(John Thomas Diamond)

Born: 1896
Died: December 17, 1931

A former member of a vicious youth gang, Legs Diamond muscled his way to the top of the bootlegging business in Prohibition-era New York. At one time rumored to be impossible to kill, he died in a gangland execution.

The Son of Irish Immigrants

John Thomas Diamond was born in 1896, in Kensington, a poor enclave (area) of Irish immigrants in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His parents had one other child, Edward, who was born in 1899. With only a limited education, Diamond quickly became street-smart, and by his teens, had become a thief.

Diamond’s father moved his sons to New York City after his wife, Sara, died in 1913. John Diamond Sr. settled in Brooklyn, where he worked as a laborer. At the time, New York City was plagued by numerous gangs that attracted poor young boys to their ranks. Both John...