Dwight David "The General" Manfredi is the main character of the Paramount+ series, Tulsa King. He is portrayed by Sylvester Stallone.
Dwight is a 75-year-old mobster who, after serving 25 years in prison for murder, is released home to New York. But is then banished by his former boss's son to reestablish his Italian mafia family in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Dwight then creates The Manfredi Crime Family in Tulsa.
Biography[]
Dwight David Manfredi was born in Brooklyn, New York, July 1947 to Italian immigrant parents. His father was a barber while his mother was a homemaker. His father hoped Dwight would continue in his footsteps as a barber, but a seventeen-year-old Dwight wanted to be a successful gangster. He became involved with the Cosa Nostra, the Sicilian mafia. More specifically, he joined the Invernizzi crime family and earned his way through the ranks. He became a high-ranking mafia capo under the Boss Pete "The Rock" Invernizzi.
Dwight married Marie and they had a daughter together, Cristina, in 1990. One year, on behalf of The Rock, Dwight killed Richard McLeevy, aka Ripple, a man who Dwight liked and who didn't deserve it. He was arrested and convicted for manslaughter in 1997. He was sentenced to prison for twenty five years. His wife Marie left him soon after the conviction, and seven years into his twenty-five year sentence, Dwight asked his daughter Tina to stop visiting under the guise that it was too hard on her to see him locked up. In reality, it was too hard on Dwight to see his daughter. Pete became paranoid that Dwight would break the code of Omerta so he ordered Armand Truisi to orchestrate an assassination on Dwight in prison. Dwight was attacked and stabbed once, and killed the inmate who was tasked to kill him in self-defense. He was approached multiple times by the authorities to flip on the Invernizzi family in exchange for reduced sentences, but Dwight refused every time out of loyalty.
Series[]
Season One[]
In "Go West, Old Man", Dwight Manfredi stands in his cell in USP Canaan, a federal prison in Northern Pennsylvania. He's subsisted in hellholes like this for the last 25 years, and to keep what's left of his brain from deteriorating, he read some very good literature and wrote some very bad poems while he tried to avoid getting shanked for a second time. He remembers when he was seventeen, his father asked what he wanted to be. If he wanted to be a barber like him. Dwight laughed in his face. He wanted to be a successful gangster. In retrospect, he asks himself if what he chose for an occupation was worth 25 years of his life. The answer is no. Not 25 seconds. His cell door opens and he looks at the guard, who leads him out of the prison. Dwight married this life, and after keeping his mouth shut for all these years, he's gonna see if it married him back.
Dwight walks out of the prison and gets in the back of a car. They drive through New York City as Dwight stares at the towering skyscrapers, new buildings, kids using VR, and other 21st century staples. They pass a bar called Scores, with Dwight asking the driver about it. He assumes there's a party, but the driver simply retorts with "Long Island". They gave him an address. They cross the bridge and pull up to a mansion. Dwight asks whose house this is, but the man doesn't know, as they didn't say. They pass through the big iron gates as Dwight stares at the house.
As he meets his boss, he demands compensation for his loyalty for 25 years in prison but Pete decides to send him to Tulsa, OK to set up new operation there with some compensations. Dissatisfied with the so-called compensation from his boss and feeling being exiled for his years of devotion, he argues and enters a fist fight with the members of the mob until Pete tells everyone to stop. Eventually, Dwight accepts the assignment in disgust.
Personality[]
Physical Appearance[]
Dwight is a sharp-dressed Italian mobster who exudes wealth, confidence, and a hint of danger. He wears the nicest suits, a gold watch, a pinky ring gifted to him by Pete Invernizzi. Upon his release from prison, Dwight cuts his hair so it's longer on the top and nearly buzzed on the sides, with his facial hair trimmed into a goatee. He has round brown eyes and a strong physique.
Appearances[]
- Go West, Old Man
- Center of the Universe
- Caprice
- Visitation Place
- Token Joe
- Stable
- Warr Acres
- Adobe Walls
- Happy Trails
Notes and Trivia[]
- Dwight's arrest record is lengthy, and includes the following charges:
- Possession of gambling records
- Possession of a gambling device
- Assault and battery
- Illegal possession of a firearm
- Murder of Richard McLeevy aka Ripple
- Self-defense murder of an inmate while imprisoned
- Dwight is named after the greatest general of the 20th century, General and President Dwight David Eisenhower. He also shares the informal nickname of "Ike" with the former president. His mob nicknames "The General" and "Cinque Stelle" (Five Star) also lend to his eponymous.
- He has committed four known murders - Richard McLeevy, an unnamed inmate, Nico Bugliosi, and Caolan Waltrip. It's unclear if Dwight or Mitch fired the bullet that killed Robbie Trucotte.
Gallery[]
