Dane, Eddie.  (Miller’s Crossing), the  dry-humored, tough and relentless right-hand man of Johnny Caspar and gay lover of (his boy) Mink, a seemingly nice quick-talking grafter/bookie/conman who is cheating on Eddie with Bernie Bernbaum, a chiseler who has been making money from Caspar’s bets on fixed fights. 

From the beginning of the movie we understand Eddie is a force to be reckoned with.  He and Caspar approach Leo for the nod to bump “for starters” the shmatte based off his lack of “ethics”.  Leo denies the proposal and thus starts a war that will be difficult to manage.

After Tom and Leo argue over the topic a few times, the last ending in a fistfight, Tom goes over to see Caspar and is offered a spot in his crew.  Whereas Caspar is naïve and willing to turn the other cheek in regards to Tom, The Dane is smart, (despite his lover’s betrayal which he doesn’t believe) never trusts Tom, and watches him carefully. 

He trails Tom to the gym only to see Bernie’s sister, Verna exit and decides to “see where the twist flops”.  He breaks into her apartment to confront her, demanding answers she doesn’t have and ends up killing two of Leo’s guys in the process.

Dane then tracks Tom to one of Leo’s clubs and makes him get in the car.  They go back out to Miller’s Crossing where Eddie tells Tom if there isn’t a body out there when they get there, there will be when they leave.  As they approach the spot where the hit supposedly took place, Tom falls against a tree and begins to retch.  Eddie knows Tom has lied and is about to put one in his brain when Tic-Tac, one of Caspar’s other thugs, gets his attention.  To both Eddie’s and Tom’s surprise, there is a body.  Eddie believes it is Bernie, but Tom knows it’s Mink and now his whole story is solid.

Ever since Mink disappeared, Tom had been trying to sell Caspar on the idea Eddie was involved with Bernie’s scheme as well.  Caspar refuses to believe it at first, but eventually sees the angles. 

Meanwhile Eddie has been off playing detective and has figured out it was Mink’s body instead of Bernie’s out at Miller’s Crossing and is furious, thinking Tom killed him.  He corners Tom in Caspar’s living room and tries choking him to death.  Finally, Caspar buys into Tom’s game completely and kills The Dane by bashing in the face with a shovel and then executing him with a pistol.

Playing Eddie The Dane is American actor J.E. Freeman who is most often cast in roles similar to this one, understanding the tough guy persona and capitalizing on it in movies such as An Eye for an Eye, starring Chuck Norris, Alien Resurrection, and Patriot Games.  This is interesting because Freeman is an openly part of the homosexual community.  He even published a letter to the editor of the San Francisco Chronicle in 2009 about his memories of the Stonewall riots in 1969.