Jack Ruby, by Wikipedia

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Jack Ruby, by Wikipedia

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Jack Ruby
by Wikipedia
November 3, 2017

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Image
Ruby around 1960
Born Jacob Leon Rubenstein
March 25, 1911
Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Died January 3, 1967 (aged 55)
Parkland Memorial Hospital
Dallas, Texas, U.S.
Cause of death Pulmonary embolism secondary to lung cancer
Resting place Westlawn Cemetery
Norridge, Illinois, U.S.
Occupation: Nightclub operator
Criminal charge: Murder of Lee Harvey Oswald
Criminal penalty: Death (overturned)
Parent(s): Joseph Rubenstein, Fannie Turek Rutkowski


Jack Leon Ruby (born Jacob Leon Rubenstein; March 25, 1911[1] – January 3, 1967) was the Dallas, Texas, nightclubowner who fatally shot Lee Harvey Oswald on November 24, 1963, while Oswald was in police custody after being charged with assassinating U.S. President John F. Kennedy two days earlier. A Dallas jury found him guilty of murdering Oswald, and he was sentenced to death. Ruby's conviction was later appealed, and he was granted a new trial. However, on January 3, 1967, as the date for his new trial was being set,[2] Ruby became ill in his prison cell and died of a pulmonary embolism from lung cancer.[3][4]

In September 1964 the Warren Commission concluded that Ruby acted alone in killing Oswald.[5] Various groups believed Ruby was involved with major figures in organized crime and that he killed Oswald as part of an overall plot surrounding the assassination of Kennedy.

Childhood and early life

Jack Ruby was born Jacob Leon Rubenstein[6] on March 25, 1911, in Chicago as the son of Joseph Rubenstein (1871–1958) and Fannie Turek Rutkowski (or Rokowsky), both Polish-born Orthodox Jews.

Ruby was the fifth of his parents' 10 surviving children and grew up in the Maxwell Street area of Chicago. He had a troubled childhood and adolescence, which was marked by juvenile delinquency and time spent in foster homes.
At age 11 in 1922, he was arrested for truancy. Ruby eventually skipped school enough times that he spent time at the Institute of Juvenile Research. Still a young man, he sold horse-racing tip sheets and various novelties, then acted as business agent for a local refuse collectors union that later became part of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT).[7]

From his early childhood, Ruby was nicknamed "Sparky" by those who knew him.[8] His sister, Eva Grant, said that he acquired the nickname because he resembled a slow-moving horse named "Spark Plug" or "Sparky" in the contemporary comic strip Barney Google. ("Spark Plug" debuted as a character in the strip in 1922, when Ruby was 11.)[8] Other accounts say that the name was directly connected with his quick temper.[8] In either event, Grant stated that Ruby didn't like the nickname Sparky and was quick to fight anyone who called him that.[8]

In the 1940s Ruby frequented race tracks in Illinois and California. He was drafted in 1943 and served in the U.S. Army Air Forces during World War II, working as an aircraft mechanic at U.S. bases until 1946. He had an honorable record and was promoted to Private First Class. Upon discharge, on February 21, 1946, Ruby returned to Chicago.

In 1947 Ruby moved to Dallas where he and his brothers soon afterward shortened their surnames from Rubenstein to Ruby. The stated reason for this was that the name "Rubenstein" was too long and that he was "well known" as Jack Ruby.[9] Ruby later went on to manage various nightclubs, strip clubs, and dance halls. Among the strippers Ruby befriended was Candy Barr.

Ruby developed close ties to many Dallas Police officers who frequented his nightclubs, where he provided them with free liquor, prostitutes and other favors.[10]

HSCA Appendix to Hearings – Volume IX Page 135 of 1178

A. THE SHOOTING OF LEE HARVEY OSWALD: RELATIONSHIP WITH THE DALLAS POLICE DEPARTMENT*

(498) Following the shooting of Lee Harvey Oswald, Jack Ruby’s relationship with the Dallas Police Department was scrutinized. Rumors had naturally arisen concerning this relationship. They included the allegations that Ruby provided off-duty employment for officers at his nightclubs, (1) that he enabled policemen to obtain bank loans by acting as a cosigner, (2) that he provided officers with female companionship, (3) and that he had visited Hot Springs, Ark., with the chief of police. (4) Although documentation for these allegations has not been produced, it is known that Jack Ruby did maintain a close relationship with the police force, “one of the greatest police forces in the world,” according to Ruby, (5) even if its nature cannot be determined with precision.

RUBY’S FRIENDSHIPS WITH POLICE OFFICERS

(449) Ruby took great pride in and thoroughly enjoyed his friendships with Dallas police officers. He has been described as an individual who loved police officers, (6) was a “police buff,” (7) had great respect for authority (8) and was “keenly interested in policemen and their work.” (9) The relationship was both collectively and individually oriented. “I have always been very close to the police department,” Ruby stated in 1964, “I don’t know why.” (1)) As part of this closeness, Ruby offered his friends what he could: a free table, a few beers, a listening ear.

(500) Ruby told the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) that he had never given money or other things of value to officers except when he gave out bottles of whiskey as Christmas gifts. (11) This practice may have occurred at other times, since it has been reported that policemen were seen going into Ruby’s private office in the Carousel (one of Ruby’s nightclubs) and leaving with bottles of

_______________

* Prepared by Donald A. Purdy, Jr., senior staff counsel and Howard Shapiro, research attorney.


In 1959, Ruby went to Cuba, ostensibly to visit a friend, influential Dallas gambler Lewis McWillie, an associate of Mafia boss Santo Trafficante, Jr.. Ruby may have met directly with Trafficante on those visits, according to the testimony of British journalist John Wilson-Hudson, who was imprisoned in Cuba at the time.[11] Trafficante operated major casinos in Cuba and was briefly imprisoned after Fidel Castro came to power.[12]


Image

CIA HISTORICAL REVIEW PROGRAM
RELEASE AS SANITIZED 1995

CLASSIFIED MESSAGE

ORIG: John (Scelso)
UNIT: C/WH 3
EXT: 5613
DATE: 28 November 1963
TO: WHITE HOUSE ATTN: MR. MCGEORGE BUNDY
DEPARTMENT OF STATE ATTN: MR. U. ALEXIS JOHNSON
FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION
FROM: CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
CONF: C/WH 4
INFO: DCI, D/DCI, DDP, C/CI , VR

28 Nov 63

INFO:

ON 26 NOVEMBER 1963 A BRITISH JOURNALIST NAMED JOHN WILSON, AND ALSO KNOWN AS JOHN WILSON-HUDSON, GAVE INFORMATION TO THE AMERICAN EMBASSY IN LONDON WHICH INDICATED THAT AN "AMERICAN GANGSTER TYPE NAMED "RUBY" VISITED CUBA AROUND 1959. WILSON HIMSELF WAS WORKING IN CUBA AT THE TIME AND WAS JAILED BY CASTRO BEFORE HE WAS DEPORTED.

IN PRISON IN CUBA, WILSON SAYS HE MET AN AMERICAN GANGSTER GAMBLER NAMED SANTOS WHO COULD NOT RETURN TO THE U.S.A. BECAUSE THERE WERE SEVERAL INDICTMENTS OUTSTANDING AGAINST HIM. INSTEAD HE PREFERRED TO LIVE IN RELATIVE LUXURY IN A CUBAN PRISON. WHILE SANTOS WAS IN PRISON, WILSON SAYS, SANTOS WAS VISITED FREQUENTLY BY AN AMERICAN GANGSTER TYPE NAMED RUBY. HIS STORY IS BEING FOLLOWED UP. WILSON SAYS HE HAD ONCE TESTIFIED ABOUT CASTRO ACTIVITIES BEFORE THE EASTLAND COMMITTEE OF THE U.S. SENATE, SOMETIME IN 1959 OR 1960.

