December 18, 1931: Legs Diamond Is Rubbed Out

December 18, 1931: Bootlegger Jack "Legs" Diamond is rubbed out in Albany, New York. It was at least the 6th attempt on his life, the 3rd in the last year.

John Thomas Diamond was born on July 10, 1897 in Philadelphia. When his mother died, his father moved the family to Brooklyn. Jack found his way to Manhattan, where he got mixed up with a gang called the Hudson Dusters. He served in the U.S. Army in World War I, but deserted, and got caught, and served in Leavenworth Military Prison. He got out in 1921, and met Arnold Rothstein, the mobster who led the fix of the 1919 World Series, eventually becoming personal bodyguard to the man known as "The Brain" and "The Big Bankroll."

Or maybe it was the other way around. Rothstein was killed on November 6, 1928. By that point, Diamond was 1 of the 2 biggest bootleggers in New York, along with Dutch Schultz. Without Rothstein's protection, "Legs" -- the source of the nickname is in dispute, as he was known to outrun cops and be a great dancer in "The Jazz Age" -- was a marked man. He survived being shot in 1924, 1927 and 1930. Schultz supposedly said, "Ain't there nobody that can shoot this guy so he don't bounce back?"

The question was answered in the affirmative on December 18, 1931. He was in Albany, New York, on trial for a kidnapping that had occurred across the Hudson River in Troy. At 4:30 AM, after a night of partying, he got back to his rooming house and passed out on his bed. At around 5:30, gunshots were heard. He had been shot 3 times in the back of the head. He was 34 years old.

Supposedly, the deed was done by the Albany police, trying to prevent him from moving in on the town -- and breaking up their own racket. Sergeant William Fitzpatrick is said to have fired the shots. He was later appointed Chief of Police. In 1945, he, too, was shot and killed, in his own office.

Legs was a known womanizer. But, rather than any of his mistresses, it was his wife, Alice, who was shot and killed in her Brooklyn apartment, to keep her quiet, on July 1, 1933.

Legs was played by Ray Danton in the 1960 film The Rise and Fall of Legs Diamond, Steven Hill on a 1960 episode of The Untouchables, Peter Allen in the 1988 Broadway musical Legs Diamond, and John Mosby in the 1993 film The Outfit.

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December 18, 1931 was a Friday. Baseball was out of season. The NBA hadn't been founded yet. The NHL scheduled no games. And the football season was over, except for the Rose Bowl, to be played in Pasadena, California on New Year's Day: The University of Southern California beat Tulane University, 21-12.