Who was Jack Ruby?

[Ron Bulman]

There's more to the story of Ruby's name coming up in RFK's ongoing investigation of organized crime and gambling in Dallas at the time of JFK's death.  It evaporated on 11/22/63.  Literally.

[Paul Brancato]

On 9/27/2020 at 1:58 AM, Joe Bauer said:

Strip joint owning Jack Ruby getting within inches of a wide open Lee Harvey Oswald and blasting out his guts right inside the Dallas Police Department building with 70 armed police and other agency people all around him live on national TV with millions of Americans watching was "by far" the single most conspiracy suspicion arousing event in the entire JFK affair in the national psyche.

 And which is still felt today.

Those millions of viewers of Ruby whacking Oswald didn't need conspiracy books and articles to give them these conspiracy feelings and suspicions.

They "saw" a conspiracy happen right before their almost disbelieving eyes!

Like me, most average Americans knew Oswald was one of the most threatened criminal suspects in American crime history if not "the" most threatened.

Knowing this, to then see Oswald so open when he was brought around the corner into the basement and right up to the press crowd and then see this kind of frumpy, dark, stocky, hat wearing figure explode from the closest press line and get within inches of Oswald to blast away...was beyond negligence and coincidence in everyone's mind and just shouted conspiracy.

Salt of the Earth JFK Dealey Plaza shooting eyewitness railroad man Richard C. Dodd ( interviewed in Mark Lane's documentary "Rush To Judgement" ) summed up the general American sentiment of Ruby shooting Oswald ...

"Well, when a man can walk up and shoot a man handcuffed to two policemens, why, there's a sumthin' else goin on besides what should be."   

Right on Mr. Dodd!

Jack Ruby destroyed the best chance America had to learn the JFK assassination truth.

He saved Jackie Kennedy anymore anguish and proved Jews had guts but he screwed the rest of us...royally.

Thank you Jack Ruby.

 

Thank you Joe. That was the moment I knew something was terribly wrong. 

[Joe Bauer]

4 hours ago, Paul Brancato said:

Thank you Joe. That was the moment I knew something was terribly wrong. 

I really think my assessment is true.

After watching Ruby get to Oswald under those improbable security circumstances millions of Americans felt just like Richard C. Dodd.

Before Ruby's hit on Oswald on live TV, I am certain the massive majority of Americans weren't feeling deep suspicion as much as curious shock.

Ruby changed all that.

[Joe Bauer]

Jack Ruby Love Airfield club sandwich sharing infatuation story Rhonda Fleming dies October 14th, 2020.

For a brief moment Jack Ruby was in true classy celebrity heaven when he happened to spot major Hollywood actress Rhonda Fleming having a club sandwich in the dining lounge at Love Field. Ruby introduced himself and Fleming graciously allowed this squatty, balding, rough edged talking and looking, dingy strip joint operator to join her. They shared some light conversation.

For sure one of Ruby's most glamour enamored memories.

Ruby's strip tease girls were just as beautiful as Fleming...Jada, Candy Barr, Little Lynn, etc.   But Fleming had the class that Ruby so admired. Same with Jackie Kennedy.

Fleming had a small but quirky face to face meet up with one of the top three JFK assassination figures...Jack "Sparky" Ruby.

Edited October 19, 2020 by Joe Bauer

[Joe Bauer]

?

Edited November 10, 2020 by Joe Bauer

[Ron Bulman]

Yeah Jacob was a pretty dramatic figure in the big picture.  His mafia (like?) hit on Oswald.  His occupation, promoting his strip joint.  Being his own bouncer, throwing people down the stairs.  Selling twist boards on the side.

But that distracts from his past with Nixon, the FBI and CIA and more, E. G. Cuban gun running.  Let's not forget his visit to Santos Trafficante while in prison in Cuba.  Santos had fresh fruit available for the taking at the entrance in one account.  From memory. 

The real question is who ordered the hit, on multiple levels.  

Nationally, Dulles through Giancana, Trafficante, Lansky?  Hoover through Marcello (I don't think so).

Locally Civello through Campisi?

[Steve Thomas]

9 hours ago, Ron Bulman said:

 Being his own bouncer, throwing people down the stairs.  Selling twist boards on the side.

Ron,

Have you ever looked into these "twist boards?

I forget who Ruby's partner was in that venture.

Gunrunner Ruby and the CIA

Written by Lisa Pease 18 April 2006

https://kennedysandking.com/john-f-kennedy-articles/gunrunner-ruby-and-the-cia

“Hubert and Griffin expressed in their memo of May 14 to Rankin that "we believe that the possibility exists, based on evidence already available, that Ruby was involved in illegal dealings with Cuban elements who might have had contact with Oswald. The existence of such dealings can only be surmised since the present investigation has not focused on that area." ⁴ They expressed concern that "Ruby had time to engage in substantial activities in addition to the management of his Clubs" and that "Ruby has always been a person who looked for money-making 'sidelines'." They even suggested that since the Fort Worth manufacturer of the famous "Twist Board" Ruby was demonstrating the night after the assassination had no known sales, and was manufactured by an oil field equipment company, that "[t]he possibility remains that the 'twist board' was a front for some other illegal enterprise."”