END OF MESSAGE

Document Number 206-83
for FOIA Review on APR 1976

CLASSIFICATION REVIEW CONDUCTED ON 24 MAY 1976 BY 012208

D:200-5-41

JOHN [SCELSO]
by authority of
RICHARD HELMS
DDP
RELEASING OFFICER

201-289248


Ruby was never married, nor did he have any children.[13]

Illegal activities in Dallas

There was evidence indicating Jack Ruby had been involved in the underworld activities of illegal gambling, narcotics, and prostitution.[14]

A 1956 FBI report stated that their informant Eileen Curry reported that in January of that year, she moved to Dallas with her boyfriend, James Breen, after jumping bond on narcotics charges. Breen told her that he had made connections with a large narcotics set up operating between Texas, Mexico, and the East and that "in some fashion, James got the okay to operate through Jack Ruby of Dallas."[15]

Commission Exhibit No. 1761

Item 3

In connection with certain information concerning James Breen which was forwarded to our Dallas Office from our Los Angeles Office by communication dated March 20, 1956, the following interview with Bunny Breen, whose true name is Eileen Curry, is set forth.

On March 18, 1956, Bunny Breen, presently known as Carol Connor, requested the Los Angeles Office to have Special Agent Ambrose K. Law call her collect at Davis 74784, Dallas, Texas. She had been interviewed twice for information she might furnish in the case entitled "Unknown Subject, Abraham Davidian - Victim. "Obstruction of Justice." She was acting as was James Breen as informants for the Federal Narcotics Bureau and the Los Angeles Police Department Vice Squad. She indicated she had formerly been with Stanley Adams, a subject in this case. Bunny, at that time, was operating a house of prostitution in Los Angeles on a call girl basis. She furnished no information of particular significance. James Breen was interviewed two or three times as a possible prospective confidential source, but both were constantly in trouble with local authorities and contact could not be maintained with them. Bunny, on March 13, 1956, advised she and James had jumped a local bond on narcotics charges about the first of the year and gone to Dallas. James was driving a cab for the City Transportation Company, and she was apparently operating in some branch of the prostitution racket. Bunny was told by James he had made connection with large narcotics setup operating between Mexico, Texas and the East. James made several trips and returned. He left about three weeks ago and has not returned. He purposely did not give details so she could not get into trouble. He took his clothes about three weeks ago and said he was going on another trip. She heard later that he had left her but heard also from a bondsman named Schott this was not true and that James had contacted him and asked him to look out for her if she got into any trouble. She believes James made connections with the narcotics ring through a former associate from Seagoville Prison where James served time. In some fashion James got the okay to operate through Jack Ruby of Dallas. Several days ago, one Jack (last name unknown) of Houston came to see Bunny with one Gordon Winter of Houston, a friend of hers and James. Jack told her that James was trying to hijack a 300 to 400 thousand load of narcotics from Mexico and was going to try to go with another distribution setup. Jack questioned her as to whether she had information regarding James' whereabouts and threatened her if she was withholding information about James. Also, he stated his life would not be worth anything if he was trying to double-cross the group. Bunny fears James has been killed or kidnapped and wanted to talk to someone she could trust.


Former Dallas County Sheriff Steve Guthrie told the FBI that he believed Ruby "operated some prostitution activities and other vices in his club" since living in Dallas.[16]

Commission Exhibit No. 1251

Date: Dec. 7, 1963

Mr. STEVE GUTHRIE with offices at 820 Big Town, Mesquite, Texas, advised that his name was formerly S.W. GUTHRIE but he had legally changed his name some years ago to STEVE GUTHRIE. Mr. GUTHRIE furnished the following information:

He was elected sheriff of Dallas County in July, 1946, and was to go into office in January, 1947. He was an ex-policemen and had returned from the service a short time previous to his election. He served as sheriff of Dallas County in 1947 through 1948.

Shortly after his election in July, 1946, a man identified as PAUL ROLAND JONES, contacted him on a Dallas golf course and asked him how he would like to make some big money. He stated he told JONES he would be very interested. At that time, Dallas County was "wide open" with prostitution and gambling and other vices running full steam and there were an average of 2 or 3 murders a month which looked like murders by gangs. JONES told GUTHRIE that between them they could make approximately $40,000 per month.

This contact by JONES was made since he was spokesman for the "syndicate" out of Chicago and the "syndicate" was planning to move into Dallas and take over the vices.
There were approximately 25 "thugs" and hoodlums from Chicago in Dallas from time to time. GUTHRIE got in touch with Dallas Chief of Police HANSSON, GEORGE BUTLER, a detective of the Dallas Police Department and the Texas Department of Public Safety to see if they could make bribery cases on the "thugs" who had planned to take over vice in Dallas. With the assistance of these officers, they wired GUTHRIE's house for sound and made numerous recordings of conversations had in GUTHRIE's house with a number of hoodlums from Chicago. Included in the names was SONNY LABRIOLA and a LIPSKE. As a result of this investigation, a great number of records were made.

GUTHRIE said that JACK RUBY at that time was a "small time peanut" with this group who were going to bribe GUTHRIE. RUBY's name came up on numerous occasions, according to GUTHRIE, as being the person who would take over a very fabulous restaurant at Industrial and Commerce Streets in Dallas. The first floor of that building was to be a regular restaurant and the upper floor would be used for gambling. RUBY was to run this club. JACK RUBY never in person talked with GUTHRIE about this matter and, in fact, GUTHRIE and RUBY had no conversation during this investigation. However, according to GUTHRIE, RUBY's name constantly came up as being the person who would run the restaurant and GUTHRIE said if the records can still be heard, RUBY's name will be heard on numerous occasions. Texas Department of Public Safety has one set of these records and "DUB" NAYLOR, then a Texas Ranger, conducted a great deal of the investigation in that case.

As a result of the investigation, PAUL ROLAND JONES was sentenced to a term of 3 to 5 years, according to GUTHRIE's memory, and ROMEO JACK KNAPPI was indicted by the grand jury. KNAPPI was believed to be related to JACK NETTI, well known Chicago hoodlum; however, Dallas authorities were never able to get custody of KNAPPI.

GUTHRIE advised he has never heard a good thing about JACK RUBY to the best of his knowledge. He believes RUBY has operated some prostitution activities and other vices in his club since RUBY has been in Dallas.

GUTHRIE further informed he has heard and believes it is fairly well known around Dallas that either Mayor CABELL or City Manager CRULL ordered Chief of Police CURRY to "put on the show for TV" of transporting OSWALD from the City Jail to the County Jail. He said as a result of this, CABELL will not discharge CURRY since CURRY was acting under orders.

on 12/6/63 at Dallas, Texas. File # DL 44-1639 by Special Agent JAMES E. GARRIS & JACK P. PEDEN/csh. Date dictated 12/7/63.


