1. Jack Legs Diamond was born July 10,1897, to Sara and John Moran, who emigrated from Ireland to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1891.
30 Facts About Legs Diamond
1. 2.
Legs Diamond died on December 24,1913, following complications brought on by a bacterial infection and a high fever.
3.
Legs Diamond soon joined a Manhattan street gang called the Hudson Dusters.
4.
Legs Diamond served in the United States Army in World War I but was convicted and jailed for desertion in 1918 or 1919.
5.
Legs Diamond served two years of a three- to five-year sentence at Leavenworth Military Prison.
6.
Legs Diamond was a womanizer; his best-known mistress was showgirl and dancer Marion "Kiki" Roberts.
7.
Legs Diamond traveled to Europe to acquire beer and narcotics but failed.
8.
Legs Diamond paid children a nickel for every barrel they brought to his trucks.
9.
Legs Diamond ran into trouble with other gangs in the city.
10.
Legs Diamond was not charged, but he was forced to close the club.
11.
Legs Diamond was sent to Catskill, New York, for his first trial, but he was acquitted.
12.
Legs Diamond was tried in December 1931 in Troy, New York, for kidnapping, but was acquitted.
13.
The NYPD then sent a wireless telegraph message to the crew of Belgenland, who replied that a man similar to Legs Diamond's description was among the passengers.
14.
Legs Diamond spent much of the voyage in the ship's smoking room playing poker; one report claimed that he won thousands of dollars in this game.
15.
The NYPD telegraphed police in England, France and Belgium with the warning that Legs Diamond was an undesirable character.
16.
Legs Diamond told reporters that he wanted to travel to the French spa town of Vichy for "the cure".
17.
On October 24,1924, Legs Diamond was shot and wounded by shotgun pellets, reportedly after trying to hijack liquor trucks belonging to a rival crime syndicate.
18.
On October 16,1927, Legs Diamond tried to stop the murder of "Little Augie" Orgen.
19.
Orgen was fatally wounded, and Legs Diamond was shot twice below the heart.
20.
Legs Diamond was taken to Bellevue Hospital, where he eventually recovered.
21.
Police initially suspected that Legs Diamond was an accomplice and charged him with homicide, but the charge was dropped.
22.
On October 12,1930, Legs Diamond was shot and wounded at the Hotel Monticello on Manhattan's West Side.
23.
Still in his pajamas, Legs Diamond staggered into the hallway and collapsed.
24.
Legs Diamond was rushed to the Polyclinic Hospital, where he eventually recovered.
25.
Legs Diamond was discharged from Polyclinic on December 30,1930.
26.
Five days later, Legs Diamond was again shot and wounded at the Aratoga Inn, a road house near Cairo.
27.
Legs Diamond had been staying in a rooming house on Dove Street in Albany while on trial for kidnapping in Troy.
28.
Legs Diamond was going to sell strong-arm 'protection' to the merchants.
29.
Legs Diamond was released in 1957 when his sentence was commuted by Governor W Averell Harriman.
30.
On December 23,1931, Legs Diamond was buried at Mount Olivet Cemetery in Maspeth, Queens.