The murder of Lee Harvey Oswald by Jack Ruby in the basement of the Dallas Police department is one of the most infamous episodes in American History. My first run in with this iconic incident was when I saw the photo of Oswald grimacing right after Ruby fired the shot as it was displayed behind Billy Joel in his music video for We Didn’t Start the Fire. The fact that a music video for a pop song written 30 years after the incident still references it is telling. After all, it’s a picture of the guy who supposedly just killed the president being killed himself. The fact that Oswald was murdered before he had a chance to go to trial only further aroused the suspicions of the public.
In this episode, we zoom in to the actions of Jack Ruby on the weekend of the assassination. In the hours and days leading up to the time he shot Oswald, did he take what was Ruby up to? Did he suddenly decide to kill Oswald or was it premeditated? Most importantly, why did Jack Ruby kill Lee Harvey Oswald?
Ruby Kills Oswald
According to the Warren Commission, QUOTE “the basic decision to move Oswald at an announced time and in the presence of the news media was never carefully thought through by [Chief Curry and homicide bureau captain, JW Fritz]. Curry and Fritz had agreed Saturday evening that Oswald should not be moved at night, but their discussion apparently went little further.”[1] That’s all the Warren Report has to say about the details of planning Oswald’s transfer.
And remember, the Police Department was notified about those three threatening phone calls shortly after they happened.[2] But those warnings did not result in any changes being made to the Oswald transfer plans.[3]
Eventually Oswald was led out of the basement around 12:20pm.[4] As he was escorted through the doors by police, a crowd of reporters had gathered outside of the basement doorway. Here is the original audio from Oswald being shot as he enters the basement:
“There is Lee Oswald. [Gunshot] [PAINFUL SCREAM] He has been shot! He has been shot! Lee Oswald has been shot! There’s a man with a gun. Absolute panic here in the basement of the Dallas police headquarters. There is no question about it. Oswald has been shot!”[5]
Detective Jim Leavelle was handcuffed to Oswald during the transfer. If you watch the video, he’s the cop wearing the big white hat. Here’s Detective Leavelle talking about what happened:
“You were handcuffed to him? I was handcuffed to him and also had a hold of the waistband of his trousers. I saw this man come from the crowd and at the time he emerged from this crowd of people he was not more than 6 or 7 feet from me…. Being such a short distance from me, I had no time to say anything…. I have known Jack Ruby for a number of years and I recognized him just as soon as he emerged from the crowd.” [6]
In the ensuing chaos in the basement, Ruby was contained and arrested and Oswald was immediately taken to the emergency room at Parkland Hospital.
When Oswald died, everyone was quick to realize that the person who was allegedly the lone assassin of the president was now dead. This meant that the American people would never be able to hear a defense from Oswald. Based on Oswald’s claims about being an innocent patsy, he surely would have attempted to make a defense of himself.
Even the Warren Report states the obvious about this moment in American History saying, QUOTE “almost immediately speculation arose that Ruby had acted on behalf of members of a conspiracy who had planned the killing of President Kennedy and wanted to silence Oswald.”[7]
Ruby Sightings at the Dallas PD on Friday
We’ve seen Jack Ruby pop up all over this case so far. He’s allegedly seen in Dealey Plaza, at Parkland Hospital, and at the Texas Theater on the day of the assassination. What about the Dallas Police Department?
After Oswald had been captured, District Attorney Henry Wade held a press conference at the Dallas Police station where he said that Oswald was a part of QUOTE “Free Cuba Movement or whatever.” Jack Ruby, who was in the room at the press conference, chimed in with others, correctly, saying that it was the “Fair Play for Cuba Committee.”[8]
Does he appear sane to you? Yes, he does. Is he a member of any communist front organization? That I can’t say at the present time. He was a member of Free Cuba movement or whatever.
FAIR PLAY.
Fair Play for Cuba, I believe it was.[9]
What is more interesting than Ruby’s knowledge of Fair Play for Cuba - after there had already been reports about it in the news - is Ruby’s presence at the Police Department that day at all. Why does Jack Ruby keep showing up in all of these important scenes?
Actually, there are multiple sightings of Ruby at the Police Station during three different time periods on Friday – the day Kennedy and Tippit were killed: early on Friday morning, Friday evening after Oswald had been captured, and late-night on Friday for the press conference.