Dallas disc jockey Kenneth Dowe testified that Ruby was known around the station for "procuring women for different people who came to town."[17]

John F. Kennedy assassination

November 21


The Warren Commission attempted to reconstruct Ruby's movements from November 21, 1963 through November 24.[18] The Commission reported that he was attending to his duties as the proprietor of the Carousel Club located at 1312 1/2 Commerce St. in downtown Dallas and the Vegas Club in the city's Oak Lawn districtfrom the afternoon of November 21 to the early hours of November 22.[18]

November 22: The assassination of Kennedy

According to the Warren Commission, Ruby was in the second-floor advertising offices of the Dallas Morning News, five blocks away from the Texas School Book Depository, placing weekly advertisements for his nightclubs when he learned of the assassination around 12:45 p.m.[19] Ruby then made phone calls to his assistant at the Carousel Club and to his sister.[20] The Commission stated that an employee of the Dallas Morning News estimated the fact that Ruby left the newspaper's offices at 1:30 p.m., but indicated that other testimony suggested he may have left earlier.[19]

White House correspondent Seth Kantor — who was a passenger in the motorcade — testified that after President Kennedy was shot, he had visited Parkland Hospital while the wounded President was receiving care. Kantor said that as he entered the hospital, at about 1:30 pm, he felt a tug on his coat. He turned around to see Jack Ruby who called him by his first name and shook his hand;[21][22] he said that he had become acquainted with Ruby while he was a reporter for the Dallas Times Herald newspaper.[23][24] According to Kantor, Ruby asked him if he thought that it would be a good idea for him to close his nightclubs for the next three nights because of the tragedy and Kantor responded with thinking that doing so would be a good idea.[22][25][26]

The Warren Commission dismissed Kantor's testimony, saying that the encounter at Parkland Hospital would have had to take place in a span of a few minutes before and after 1:30 pm, as evidenced by telephone company records of calls made by both people then. The Commission also pointed to contradictory witness testimony and to the lack of video confirmation of Ruby at the scene.[27] The Commission concluded that "Kantor probably did not see Ruby at Parkland Hospital" and "may have been mistaken about both the time and the place that he saw Ruby."[27]

In 1979, the House Select Committee on Assassinations reexamined Kantor's testimony and stated, "While the Warren Commission concluded that Kantor was mistaken [about his Parkland encounter with Ruby], the Committee determined he probably was not."[28][29]

According to the Warren Commission, Ruby arrived back at the Carousel Club shortly before 1:45 pm to notify employees that the club would be closed that evening.[30]

Ruby was seen in the halls of the Dallas Police Headquarters on several occasions after Lee Harvey Oswald's arrest on November 22, 1963; newsreel footage from WFAA-TV (Dallas) and NBC shows that Ruby impersonated a newspaper reporter during a press conference at Dallas Police Headquarters on the night of Kennedy's death.[31] District Attorney Henry Wade briefed reporters at the press conference telling them that Lee Oswald was a member of the anti-Castro Free Cuba Committee. Ruby was one of several people there who spoke up to correct Wade, saying, "Henry, that's the Fair Play for Cuba Committee," a pro-Castro organization.[32][33][34]Ruby told the FBI, a month after his arrest for killing Oswald, that he had his loaded snub-nosed Colt Cobra .38 revolver in his right pocket during the press conference.[35][36][37]

November 24: The killing of Oswald

Image
Ruby about to shoot Oswald who is being escorted by Dallas police detectives Jim Leavelle and L. C. Graves. [Not one person is looking at Jack Ruby with his gun pointed at Oswald. Nobody seems to know he's there!]

On November 24, Ruby drove into town with his two pet dogs and sent an emergency money order to one of his employees. He walked to the nearby Dallas police headquarters, where he made his way to the basement via either the Main Street ramp[38] or a stairway accessible from an alleyway next to the Dallas Municipal Building.[39] At 11:21 am CST — while authorities were escorting Oswald through the police basement to an armored car that was to take him to the nearby county jail — Ruby stepped out from a crowd of reporters and fired a single round from his .38 revolver into Oswald's abdomen, fatally wounding him. Ruby was immediately subdued by agents and police. The shooting was broadcast live nationally, and millions of television viewers witnessed it. Oswald was taken unconscious by ambulance to Parkland Memorial Hospital—the same hospital where doctors tried to save President Kennedy's life two days earlier. Oswald died at 1:07 p.m.[6]

Prosecution

After his arrest, Ruby asked Dallas attorney Tom Howard to represent him. Howard accepted and asked Ruby if he could think of anything that might damage his defense. Ruby responded that there would be a problem if a man by the name of "Davis" should come up. Ruby told his attorney that he "… had been involved with Davis, who was a gunrunner entangled in anti-Castro efforts."[40][41] Journalist Seth Kantor speculated in 1978 that this may have been Thomas Eli Davis III, a CIA-connected mercenary.[42][43]

Later, Ruby replaced attorney Tom Howard with prominent San Francisco defense attorney Melvin Belli who agreed to represent Ruby pro bono. On March 14, 1964, Ruby was convicted of murder with malice and was sentenced to death.


Ruby’s conviction was overturned by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals on the grounds that "an oral confession of premeditation made while in police custody" should have been ruled inadmissible, because it was violative of a Texas criminal statute. [44] The court also ruled that the venue should have been changed to a Texas county other than the one in which the high-profile crime had been committed.[44] Ruby died technically unconvicted, because his original conviction was overturned and his retrial was pending at the time of his death.

During the six months following Kennedy's assassination, Ruby repeatedly asked, orally and in writing, to speak to the members of the Warren Commission. The commission initially showed no interest. Only after Ruby's sister Eileen wrote letters to the commission (and her letters became public) did the Warren Commission agree to talk to Ruby. In June 1964, Chief Justice Earl Warren, then-Representative Gerald R. Ford of Michigan, and other commission members went to Dallas to see Ruby. Ruby asked Warren several times to take him to Washington D.C., saying "my life is in danger here" and that he wanted an opportunity to make additional statements.[45] He added: "I want to tell the truth, and I can't tell it here."[46] Warren told Ruby that he would be unable to comply, because many legal barriers would need to be broken and public interest in the situation would be too heavy. Warren also told Ruby that the commission would have no way of protecting him, since it had no police powers. Ruby said he wanted to convince President Lyndon Johnson that he was not part of any conspiracy to kill Kennedy.[47]

Eventually, the appellate court agreed with Ruby's lawyers that he should be granted a new trial. On October 5, 1966, the court ruled that his motion for a change of venue before the original trial court should have been granted. Ruby's conviction and death sentence were overturned. Arrangements were underway for a new trial to be held in February 1967 in Wichita Falls, Texas, when on December 9, 1966, Ruby was admitted to Parkland Hospital in Dallas, suffering from pneumonia. A day later, doctors realized he had cancer in his liver, lungs, and brain. Three weeks later, he died.


