The Reign of the Commodore: Louis Kuehnle

In the show, his name is the Commodore Louis Kaestner, but in real life it was Louis Kuehnle and as it's implied in the show, the Commodore was a prominent figure in Atlantic City politics. The Commodore appears to be a pretty close real life character match. Kuehnle's father was a New York chef who parlayed his restaurant success into owning an Atlantic City hotel. By the age of 18, Louis was managing the hotel.

How the Commodore Got His Name

The Commodore got his name as a result of his position as the chairman of a local yacht club. Further, he used his hotel to host the meetings of 3 Atlantic County power brokers, one of whom was Nucky's father. As one of the 3 passed away in 1900, the Commodore slid into his position, eventually taking control of the club. He extorted gambling rooms and whorehouses, as well as a variety of legit businesses in order to fund the Republican political machine. He even had government employees kick back 5 - 7% of their salaries to the Republican party, since they were in effect, all appointees.