- Arnold Rothstein: There was a man once. I don't recall his name. Frequented the billiard parlors downtown. He made a comfortable living wagering whether he could swallow certain objects, billiard balls being a specialty. He'd pick a ball, take it down his gullet to here, and regurgitate it back up. And one evening, I decided to challenge this man to a wager. Ten thousand in cash for him to do the trick with a billiard ball of my choosing. Now, he knew I'd seen him do this a dozen times, so I can only surmise that he thought I was stupid. We laid down the cash and I handed him the cue ball. He swallowed it down. It lodged in his throat, and he choked to death on the spot. What I knew and he didn't was that the cue ball was one-sixteenth of an inch larger than the other balls. Just too large to swallow. Do you know what the moral of this tale is, Mr. Yale?
- Frankie Yale: Don't eat a cue ball?
- Arnold Rothstein: The moral of this story is that if I'd cause a stranger to choke to death for my own amusement, what do you think I'll do to you if you don't tell me who ordered you to kill Colosimo?
- Enoch 'Nucky' Thompson: You're out, Mickey.
- Mickey Doyle: [to his cellmate] So long, sucker. See youse in the funny papers.
- Enoch 'Nucky' Thompson: Not out of jail, out of business. Chalky White's taking over.
- Mickey Doyle: What are you talking about? Why?
- Enoch 'Nucky' Thompson: You broke the cardinal rule, Mickey. You got caught.
- Mickey Doyle: No, that was a setup. The fix was in from the beginning.
- [his cellmate mutters something in a foreign language]
- Mickey Doyle: Shut the fuck up! What am I suppose to tell my partners?
- Enoch 'Nucky' Thompson: Tell them whatever you'd like. The feds know who you are now, Mick. You're contagious.
- Mickey Doyle: So you'll bail me out, at least?
- Enoch 'Nucky' Thompson: No can do. I can't risk them tying us together.
- Mickey Doyle: So you're just gonna leave me in here with... slanty-eyes? He don't even talk English!
- Enoch 'Nucky' Thompson: Think of it as a way to broaden your horizons.
- James 'Jimmy' Darmody: Five.
- Enoch 'Nucky' Thompson: Actually, there were four, but let's not quibble over that little detail, shall we?
- James 'Jimmy' Darmody: We couldn't leave any witnesses, Nuck.
- Enoch 'Nucky' Thompson: Fucking idiot.
- James 'Jimmy' Darmody: I screwed up, okay? I'm sorry. I'm gonna make it up to you. I'll work extra hours.
- Enoch 'Nucky' Thompson: Whoa, hold on there. Wait a second. You don't work for me anymore. Let's get that straight right now. And you made that decision, not me.
- James 'Jimmy' Darmody: Well, who's gonna drive you?
- Enoch 'Nucky' Thompson: What's the difference? You wanna be a gangster, kid? Go be a gangster. But if you want to be a gangster in my town, then you'll pay me for the priviledge. That envelope you gave me, my end, according to my calculations, you're three grand short.
- James 'Jimmy' Darmody: What do you mean?
- Enoch 'Nucky' Thompson: Are you deaf and stupid? You pull a stunt like that, ass-fuck me with Arnold Rothstein in the process, you owe me another three grand.
- James 'Jimmy' Darmody: Nucky, I spent most of the money.
- Enoch 'Nucky' Thompson: Three thousand dollars. You got forty-eight hours.
- Enoch 'Nucky' Thompson: What are you doing?
- James 'Jimmy' Darmody: It's 4:30. I'm clocking in.
- Enoch 'Nucky' Thompson: Just like that? I'd say our relationship has changed rather significantly in the past few days. Wouldn't you agree?
- James 'Jimmy' Darmody: You tell me.
- Enoch 'Nucky' Thompson: Actually, why don't you tell me? You can start with what the fuck happened the other night. How's that?
- James 'Jimmy' Darmody: All right.
- Enoch 'Nucky' Thompson: Did I invite you to sit?
- James 'Jimmy' Darmody: Me and Al, we got to talking about life.
- Enoch 'Nucky' Thompson: Who's Al?
- James 'Jimmy' Darmody: Capone. He works for Johnny Torrio.
- Enoch 'Nucky' Thompson: The chubby kid?
- James 'Jimmy' Darmody: Yeah.
- Enoch 'Nucky' Thompson: Did Torrio sanction this?
- James 'Jimmy' Darmody: Only after the fact. It was my idea. Mine and Al's. We got to talking about life, family, money. He's got a little boy of his own.
- Enoch 'Nucky' Thompson: Young children at home and there's no goddamn accountability whatsoever.
- James 'Jimmy' Darmody: I said I was sorry, Nuck.
- Enoch 'Nucky' Thompson: Really? When was that?
- James 'Jimmy' Darmody: I'm sorry. I thought it would be easy, okay? Get the drop on them, swipe the truck. No one would get hurt.
- Enoch 'Nucky' Thompson: And me? Where'd I figure in?
- James 'Jimmy' Darmody: It would have never been traced back to you.
- Enoch 'Nucky' Thompson: Well, guess what? A fed came in to see me this morning, standing right where you are now, asking questions about Saturday night.
- James 'Jimmy' Darmody: What'd you tell him?
- Enoch 'Nucky' Thompson: To bugger himself. What the fuck do you think?
- James 'Jimmy' Darmody: There were deer in the woods. Al got spooked, he started shooting.
- Enoch 'Nucky' Thompson: So you kill four fucking guys?
- Nelson Van Alden: You're a difficult man to see. I've been waiting since 9 a.m.
- Enoch 'Nucky' Thompson: Well, there's your mistake right there. I don't keep regular hours.
- Nelson Van Alden: That's s little odd for the county treasurer, isn't it?
- Enoch 'Nucky' Thompson: Both I and the city Atlantic march to their own drummers.
- Abe Klein: [trying to impress Claudia] Thompson's a big cheese. Big as they come.
- Enoch 'Nucky' Thompson: [to Claudia with self=deprecating humor] Some say a big rat.