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[Player information]
Player Name: Marion
Age: 23
E-mail: mjianderson@gmail.com
Other characters played at Cape Kore: n/a

[Character information]
Name: Charlie "Lucky" Luciano
Canon: Boardwalk Empire
Canon Point: 3x10 after the meeting with Masseria
Age: 26

Appearance: On the taller side (about 5'11") and a bit lanky. He's very long-limbed and thin. Charlie has a darker Mediterranean complexion, VERY strong eyebrows, and ridiculously curly hair. Most of the time it's slicked down but will always be a haystack first thing in the morning. He favours pinstripe suits, usually in grey or blue, and often has a fedora and overcoat on. Example.
Inventory: He has a gun in his shoulder holster, but no extra ammunition on him. Other than that he's got some cash, cigarettes, and a box of matches.
Abilities: He doesn't have any supernatural abilities. He is fairly good with fire arms, and is very skilled at being persuasive when he wants to be. Although still developing at the moment, he has great leadership potential. He's a pretty dab hand at billiards and poker. He can also speak English, Italian, and at least some Yiddish.

History: Charlie on the Boardwalk Empire wiki page

Personality:

The first thing anyone notices about Charlie is his temper. He is hot-headed in the purest sense of the world, always ready to start a fight if he feels he's been insulted, even if sitting back and biting hit tongue would be the smartest thing to do. He lets his temper rule his judgement, always acting before thinking. In the very first episode when Nucky makes a crack about Charlie's young age he stands up seething, obviously ready to pounce if AR hadn't held him back. Anyone close to Charlie, namely AR and Meyer, always seem ready for his random bouts of anger. When Jimmy and Charlie get into a fight at Meyer's card game, Meyer is ready within second to hold Charlie back, obviously anticipating his outburst. Charlie will still even try to act out when the odds are clearly against him, such as when Nucky and Eli are questioning him in their office. When Nucky smacks Charlie across the head he dives for a paperweight on the table, even though Eli is directly behind him and armed with a billy club, over powering him easily.

He lets his emotions rule a lot of his decisions, sometimes to his benefit and sometimes not. It's certainly his passion which drives him in many situations, and gives him the ambition to work his way up through the ranks. While Meyer would be happier to wait things out, Charlie is the one who pushes them to start on their own and not stay goonies for AR and Masseria forever. By 1923 as him and Meyer start establishing more of their own business, going into the heroin trade, he resents people like AR and Masseria sitting back and collecting on the earnings he worked hard for. He's ready to start making it on his own without anybody's hand in his pocket. It is this ambition, coupled with his impatience and impulsiveness which leads him to make a hasty deal selling the heroin which leads to him being arrested.

His strong temper also has a flip side, and allows to have moments of unabashed happiness or passion that many other characters in Boardwalk Empire shy away from. His early scenes with him and Gillian Darmondy, for example, show Charlie relaxed and happy, unguarded in a manner which is rare for his associates. You see it again later with the hooker at Gillian's brothel. He is a young man with a lot of passion, in both the positive and negative sense of the word.

A lot of Charlie's temper comes back to bravado, and an unwillingness for anyone to see any weakness. Having grown up in in the lower east side where it was kill or be killed, as well as a six month stint in prison as a teenager, Charlie has learned the importance of always acting the Alpha Male. His blow ups are often the result of attempting to cover up and brush over hurt feelings. The fact that he usually loses his temper worst when someone insults him personally is evidence of this. He manages to stay far calmer in situations more removed from himself personally, like in meeting involving deal with AR that he isn't directly invested in.

Charlie and Meyer's relationship is important to note. In a universe where anyone could momentarily stab another in the back, Charlie and Meyer place a lot of trust in each other. Their friendship goes back to childhood, a strong bond that neither of them ever question or doubt. And for two people who are so guarded with their own emotions, they are both surprisingly honest with each other. When it's only the two of them, Charlie drops the bravado and show-boating, and has a few rare moments of admitting to genuine worry. He expresses as much when talking about how much money they will owe to Masseria if they don't sell their heroin, admitting to losing sleep over it.

In later years he gets a little better about who he blows up around. He manages to stay relatively calm during their first meeting with Masseria about their card game, although he seems on the verge of losing it a few times. He also waits until AR leaves the room before knocking over a box of watches to express his frustration. The anger is still there, but he's learning slowly to pen it in. It is clear that both AR and Meyer had a strong influence on him, teaching him when and where to let his anger go.

His relationship with Arnold Rothstein is just as formative as his one with Meyer, but in a very different way. While Meyer is a close friend and equal, AR is very much Charlie's mentor and father figure. We know Charlie didn't have a good relationship with his own family, and his general disconnect from his Italian roots left him feeling awash without a group of his own to belong to. AR's patronage of him gave him a sense of belonging, and created a strong loyalty to AR. His temper is also much more controlled when Rothstein is around, as he feels much more comfortable to be himself with his mentor. When he later begins to resent AR's control of him, it is almost reminiscent of a rebellious teen not wanting their parent interfering in their life. He never disputes all of AR's involvement the way he does with Masseria, but he doesn't like being treated like a kid when he feels like Meyer and him are more than ready to start off on their own.

Charlie is unique in his time as an Italian-American gangster in that he built his allies from people who had earned his trust, rather than based on shared nationality. He started working for Rothstein at a young age, as well as befriending Meyer Lansky and later becoming business partners. When it becomes clear that Jimmy Darmondy would become a valuable ally, he is quick to suggest a partnership. This way of doing business earned him much ire from the likes of Masseria, who saw any of the Jewish or Irish mob as untrustworthy.

His decision to build allies in this manner comes largely from his general disconnect from any patriotic feelings towards Italy. Charlie moved to New York when he was ten, and he considers himself an American first and foremost. He is shown having nothing but disdain for Masseria and doesn't feel any kinship towards him based on their shared nationality. In fact, he actively dislikes the smug superiority Masseria and his goons are always spouting. Their strong belief that the Italian mafia is stronger based purely on background is something Charlie abhors. In fact, working for Rothstein was a way for him to prove that he wasn't like the other 'Mustache Petes' as they were known at the time. He worked his way up, gaining a place at AR's side based on his skill and hard work, not his background. His line to Masseria during their meeting, 'We are very far away, Joe' is evidence of this. He never saw himself as a part of this group, and only allies himself with Masseria for the drug trade when AR turns them down.

Despite his quick temper, he's not one to hold grudges if it's a smart business move to forget them. He is the one to approach Jimmy with a business deal, and later invests money in Gillian Darmondy's brothel, despite them teaming up to have him arrested in season one. As someone with a tendency to lose his temper himself, he doesn't begrudge other people there's.

This later works against him, as AR is able to use his loyalty to undermine his efforts and dupe him out of the heroin business. This betrayal is all the more heartbreaking to Charlie, because of their close relationship being much deeper than simple employer and hired goon. Despite wanting to stretch his wings and start business on his own, he appreciated that Rothstein took an interested in him when most others wouldn't have bothered. Rothstein's betrayal hit Charlie very hard, as he had put his trust in someone only to have it blow up in his face.


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Anything Else? While Lucky Luciano is a real-life historical figure, Boardwalk Empire is known to take artistic license with events of the past. With this in mind, I will be keeping Charlie as much to the canon of the show as possible, making him more of an homage to the original Luciano rather than a direct copy.