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The ramifications of the hijacking are far reaching: It coincides with the murder of Chicago crime boss [["Big Jim" Colosimo]] and heralds the beginning of Torrio's dominance in Chicago; It causes a feud between Nucky and Rothstein that lasts for almost a year; and it causes Jimmy to go into hiding in Chicago.
 
The ramifications of the hijacking are far reaching: It coincides with the murder of Chicago crime boss [["Big Jim" Colosimo]] and heralds the beginning of Torrio's dominance in Chicago; It causes a feud between Nucky and Rothstein that lasts for almost a year; and it causes Jimmy to go into hiding in Chicago.
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[[Category: Events]]

Revision as of 23:47, 10 November 2011

The Hammonton hijacking was an event in the series pilot episode "Boardwalk Empire". A shipment of 500 cases of Canadian Club whiskey bought by Arnold Rothstein was hijacked in Hammonton, New Jersey as it was being transported from Atlantic City to New York on January 18 1920. The liquor was illegally imported by fishing Captain Bill McCoy as part of an arrangement with Atlantic County Treasurer Nucky Thompson. Thompson sold the whiskey on to Rothstein on the condition that Rothstein collect and transport it.

Rothstein arranged for his sister-in-law's nephew Simon to oversee transportation of the shipment and placed his enforcer Davey Murdoch in charge of protecting the load. Three other men were recruited to transfer the cases from McCoy's boats to shore and then to load them onto trucks.

The hijacking was masterminded by Nucky's frustrated and ambitious driver Jimmy Darmody. Darmody recruited Al Capone as an accomplice and used Capone's connections as the driver for Chicago Outfit boss Johnny Torrio to arrange for Torrio to buy the shipment.

Darmody and Capone recruited a third man, Billy Winslow, to drive them out to Hammonton New Jersey and provide a decoy. They overturned Winslow's car to block the road and had Winslow pretend to have been knocked out in an accident. They planned to hold Rothstein's men at gunpoint and steal their vehicles when the convoy stopped to help Winslow.

The convoy was halted as planned by the decoy. Murdoch and his men were distracted by having to overturn the car and the hijackers managed to surprise and disarm them. The hijackers deviated from their plan when Capone was startled by a deer running through the woods. He opened fire on Rothstein's men and Darmody joined in. They killed Murdoch and two of the others while Simon and another man fled into the woods. Darmody pursued and killed the unnamed man while Capone chased Simon. Capone shot Simon in the abdomen and left him for dead. Simon was the sole survivor of the attack amongst Rothstein's men.

Capone drove the shipment to Torrio in Chicago while Winslow and Jimmy returned to Atlantic City. Jimmy delivers a cut of his earnings from the resale to Nucky although Nucky was unaware of the plan beforehand. Jimmy claims Torrio was also unaware of the plan before buying the shipment but Jimmy appears to have been paid up-front.

When the bodies of Rothstein's four dead men are found in the woods Thompson has Hans Schroeder murdered as a scapegoat. Nucky's brother Eli Thompson is the Atlantic City Sheriff and carries out the murder of Schroeder and supports the cover-up. The papers call the shooting the "Woods Massacre" and report that Schroeder is responsible. However, Prohibition Agent Nelson Van Alden sees through the story and investigates the shootings independently. Simon survives for three days and is discovered in the woods by a holidaying couple. He is taken to hospital where Van Alden takes over his custody. Simon dies while being transported to New York but not before Van Alden tortures him into identifying Jimmy.

The ramifications of the hijacking are far reaching: It coincides with the murder of Chicago crime boss "Big Jim" Colosimo and heralds the beginning of Torrio's dominance in Chicago; It causes a feud between Nucky and Rothstein that lasts for almost a year; and it causes Jimmy to go into hiding in Chicago.