Introduced in season one Meyer Lansky Meyer Lansky (
Anatol Yusef) is a recurring supporting character in Seasons 1-4 and a main co-antagonist alongside Luciano in Season 5. He is a young protégé of Rothstein and partners with Luciano. The character is based on
Meyer Lansky.
Johnny Torrio Johnny Torrio (
Greg Antonacci) is a recurring character in Seasons 1-4 and a secondary antagonist in Season 5 based on the real-life historical figure of the same name. He is Capone's boss in Chicago.
Rose Van Alden Rose Van Alden (Enid Graham) is a recurring character in Seasons 1-2. She is Nelson's ex-wife who is
infertile.
June Thompson June Thompson (Nisi Sturgis) is a recurring character throughout the series. She is Eli's faithful, loyal, and kind wife who is also the rock of the family as the mother to their eight children.
Ethan Thompson Ethan Thompson (
Tom Aldredge in Seasons 1-2,
Ian Hart in Season 5) is a recurring character in Seasons 1-2 and in flashbacks in Season 5. He is Nucky and Eli's abusive father and Elenore's abusive husband. The character is based on Smith E. Johnson.
Mrs. McGarry Mrs. McGarry (
Dana Ivey) is a recurring character in Season 1. She is a prominent leader of the Women's Suffrage and Temperance Movements. The character is based on
Susan B. Anthony.
Isabelle Jeunet Isabelle Jeunet (
Anna Katarina) is a recurring character in Season 1 and a guest character in Season 3. She is a French woman who owns an
haute couture shop on the boardwalk.
Louanne Pratt Louanne Pratt (Johnnie Mae) is a recurring character in Season 1. She is Commodore Kaestner's former maid.
Eric Sebso Agent Sebso (
Erik Weiner) is a recurring character in Season 1. He is a Jewish FBI Agent and Van Alden's junior partner.
Mary Dittrich Mary Dittrich (Lisa Joyce) is a recurring character in Season 1. She is a photographer's assistant and Angela Darmody's lover.
Pearl Pearl (
Emily Meade) is a guest character in Season 1. She is a prostitute and
Jimmy Darmody's lover whilst he is in Chicago briefly.
Edward L. Bader Edward L. Bader (
Kevin O'Rourke) is a recurring character in Seasons 1-4. He is the Atlantic City mayor based on the real-life historical figure of the same name.
Jim Neary James Neary (
Robert Clohessy) is a recurring character in Seasons 1-2 and a guest character in flashbacks in Season 5 where he is portrayed by Marcus Anturri as a child in 1884 and Scott Moreau as a young man in 1897. He is one of Nucky's political cronies and ward bosses who is also his and Eli's childhood buddy and frenemy.
Harry Daugherty Harry M. Daugherty (
Christopher McDonald) is a guest character in Season 1 and a recurring character in Seasons 2-3. He is a U.S. Attorney General who's based on the real-life historical figure of the same name.
Introduced in season two Leander Cephas Whitlock Leander Cephas Whitlock (
Dominic Chianese) is a recurring character in Seasons 2-4 and in flashbacks in Season 5 where he is portrayed by Jordan Lage. He is an Atlantic City lawyer and ally to the Commodore.
