Jack Ruby
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| “ | 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. | „ |
| ~ Jack Ruby |
Jack Leon Ruby (March 25th, 1911 - January 3rd, 1967) was a Texan nightclub owner with ties to organized crime and the American Mafia. On November 24th, 1963, he shot and mortally wounded Lee Harvey Oswald in a public location two days after Oswald was arrested and charged with the assassination of John F. Kennedy. Ruby was swiftly convicted and initially sentenced to death, but he managed to get this verdict overturned due to his understandable motive, that of vigilante justice, and his re–trial for a lesser sentence was put on low–priority queue. But before he could have a re-trial, he died of lung cancer in Parkland Hospital on January 3rd, 1967.
It has been proposed by many conspiracy theorists that Jack Ruby's murder of Oswald was part of a conspiracy surrounding Kennedy`s assassination and was done in order to stop him from revealing who the other and/or true assassin(s) were (Jack Ruby himself claimed the assassination was a conspiracy!). Even assuming his motives for killing Oswald were based in simple vigilantism, there is still a strong possibility that Ruby's reckless actions had the same effect of causing information that would have revealed involvement of others in JFK's death to become unknown.
Biography edit
Jack Ruby was born Jack Rubenstein on March 25, 1911, in Chicago, Illinois. He quit school after sixth grade and lived a life on the streets during adolescence. He was known for his explosive temper and willingness to fight. In the early 1930s he lived in California but soon moved back to Chicago. He tried short-lived careers as a salesman, union organizer, and boxer. In 1943 he was drafted into the Army Air Force and served until 1946.
In 1947 Ruby moved to Dallas to help his sister manage a nightclub she owned. He served as manager and unofficial bouncer of the club and soon became acquainted with members of the Dallas police force. He later moved to the Carousel Club and, anxious to be accepted, befriended many police officers by giving them free drinks and hospitality. The police regarded Ruby as a harmless figure who enjoyed the aura of law enforcement. Those in the criminal world considered Ruby an informer, who told the police everything he knew about criminal activity.
On November 22, 1963, President Kennedy was shot and killed in Dallas. Ruby was distraught at the news of the assassination and headed for the Dallas police headquarters. A well-known face at the police station, he was allowed into headquarters on November 23 during a press conference for Oswald. On Sunday, November 24, Oswald was scheduled to be transferred to the county jail around 10:00 a.m., but a series of events delayed this plan until 11:00 a.m. Shortly after 11 a.m., Ruby had parked his car one block away from the police station. The guard at the basement entrance had momentarily left his post to stop traffic so that the police convoy with Oswald could leave the building. After wiring his money to one of his strippers at the Western Union office, Ruby walked into the garage, which was filled with police officers, reporters, and camera crews. As Oswald appeared, flanked by police detectives, Ruby approached him with a .38-caliber gun and fatally shot him. As Oswald was being transferred to Parkland Hospital (same hospital where Kennedy died) and later died at 1:07 pm, Ruby was immediately arrested for murdering Oswald.
As Ruby prepared for his murder trial, his attorney, Tom Howard, prepared a defense based on the theory that the killing was a crime of passion committed without malice or premeditation by an unstable man. If this defense had been successful, Ruby would have received a maximum of five years in prison under Texas law. Before trial, however, Ruby's family discharged Howard and retained Melvin M. Belli, a well-known and controversial San Francisco attorney. Belli elected to present a defense of total insanity in the hope Ruby would be acquitted. Belli asserted that Ruby had experienced an epileptic seizure and had shot Oswald while under the influence of this impairment.
The case against Ruby was substantial. After the shooting, Ruby had given statements to the police, one of which suggested premeditation. Medical authorities did not support Belli's medical diagnosis of Ruby. On March 16, 1964, a jury convicted Ruby of premeditated murder and was sentenced to death.
Ruby's conviction was reversed by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals in October 1966. But before he could have his retrial, he died in Parkland Hospital of a blood clot, complicated by cancer, on January 3, 1967.
Villainy edit
- Narcotics: "In some fashion James got the okay to operate through. Jack Ruby of Dallas ."
- Prostitution: RUBY has operated some prostitution activities and other vices in his club since RUBY has been in Dallas. Ruby was known around the station for procuring women for different people who came to town
- Truancy: When he was a kid, he was arrested for truancy at age 11.
- Murder: He killed Lee Harvey Oswald during a jail transfer at the Dallas Police Department on November 24, 1964.
Trivia edit
- Timothy McVeigh, after being connected to the Oklahoma City bombing, told police he did not want what happened to Oswald to happen to him.
- He was born the same year that Ronald Reagan was born.
Gallery edit
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Jack Ruby about to shoot Lee Harvey Oswald.
