No more bouncing back

Have you ever met someone that you don’t really like, but you can’t deny that they’re the life of the party? For Prohibition bootleggers, that person was Jack “Legs” Diamond.

He got the nickname “Legs” because he was known for being both a talented dancer and also for his ability to quickly escape when he needed to. By the end of the 1920s, he’d double-crossed so many of the gangsters in New York that he had to leave and set up a new base of operations in Kingston, NY, about 100 miles north of the city.

He was arrested numerous times, spent time in jail, but always seemed to bounce back. After he was shot 5 times in 1930 and still managed to recover, Dutch Schultz, one of his biggest rivals, said to his own gang, “Ain't there nobody that can shoot this guy so he doesn't bounce back?"

Dutch didn't have to wait long. In December of 1931, Legs Diamond was killed in a cheap hotel room in Albany. There are several theories about who exactly was behind his murder, but none have been confirmed.