Who was Jack Ruby?

[Ron Bulman]

On 3/15/2020 at 3:24 PM, James DiEugenio said:

If you combine the fireworks remarks with the Nicky Nichols card of 11/21/63 and then the weird status of the Zoppi alibi, it shows how little has been done on Ruby.

I mean the Kantor book should have just been only a Cliff Notes version, the way Melanson always characterized his Spy Saga book.

But to my knowledge, there have been no further full volumes devoted to Ruby since.  

I can see why, since its not an easy job.

I've thought before about just trying to gather all the information available on Ruby in one place to analyze and compare.  That to me would be a monumental task itself.  I admit technical ignorance regarding such.

[Steve Thomas]

6 hours ago, Ron Bulman said:

I've thought before about just trying to gather all the information available on Ruby in one place to analyze and compare.  That to me would be a monumental task itself.  I admit technical ignorance regarding such.

Ron,

I'm not sure why, but this deal with smuggling heroin in from Mexico in iron pipes fascinates me. I'm pretty sure that Ruby was involved with a smuggling ring running cars stolen in Chicago, and run down to Mexico. I wonder if they got paid in heroin. Do you know if the  "pipes" investigation went any further? Ruby's brother Hyman, and his sister, Eva sound like a real pair.

Thousands of feet of very specialized pipe that gas companies might be interested in...  very interesting.

Here are some notes I have clipped. Have you ever read footnote 1508: a Secret Service interview with Jack Ruby done on December 6, 1963? It's cited as HSCA JFK Document#  004232 ?

HSCA vol. 9 pp. 522-523

https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=955#relPageId=531&tab=page

HSCA vol. 9, page 1154

https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=955#relPageId=1162&tab=page

HSCA vol. 9, page 522

https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=955#relPageId=530&tab=page

WC testimony of Eva Grant

http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/russ/testimony/grant_e1.htm

 

“Mrs. GRANT. I don't think he ever saw him as far as I know, but I want to tell you that Roland Jones went to Chicago during the period of those 6 months and he did meet my brother Hyman. I don't know what conversation my brother had--my brother thought he was a nice guy--we didn't know anything about his background.
Mr. HUBERT. Do you know what happened to him?
Mrs. GRANT. Oh, yes; he went to jail for something about narcotics from Turkey or something like that.”

WC testimony of Eva Grant

http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/russ/testimony/grant_e1.htm

 

Mrs. GRANT. We were buying metals, at least we were trying to buy metals and materials to sell to--in fact, gas companies--one is--I have the files, believe me, and I think it's at Jonesboro--is it in Arkansas or Oklahoma? Well, we got the specifications and Paul Roland Jones brought me a piece of metal, maybe 6 inches long--it's a certain type of pipe, rather, he brought me, and this man didn't want it, so I sent it on to Chicago to my brother.
Mr. HUBERT. Which brother?
Mrs. GRANT. It seems to me I sent it to my older brother, Hyman, and he says he knew somebody that might be able to use the amount of footage we had at this place, and we were going to make what you call a finder's fee or broker's fee, but little did we know of Paul Roland Jones' connection, because I'm going to tell you. This man told me several things-- "I'm not fit to be in the night club business, I'm not the caliber of a person."
Mr. HUBERT. Who was that--Jones told you that?
Mrs. GRANT. Yes; and he seemed to be a very nice fellow and he used my phone for a long distance call to Ardmore, Okla., and I know he paid me $2 or $3 in change when he did it, and I didn't know a thing about this.
Mr. HUBERT. About what, ma'am?
Mrs. GRANT. Well, wait a minute, I pick up the headlines and they got Paul Roland Jones in jail somewhere in Fort Worth. I no sooner picked this up--this paper, the paper of this city, my brother is calling me from Chicago that the FBI or some organization, one of your organizations went to the Congress Hotel where Jack was staying and they are questioning him about whether--about what he knew about Paul Roland Jones. I don't think Jack ever heard me mention the name.

