Jack Diamond had a nickname called ‘Legs’. He had been shot several times and injured badly. It was on 10th July 1897 that he was born to Irish parents, who belonged to Kilrush, County Clare, Ireland. Most of his early years were spent in Philadelphia. At the age of 13, his mother died due to viral infection, after which along his brother, he had joined ‘The Broiler Gang’, a local group of toughs. On charges of mayhem and robberies, he had been arrested dozen times and had to spend few months at a juvenile reformatory. He was drafted to the army, which did not suit him and left within a year and absconded. Being caught, he got sentenced to 3-5 years of imprisonment at Federal Penitentiary, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.
His career as a mafia
In 1921, he got released from prison after which he moved to New York to make some fortune. Along with his brother Eddie, he got relocated to Lower East Side of Manhattan and came across Lucky Luciano, for whom he performed numerous odd jobs, which included bootlegging. He married Florence Williams, but it lasted just few months. He was introduced to Arnold Rothstein by Luciano after his fortunes changed. Rothstein was a financial wizard and notorious gambler.
His rise to popularity as a mafia
He worked as Rothstein’s bodyguard and was made his partner to carry out heroin business. Once he had accumulated sufficient money, he along with his brother had ventured on their own. They hijacked other mobsters’ bootlegging trucks like Big Bill Dwyer and Owney Madden, which proved to be a bad idea making him target of all mafias.
His later life
He escaped being ambushed in October 1924. Soon, he befriended Little Augie and became his chief bodyguard, for which he got as a reward share of Augie’s narcotics and bootlegging business. But with the gunning down of Owen, even Diamond was injured. On his release from hospital, he befriended Shapiro and Lepke and got a share of narcotics and bootlegging business from them.
He was noticed regularly at few clubs and as well as his pictures in leading newspapers, which portrayed him as handsome man-about-town and not a gangster. He then owned clubs. However, 13th July 1929, his fortunes turned down. In December 1931, he got shot at Kenmore Hotel, Albany, apparently by two unidentified gunmen, putting an end to the otherwise, ‘invincible man’.