Duke Schultz: The Rise Of Legs Diamond

Duke Schultz, born Arthur Flegenhiemer in 1902, was a very notable American East coast gangster who was remarkably successful during and after the prohibition era. Schultz successfully carved out his own chunk of success in the violent New York organized crime world by being even more ruthless and violent than any competitors. Schultz helped shape the culture at the time but also was very much shaped by the culture that he worked his way to the top of. He was a very successful European jew in an Italian dominated crime market by becoming very feared and very respected. However, he would live out the saying, "If you ride like lightning, you'll crash like thunder" as his fall would be as abrupt and violent as his rise.
Schultz was born to immigrant …show more content…
Schultz and Noe clearly knew what expanding on someone else’s territory would mean, violence but also if successful, a lot of new profit. The first notable casualty of war would be Schultz’s mentor and partner, Joey Noe. Losing Noe crushed Schultz, and it is believed that he was responsible for Arnold Rothstien’s death who was an associate of Diamond’s. Soon after, there was an attempt on Diamond’s life but it was unsuccessful when he was able to recover from his wounds. The attempt did intimidate Diamond to leave the country for a …show more content…
During this his empire would wither and weaken, and his associates started planning on how to distribute the empire in the case that Schultz would lose the battle. When he won the battle he was mainly concerned with who needed to be taken care of. He openly talked about wanting to assassinate DA Dewey which made other notable bosses very nervous because they believed it would bring more attention than they wanted to have at the time. After he unsuccessfully made an attempt it was decided that he was a liability to organized crime as a whole and he was violently shot to death in a diner (Oct 24, 1935), going out as violently as he came in. His reputation preceded him and the other bosses must have known that he would continue to attempt to execute Thomas Dewey until he was successful. Dutch Schultz learned at a young age that he could cut out his own slice of the American Dream through crime and violence. He also learned that the only person he could trust was himself when his father left him and his family to make their own living. He didn’t live to see 35 but he made more money than most people make in their whole lives because of his violent tendencies and good business