Officer TM Hansen Jr told the FBI in his December 1963 interview that he knew Ruby from visiting the Carousel Club and saw Ruby between 9 am and 9:30 am the morning of the assassination entering the City Hall Building, which is where the Dallas Police Department is located. As he walked by Ruby, Officer Hansen shook his hand and said good morning but did not engage in conversation with him.”[10] BUT then seven months later – Officer Hansen changed his tune and told the Warren Commission that “he was not positive” whether he remembered seeing Ruby was on the morning of 11/22 or Thursday, 11/21. He could not remember.[11] If Hansen was originally telling the truth and his memory is correct, it’s a pretty weird coincidence that Ruby was at the Police department on the morning of the assassination.
Dallas reporter Victor Robertson, Jr. told the Warren Commission that he had “known Ruby for approximately two years as the operator of the Carousel Club… He recalled seeing Ruby in the third floor hallway of the Police building sometime between 5-7pm on Friday. He saw Ruby try to enter the door of the room where Oswald was being held and two police officers pulled Ruby back and did not allow him to enter.[12] In that same time frame, Dallas reporter, Ronald Jenkins also saw Ruby on the third floor of the police station and said that he was QUOTE “milling around in the crowd of press representatives and was alone.”[13]
Detective Eberhardt, who had known Ruby for 6 years, saw him on the third floor of the police building at about 6 or 7pm that night. He said Ruby QUOTE “brought some sandwiches over and was acting as an interpreter for some Israeli reporters. Ruby was carrying a notebook.”[14] Detective Standifer, who had known Ruby for 13 years, also saw Ruby on the third floor that Friday night around the same time.[15]
The Warren Report dismisses the idea that Ruby was at the Police Department before the late night press conference, saying QUOTE “At least 5 witnesses recall seeing a man they believe is Ruby, however, it is not clear that Ruby was present at the building before 11pm.”[16] The Warren Report does not explain why it discounts the testimony of those 5 witnesses. But it does.
At this point, the record is clear that Ruby was at the police department at least for the late night press conference and, according to the weight of the evidence, earlier in the evening, when he attempted to enter the area where Oswald was being held on the third floor. What we don’t know is why Ruby was at the police department at any of these times on Friday in the first place.
Ruby’s Motive
Most Warren Report defenders believe that Ruby killed Oswald “to spare the president’s widow the ordeal of having to testify at Oswald’s trial.”[17] Some people argue that Ruby had an additional motive of being an admirer of President Kennedy and wanting to avenge the death of his favorite president.[18] One of Ruby’s lawyer’s, Melvin Belli, has stated point blank that neither of those motives were Ruby’s true motive.[19] If that’s the case, then what was?
When Jack Ruby went to trial for the murder of Oswald, his defense was that he had psychomotor epilepsyand that the gun was fired unintentionally because Ruby did not have control of his actions.[20] So, when given the opportunity to go on the record as having killed Oswald to help Jackie Kennedy or to avenge President Kennedy, Ruby instead took the position that his shooting of Oswald was completely unintentional.
According to the Warren Report, Ruby could not have premeditated Oswald’s murder because Ruby had just made a Western Union money transfer only 4 minutes before the murder. Thus, if Ruby really wanted to kill Oswald, assuming he knew the time of the transfer, he wouldn’t be cutting it that close. Also, Ruby had his dog in the car with him, which is not really something you would expect someone planning a murder to do.[21]
This is a compelling argument. Why would Ruby transfer money via Western Union at 11:17am and then kill Oswald just 4 minutes later? If it was really important for Ruby to kill Oswald, for example, because he had to do it on behalf of the mob or the CIA or whoever, why would Ruby risk missing his opportunity to take the shot by running an errand at Western Union first?
To be able to answer this question, we have to zoom in to the facts. The possibility of Ruby walking from Western Union to the scene of the crime in less than 4 minutes is very high – we know this, because Ruby actually did it. The distance from the Western Union office to the police basement where Ruby shot Oswald is only 350 feet.[22] Conspiracy authors like James DiEugenio have hypothesized that Ruby could have just been waiting in his car at Western Union for a signal from someone at the police department. While we don’t know if this actually happened, DiEugenio’s theory is possible because the entrance to the police basement is visible from the Western Union.[23]
Karen Carlin and the Wire Transfer
We know that Ruby made the transfer from Western Union at 11:17. But, what was the purpose of this money transfer? And can the backstory of the money transfer shed any light on why Ruby killed Oswald?
