New York Sour (Boardwalk Empire)

"New York Sour" opens the fourth season of *Boardwalk Empire*, the 37th episode overall. It aired on HBO on September 8, 2013, and was written by executive producer Howard Korder, with executive producer Tim Van Patten directing.

The episode picks up in February 1924. Richard Harrow travels to Indiana, where he kills two men to get an insurance company address, then goes to Michigan, forces a businessman to give him a name and address, and kills him. In Chicago, Al Capone brings his brothers Frank and Ralph to help run operations with Johnny Torrio, and the two men focus on influencing local elections. Capone has a reporter beaten for misspelling his last name in an article.

Back in Atlantic City, Chalky White opens the Onyx Club but is unhappy with the performers. His partnership with talent agent Dickie Pastor is threatened when Chalky’s right-hand man, Dunn Purnsley, is caught having sex with Dickie’s wife, Alma. Dickie holds Dunn at gunpoint but instead of killing him, orders him to continue—revealing the couple set up the encounter as part of a shared fetish. Dunn pretends to play along, then kills Dickie while Alma flees. Chalky is angered because Dickie was connected to mobster Owney Madden.

Nucky Thompson now lives at the Albatross Hotel and works from an office atop the Onyx Club. He meets with Joe Masseria and Arnold Rothstein, who are upset about his actions over the past year, but both agree to move past it after Nucky offers Masseria a suitcase of money. A young dancer tries to seduce Nucky in his suite, but when she mentions that the late Billie’s Broadway success likely came from her relationship with him, Nucky realizes she is using him and has his butler Eddie send her away.

Nucky’s brother Eli runs the warehouse with Mickey Doyle, supervising Agent Sawicki and his new partner, Warren Knox, who is naive and insecure. Eli’s son Willie is disappointed he can’t get involved in the business; Nucky tells him to focus on his studies at Temple University. Associate Elmer Borst pays Knox to protect a barn hiding liquor. Knox convinces Sawicki to steal the liquor, leading him into a trap that kills Sawicki. When Borst investigates, Knox kills him too.

Gillian attends a custody trial for Tommy, but the judge berates her living situation and adjourns when neither Gillian nor Julia will explain how Tommy came into Julia’s care.