When Alcohol Was Outlawed. Outlaws Became Kings.From Terence Winter, Emmy Award-winning writer of 'The Sopranos,' and Academy Award Winning Director Martin Scorsese, 'Boardwalk Empire' is set in Atlantic City at the dawn of Prohibition, when the sale of alcohol became illegal throughout the United States.The Great War is over, Wall Street is about to boom and everything is for sale, even the World Series. It is a time of change when women are getting the vote, broadcast radio is introduced, and young people rule the world.On the beach in southern New Jersey sits Atlantic City, a spectacular resort known as The World's Playground, a place where rules don't apply. Massive hotels line its famous Boardwalk, along with nightclubs, amusement piers and entertainment to rival Broadway. For a few dollars, a working man can get away and live like a king -- legally or illegally.The undisputed ruler of Atlantic City is the town's Treasurer, Enoch Nucky Thompson, (Steve Buscemi) a political fix