George Remus George Remus (
Glenn Fleshler) is a recurring character in Seasons 2-3 and a guest character in Season 4. He is a major bootlegger based in
Ohio who refers to himself in the
third-person and is based on a real-life historical figure of the same name. Remus first appears in the show in the Season 2
premiere episode where he has a meeting with
Al Capone and
Johnny Torrio at The Four Deuces in
Chicago and talks to them about getting bootlegged alcohol from his
pharmaceutical empire in Ohio alongside also telling them about how the alcohol there could be less of cost and better quality than Nucky Thompson's alcohol to which Torrio and Capone agree to have him as a partner in their business. A few months later in Ohio, Remus calls Nucky and argues with him about the
finder's fee in
Atlantic City (especially the
Ritz-Carlton), and how it is never there in Ohio before telling him that he is soon going to knock him out of the
bootlegging game as there are more vast resources in Ohio than
Atlantic County, and the fact that his alcohol is more wider and of higher quality whilst he also calls Nucky petty, causing Nucky to insult him and hang the phone abruptly on him soon afterwards. It is implied here that Remus and Nucky have known each other for quite some time and that Remus has visited Atlantic City before and may or may not have met Commodore Louis Kaestner. After Nucky's assassination attempt and near-death experience at
Babette's, Remus starts to do more business with Torrio and Capone and also decides to do with Jimmy Darmody, the newest and youngest bootlegger in Atlantic City to make more business. He has a meeting at Jimmy's house with Capone, Mickey Doyle,
Lucky Luciano and
Meyer Lansky about the bootlegging routes and how his alcohol is going to come before leaving and getting acquainted with Luciano and Lansky. However, after Nucky's comeback and Jimmy's defeat and ultimate death, Remus decides to be bootlegging partners with the former and joins him alongside Luciano, Lansky,
Arnold Rothstein,
Frankie Yale,
Joe Masseria, Masseria's top right-hand man and enforcer Gyp Rosetti, the
Chicago Outfit and
Waxey Gordon from
Philadelphia. At the start of Season 3, Remus attends Nucky's New Year's Eve Party on December 31st 1922 and talks with the other mobsters also attending about what is going on in the business. He is a bit shocked when Nucky mentions that he is going to only import alcohol through Rothstein and witnesses Gyp's angry tirade after hearing it. Remus tries to calm down Gyp but is shut down by him. During this time, he also becomes a part of the "Ohio Gang" consisting of him,
Harry Daugherty,
Jess Smith,
Warren G. Harding secretly and secretly undercover
Gaston Means whom he trades alcohol with. A few months later, Nucky arrives in
Washington, DC to confront Harry about removing his political power and giving the treasury seat to Damien Fleming and interrupts Remus, Harry and Jess in a meeting, telling Remus to go back to Ohio and insulting him again, however he continues on being a member of the gang and conspiring against Nucky with Harry and Jess. A few weeks later, George is arrested by Deputy DA Esther Randolph on orders of dismantling corruption in politics and the Harding administration and taken to jail. Remus finally appears briefly midway through Season 4 where he tells Randolph, Agent Warren Knox/James Tolliver and FBI Director
J. Edgar Hoover about Nucky's empire in Atlantic City, how it works and who is involved in it. His third-person way of talking is also shut down by Hoover who assigns Knox/Tolliver to infiltrate Nucky's organization more and more given what is said about it whilst Remus is taken back to his prison hotel room and put back into jail.
Dunn Purnsley Dunn Purnsley (
Erik LaRay Harvey) is a recurring character in Seasons 2-4. He is a
career criminal and later Chalky's
second-in-command. Dunn is from
Baltimore. He first appears at the start of Season 2 where he is in
jail and insults his
cell mate Chalky White alongside his 6 other ones which he commands. After ripping a page from Chalky's book and making mean comments to his wife, Dunn is cornered and beaten by the other 6
inmates, sick and tired of his
abuse and knowing and finding a leader in Chalky. The
beatdown leaves Dunn bloodied, injured, unconscious and having some of his teeth removed. After being released from jail, Dunn stops being a criminal and starts working at the
Ritz-Carlton hotel in
Atlantic City as a chef in the Food and Beverages section, getting frequently
oppressed by his manager and the owner of the section. One day, having enough of the constant abuse, Dunn tells his fellow black cooks to rebel against the white Ritz-Carlton owners as a stand for their rights. He asks Chalky this and after Chalky gives him permission, Dunn and the other black workers take over the Ritz-Carlton after beating up the abusive Food and Beverages Owner and soon get into a huge fight with the white townspeople of Atlantic City on the Boardwalk with Dunn beating up Deputy Raymond Halloran. After the battle, Dunn gains Chalky's respect and becomes his right-hand man. At a meeting with Jimmy Darmody and Richard Harrow, Dunn and Chalky tell the 2 to capture the KKK who shot and destroyed Chalky's bootlegging warehouse months ago. Later on, the KKK members are delivered to Chalky and Dunn by Jimmy and Richard who watch as Dunn brings them out and kills them alongside Chalky and his other henchmen. In Season 3, at first, Dunn notices Chalky talking to his upcoming son-in-law Samuel Crawford and laughs to himself when Chalky talks about his daughter Maybelle to Samuel and how she is disinterested in people like him and more interested in mobsters and bootleggers like Chalky. That night at a dancing cafe, Dunn helps Chalky beat up a man with a switchblade after he purposefully slashes Samuel's cheek and later on, witnesses Chalky tell off his daughter for her "interests", how Samuel almost died, Chalky's cheek scar and how the lifestyle with a mobster really is. A few weeks later, Dunn helps Chalky to intimidate
