by one, and then arrested them for malicious destruction of property, for which they were sentenced to 30 days in jail. He also disarmed a man who was robbing a crowded restaurant at Columbus Circle with two guns and a knife. He once reputedly responded to a threat from gangster Legs Diamond by emptying a trash bin over his head, and forced him to crawl away. Other accounts of the confrontation hold that Broderick dumped Diamond in the trash bin head-first, while others say that Broderick knocked out Diamond with a single blow, with one account claiming that Diamond was left unconscious for 20 minutes. Broderick's reputation for toughness was such that Jack Dempsey, the heavyweight boxing champion, once said of Broderick that "He's the only I wouldn't want to meet in a fight outside the ring and its rules." He would offer himself as an informal protection service for crime victims, especially young women, and personally beat up offenders. Broderick worked often with Johnny Cordes, a two-time winner of the department's medal of honor, and Barney Ruditsky, whose exploits inspired the 1959 TV series The Lawless Years. Broderick was often selected as a bodyguard for visiting celebrities. President Franklin D. Roosevelt requested that Broderick be his special bodyguard when he visited New York for the 1936 World Series, and he also was bodyguard for Queen Marie of Romania and King Albert of Belgium. Allegations of misconduct Throughout his career, beginning with his days in the Industrial Squad, Broderick was a subject of allegations of misconduct, and the Industrial Squad under his command was accused of violence toward strikers and corruption. He sometimes beat up people who were totally innocent, and lawsuits and complaints of brutality were futile because of his public image, honed by favorable media coverage, and connections. Reporting on Broderick's brief demotion to patrolman in 1934, columnist Westbrook Pegler said that the demotion would do him some good, that he "was excessively tough at times and there were occasions when, pining for action, he bounced around people who were in not particular need of bouncing around." Pegler said that Broderick was selective in whom he would harass, that "there were many low characters in the city, notorious for their activity in the rackets, who were walking right past Detective Broderick on the street and in the lobby of [Madison Square] Garden, whom he did not find any