Death

Ruby died of a pulmonary embolism, secondary to bronchogenic carcinoma (lung cancer), on January 3, 1967, at Parkland Hospital, the same facility where Oswald had died and where President Kennedy had been pronounced dead after his assassination. He was buried beside his parents in the Westlawn Cemetery in Norridge, Illinois.[48][49][50]

Official investigations

Warren Commission


The Warren Commission found no evidence linking Ruby's killing of Oswald with any broader conspiracy to assassinate Kennedy.[51] In 1964, the Warren Commission provided a detailed biography of Ruby's life and activities to help ascertain whether he was involved in a conspiracy to assassinate Kennedy.[52] The Commission indicated that there was not a "significant link between Ruby and organized crime"[53] and said he acted independently in killing Oswald.[51]

Warren Commission investigator David Belin said that postal inspector Harry Holmes arrived unannounced at the Dallas police station and, upon invitation by the investigators, questioned Oswald, thus delaying his transfer by half an hour.[54] Belin concluded that had Ruby been part of a conspiracy, he would have been downtown 30 minutes earlier.[54]

In Gerald Posner's book Case Closed: Lee Harvey Oswald and the Assassination of JFK, Ruby's friends, relatives and associates noted that he was upset over President Kennedy's death, even crying on occasions and closing his clubs for three days as a mark of respect.[55] They also disputed the conspiracy claims, saying that Ruby's connection with gangsters was minimal at most and that he was not the sort to be entrusted with such an act within a high-level conspiracy.[56]

Dallas reporter Tony Zoppi, who knew Ruby well, claimed that one "would have to be crazy" to entrust Ruby with anything as important as a high-level plot to kill Kennedy since he "couldn't keep a secret for five minutes … Jack was one of the most talkative guys you would ever meet. He'd be the worst fellow in the world to be part of a conspiracy, because he just plain talked too much."[57] He and others described Ruby as the sort who enjoyed being at "the center of attention", trying to make friends with people and being more of a nuisance.[55]

Some writers, including former Los Angeles District Attorney Vincent Bugliosi, dismiss Ruby's connections to organized crime as being minimal at best: "It is very noteworthy that without exception, not one of these conspiracy theorists knew or had ever met Jack Ruby. Without our even resorting to his family and roommate, all of whom think the suggestion of Ruby being connected to the mob is ridiculous, those who knew him, unanimously and without exception, think the notion of his being connected to the Mafia, and then killing Oswald for them, is nothing short of laughable.[58]

Bill Alexander, who prosecuted Ruby for Oswald's murder, equally rejected any suggestions that Ruby was part-and-parcel of organized crime, claiming that conspiracy theorists based it on the claim that "A knew B, and Ruby knew B back in 1950, so he must have known A, and that must be the link to the conspiracy."[56]

Ruby's brother Earl denied allegations that Jack was involved in racketeering Chicago nightclubs, and author Gerald Posner suggested that witnesses may have confused Ruby with Harry Rubenstein, a convicted Chicago felon.[56] Entertainment reporter Tony Zoppi was also dismissive of mob ties. He knew Ruby and described him as a "born loser."[56]

Author Norman Mailer and others have questioned why Ruby would have left his two beloved dogs in his car if he had planned on killing Oswald at police headquarters.[59]

Other investigations and dissenting theories

Some critics have not accepted the conclusions of the Warren Commission and have proposed several other theories.

Ruby's motive

Ruby was arrested immediately after the shooting, and he told several witnesses that he had been distraught over President Kennedy's death and had helped the city of Dallas "redeem" itself in the eyes of the public, and that Oswald's death would spare "…Mrs. Kennedy the discomfiture of coming back to trial."[60] At the time of the shooting, Ruby said he was taking phenmetrazine, a central nervous system stimulant.[61] Two months after Oswald's death, Ruby broke into tears at his bond hearing, as he talked to reporters regarding the assassination of President Kennedy. His voice breaking, Ruby said that he could not understand "how a great man like that could be lost." According to an unnamed Associated Press source, Ruby made a final statement from his hospital bed on December 19, 1966 that he alone had been responsible for the murder of Lee Harvey Oswald.[62] "There is nothing to hide… There was no one else," Ruby said.[63]

The House Select Committee on Assassinations in its 1979 Final Report opined:

… Ruby's shooting of Oswald was not a spontaneous act, in that it involved at least some premeditation. Similarly, the committee believed it was less likely that Ruby entered the police basement without assistance, even though the assistance may have been provided with no knowledge of Ruby's intentions… The committee was troubled by the apparently unlocked doors along the stairway route and the removal of security guards from the area of the garage nearest the stairway shortly before the shooting… There is also evidence that the Dallas Police Department withheld relevant information from the Warren Commission concerning Ruby's entry to the scene of the Oswald transfer.[64]


Ruby's explanation for killing Oswald would be "exposed … as a fabricated legal ploy", according to the House Select Committee on Assassinations. In a private note to one of his attorneys, Joseph Tonahill, Ruby wrote: "Joe, you should know this. My first lawyer Tom Howard told me to say that I shot Oswald so that Caroline and Mrs. Kennedy wouldn't have to come to Dallas to testify. OK?"[28][65][66]

G. Robert Blakey, chief counsel for the House Select Committee on Assassinations from 1977 to 1979, said: "The most plausible explanation for the murder of Oswald by Jack Ruby was that Ruby had stalked him on behalf of organized crime, trying to reach him on at least three occasions in the forty-eight hours before he silenced him forever."[67]


In his testimony before the Warren Commission, Russell Lee Moore Knight said that Ruby held no bitterness towards Oswald and called him "a good looking guy" who resembled Paul Newman.[68][69]

Ruby made many long rambling statements while in prison. While talking, he disclosed that he did not vote for Kennedy and had not gone to see the President in the Dallas motorcade.[70] Additionally, despite people's claims that they saw Ruby upset over the weekend of the assassination, others said that he wasn't; On Friday night TV newsman Vic Robertson Jr. saw Ruby at Police Headquarters and reported that Ruby "appeared to be anything but under stress or strain. He seemed happy, jovial, was joking and laughing".[71][72] Announcer Glen Duncan also testified that Ruby "was not grieving" and if anything, was "happy that evidence was piling up against Oswald". [72]

Harry Hall, Ruby's partner in a gambling operation, told the FBI that "Ruby was the type who was interested in any way to make money" and also said that he "could not conceive of Ruby doing anything out of patriotism."[73][72] Jack Kelly, who had known Ruby casually since 1943, "scoffed at the idea of a patriotic motive being involved by Ruby in the slaying of Oswald", and reportedly stated that he "could not see Ruby" killing Oswald "out of patriotism" but "for publicity or... for money."[72]

Ruby's friend Paul Roland Jones was paraphrased by his FBI interviewers as affirming that:


from his acquaintance with Ruby he doubted that he would have become emotionally upset and killed Oswald on the spur of the moment. He felt Ruby would have done it for money.[72]


Following Ruby's March 1964 conviction for murder with malice, Ruby's lawyers, led by Sam Houston Clinton, appealed to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, the highest criminal court in Texas. Ruby's lawyers argued that he could not have received a fair trial in Dallas because of the excessive publicity surrounding the case. A year after his conviction, in March 1965, Ruby conducted a brief televised news conference in which he stated: "Everything pertaining to what's happening has never come to the surface. The world will never know the true facts of what occurred, my motives. The people who had so much to gain, and had such an ulterior motive for putting me in the position I'm in, will never let the true facts come above board to the world." When asked by a reporter, "Are these people in very high positions, Jack?", he responded "Yes."[74]

Dallas Deputy Sheriff Al Maddox claimed: "Ruby told me, he said, 'Well, they injected me for a cold.' He said it was cancer cells. That's what he told me, Ruby did. I said you don't believe that bullshit. He said, 'I damn sure do!' [Then] one day when I started to leave, Ruby shook hands with me and I could feel a piece of paper in his palm… [In this note] he said it was a conspiracy and he said … if you will keep your eyes open and your mouth shut, you're gonna learn a lot. And that was the last letter I ever got from him."[75] Not long before Ruby died, according to an article in the London Sunday Times, he told psychiatrist Werner Teuter that the assassination was "an act of overthrowing the government" and that he knew "who had President Kennedy killed." He added: "I am doomed. I do not want to die. But I am not insane. I was framed to kill Oswald."[75][76][77]

