Remembering a "Rock Star" Gangster in the Times Union

Paul Grondahl writes about legendary Capital Region gangster Legs Diamond with some anecdotes supplied by William Kennedy and attorney E. Stewart Jones:

The Collar City was Mob City in the Prohibition era, and no bootlegger was a bigger rock star of the underworld than Jack "Legs" Diamond.

He swaggered through throngs lined up on the sidewalks around the Rensselaer County Courthouse, where he was put on trial two weeks before Christmas in 1931 on charges of kidnapping and assault.

Diamond walked a few blocks across Second Street each morning to the courthouse from the office of his lawyer, Abbott Jones, and basked in the adulation of Trojans who shouted Diamond's name, cheered and reached out to clasp his hand.....

More in the Times Union:  http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/The-unfinished-business-of-Legs-Diamond-5053434.php

Picture: NYPD mugshot of Jack Diamond.