Jack "Legs" Diamond
Called a New York gangster and racketeer in 1930 wire stories. In August 1930 the Irish Free State ordered that he not be allowed to land from the liner Baltic. On October 12, 1930 he was shot five times in a room of the Hotel Monticello on West Sixty-fourth Street, New York, and would not tell police who shot him. This page rests on 1930 newspaper pages.
- Aliases
- Legs Diamond
- Rights
- Biography on this page is limited to what the cited newspaper pages, published in 1930 and in the public domain, state.
On the record
- 1930-08-29 — The Washington Times of 29 August 1930 (International News Service, London) reports that the Irish Free State ministry ordered the Queenstown alien officer "to refuse the gangster permission to land" from the White Star liner Baltic, and that the captain could not locate him on board.
- 1930-08-30 — The Washington Daily News of 30 August 1930 (United Press, London) reports that Scotland Yard "has been asked by New York police to co-operate in finding and detaining Diamond," that the Home Office had decided not to let him land, and that the Baltic's commander said he was not a passenger.
- 1930-10-12 — The Evening Star of 13 October 1930 (Associated Press) reports that he was shot "in a room on the eighth floor of the Monticello Hotel on West Sixty-fourth street shortly before noon yesterday," received five bullet wounds, and told police he did not know his assailants. The Washington Times of 14 October (International News Service) gives the room as 829.
- 1930-10-16 — The Indianapolis Times of 16 October 1930 (United Press) reports that the police commissioner said he knew the names of three of four men who visited Diamond at the hotel on the Friday before the shooting, and that police were reported to be searching for others. No one is said to have been charged.
Every event on this page comes from a 1930 newspaper page filed in this archive. The wire stories call him “gangster and racketeer”; that is the papers’ description. A federal Prohibition case against him in 1931 has not been found in an opened court or federal record. Later newspaper pages, including those reporting his death, are not filed because their rights have not been cleared, so this page gives no date of death.
The FBI’s 1935 memorandum on Charles Luciano mentions “the late Jack Diamond” and a 1930 trip to Europe, as read from its OCR (memorandum). That is the Bureau’s summary. No record filed on this page states a family, a rank, or a role in any organization.
Records
clippingWashington Times, 29 August 1930, page 4: Irish bar 'Legs' DiamondA short International News Service item from London: the Irish Free State ordered that Jack ("Legs") Diamond, said to be aboard the liner Baltic, be refused permission to land at Queenstown; the ship's captain could not find him aboard.
clippingWashington Daily News, 30 August 1930, page 2: English police hunt for 'Legs' DiamondA United Press item from London: New York police had asked Scotland Yard to find and hold Jack "Legs" Diamond, the Home Office had decided not to let him land, and the captain of the Baltic said he was not aboard.
clippingEvening Star, 13 October 1930, page A-7: 'Legs' Diamond fights for lifeAn Associated Press dispatch from New York on the shooting of Jack "Legs" Diamond the day before in a room on the eighth floor of the Monticello Hotel on West Sixty-fourth Street; he told police he did not know who shot him.
clippingWashington Times, 14 October 1930, page 1: Still silent on identity of hotel gunmenA front-page International News Service dispatch by James L. Kilgallen: Jack ("Legs") Diamond, in Polyclinic Hospital, would not say who the two men were who shot him five times in room 829 of the Hotel Monticello.
clippingIndianapolis Times, 16 October 1930, page 2: Legs Diamond may recover, say doctorsA United Press dispatch from New York on the Diamond shooting: the police commissioner said he knew the names of three men at a conference before it, and the story reports police searching for "Irving Wexler, alias Maxie Gordon" and naming "Arthur Flagenheimer, alias Dutch Schultz" among men held for questioning.itemFBI memorandum on "Charles Luciana, with aliases" (August 28, 1935)A copy of a Bureau memorandum of August 28, 1935, at the start of the FBI's Luciano file: what the Bureau's files held on him, a reporter's July 1935 account of contacts in which Luciano was said to offer help finding the fugitive Karpis, and his arrest record from 1921 to 1931.