Journalist Seth Kantor — who testified that on the day of the assassination, he encountered Ruby at Parkland Hospital — also reported that Ruby might have tampered with evidence while at Parkland.[78] Goaded by the Warren Commission's dismissal of his testimony, Kantor researched the Ruby case for years. In a later published book Who Was Jack Ruby?, Kantor wrote:

The mob was Ruby's "friend." And Ruby could well have been paying off an IOU the day he was used to kill Lee Harvey Oswald. Remember: "I have been used for a purpose," the way Ruby expressed it to Chief Justice Warren in their June 7, 1964 session. It would not have been hard for the mob to maneuver Ruby through the ranks of a few negotiable police [to kill Oswald].[79]


In his book, Contract on America, David Scheim presented evidence that Mafia leaders Carlos Marcello and Santo Trafficante, Jr., as well as organized labor leader Jimmy Hoffa, ordered the assassination of President Kennedy. Scheim cited in particular a 25-fold increase in the number of out-of-state telephone calls from Jack Ruby to associates of these crime bosses in the months before the assassination.[80] According to author Vincent Bugliosi, both the Warren Commission and the House Select Committee on Assassinations determined all of these calls were related to Ruby seeking help from the American Guild of Variety Artists in a matter concerning two of his competitors.[81] The House Select Committee on Assassinations report stated "...that most of Ruby's phone calls during late 1963 were related to his labor troubles. In the light of the identity of some of the individuals with whom Ruby spoke, however, the possibility of other matters being discussed could not be dismissed."[82]

In his memoir, Bound by Honor, Bill Bonanno, son of New York Mafia boss Joseph Bonanno, stated that he realized that certain Mafia families were involved in the JFK assassination when Ruby killed Oswald, since Bonanno was aware that Ruby was an associate of Chicago mobster Sam Giancana.[83]

Associations with organized crime and gunrunning allegations

In 1979, fifteen years after the Warren report, the House Select Committee on Assassinations undertook a similar investigation of Ruby and said that he "had a significant number of associations and direct and indirect contacts with underworld figures" and "the Dallas criminal element" but that he was not a "member" of organized crime.[84]

Ruby was known to have been acquainted with both the police and the Mafia. The HSCA said that Ruby had known Chicago mobster Sam Giancana (1908–1975) and Joseph Campisi (1918–1990) since 1947, and had been seen with them on many occasions.
[85][86] After an investigation of Joe Campisi, the HSCA found:

While Campisi's technical characterization in federal law enforcement records as an organized crime member has ranged from definite to suspected to negative, it is clear that he was an associate or friend of many Dallas-based organized crime members, particularly Joseph Civello, during the time he was the head of the Dallas organization. There was no indication that Campisi had engaged in any specific organized crime-related activities.[87]


Similarly, a PBS Frontline investigation into the connections between Ruby and Dallas organized crime figures reported the following:

In 1963, Sam and Joe Campisi were leading figures in the Dallas underworld. Jack knew the Campisis and had been seen with them on many occasions. The Campisis were lieutenants of Carlos Marcello, the Mafia boss who had reportedly talked of killing the President.[88]


A day before Kennedy was assassinated, Ruby went to Joe Campisi's restaurant.[89] At the time of the Kennedy assassination, Ruby was close enough to the Campisis to ask them to come see him after he was arrested for shooting Lee Oswald.[86][90][91] Joe Campisi and his wife visited with Jack Ruby in jail for ten minutes on November 30, 1963.[89]

Howard P. Willens — the third highest official in the Department of Justice[92] and assistant counsel to J. Lee Rankin — helped organize the Warren Commission. Willens also outlined the Commission's investigative priorities[93] and terminated an investigation of Ruby's Cuban related activities.[94] An FBI report states that Willens's father had been Tony Accardo's next door neighbor going back to 1958.[95] In 1946, Tony Accardo allegedly asked Jack Ruby to go to Texas with Mafia associates Pat Manno and Romie Nappi to make sure that Dallas County Sheriff Steve Gutherie [GUTHRIE] would acquiesce to the Mafia’s expansion into Dallas.[96]


FBI 62-109090 Warren Commission HQ File, Section 1

From Mr. Scatterday to Mr. Rosen

Chicago Division that the name of J.R. Willens appeared on the mailing list of the Chicago Council of American-Soviet Friendship, an affiliate of the National Council of American-Soviet Friendship, which has been designated pursuant to Executive Order 10450. It was also developed during the 1961 investigation that Joseph Robert Willens had, since 1958, resided next door to Tony Accardo, prominent Chicago hoodlum.

Joseph Robert Willens was interviewed by Bureau Agents on May 19, 1961, and advised that he had visited Russia in 1956 with five other individuals from Chicago, who were interested in home building and construction. He also advised that he has visited Hungary, Bulgaria and Rumania on sight-seeing tours, as well as to see types of construction utilized in home building. He stated that he is opposed to communism and the types of government existing behind the iron curtain. He denied any affiliation with the Chicago Council of American-Soviet Friendship, and stated most emphatically that he has never been a member or in any way associated with the Chicago Council of American-Soviet Friendship or any similar organization.

Joseph Robert Willens admitted that Tony Accardo's residence is immediately south of his home in River Forest, Illinois, and that they had been neighbors since 1958. He stated that he does not associate with Accardo, or any of his friends. He also advised that he and his family are law-abiding citizens and believe themselves to be good Americans, and he hopes that the proximity of his residence with that of Accardo would not cause anyone to believe that he approves of Accardo or any of his associates.

ACTION:

None - for information.


Four years before the assassination of President Kennedy, Ruby went to see a man named Lewis McWillie in Cuba. Ruby considered McWillie, who had previously run illegal gambling establishments in Texas, to be one of his closest friends.[97] At the time Ruby visited him, in August 1959, McWillie was supervising gambling activities at Havana's Tropicana Club. Ruby told the Warren Commission that his August trip to Cuba was merely a social visit at the invitation of McWillie.[97] The House Select Committee on Assassinations would later conclude that Ruby "… most likely was serving as a courier for gambling interests."[98][99][100] The committee also found "circumstantial," but not conclusive, evidence that "… Ruby met with [Mafia boss] Santo Trafficante in Cuba sometime in 1959."[101][102]

James E. Beaird, who claimed to be a poker-playing friend of Jack Ruby, told both The Dallas Morning News and the FBI that Ruby smuggled guns and ammunition from Galveston Bay, Texas to Fidel Castro's guerrillas in Cuba in the late 1950s. Beaird said that Ruby "was in it for the money. It wouldn't matter which side, just [whichever] one that would pay him the most." Beaird said that the guns were stored in a two-story house near the waterfront, and that he saw Ruby and his associates load "many boxes of new guns, including automatic rifles and handguns" on a 50-foot military-surplus boat. He claimed that "each time that the boat left with guns and ammunition, Jack Ruby was on the boat."[103][104][105]

Blaney Mack Johnson, an FBI informant, said Ruby was "active in arranging illegal flights of weapons from Miami" to pro-Castro forces in Cuba in the early 1950s.[105][106]


In popular culture

Ruby's shooting of Oswald, and his behavior both before and after the Kennedy assassination, have been the topic of numerous films, TV programs, books, and songs. Articles of clothing that Ruby wore when he killed Oswald — including his suit, hat and shoes — are on display at the Historic Auto Attractions museum in Roscoe, Illinois.