449

 

Mr. HUBERT. How long had you known Paul Roland Jones when this occurred?
Mrs. GRANT. Not too many months--if it was 6 months or 8 months--it was the longest.
Mr. HUBERT. Had you done any business with him?
Mr.s GRANT. No--never.
Mr. HUBERT. It was simply through meeting at the club?
Mrs. GRANT. Well this doctor brought him in one afternoon. He knew him because he went to him for treatment.
Mr. HUBERT. Well, that's the first meeting, but thereafter, what was the basis of the meeting?
Mrs. GRANT. Nothing. I mean, he came in, and I went to dinner with him and the doctor once, and we went for a ride, but I'll tell you, the doctor and I didn't know anything about his background.
Mr. HUBERT. He was ultimately charged, was he not, with the possession of narcotics?
Mrs. GRANT. Oh, yes; in fact, we read the story that night. We were shocked. We knew he took trips, we knew he was married to a dancer in New York, but this all came out--wait a minute, his wife came from New York that summer.
Mr. HUBERT. Now, we'll get into that later. Did Jack know Paul Roland Jones at that time?
Mrs. GRANT. If he did--no; I doubt if he ever even heard of him.
Mr. HUBERT. Jack had not come down here yet?
Mrs. GRANT. If he was, he didn't stay long.
Mr. HUBERT. But to your recollection he didn't know Jones at all?
Mrs. GRANT. I don't think he has ever seen him--well, wait a minute, he may have seen the man or heard about him.
Mr. HUBERT. I understand that, but at the time of this episode that you are telling us about?
Mrs. GRANT. I don't think he ever saw him as far as I know, but I want to tell you that Roland Jones went to Chicago during the period of those 6 months and he did meet my brother Hyman. I don't know what conversation my brother had--my brother thought he was a nice guy--we didn't know anything about his background.
Mr. HUBERT. Do you know what happened to him?
Mrs. GRANT. Oh, yes; he went to jail for something about narcotics from Turkey or something like that.
Mr. HUBERT. Did he have any other charges later against him? Do you know?
Mrs. GRANT. Do you want to know something--I went into a hotel here, and let me think, either the Whitmore or the Southland since he has been out, or when he got out, and this friend of mine said, "Guess who got out of jail?" He said "Paul Roland Jones," and I said, "That's nice."
Mr. HUBERT. How long ago was that?
Mrs. GRANT. This must be 7 years or 8 years--it seems like a long time ago.
Mr. HUBERT. Have you seen him since?
Mrs. GRANT. Yes; he was here 2 years ago, I think. He came through and he stopped by the Vegas Club one night. Oh, he says, he got in a cab and he was coming through--he probably was here other times but he didn't want anybody to know--he said he was coming through changing planes and he says he's sure going to be picked up and he says to say hello to Jack.
Mr. HUBERT. When was that?
Mrs. GRANT. Maybe a year and a half or 2 years ago.
Mr. HUBERT. Did you see him in November 1963?
Mrs. GRANT. Oh, no.
Mr. HUBERT. Did you talk to him on the phone?
Mrs. GRANT. No.
Mr. HUBERT. Did you know he was in Dallas?
Mr.s GRANT. No.
Mr. HUBERT. Is there anything you know that would indicate that your brother, Jack, knew he was in Dallas?
Mrs. GRANT. I don't know.
Mr. HUBERT. In November 1963?
Mrs. GRANT. I don't know. I'll tell you how I figure this out, if I can go

450

see my contract--you see, my band leader was making a record, you know, a record of music.
Mr. HUBERT. But so far as your recollection is concerned, it would be over a year from today?
Mrs. GRANT. Easy--easy.
Mr. HUBERT. And by "contact with him," of course, I mean--you know--telephone, letters, messages?
Mrs. GRANT. No; he came in--he told me that he knows people at Mercury Records and that if I send in the song he was going to make it, and truthfully, I was glad when he came in, when he left, for more reasons than one. We don't discuss his background or anything.
Mr. HUBERT. Now, that's over a year ago certainly.
Mrs. GRANT. It has been so long--I say a year and a half--the airlines would know quicker than I know because he said he just flew in and he was just there for the evening and going back out, at least that's what he told me. I don't discuss his background or anything like that--at least, that's what he told me.