Ruby was sending the money to Karen Carlin, one of his employees who was a dancer at the Carousel Club.[24] Ruby says Carlin called him on Sunday morning asking for an urgent advance on her salary for groceries and rent.[25] But, it turns out that the night before, Ruby had just advanced Carlin $5.[26] According to what Carlin’s husband, Bruce Carlin, told the Warren Commission, the money she was advanced Saturday night was needed for gas so that they could drive back to Fort Worth.[27] But Bruce Carlin’s Fort Worth gas money story is inconsistent with the testimony of Nancy Powell, who told the Commission that she gave the Carlins a ride home that night.[28] And if Nancy Powell gave them a ride home, obviously, that puts a hole in their gas money story.
Also, the following Monday was payday for Carlin. She could have waited just one day to get her regular paycheck.[29] And when the Secret Service interviewed the Carlins’ landlord, Weldon Thomas, he said that the rent payment timing was loose and it would have been fine if she was a few days late.[30] This calls into question whether Carlin really had an urgent need for the rent money.
On top of that, there is a discrepancy between Ruby and Karen Carlin about whether her Sunday morning phone call was a spur of the moment decision by her or was pre-arranged by Ruby. Ruby says that Carlin called him on Sunday morning. But, Karen Carlin says that Ruby pre-arranged the phone call with her in advance.[31] Carlin says that when Ruby spoke to her on Saturday night he told her to call him back on Sunday morning and tell him how much more money she needed to be advanced. According to Carlin, it was Ruby’s idea to use Western Union to send Carlin the money.[32]
All of the things we just talked about make it sound like the Carlins are hiding something. I can’t say what for sure. And, yes, these are small things. But who lies about needing gas money under oath? And why not ask for the rent and grocery money on Saturday night at the same time she got the $5 for “gas money”? And why bother asking for money at all on a Sunday if you get paid on Monday and you have a flexible landlord anyway?
When the Warren Commission interviewed the Carlins, they were among the few witnesses who brought their own lawyer.[33] But, hey, maybe they were just nervous they would get busted for something else. I get wanting a lawyer when you’re talking to the feds.
When it was all said and done, Karen Carlin was interviewed a total of seven times by the FBI and the Secret Service.[34] During Bruce Carlin’s interview, he was asked about why they needed the money and whether it was for rent or food, to which he replied, QUOTE “I didn’t know that I would have to remember.”[35]
Ruby Sighting in front of Dallas PD on Sunday Morning
According to Ruby, he left his house sometime after 11am on Sunday morning to go to Western Union to send the aforementioned wire transfer to Karen Carlin.[36] But, there are 3 witnesses who say that they saw Ruby earlier that Sunday morning when Ruby says he was still at home.
Warren Richey, John Allison Smith, and Ira Walker were live broadcast technicians for a TV station in Fort Worth.[37] According to these men, they saw Jack Ruby outside of the police building at various times between 8 and 11 am that Sunday morning.[38]
Ira Walker told the Warren Commission QUOTE
“I was sitting in the truck at the audio board. We were waiting for Oswald to be brought down. The press had been told he would not be transferred until after 10:30 in the morning…[W]e were on a standby basis waiting for Oswald to be moved. And Ruby came to the window of the truck and asked ‘Has he been brought down yet?’ He was standing on the sidewalk.”[39]
Walker also said Ruby came back to the truck again a few minutes later to check on Oswald’s status.[40]
The Warren Commission ultimately determined that the TV technicians - Walker, Smith and Richey, - who said they saw Ruby milling around near the Police Department on Sunday morning - must have been mistaken. Their testimony was deemed by the Warren Commission to be unreliable because the technicians had never seen Ruby before and they would have been too focused on their duties at the moment to make a reliable identification.[41]
Witnesses identify people they did not previously know in court all the time. But, it is a fair point that the 3 TV techs would have been pretty focused on their job in this high stakes moment in history. Still, the fact that all 3 men identified this person as Jack Ruby and that this man approached the car window twice so they could get two looks at him up close, makes me think their testimony should not be written off so quickly.