Film

• Tom Skerritt's Fighting Back has footage of his shooting of Oswald in its opening credits news special on violence.
• In Oliver Stone's 1991 film JFK, Ruby was portrayed by actor Brian Doyle-Murray. Stone's perspective on events draws heavily from conspiracy theory researchers such as Jim Marrs and L. Fletcher Prouty. At least three scenes further detailing Ruby were removed from the film and are only available on DVD. One scene expanded on the Oswald shooting by showing corrupt Dallas police officers allowing Ruby to enter police headquarters through a restricted entrance.
• The 1992 film Ruby speculated on complex motivations that might have propelled Ruby into shooting Oswald. Among these were Ruby's reputation among family and friends as an assiduous, emotionally volatile publicity-seeker, and the influence of his long-time organized crime and Dallas police connections. Ruby was played by Danny Aiello.

Literature

• Ruby is one of the main characters of James Ellroy's novel, The Cold Six Thousand. The plot revolves around the aftermath of the assassination of President Kennedy, and the assassinations of Senator Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr. It speculates about government agencies like the CIA and the FBI, as well as figures like J. Edgar Hoover, and their links to Mafia and anti-Castro groups alleged to have been involved in the assassinations.
• In his 1989 novel Libra, Don DeLillo portrays Ruby as being part of a larger conspiracy surrounding the President's assassination, imagining that a mob member persuades Ruby to kill Oswald.
• In Norman Mailer's Oswald's Tale: An American Mystery, Mailer argues: 'He did the job for the Mob, but since he had been talking about it so much that he had come to believe it, he did it as well for Jack, Jackie, the children, and the Jewish people'.[107]

Music

• In his autobiography, Robbie Robertson recounts a bizarre week when the Hawks, backing singer Ronnie Hawkins, performed at the Skyline Lounge, a burnt-out club in Fort Worth, Texas. The owner, whom they knew as Jack, visited them at midnight and seemed to be constantly consuming "uppers".[108] A few months later, after the assassination of President Kennedy, "the realisation settled in for all of us Hawks: Jack, the owner of the Skyline Lounge who seemed to be tweaked on pep pills was none other than Jack Ruby."[109]

Television

• Ruby and Oswald (1978), a made-for-television movie, generally followed the official record as presented by the Warren Commission. Ruby was played by Michael Lerner.
• Ruby was also a character in one episode of the Starz TV series Magic City. He was portrayed by Holland Hayes in season two's third episode, "Adapt or Die". Ruby was sitting next to the main character, Ike Evans, on his way back from Cuba.[110]
• Ruby is portrayed by Casey Siemaszko in the 2013 television drama Killing Kennedy.
• In the Hulu series 11.22.63, Jack Ruby is shown as a nightclub owner in 1960 Dallas played by Antoni Corone.