 

Steve Thomas

 

 

[Andrej Stancak]

On 3/16/2020 at 4:21 AM, Chuck Schwartz said:

Another aspect of Ruby was his going to the radio station owned by McLendon(?), who was  friends with DAP, right after the assassination- could that be where Ruby took direction from (re: killing LHO)?

There are interesting associations along the lines Earle Cabell - McLendon - Connally - DPD - and ... Ruby. Earle Cabell was the executive committee member of the Texas Law Enforcement Foundations in which John Connally served as the President for a period of time. The Texas Law Enforcement Foundation organised seminars with prominent judges and police officer to design new strategies for tackling crime in Texas. In a way, it was a parallel of the Citizen Council within the law enforcement - a group of wealthy and influential persons saying to judges and Police what what they should do. 

Gordon McLendon was part of the Foundation and had  therefore good links with the law enforcement in Texas as the two documents obtained from DeGolyer Library, SMU, show.

   

 

 

 

Now, Earle Cabell appeared to be associated with the infamous ZuRoMa club in Dallas which was discovered by the author Mark North in his book: “Betrayal in Dallas” (2013). Earle Cabell together with the District Attorney Henry Wade and Sheriff Bill Decker visited the (Anonymous) ZuRoMa Club in Dallas. Cabell was allegedly a frequent guest to the ZuRoMa Club, as was the U.S. attorney to Dallas, Barefoot Sanders. ZuRoMa Club was organised by the chief Italian-American Mafia figures in Dallas Joe Civello and Joe and Sam Campisi. Their associates in Dallas were mobsters John Eli Stone, Phil Bosco, Joe and Frank Ianni, Sam Savalli, and brothers Isadore and Dave Miller. These people ran gambling and narcotics operations in Dallas in close collaboration with New Orleans Mafia led by Carlos Marcello. Narcotics were supplied to Dallas from Mexico by Paul Mondoloni’s family. Importantly, Sam Campisi and Dave Miller were close confidantes of Jack Ruby. Dave Miller colluded with Ruby in bookmaking operations; Ruby directed the guests of his Carousel club to Dave Miller if they wished to place their bets. The bets were conveyed by the higher-order Mafiosi Phil Bosco and John Eli Stone. In spite of available data on Dallas Mafia and their associations with high ranking law enforcement officers and political figures in Dallas, Warren Commission chose to ignore the obvious links between Jack Ruby and the Dallas criminal underground. Given Earle Cabell’s associations with Dallas ZuRoMa club, it is not surprising that Earle Cabell had admitted his awareness of Jack Ruby prior to the assassination of President Kennedy in his testimony for the Warren Commission.  ZuRoMa Club was never raided by the Vice section of the Dallas Police Department. The Dallas Police Department had at least one representative in ZuRoMa Club, Officer Charles J. Sansone from the Auto Theft unit. 

 

I study the profile of Earle Cabell for some time as I believe he was the liaison between the big arm of the assassination (CIA, Johnson) and the local right-wing elements represented in Dallas police (e.g., Lt. Revill or Assistant Chief Bachelor).

 

 

Edited March 19, 2020 by Andrej Stancak

[Steve Thomas]

2 hours ago, Andrej Stancak said:

There are interesting associations along the lines Earle Cabell - McLendon - Connally - DPD - and ... Ruby.

 

 

Andrej,

One name from this list that jumped out at me was E.B. Germany. I've seen his name before.