Zooming out to the big picture, if Ruby is walking around by the police department sometime between 8 and 11, it means that he lied about leaving his house around 11. This potential fact that Ruby was at the police department near the area where Oswald was about to be transferred would also undermine the Western Union money transfer story which is supposed to show that Ruby’s decision to kill Oswald was sudden and random. If the 3 TV technicians were correct, the facts tilt more in favor of Oswald’s murder being a pre-planned event, which would leave more room for the possibility of a conspiracy.
How did Ruby get in to kill Oswald
One of the most important questions that has not yet been definitively answered is how did Ruby get in to the basement to kill Oswald? The Warren Report has this to say on the matter:
Although more than a hundred policemen and newsmen were present in the basement of police headquarters during the 10 minutes before the shooting of Oswald, none has been found who definitely observed Jack Ruby's entry into the basement.[42]
The Warren Report claims that QUOTE “Many newsmen reported that they were checked on more than one occasion while they waited in the basement. A small number did not recall their credentials ever being checked.”[43] However, there are numerous reporters who were present who stated that security was lax.
For example, Cameraman Stephen Alexander said that he was never asked for identification by any police officer and doubted that any other newsmen were asked for credentials.[44] Ed Haddad, a radio newscaster, said there was “no security set up as far as he could notice.”[45] William Lord, an ABC news Correspondent, said that he saw police and they did not ask him for identification. He did not see anyone responsible for identifying people who entered the DPD basement.[46] Jimmy Turner, a tv director, said “up until the following morning after the shooting of Oswald there was no checking of passes that we ran into.”[47] And that is just a sampling. Similar statements are on the record in the Warren Report from Jerry O Leary from the Washington Evening Star[48] Henry Rabun from UPI[49], Seth Kantor from Scripps Howard[50], and Ira Beers of Dallas Morning News.[51]
One would think that, given the multiple and specific threats on Oswald’s life that were called in the night before, the security would be tight and there would be protocols for access to the basement during Oswald’s transfer. But, that’s not what happened.
So how did Ruby get in to the basement? The Warren Report is uncertain on this topic, but ultimately concludes that Ruby “probably” came down the Main Street Ramp. The report says QUOTE
After considering all the evidence, the Commission has concluded that Ruby entered the basement unaided, probably via the Main Street ramp, and no more than 3 minutes before the shooting of Oswald.[52]
The Commission’s conclusion is based on the idea that the person who was supposed to be watching the Main Street Ramp, Officer Roy Vaughn, was distracted by a departing police car for just long enough for Ruby to surreptitiously enter down the Main Street Ramp.[53] Police Chief Curry put it this way:
He came in on the Main Street entrance. The officer who was guarding this door stepped across the sidewalk to assist a vehicle coming out of the basement. It wasn’t necessary that he do this, but he had stepped across the sidewalk to assist a vehicle coming out of the basement. That’s when Ruby came in to the basement. This was less than 2 minutes before Oswald was brought down.[54]
The Warren Commission’s conclusion that Ruby came down the Main Street Ramp is mostly supported by Officer Napoleon Daniels. He says that he saw a man he thought was Ruby walking down the Main Street Ramp, but not during a time when there was a car coming – implying that Officer Vaughn must have allowed Ruby to get through.[55]
Here’s Daniels in Mark Lane’s Rush to Judgment documentary:
I was going down to inspect the assassination site around 11 o clock and I noticed Officer Vaughn standing on the Main Street Ramp of City Hall in the basement and I stopped to go to talk to him and I asked him what his purpose was there. And he said he was keeping everybody from getting in the basement because they were fixing to transfer Oswald.
From 11 O’Clock until 11:20 did anyone enter the basement through the Main Street Ramp? There’s one man a couple of minutes before Oswald was shot. He was a white man, weighed about 175. Had on a blue suit. About 5’9”. Brownish hair, bald at the top. He had his right hand in his right coat pocket and something seemed to be protruding from it.