References

1. The Warren Commission found that various dates were given in the records for Ruby's birth; the one most used by Ruby himself was March 25, 1911 (The Warren Report: Report of the President's Commission on the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy, 1964). His tombstone at Westlawn Cemetery, Chicago has April 25, 1911 as his birthdate
2. Waldron, Martin (December 10, 1966). "Ruby Seriously Ill In Dallas Hospital". New York Times. p. 1.
3. New York Times Retrieved September 19, 2015
4. http://www.history.co.uk Retrieved September 19, 2015
5. Pomfret, John D. (September 28, 1964). "Commission Says Ruby Acted Alone in Slaying". The New York Times. p. 17.
6. Bagdikian, Ben H. (December 14, 1963). Blair Jr., Clay, ed. "The Assassin". The Saturday Evening Post (44): 26.
7. Summers, Anthony. Not in Your Lifetime, (New York: Marlowe & Company, 1998), p. 332. ISBN 1-56924-739-0
8. "Appendix 16: A Biography of Jack Ruby". Report of the President's Commission on the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office. 1964. p. 786.
9. Bugliosi, Vincent (2007). Reclaiming History: The Assassination of President John F. Kennedy. New York: W.W. Norton & Co. ISBN 9780393045253.
10. Ruby's Friendships with Police Officers, House Select Committee on Assassinations – Appendix to Hearings, Volume 9, 5, pp. 127–130.
11. "showDoc.html". http://www.maryferrell.org.
12. Summers, Anthony (1998). Not in Your Lifetime. New York: Marlowe & Company. pp. 336–39. ISBN 1-56924-739-0.
13. David R. Wrone. "Ruby, Jack L. (1911 – 3 Jan. 1967), assassin". American Council of Learned Societies. Retrieved February 3, 2010.
14. "The Secret Life of Jack Ruby" (PDF). New Times. 23 January 1978.
15. http://www.history-matters.com/archive/ ... E_1761.pdf
16. http://www.history-matters.com/archive/ ... E_1251.pdf
17. "TESTIMONY OF KENNETH LAWRY DOWE". mcadams.posc.mu.edu.
18. Report of the President's Commission on the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy, Chapter 6 1964, p. 333.
19. Report of the President's Commission on the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy, Chapter 6 1964, pp. 334–335.
20. Report of the President's Commission on the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy, Chapter 6 1964, p. 334.
21. Testimony of Seth Kantor, Warren Commission Hearings, vol. 15, pp. 78–82.
22. Kantor, Seth. Who Was Jack Ruby?, (New York: Everest House Publishers, 1978), p. 41. ISBN 0-89696-004-8
23. Testimony of Seth Kantor, Warren Commission Hearings, vol. 15, p. 72.
24. Kantor, Seth. Who Was Jack Ruby?, (New York: Everest House Publishers, 1978), p. vi. ISBN 0-89696-004-8
25. Kantor Exhibit No. 7 – Kantor Exhibit No. 8, Warren Commission Hearings, vol. 20, pp. 428–437.
26. Testimony of Seth Kantor, Warren Commission Hearings, vol. 15, p. 80.
27. Report of the President's Commission on the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy, Chapter 6 1964, pp. 335–337.
28. HSCA Final Assassinations Report, House Select Committee on Assassinations, p. 158.
29. Summers, Anthony. Not in Your Lifetime, (New York: Marlowe & Company, 1998), pp. 458–459. ISBN 1-56924-739-0
30. Report of the President's Commission on the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy, Chapter 6 1964, pp. 336–337.
31. Summers, Anthony. Not in Your Lifetime, (New York: Marlowe & Company, 1998), p. 349. ISBN 1-56924-739-0
32. Testimony of Henry Wade, Warren Commission Hearings, vol. 5, p. 223.
33. Warren Commission Hearings, vol V, p. 189 aarclibrary.org
34. Summers, Anthony. Not in Your Lifetime, (New York: Marlowe & Company, 1998), pp. 349–350. ISBN 1-56924-739-0
35. FBI Notes of Conference btwn. Ruby and FBI Hall & Clements in Dallas Jail, December 21, 1963, Warren Commission Document 1252, p. 9.
36. House Select Committee on Assassinations – Hearings, volume 5, p. 179.
37. Summers, Anthony. Not in Your Lifetime, (New York: Marlowe & Company, 1998), p. 350. ISBN 1-56924-739-0
38. "Chapter 5: Detention and Death of Oswald". Report of the President's Commission on the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office. 1964. pp. 219–222.
39. "I.C.". Report of the Select Committee on Assassinations of the U.S. House of Representatives. Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office. 1979. pp. 156–157.
40. Kantor, Seth. Who Was Jack Ruby?, (New York: Everest House Publishers, 1978), p. 44. ISBN 0-89696-004-8
41. Possible Associations Between Jack Ruby and Organized Crime, House Select Committee on Assassinations – Appendix to Hearings, Volume 9, 5, p. 183.
42. Summers, Anthony. Not in Your Lifetime, (New York: Marlowe & Company, 1998), pp. 359–361, 226. ISBN 1-56924-739-0
43. Douglass, James. JFK and the Unspeakable, (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2008), pp. 357–358. ISBN 978-1-4391-9388-4
44. Rubenstein v. State, 407 S.W.2d 793, 795 (Tex. Crim. App. 1966).
45. Testimony of Jack Ruby, Warren Commission Hearings, vol. 5, pp. 194–196.
46. Testimony of Jack Ruby, Warren Commission Hearings, vol. 5, p. 194.
47. Testimony of Jack Ruby, Warren Commission Hearings, vol. 5, pp. 209–212.
48. "Ruby Buried in Chicago Cemetery A longside Graves of His Parents". The New York Times. November 7, 1967. p. 15.
49. "Ruby Called 'Avenger' at Rites in Chicago". The Los Angeles Times. Associated Press. January 7, 1967. p. 4.
50. "Ruby Services Limited to Family, Few Friends". The Los Angeles Times. Associated Press. January 5, 1967. p. 20.
51. "Chapter 6: Investigation of Possible Conspiracy". Report of the President's Commission on the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office. 1964. pp. 373–374.
52. Report of the President's Commission on the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy, Appendix 16 1964, p. 779.
53. Report of the President's Commission on the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy, Appendix 16 1964, p. 801.
54. Munns, Roger (December 15, 1991). "Warren panel's counsel: Stone's 'JFK' film a 'big lie'". The Bulletin. Bend, Oregon. AP. p. A12. Retrieved December 21,2014.
55. Posner 1993.
56. Posner, Gerald (1993). Case Closed. Warner Books.
57. Posner 1993, pp. 361, 399.
58. Bugliosi, Vincent, Reclaiming History: The Assassination of John F. Kennedy p. 1130.
59. Mailer, Norman (1995). Oswald's Tale: An American Mystery. Random House.
60. Testimony of Jack Ruby, Warren Commission Hearings, vol. 5, pp. 198–200.
61. Testimony of Jack Ruby. 5. Washington: Government Printing Office. 1964. pp. 198–99.
62. Associated Press (December 20, 1966). "Ruby Asks World to Take His Word". New York Times. p. 36.
63. "A Last Wish". Time. December 30, 1966.
64. HSCA Final Assassinations Report, House Select Committee on Assassinations, pp. 157–158.
65. "A Note from Jack Ruby", Newsweek, March 27, 1967.
66. Summers, Anthony. Not in Your Lifetime, (New York: Marlowe & Company, 1998), p. 353. ISBN 1-56924-739-0
67. Goldfarb, Ronald (1995). Perfect Villains, Imperfect Heroes: Robert F. Kennedy's War Against Organized Crime. Virginia: Capital Books. p. 281. ISBN 1-931868-06-9.
68. Testimony of Russell Lee Moore (Knight), Warren Commission Hearings, vol. 15, pp. 257.
69. "Book on Kennedy assassination offers interesting facts". CBSNews.com. CBS News. Retrieved August 5, 2017. When he first observed Oswald at Dallas police headquarters the day after JFK’s assassination, hanger-on Ruby thought Oswald a handsome individual who resembled the actor Paul Newman.
70. Testimony of Jack Ruby, Warren Commission Hearings, vol. 14, pp. 564–565.
71. RobertsonV Ex 2 - Copy of an FBI report of an interview with Victor F. Robertson, dated June 9, 1964., Warren Commission Hearings, vol. 21, pp. 312.
72. David Scheim (1988). Contract on America. Shapolsky Publishers. ISBN 0-933503-30-X.
73. CE 1753 - Secret Service report dated December 4, 1963, of interview of Harry Hall at Terminal Island Federal., Warren Commission Hearings, vol. 23, pp. 363.
74. Haaretz, David B. Green, January 3, 2013.
75. Marrs, Jim (1989). Crossfire: The Plot that Killed Kennedy. New York: Carroll & Graf. pp. 431–432. ISBN 0-88184-648-1.
76. The Sunday Times, August 25, 1974.
77. Summers, Anthony. Not in Your Lifetime, (New York: Marlowe & Company, 1998), p. 341. ISBN 1-56924-739-0
78. Kantor, Seth. Who Was Jack Ruby?, (New York: Everest House Publishers, 1978), p. 192. ISBN 0-89696-004-8
79. Kantor, Seth. Who Was Jack Ruby?, (New York: Everest House Publishers, 1978), p. 18. ISBN 0-89696-004-8
80. Scheim, David E. (1988). Contract on America: The Mafia Murder of President John F. Kennedy. Shapolsky Publishers. p. 269. ISBN 0-933503-30-X. Telephone records showed the striking, 25-fold increase in his out-of-state calls, peaking in early November and then plummeting during his final weeks of activity in Dallas.
81. Bugliosi, Reclaiming History, page 1103
82. Labor Difficulties with the American Guild of Variety Artists, Early 1960's, House Select Committee on Assassinations—Appendix to Hearings, vol. 9, 5E, p. 201.
83. Bonanno, Bill (1999). Bound by Honor: A Mafioso's Story. New York: St Martin's Press. ISBN 0-312-20388-8.
84. Report of the Select Committee on Assassinations of the U.S. House of Representatives, Chapter I, Section C 1979, p. 148.
85. HSCA Appendix to Hearings, vol. 9, p. 336, par. 917, Joseph Campisi. Ancestry.com, Social Security Death Index [database on-line], Provo, Utah, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 2007. Ancestry.com, Texas Death Index, 1903–2000 [database on-line], Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 2006.
86. Summers, Anthony. Not in Your Lifetime, (New York: Marlowe & Company, 1998), p. 346. ISBN 1-56924-739-0
87. HSCA Appendix to Hearings, vol. 9, p. 336, par. 916, Joseph Campisi.
88. Frontline: Who Was Lee Harvey Oswald?, 1993.
89. HSCA Appendix to Hearings, vol. 9, p. 344, par. 919, Joseph Campisi.
90. HSCA Appendix to Hearings, vol. 9, p. 344, Joseph Campisi.
91. Fulsom, Don. Nixon's Darkest Secrets, (New York: St. Martin's Press, 2012), p. 42. ISBN 978-0-312-66296-7
92. Assassination Archives and Research Center (1993). "Oswald 201 File, Vol 32". Maryferrell.org. Mary Ferrell Foundation. Retrieved April 17, 2012.
93. John C. McAdams. "Testimony Of Howard P. Willens". Mcadams.posc.mu.edu. The John F. Kennedy Assassination Information Center. Retrieved April 17, 2012.
94. Kantor, Seth. The Ruby Cover-Up, (New York: Zebra Books, 1980), p. 247. ISBN 0821739204
95. Assassination Archives and Research Center (1993). "FBI Warren Commission Liaison File (62-109090)". Maryferrell.org. Mary Ferrell Foundation. Retrieved April 17, 2012.
96. "The Lost Boys". AmericanMafia.com. April 1, 2002. Retrieved June 18, 2012.
97. Testimony of Jack Ruby, Warren Commission Hearings, vol. 5, p. 201.
98. HSCA Final Assassinations Report, House Select Committee on Assassinations, p. 152.
99. Possible Associations Between Jack Ruby and Organized Crime, House Select Committee on Assassinations – Appendix to Hearings, Volume 9, 5, p. 177.
100. Summers, Anthony. Not in Your Lifetime, (New York: Marlowe & Company, 1998), p. 337. ISBN 1-56924-739-0
101. HSCA Final Assassinations Report, House Select Committee on Assassinations, pp. 152–153.
102. Summers, Anthony. Not in Your Lifetime, (New York: Marlowe & Company, 1998), p. 338. ISBN 1-56924-739-0
103. Earl Golz, "Jack Ruby's Gunrunning to Castro Claimed", The Dallas Morning News, August 18, 1978.
104. FBI document 602-982-243, June 10, 1976.
105. Summers, Anthony. Not in Your Lifetime, (New York: Marlowe & Company, 1998), p. 335. ISBN 1-56924-739-0
106. Commission Exhibit No. 3063, Warren Commission Hearings, vol. 26, pp. 634–638.
107. Published by Abacus 1995: pp 756
108. Testimony, Robbie Robertson, Penguin Random House, 2016, pp. 116–117,
109. Testimony, Robbie Robertson, Penguin Random House, 2016, p. 118
110. Harris, Will. "Magic City: “Adapt Or Die”".
This article incorporates public domain material from the National Archives and Records Administration document "Warren Commission Report, Appendix 16: A Biography of Jack Ruby".
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Re: Jack Ruby, by Wikipedia

