Information AboutJack Diamond |
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Jack "Legs" Diamond ( 1897 - December 18 , 1931 ), also known as '''Gentleman Jack''', was the alias of John T. Noland, an Irish-American gangster based out of New York City . A Bootlegger and close associate of gambler Arnold Rothstein , he survived a number of attempts on his life between 1919 and 1931 , causing him to be known as the "clay pigeon of the underworld." In 1930 , Diamond's nemesis Dutch Schultz remarked to his own gang, "Ain't there nobody what can shoot this guy so he don't bounce back?" Diamond entered crime as a member of a gang called the Hudson Dusters . In 1918 - 1919 , he was jailed for being a US Army deserter. Hired by "Little Augie" Jacob Orgen to murder an enemy, Diamond became Augie's personal bodyguard. He was shot twice when Louis Buchalter , seeking to move in on the labor rackets that Orgen was running in the garment district, shot and killed Orgen. Diamond then went to work for Buchalter overseeing bootleg alcohol sales in downtown Manhattan . That brought him into conflict with Dutch Schultz, who planned to move beyond his base in Harlem . Diamond was shot five times on one occasion when Schultz's men surprised him at a private dinner and three times on another, when Schultz gunmen opened up with machine guns, killing two bystanders. On December 18 , 1931 , Diamond's enemies finally caught up with him, shooting him after he had passed out at a hideout on Dove Street in Albany, New York . The first of William Kennedy 's ''Albany'' series, "Legs," follows Diamond to his death. Diamond was also the subject of director Bud Boetticher 's 1960 film '' The Rise And Fall Of Legs Diamond '' starring Ray Danton and Warren Oates as well as a 1988 broadway musical later based on the movie. Diamond was half-brother to Hollywood film legend George Brent . FURTHER READING
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