Meyer Wolfsheim

Meyer Wolfsheim operates as a fixture in Manhattan's financial underworld, conducting business from restaurants and hotels with the discretion of a man accustomed to dealing in matters best left unspoken. He is a product of the Jazz Age's shadier enterprises—someone who has clearly profited handsomely from Prohibition and other illicit ventures, yet who maintains a veneer of respectability through expensive clothing, careful speech, and the studied manners of an outsider determined to appear legitimate. He takes pride in his dress and his connections, displaying his notorious cufflinks as though they were badges of achievement rather than mementos of moral compromise. Wolfsheim views the world through a businessman's lens, calculating value and advantage in every interaction. His friendship with Jay Gatsby appears to be one of mutual utility: he has connections and questionable resources; Jay Gatsby has money and social ambition. Though he occasionally betrays a glimpse of sentiment or nostalgia for past associations, Wolfsheim is fundamentally a pragmatist, loyal only so long as loyalty serves his interests.