McLane, Curren R. (Colonel). A History of the Texas State Guard,

(TSGRC is the Texas State Guard Reserve Corps.) 1948 - 1965

The Reserve Corps consisted of three Brigades of four regiments each, for a total of twelve regiments.

 

Another one of those "Colonels".

Steve Thomas

[Andrej Stancak]

Steve, this is very interesting. These associations were the likely fungus of the assassination plot, the deep politics of Texas.

[Eddy Bainbridge]

On 2/24/2020 at 2:27 AM, Ron Bulman said:

 

So I went to what some may dismiss as a questionable source given it's assertion and conclusion, which I don't agree with, but think it is pretty well documented from checking some of its end notes/sources myself.  

"Between 9:00 and 9:30 a.m. on November 22, Dallas Police Officer T. M. Hansen, Jr. saw Jack Ruby outside the Dallas police building.184  Hansen told the FBI Ruby was standing with four or five others 'directly to the side of the stairway which leads to the basement" at the Harwood Street entrance.185  As Hansen passed Ruby, whom he knew casually, Hansen "shook his hand and said good morning".186  Filling in Ruby's alibi for later that morning was Tony Zoppi, the entertainment columnist who lamented reports of "quick buck artists" linking Ruby to the mob and assassination.187  At about 10:30 a.m.***  Friday morning, according to Zoppi  and Ruby (?), Ruby stopped in Zoppi's office in the Dallas Morning News building.  Zoppi said that Ruby had come to discuss "an ESP expert he wanted Zopoi to plug.  Ruby testified  that he picked up a brochure about a memory expert while in Zoppi's office that morning."

"however this story was fatally flawed.  For in a 1978 Congressional interview, Zoppi detailed his assassination morning conversation with Ruby; Zoppi noted that "Ruby appeared too calm to have been involved in a conspiracy".  Ruby's script of events, however, included no actual meeting with Zoppi.  Ruby told the FBI in 1963 that a few hours before the assassination, he " went to the office of Tony Zoppi , but Tony was not there".  Ruby subsequently testified that he "went down there Friday morning to Tony Zoppi's office, and they said he went to New Orleans for a couple of days." 194

"During his polygraph hearing of July 1964, Ruby himself noted this problem in his story:

Oh yes, they didn't ask me another question: "if I loved the President so much, why wasn't I at the parade?"200  Pgs. 296-297. 

David Scheim, Contract On America, Zebra Books, 1989. 

 

I've just finished reading Scheim's book. (Renamed 'The Mafia Killed President Kennedy') and Ruby is the central character. It is a very interesting collection of information. The most interesting piece for me is how Ruby's phone habits changed coming up to the assassination. His out-of-state phonecalls significantly increased to mafia contacts and then reduced closer to the assassination. Was he collecting money? Was he a messenger between bigger fish? He was surely not an organiser. The book puts a very interesting and plausible spin on his testimony , suggesting a man desperate to confess and supressed from doing so by Warren.

[James DiEugenio]

That episode about Zoppi is  interesting.

Is it really true?  

 

[Chuck Schwartz]

Andrej, thank you for that information on Earle Cabell. I believe we now know, also, that Earle was a CIA asset.  And, his brother, Charles Cabell , worked directly for Allen Dulles in the CIA. Both A. Dulles and C. Cabell were fired by JFK for the Bay of Pigs fiasco.

[Andrej Stancak]

Chuck:

you are very right on Earle Cabell's involvement with the CIA as their asset. I believe it was related to his engagement in anti-communist propaganda. Earle Cabell would deserve a special thread as his role in the assassination and cover-up is grossly underestimated. However, this is how he played his game - he was in the background but every decision he made served the plot and the cover-up. He was rewarded for his service in Dallas during and after the assassination by Johnson with a nomination for running for a Congress and he quit as Mayor of Dallas already in February 1964. One of his areas of activity was a congressional supervision of the NASA. NASA was the place where Charles Cabell went after he was kicked off from the CIA. Was not NASA the venue for several Reily company employees after the assassination? There are also reports (Alba, New Orleans) that Lee Oswald thought of finding a pot of gold in NASA. 