Eddie Cantor for Nucky Thompson after Eddie refuses to cast Billie Kent in his movie, causing Eddie to cast her after. Dunn decides to help Chalky with his black nightclub idea. When Nucky and his recently injured and bumbling German butler Edward Anselm "Eddie" Kessler arrive at Chalky's hideout to escape from manic Italian gangster Gyp Rosetti and his henchmen, Chalky, Dunn and Chalky's henchmen hide them in the house with Samuel who helps cure Eddie from his injuries whilst outside, Chalky, Dunn, Gyp, Gyp's right-hand man Tonino Sandrelli, Chalky's henchmen and Gyp's henchmen confront each other. Dunn notices Gyp try and buy out Chalky to get to Nucky and Eddie and sees Chalky's loyalty to Nucky when he refuses anything from Gyp, causing the latter to go away. Later on, Chalky and Dunn help Nucky by hiding him out in a warehouse where his nephew William "Willie" Thompson works at and put Eddie on bedrest, they are then visited from
Chicago by
Al Capone, his henchmen and Nucky's younger brother and Willie's father Elias "Eli" Thompson. Over the next few days, Dunn helps Chalky out with killing Gyp's and
Joe Masseria's henchmen to end the war between Nucky and Gyp. He gets into a brief rivalry with Capone however the 2 and Chalky manage to work things out in the end and after Gyp and Masseria's lairs are ruined, Dunn, Capone, Chalky and all their henchmen help Nucky and his associates by shooting and murdering all of Gyp and Masseria's henchmen whilst they are trying to escape from Atlantic City before returning to their homes after gaining each other's trust. In Season 4, set 1 year after Season 3, Dunn helps Chalky with waiting tables, assisting him around and being the
doorman for the Onyx Club (Atlantic City's first black-owned nightclub). One day, whilst Chalky, Dunn and the manager for the entertainment Dickie Pastor and his wife Alma are looking at a bunch of black tap dancers test perform to see how they will help show their skills to the club, Dunn gets a love note from Alma to come to her room and when he is in her room, has sex with her only to be stopped by Dickie who points a gun at Dunn and tells him to continue on having sex. Dunn, scared, beats Dickie to death in a fit of rage whilst Alma runs away. Dickie's body is later found by Chalky and Nucky who both chide Dunn for his incompetence and later on, hide Dickie's dead body in a place where it cannot be seen. Chalky and Dunn then meet Harlem drug dealer, Doctor of Divinity and follower of
Marcus Garvey Dr. Valentin Narcisse who tells them that he killed Alma who was going to press false charges on Dunn as she told him before he tells Chalky to let him a bit on the nightclub deal before leaving to go back to Harlem, promising Chalky and Dunn to get an amazing dancer to help the club move on from Dickie and Alma's deaths. A few weeks later, Dunn and Chalky are introduced to and meet Narcisse's new lead dancer for the club Daughter Maitland who, as Dunn notices, Chalky is enamored by. During this time, Dunn also gets acquainted with Narcisse because of him having had enough of Chalky's sometimes verbal abuse and the fact that Narcisse is offering him a bigger deal as a right-hand man than Chalky ever did. One night when Chalky is out, Dunn goes to Harlem to talk to Narcisse. After a rocky start, the 2 get along with a walk-through Harlem as Narcisse explains to Dunn Marcus Garvey's teachings, the black rights vote and the type of black person to obey white people (named a Guppie) like Chalky who obeys Nucky. Narcisse shows Dunn a Guppie which causes Dunn to beat him up and gain Narcisse's trust, becoming his right-hand man and one of his main drug runners whilst at the same time, also acting as Chalky's right-hand man and assistant and starting to slowly betray him behind his back to go to Narcisse's side. A few months after this, drugs become more popular and slowly start to ruin Atlantic City's black community whilst Narcisse's influence starts to become more powerful over Chalky's. Dunn helps in this especially by dealing drugs and helping Narcisse wipe out Deacon Lemuel Cuffy after he finds out about their scheme and before he goes to inform Nucky about it. After a few days, Chalky, Dunn and all of Chalky's henchmen raid a drug den set up in Atlantic City by Narcisse and secretly Dunn. Dunn kills some of the members to not let information about his role in the drug den spread out and he also witnesses Chalky destroy all the heroin and other drugs picked out to the awe of Narcisse who tells Dunn to finally betray Chalky once and for all by assassinating him so he can take leadership of the black community. That night, Dunn tells Chalky his car is ready, however, before the assassination could happen, Chalky tells him he knows his role in his feud with Narcisse and how Dunn has betrayed him. This then causes Dunn to attack and start physically fighting Chalky to kill him, however, before he could kill him, Daughter Maitland comes to Chalky's rescue and stabs Dunn brutally through the back. Purnsley gets up and looks horrified at the 2 before falling to death in front of them and dying of his stab wounds.