4. Memorandum to J. Lee Rankin from Leon D. Hubert and Burt W. Griffin, May 14, 1964, p. 4.

I also read somewhere that the "boards' venture was possibly a front for running drugs.

 

Steve Thomas

 

[Joe Bauer]

?

Edited December 9, 2020 by Joe Bauer

[Joe Bauer]

Notice also Ruby wears a ring on his left pinky finger.

Correction.

The white coat arm on Ruby's right is probably news man Ike Pappas holding out his microphone.

It is true however that one of Ruby's closest Dallas Police Department friends - big William "Blackie" Harrison - was grabbing for Ruby at this same time and was that close to Ruby before and during the Oswald shooting.

Edited December 9, 2020 by Joe Bauer

[Ron Bulman]

13 hours ago, Steve Thomas said:

Ron,

Have you ever looked into these "twist boards?

I forget who Ruby's partner was in that venture.

Gunrunner Ruby and the CIA

Written by Lisa Pease 18 April 2006

https://kennedysandking.com/john-f-kennedy-articles/gunrunner-ruby-and-the-cia

“Hubert and Griffin expressed in their memo of May 14 to Rankin that "we believe that the possibility exists, based on evidence already available, that Ruby was involved in illegal dealings with Cuban elements who might have had contact with Oswald. The existence of such dealings can only be surmised since the present investigation has not focused on that area." ⁴ They expressed concern that "Ruby had time to engage in substantial activities in addition to the management of his Clubs" and that "Ruby has always been a person who looked for money-making 'sidelines'." They even suggested that since the Fort Worth manufacturer of the famous "Twist Board" Ruby was demonstrating the night after the assassination had no known sales, and was manufactured by an oil field equipment company, that "[t]he possibility remains that the 'twist board' was a front for some other illegal enterprise."”

4. Memorandum to J. Lee Rankin from Leon D. Hubert and Burt W. Griffin, May 14, 1964, p. 4.

I also read somewhere that the "boards' venture was possibly a front for running drugs.

 

Steve Thomas

 

Thanks for the link.  Lisa is great, never read this one.  The twist boards are interesting given being made by an oil company and no sales of them.  Jack and his brothers dealt in novelties.  There's the pipe drug smuggling thing between his sister Eva and her boyfriend and brothers Hyman and Earl from memory.   Suspected and investigated by the FBI or FBN.  

The different associations of Ruby regarding gun running are almost overwhelming.  I just read in the last year about him doing so in 1953 or so.  Then Castro got thrown in prison.  Then his efforts re started in 1958 (?) along with the resurgence of Castro.

The article does cover Ruby's visit to Trafficante in the Havana detention center and it' implications very well for anyone not familiar with it.  A good refresher for anyone (me too).

[Joseph McBride]

Carl Oglesby has a brilliant analysis of Ruby's WC testimony

in THE YANKEE AND COWBOY WAR, dissecting what Ruby

was desperately trying to tell Warren between the lines, with

Warren refusing to hear his message of involvement in the conspiracy or take him to Washington

where he would feel safe to talk more freely than in the Dallas jail.

Edited December 10, 2020 by Joseph McBride

[Andrej Stancak]

Joseph:

thanks for pointing to this interesting book that also addresses Jack Ruby's role in the assassination. It is a rare collector item and prohibitively expensive on Amazon. However, I managed to find a link to a PDF of this book:

https://ia800204.us.archive.org/8/items/OglesbyCarlTheYankeeAndCowboyWar/Oglesby, Carl - The Yankee and Cowboy War.pdf

 

[Steve Thomas]

1 hour ago, Andrej Stancak said:

Joseph:

thanks for pointing to this interesting book that also addresses Jack Ruby's role in the assassination. It is a rare collector item and prohibitively expensive on Amazon. However, I managed to find a link to a PDF of this book:

https://ia800204.us.archive.org/8/items/OglesbyCarlTheYankeeAndCowboyWar/Oglesby, Carl - The Yankee and Cowboy War.pdf

 

Andrej,

Thanks for the tip.

Steve Thomas

[Denny Zartman]

17 hours ago, Andrej Stancak said:

Joseph:

thanks for pointing to this interesting book that also addresses Jack Ruby's role in the assassination. It is a rare collector item and prohibitively expensive on Amazon. However, I managed to find a link to a PDF of this book:

https://ia800204.us.archive.org/8/items/OglesbyCarlTheYankeeAndCowboyWar/Oglesby, Carl - The Yankee and Cowboy War.pdf

 

Thanks very much!

[Ron Bulman]

On 10/4/2020 at 12:17 AM, Ron Bulman said:

There's more to the story of Ruby's name coming up in RFK's ongoing investigation of organized crime and gambling in Dallas at the time of JFK's death.  It evaporated on 11/22/63.  Literally.

That's the date the prosecution had to respond to the defense regarding a protest to allowing the electronic evidence being used in the proceedings.  They had two weeks prior to do so, but did not.  Why?