 

 

[James DiEugenio]

Cabell was on the phone with Curry when Oswald was shot.

[Ron Bulman]

5 hours ago, James DiEugenio said:

Cabell was on the phone with Curry when Oswald was shot.

Amazing isn't it.  The Chief of Police on the phone with a CIA asset when the transfer of the accuse assassin of the President happens.  Instead of personally supervising the biggest transfer in History.  Nothing to worry about here.  Planned cover?

[Joe Bauer]

Yeah, the Chief himself is right on top of the transfer security situation at the most crucial time?

Right.

If the personal security of the most important and threatened criminal suspect in the history of the United States isn't the highest priority of Curry's entire career the weekend of the 11,22 thru 11,24, 1963, what would be?

This transfer operation put Oswald into "the most vulnerable security situation" of his entire custody time in the DPD jail.

Nice time for the top responsibility DPD official to be chatting on the phone with Mayor Cabell.

So how does Curry prepare for and handle this most vulnerable security time transfer challenge?

He allows the Oswald transfer time and location to be publicly announced.

He orders it done in the busy late morning daytime instead of quietly at night.

Crowds lined the street just outside of the transfer location.

Curry allows dozens of frantic press people with glaring lights and flashbulbs into the narrow basement area and to get within feet of Oswald which allowed Jack Ruby a perfect up close hiding place right behind the hulking Police Officer friend of his ...William "Blackie" Harrison.

He allows the clearly too old, slow and lost looking Will Fritz to walk lead in escorting Oswald down to the basement and to the waiting transport vehicle and the blinding light press crowd where Fritz then kind of aimlessly wanders off to the side while supervising everything I guess.

He has Oswald wide open with just two bodyguards at his side at the most crucial press crowd closeness time versus surrounding him with a cordon of officers to the waiting car.

The police right next to the shooting are close enough acquaintances to Jack Ruby that they know him well.

Patrick Dean, Blackie Harrison, even Jim Leavelle.

We know Dean's and Leavelle's position on the race issue which probably meant they hated the n****r lovin' JFK.

Curry should have been fired for his Oswald security negligence which resulted in the greatest loss of public trust in our government in the last part of the 20th century and that is still present 57 years later.

 

Edited March 21, 2020 by Joe Bauer

[Andrej Stancak]

I view the phone call between Cabell and Curry at the time of Lee Oswald's transfer differently: Cabell wanted to distract Curry from taking any leading role in the transfer in the critical moments. Chief Curry was Cabell's puppet, not a close confidante. Cabell operated through other high officers in Dallas Police than Chief Curry. It was Cabell and Crull who prevented Curry to transfer Oswald to the jail in secrecy during the night.  

This is from my article on Earle Cabell, in preparation:

"Sergeant Stavis Ellis from the Dallas Police Department conferred that Chief Curry has initially intended to transfer Oswald secretly with a handful of officers at 2AM. After Oswald’s death, on Sunday evening, Chief Curry told Sergeant Ellis that the city manager Elgin Crull and Mayor Earle Cabell have called him and insisted on the transfer in front of the cameras and newsmen  . The difference between Curry’s original plan and the plan imposed on Chief Curry by Mayor Earle Cabell and the city manager was the difference between having Lee Harvey Oswald alive and talking or having Oswald dead and silenced forever.

In his testimony for the Warren Commission, Earle Cabell attempted to detach himself from the method of Oswald’s transport to the Dallas County jail on Sunday morning. Cabell admitted having a phone call with Chief Curry during the time of the transport but claimed they had discussed approval of a torch parade on Sunday evening [ii]. However, the truth was that Chief Curry was interrupted while planning to witness the transfer of Oswald by Earle Cabell’s phone call in which Cabell wished to be updated on the investigation. During the critical moments, Chief Curry was in his office instead in the basement of the police headquarters [iii]."

