Sumith Prasad
In the first episode of Paramount+’s crime drama series ‘Tulsa King’ season 2, the press and media in Tulsa delve into the arrest of Dwight “The General” Manfredi, facilitated by Stacy Beale in the first installment’s finale. Much to his surprise, reporters and cameramen surround the former Mafia capo outside The Mayo Hotel. When he struggles to make sense of what is happening around him, his chauffeur, Tyson Mitchell, gives him a copy of Tulsa Star Journal, which sensationalizes his connections with the Mafia. The newspaper makes another appearance when Cal Thresher sets his eyes on his competitor. However, the ever-present newspaper cannot be found in Tulsa!
Tulsa Star Journal Does Not Have a Real-Life Counterpart
Tulsa Star Journal is a fictional newspaper conceived by Taylor Elmore, Terence Winter, and Sylvester Stallone, the writers of the second season premiere. An active newspaper with the same name is not published in Tulsa, Oklahoma. There was a newspaper based in the city known as The Tulsa Star. However, its operation ceased in 1921 in the wake of the Tulsa race massacre, nearly a century before Dwight “The General” Manfredi arrived in Oklahoma after his twenty-five-year-long prison sentence. The Democratic African American newspaper was established in 1912 as the Muskogee Star. After the race massacre, The Oklahoma Eagle succeeded The Tulsa Star.
The Oklahoma Eagle is a prominent newspaper based in Tulsa today. However, it is not related to the Tulsa Star Journal in any way. Other major newspapers published in the city include Tulsa World and Tulsa Beacon. The origin of Tulsa Star Journal can be traced back to the introductions of two of the second season’s main antagonists: Cal Thresher and Bill Bevilaqua. In the first installment, Dwight’s operations in the city are limited to The Higher Plane and Bred 2 Buck, two local establishments that are not the concerns of the top players in the region’s crime scene.
However, in the second season, Dwight has already expanded his business projects. In addition to increasing his presence in the marijuana business, he also seeks to enter the realm of energy using a concept he garners from his prison mate, Harlan Thibodeaux. The combination of his past notoriety and the expansion of his commercial ventures makes him a big-game player at the level of Thresher and Bevilaqua. Using Tulsa Star Journal’s feature on him, the show establishes that Dwight is no longer a small fish in a big pond. His growth and publicity justify the introduction of two new antagonists, who have enough reasons to be concerned about him now.
Read More: Which Car Does Dwight Drive in Tulsa King?
