buried in Egg Harbor Township, New Jersey.
you might read about all the other real stories fromBoardwalk Empireright here.
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