Footnotes:

  Sneed, L. No More Silence.  Chapter “Stavis “Steve” Ellis.

 Sergeant Ellis’s own words:

“Chief Curry told me that evening, ”I want you and one jockey to come down here, and we’re going to move Oswald to the county jail at two o’clock and nobodu know about it.” Then what happened? Elgin Crull, the city manager, and Earle Cabell, the mayor, eventually gave Chief Curry orders, “No, you will not do that! You will notify the news and media and the press so that they can be in the basement with their lights and cameras set up before you move him.” That’s what got him killed!”

 

[ii] http://www.aarclibrary.org/publib/jfk/wc/wcvols/wh7/pdf/WH7_EarleCabell.pdf

 The relevant part of Earle Cabell’s testimony:

 Mr. HUBERT. Attached to page 3 it seems to indicate that the call with Curry must have occurred a bit before you received the news of Oswald’s shooting?

Mr. CABELL. The first call from Curry, or only the starting of any conversations with Chief Curry were relative to this torchlight parade on that night. I had called him and told him that I would recommend the cancellation of that parade. He had granted it, but then I had recommended the cancellation, and I would assume full responsibility for having given that instruction.

Mr. HUBERT. At that time Oswald had not been shot?

Mr. CABELL. No.

Mr. HUBERT. But on that first call then, was there any discussion between you and Chief Curry about the transfer of Oswald?

Mr. CABELL. No.

Mr. HUBERT. Was there any discussion about the security precautions that were being observed or the problems that they were?

Mr. CABELL. I do not recall any discussion on that at all.

Mr. HUBEBT. Chief Curry did not tell you that any threats had been made to Oswald? Mr. CABELL. No.

 

[iii] Stowers, C. Partners in Blue. 100 Years of History of The Dallas Police Department.  Taylor Publishing Company, Dallas, 1983, p. 141.

 

[I cannot control the format of copy-pasted text. The initial part on Sgt. Ellis is referenced to Larry Sneed's book.]

 

Edited March 21, 2020 by Andrej Stancak

[Ron Bulman]

Well said Joe.  Andrej this is saying PC Curry wanted to transfer Oswald at 2:00 AM in secrecy but CIA asset Mayor Earle Cabell, brother of fired by JFK Air Force general Charles Cabell of the CIA interrupted.  He wanted it later, in front of the camera's.  Then he called Curry right before it happened.  Good stuff.

[James DiEugenio]

I wrote about something else that was odd about this transfer.  I am not saying it means anything, but it is just odd.  And what is odder is how the media handles it.

Many years ago, writer and researcher Ray Marcus called me and asked: "Jim, which version of the shooting of Oswald have you seen?"

JD: "What are you talking about Ray?"

RM: "Does it have one horn, two horns, or no horns?"

JD: "One horn."

RM: "Oh, you have the altered version.  I'll mail you the unaltered one."

Which he did,  and it was an unsettling experience.  For in the  original feed, TWO horns go off.  One coincides with Oswald entering the garage foyer area.  The other with Ruby jumping forward to shoot him. Again, I am not saying this signifies anything.  But my question is, why is it necessary to edit this?  Why can't the public see it for whatever it may mean?

When you add in that Ruby lied about coming down the Main Street ramp, that the FBI rigged his polygraph, that Ruby was clearly hiding behind Harrison in footage the MSM also avoids and that Fritz allowed the shooting to occur by breaking the four pocket formation previously agreed upon (discovered by Greg Parker)--plus the fact that the evidence dictates it was Ruby's idea to transfer the money by wire that morning--and it all stinks to high heaven. And I do not believe that the FBI, WC and HSCA all missed it.

This is why someone needs to write a new and good book about Ruby.

 

Edited March 21, 2020 by James DiEugenio