Katy Katy (
Heather Lind) is a recurring character in Seasons 2-3. She is Margaret's housemaid and Owen's lover.
Joe Masseria Joe Masseria (Ivo Nandi) is a recurring character in Seasons 3-4 and a guest character in Seasons 2 and 5. He is an Italian mafia boss and bootlegger.
Manny Horvitz Manny Horvitz (
William Forsythe) is a recurring character in Season 2 and a guest character in Season 3. He is a
Russian Jewish gangster from
Odessa,
Russian Empire (modern-day
Ukraine) living in
Philadelphia and working as a
butcher as a
front for his
criminal activities over there. Manny reveals that when he was living in Odessa as a kid, he would have to fight every day and suffer for everything in the streets. He then married a woman by the first name of Emma sometime in the late 19th century and had a daughter with her sometime in the late 1890s. At the same time, Manny moved to
Philadelphia in 1899 with his wife, daughter and friend and right-hand man Herman Kaufman and became a
gangster partnered up with
Waxey Gordon in
bootlegging and other operations whilst he also operated a
butcher shop as a front organization and became friends with
Polish immigrant and
bootlegger Mickey Doyle (real name Kuzik). However, as the years went by, Manny and Waxey's relationship deteriorated and they became rivals in crime. He first appears in Season 2 in 1921 when Jimmy Darmody, Richard Harrow and Mickey Doyle visit him at his butcher shop and tell him to get alcohol from their warehouse, Manny agrees, with Jimmy agreeing to a bigger deal and then leaving with the other two. Manny also warns Jimmy about what would happen to him if he never pays him. Eventually, Jimmy's warehouse explodes and Manny calls to ask him about his deal and the
debt he has to pay to him. Jimmy tells him that he saw Herman Kaufman at a meeting with Waxey and other famous gangsters. Manny, realizing that Herman has betrayed him, kidnaps him and hangs him upside down in his
meat locker. He then calls Jimmy who comes over to his meat locker and helps him kill Kaufman, explaining to him that this is what he does to people who betray him. Later, Manny, Jimmy and Richard try to stop alcohol supplies going to Nucky Thompson and have a
shootout with Lucky Luciano and Meyer Lansky, causing them to come to a standstill and give the supplies to Thompson anyway. A few weeks later, Manny arrives at the Commodore's mansion where he meets Jimmy and Mickey and threatens Jimmy to give him his share of the debt by him telling him a story of how one time a
hunter had come into his shop to cut some dead animal however the person had made his friend kill it for him. Later on, Manny arrives at Jimmy's inauguration party at
Babette's. Jimmy facing enough pressure already and drunk, throws Mickey down the stairs and injures him whilst also insulting Manny and walking off. Later on, Manny is attacked at his butcher shop in Philadelphia by an
assassin named Alfred Gordetsky sent by Waxey Gordon and Jimmy, however manages to kill him and his acquaintance. After finding out Jimmy's location in
Atlantic City and house address by interrogating Mickey, Manny arrives at Jimmy's house late at night and catches his wife Angela. Someone then walks out of the shower, Manny, thinking it is Jimmy, shoots and kills the person, revealed to be Louise (Angela's
lover and