Postby admin » Sat Nov 04, 2017 2:57 am

Dallas police were WARNED Lee Harvey Oswald would be murdered by a 'committee' - but still sent him to his death, infuriating FBI head J Edgar Hoover, newly released JFK documents reveal
by James Wilkinson
Daily Mail
PUBLISHED: 02:11 EDT, 28 October 2017 | UPDATED: 09:00 EDT, 28 October 2017

Before Oswald was shot, a 'calm' voice told the FBI a 'committee' was to kill him

The FBI then demanded twice that Dallas PD protect Oswald, the memos say

But that didn't happen - to the annoyance of Hoover who said it was 'inexcusable'

Hoover's remarks were unsealed along with almost 3,000 other JFK documents

He also worried about conspiracy theories, and hoped to quell public distrust

The Soviet Union thought LBJ or the right wing had killed Kennedy

And the Cuban ambassador was gleeful at the president's slaying


The murder of Lee Harvey Oswald could have been prevented after the FBI were warned of his impending death - but Dallas police failed to protect him, it has emerged.

Nearly 3,000 documents related to JFK's shooting have been declassified by The White House, among them remarks made by then-FBI boss J Edgar Hoover the day Oswald died.

According to Hoover, the FBI were contacted by a man who said a 'committee' was plotting to kill Oswald, who had been arrested for killing the president; the feds then told police in Dallas to protect the presidential assassin.

Instead, Oswald was walked out in front of a crowd, cameras - and local nightclub owner Jack Ruby, who marched out and shot him dead.


Image
Newly released memos from J Edgar Hoover reveal that the FBI had been warned by a man with a 'calm' voice that a 'committee' was planning to kill Lee Harvey Oswald (pictured being shot)

Image
Hoover said the feds told Dallas PD twice to protect Oswald, but the man was still gunned down by small-time crook Jack Ruby (pictured); Hoover said that was 'inexcusable'

Speaking on November 24, 1963, the morning Oswald was killed, Hoover said: 'There is nothing further on the Oswald case except that he is dead.

'Last night we received a call in our Dallas office from a man talking in a calm voice and saying he was a member of a committee organized to kill Oswald.

'We at once notified the chief of police and he assured us Oswald would be given sufficient protection.

'This morning we called the chief of police again warning of the possibility of some effort against Oswald and again he assured us adequate protection would be given.


Image
Hoover (pictured) also worried about the public believing in a conspiracy theory. The documents are some of almost 3,000 released by the White House this week

'However, this was not done.'

Oswald was being transferred to Dallas County Jail when Ruby, who claimed to have mob connections, fired the fatal shot.

GUTHRIE further informed he has heard and believes it is fairly well known around Dallas that either Mayor CABELL or City Manager CRULL ordered Chief of Police CURRY to "put on the show for TV" of transporting OSWALD from the City Jail to the County Jail.

-- Commission Exhibit No. 1251, Date: Dec. 7, 1963


Hoover - who headed the FBI and its predecessor, the Bureau of Investigation, for a total of 48 years - said that getting Oswald killed before he could be interviewed was 'inexcusable.'

'It will allow, I am afraid, a lot of civil rights people to raise a lot of hell because he was handcuffed and had no weapon,' he said.

'There are bound to be some elements of our society who will holler their heads off that his civil rights were violated - which they were.'

Hoover also expressed concerns about conspiracy theories forming around Kennedy's murder, just days after the death.

'The thing I am concerned about, and so is [deputy attorney general Nicholas] Katzenbach, is having something issued so that we can convince the public that Oswald is the real assassin,' he wrote.

He suggested that 'instead of a Presidential Commission, we can do it with a Justice Department report based on an FBI report'.

Hoover's suggestion was ignored and instead, President Lyndon Johnson set up the Warren Commission to investigate the assassination the following week.


The notes also reveal that the Soviet Union also suspected a conspiracy organized by the right-wing, or possibly Lyndon Barnes Johnson, Kennedy's successor.

Image
All of the documents are related to the killing of JFK (pictured) in 1963. They also say that the Soviets believed Kennedy was killed either by Lyndon Baines Johnson or right wingers

They certainly didn't believe that Oswald - a 'neurotic maniac who was disloyal to his own country and everything else' - was the killer, the notes claimed.

'Our source further stated that Soviet officials were fearful that without leadership, some irresponsible general in the United States might launch a missile at the Soviet Union,' a note says.

The documents also say that the Cuban ambassador to the US met the news of Kennedy's murder with a 'happy delight'.

It's not clear how Ruby might have got into the basement that Oswald was being transported through when he was shot.

But another memo released by the White House said that according to an FBI informant, Ruby had a 'good in' with the Dallas PD.

HSCA Appendix to Hearings – Volume IX Page 135 of 1178

A. THE SHOOTING OF LEE HARVEY OSWALD: RELATIONSHIP WITH THE DALLAS POLICE DEPARTMENT*

(498) Following the shooting of Lee Harvey Oswald, Jack Ruby’s relationship with the Dallas Police Department was scrutinized. Rumors had naturally arisen concerning this relationship. They included the allegations that Ruby provided off-duty employment for officers at his nightclubs, (1) that he enabled policemen to obtain bank loans by acting as a cosigner, (2) that he provided officers with female companionship, (3) and that he had visited Hot Springs, Ark., with the chief of police. (4) Although documentation for these allegations has not been produced, it is known that Jack Ruby did maintain a close relationship with the police force, “one of the greatest police forces in the world,” according to Ruby, (5) even if its nature cannot be determined with precision.

RUBY’S FRIENDSHIPS WITH POLICE OFFICERS

(449) Ruby took great pride in and thoroughly enjoyed his friendships with Dallas police officers. He has been described as an individual who loved police officers, (6) was a “police buff,” (7) had great respect for authority (8) and was “keenly interested in policemen and their work.” (9) The relationship was both collectively and individually oriented. “I have always been very close to the police department,” Ruby stated in 1964, “I don’t know why.” (1)) As part of this closeness, Ruby offered his friends what he could: a free table, a few beers, a listening ear.

(500) Ruby told the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) that he had never given money or other things of value to officers except when he gave out bottles of whiskey as Christmas gifts. (11) This practice may have occurred at other times, since it has been reported that policemen were seen going into Ruby’s private office in the Carousel (one of Ruby’s nightclubs) and leaving with bottles of

_______________

* Prepared by Donald A. Purdy, Jr., senior staff counsel and Howard Shapiro, research attorney.


Ruby himself died of cancer in his prison cell four years later.
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