rightfully his. This put a target in the middle of Diamond's back, and he soon became known as the “clay pigeon of the underworld.”
Diamond was sitting at the bar of the Aratoga Inn, near Arca, New York, when three men, dressed as duck hunters, barreled into the bar and filled Diamond with lead. The doctors gave him little chance for survival, but four weeks later, Diamond walked out of the hospital and told the press, “Well, I made it again. Nobody can kill Jack 'Legs' Diamond.”
A few months later, as Diamond was leaving an upstate roadside inn, he was shot four times: in the back, leg, lung, and liver. Yet again, Diamond beat the odds the doctors gave him, and he survived.
In December 1931, Diamond was not so lucky, when after a night of heavy drinking at the Kenmore Hotel in Albany, Diamond staggered back drunk to his nearby boarding room and fell asleep. The landlady said afterwards, that she heard Diamond pleading for his life, then she heard three shots. Apparently two gunmen had burst into Diamond's room, and while one held him by his two ears, the other put three slugs into his brain.
The killers escaped in a red Packard, putting an end to the myth that Jack “Legs” Diamond was the “gangster who couldn't be killed.”
E astman, Monk
Monk Eastman was born Edward Osterman, in 1875, in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn. Edward's father owned a restaurant, and to keep the young Osterman busy, his father bought him a pet shop. Osterman's business venture failed, reportedly because he kept fighting with customers who wanted to purchase pets he became especially fond of. Out of business, young Osterman relocated to lower Manhattan, and to make money, he dived headfirst into a life of crime. He operated under several aliases, before finally settling on the last name of Eastman.
The short and stocky Eastman was nicknamed “Monk,” because he resembled a monkey stalking the streets. He had an unkempt appearance, and his pumpkin-sized head and frazzled hair were covered by a derby two sizes too small. Eastman became known as a feared brawler, and he was the bouncer at one of the roughest nightclubs on the Lower East Side, the New Irving Social Club on the Bowery.
While he patrolled the club keeping the peace, Eastman carried a four-foot stick, which he used to crack the heads of any patron who was not behaving properly. In just a few short months, Eastman had whacked the heads of 49 near-do-wells, and not liking crooked numbers, he conked the skull of an innocent man just to make it an even 50. Eastman sent so many people to Bellevue Hospital, the hospital staff jokingly called their emergency room, “The Eastman Pavilion.”
Yet Eastman apparently had a soft spot for women. If anyone of the female persuasion needed to be reckoned with, he reportedly dropped his stick, took off his brass knuckles, and hit the woman just hard enough to give her a black eye. No hospital visit was necessary for the lucky young lady.
Eastman also was a willing killer; for hire, or for just plain fun, especially when he was drunk, which was often. Eastman believed in “Dead Man's Eyes,” which is the concept that when a person dies, the last thing that person he sees is permanently imprinted on the retina of their eyes. When Eastman killed someone, he truly believed he was leaving proof on the victim's eyes that he was the killer. So Eastman, being the cautious bloke that he was, after he shot someone dead, not to leave any incriminating evidence, he shot out his victim's eyes out, too.
Eastman assembled a rough and tumble gang that reportedly numbered close to 2,000, mostly Jewish men. Eastman curried favor with politicians by doing them “little favors,” like patrolling polling places during elections, to make sure each voter cast their vote for the proper man. The politicians returned the favor by springing Eastman out of jail, whenever an ambitious policeman decided to do something foolish, like actually
Diamond was sitting at the bar of the Aratoga Inn, near Arca, New York, when three men, dressed as duck hunters, barreled into the bar and filled Diamond with lead. The doctors gave him little chance for survival, but four weeks later, Diamond walked out of the hospital and told the press, “Well, I made it again. Nobody can kill Jack 'Legs' Diamond.”
A few months later, as Diamond was leaving an upstate roadside inn, he was shot four times: in the back, leg, lung, and liver. Yet again, Diamond beat the odds the doctors gave him, and he survived.
In December 1931, Diamond was not so lucky, when after a night of heavy drinking at the Kenmore Hotel in Albany, Diamond staggered back drunk to his nearby boarding room and fell asleep. The landlady said afterwards, that she heard Diamond pleading for his life, then she heard three shots. Apparently two gunmen had burst into Diamond's room, and while one held him by his two ears, the other put three slugs into his brain.
The killers escaped in a red Packard, putting an end to the myth that Jack “Legs” Diamond was the “gangster who couldn't be killed.”
E astman, Monk
Monk Eastman was born Edward Osterman, in 1875, in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn. Edward's father owned a restaurant, and to keep the young Osterman busy, his father bought him a pet shop. Osterman's business venture failed, reportedly because he kept fighting with customers who wanted to purchase pets he became especially fond of. Out of business, young Osterman relocated to lower Manhattan, and to make money, he dived headfirst into a life of crime. He operated under several aliases, before finally settling on the last name of Eastman.
The short and stocky Eastman was nicknamed “Monk,” because he resembled a monkey stalking the streets. He had an unkempt appearance, and his pumpkin-sized head and frazzled hair were covered by a derby two sizes too small. Eastman became known as a feared brawler, and he was the bouncer at one of the roughest nightclubs on the Lower East Side, the New Irving Social Club on the Bowery.
While he patrolled the club keeping the peace, Eastman carried a four-foot stick, which he used to crack the heads of any patron who was not behaving properly. In just a few short months, Eastman had whacked the heads of 49 near-do-wells, and not liking crooked numbers, he conked the skull of an innocent man just to make it an even 50. Eastman sent so many people to Bellevue Hospital, the hospital staff jokingly called their emergency room, “The Eastman Pavilion.”
Yet Eastman apparently had a soft spot for women. If anyone of the female persuasion needed to be reckoned with, he reportedly dropped his stick, took off his brass knuckles, and hit the woman just hard enough to give her a black eye. No hospital visit was necessary for the lucky young lady.
Eastman also was a willing killer; for hire, or for just plain fun, especially when he was drunk, which was often. Eastman believed in “Dead Man's Eyes,” which is the concept that when a person dies, the last thing that person he sees is permanently imprinted on the retina of their eyes. When Eastman killed someone, he truly believed he was leaving proof on the victim's eyes that he was the killer. So Eastman, being the cautious bloke that he was, after he shot someone dead, not to leave any incriminating evidence, he shot out his victim's eyes out, too.
Eastman assembled a rough and tumble gang that reportedly numbered close to 2,000, mostly Jewish men. Eastman curried favor with politicians by doing them “little favors,” like patrolling polling places during elections, to make sure each voter cast their vote for the proper man. The politicians returned the favor by springing Eastman out of jail, whenever an ambitious policeman decided to do something foolish, like actually
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