mistress). Angela cradles Louise crying whilst Manny, distraught over what he has done asks if Angela knows where Jimmy is and then kills her to not let her tell the authorities on him, leaving her and Louise's dead bodies behind at the house and running away. After the murder and trying to evade authorities, Manny hides out at a religious Jewish temple where he is found by Nucky, Mickey and Nucky's right-hand man Owen Sleater who tell him to put fake handcuffs on and come with them to where Jimmy is so that they can kill him. Manny agrees with the offer and the three (excluding Mickey) and including Nucky's brother Eli Thompson, drive out to the Atlantic City War Memorial where they meet Jimmy and witness Nucky finally kill him before leaving the spot. After that, Manny leaves Philadelphia and moves with his wife and daughter to Atlantic City, becoming the owner of one of Nucky's warehouses over there partnered with Mickey. At the start of Season 3 in December 1922, Manny and Mickey catch a
robber by the name of Nate Konig trying to rob their alcohol supplies and bring him to Nucky who after finding out who Nate's partner-in-crime was, has Manny kill him. Nucky later assigns Manny to kill the second robber, Rowland Smith for him which Manny agrees to despite him wanting to celebrate
New Year's Eve with Emma. At night, right before the start of 1923, Manny walks outside his house to kill Rowland wearing his new hat that his wife gave him, only to see his driver killed and to then be murdered by Richard Harrow. Later on, Mickey mentions that he killed Manny however Richard has him brought to Nucky and reveal that in fact Harrow killed Manny, not Mickey. Nucky also goes and kills Rowland eventually to end the whole robbery situation.
Esther Randolph Esther Randolph (
Julianne Nicholson) is a recurring character in Seasons 2-3 and a guest character in Season 4. She is an Assistant Attorney General who investigates Nucky for election fraud. The character is based on
Mabel Walker Willebrandt.
Introduced in season three Billie Kent Billie Kent (
Meg Chambers Steedle) is a recurring character in Season 3. She is a young Broadway actress who begins an affair with Nucky. The character is based on
Billie Dove.
Gaston Means Gaston Means (
Stephen Root) is a recurring character in Seasons 3-4. He is a con artist, FBI agent, and "fixer" for bootleggers.
Andrew Mellon Andrew Mellon (
James Cromwell) is a recurring character in Season 3 and a guest character in Season 4. He is the Secretary of the Treasury.
Julia Sagorsky Julia Sagorsky (
Wrenn Schmidt) is a recurring character in Seasons 3-4. She is Richard's love interest and later wife and Paul Sagorsky's daughter.
Introduced in season four Sally Wheet Sally Wheet (
Patricia Arquette) is a recurring character in Seasons 4-5. She is a Speak-easy owner in Tampa, Florida who begins a relationship with Nucky.
Ralph Capone Ralph Capone (
Domenick Lombardozzi) is a recurring character in Seasons 4-5. He is Al and Frank Capone's brother.
Frank Capone Frank Capone (
Morgan Spector) is a recurring character in the first half of Season 4. He is Al and Ralph Capone's level-headed brother.
James Tolliver James "Jim" Tolliver (
Brian Geraghty) is a recurring character in Season 4. He is a ruthless FBI agent under the direction of J. Edgar Hoover posing as a corrupt IRS prohibition agent under the name Warren Knox in Atlantic City and is working for Nucky at his warehouses to finally arrest him for all the crimes him and his associates have done.
Daughter Maitland Daughter Maitland (
Margot Bingham) is a recurring character in Season 4 and a guest character in Season 5. She is a singer and ward of Dr. Valentin Narcisse who begins an affair with Chalky White.
Introduced in season five Arquimedes Arquimedes (
Paul Calderon) is a recurring character in Season 5. He is Nucky Thompson's personal bodyguard from Spain who lives in
Havana,
Cuba.
Tommy Darmody Tommy Darmody/Slim (
Brady and Connor Noon in Seasons 1-4,
Travis Tope in Season 5) is a guest character in Seasons 1-4 and a recurring character in Season 5. He is the son of James and Angela Darmody and grandson of Gillian Darmody and Commodore Louis Kaestner. ==Characters as performers==