My first impression is that he had a gun in his pocket. And then I didn’t think much of it because Officer Vaughn didn’t challenge him. He just let him go on down in. He didn’t try to stop him. I just assumed he knew who he was.[56]
So Officer Daniels is pretty sure that Officer Vaughn let Jack Ruby walk in down the main street ramp. But, there are reasons to doubt that Ruby entered the garage through the Main Street Ramp, despite what Officer Daniels says.
Officer Vaughn, the guy who was guarding the ramp, said that he stopped and checked the credentials of all unknown persons and that the police car leaving the Main Street Ramp did not distract him from that task.[57]Officer Vaughn is supported by other witnesses. UPI Reporter, Terrance McGarry, told the FBI that at least 5 minutes before Oswald was shot, he had stationed himself at the middle of the basement end of the Main Street ramp and that no one came down the ramp during that time.[58] Harry Tasker was a Taxi driver hired by a reporter to watch the Main Street Ramp so that the reporter could follow Oswald to the county jail when he left the police station. Tasker told the FBI that he had been standing at the Main Street ramp entrance 5 minutes before Oswald was shot and that no one resembling Jack Ruby entered the basement during that time.[59]
Police officer Don Flusche was standing diagonally across from the Main Street ramp on the opposite side of the street at the time Ruby would have walked down it.[60] So, Flusche would’ve had an excellent vantage point to be able to see what was going on. In his interview with the House Select Committee on Assassinations, Flusche said that there was no doubt in his mind that Ruby did not walk down the Main Street ramp that morning.[61] Flusche was not interviewed by the Warren Commission.
Dallas Police officers, Sargeant Putnam and Sargeant Pierce, agree with Flusche. Putnam and Pierce drove on the ramp at the time that Ruby was allegedly walking down it. They are the ones in the car that supposedly distracted Officer Vaughn so that Ruby could slip in. But both Putnam and Pierce are on the record saying that they are certain that Ruby did not come down the Main Street Ramp at that time. Sargeant Pierce said he knew Ruby and would have recognized him.[62]
Sargeant Patrick Dean was in charge of security that day in the basement.[63] Sargeant Dean told the Warren Commission that Ruby told him he entered the basement through the Main Street Entrance.[64] But in 1977 when the HSCA was re-investigating the case, Sargeant Dean told committee investigators off the record that he had submitted two false police reports and that “Ruby had not told him that he had come in via the Main Street Ramp.”[65] The HSCA had serious concerns about Dean’s role in the investigation because Dean had failed his own polygraph - even though he wrote the questions. Warren Commission attorney Burt Griffin didn’t believe that Sargeant Dean was a credible witness. Griffin wrote a memo about how he thought Dean was lying to protect his reputation and to coordinate the cover-up of the Dallas Police letting Ruby into the basement.[66]
Looking at all of that evidence, the only person who says that Ruby came down the Main Street Ramp, other than Ruby himself, is Officer Daniels. Conversely, there is a reporter, a taxi driver, and four cops who say there is no way that Ruby came in down the ramp. And then there’s, Patrick Dean, the head of security for the incident who admits that he lied previously and submitted false reports and that Ruby did not come down the main street ramp. Weigh that how you will.
Ruby and the Dallas PD
The fact that Jack Ruby was close with the Dallas Police Department isn’t disputed. The question is, just how close are we talking? Did he happen to casually know a few cops? Or was there some deeper connection between Ruby and the Dallas PD?
The Warren Report denies that there was any complicity between Ruby and the Dallas Police to allow him to enter the building to shoot Oswald that Sunday morning. Regarding Ruby’s relationship with police officers, the Warren Report says QUOTE:
Ruby was known to have a wide acquaintanceship with Dallas policemen and to seek their favor. According to testimony from many sources, he gave free coffee at his clubs to many policemen while they were on duty and free admittance and discounts on beverages when they were off duty. Although Chief Curry's estimate that approximately 25 to 50 of the 1,175 men in the Dallas Police Department knew Ruby may be too conservative, the Commission found no evidence of any suspicious relationships between Ruby and any police officer.[67]
The thing that jumps out at me from that Warren Report quote is that the Commission thought that it was conservative to say Ruby only knew 25-50 cops. How many cops does the average person know? But then again, how many cops does the average strip club owner know?
One fact that sheds light on that question is that of the 75 cops who were present when Oswald was killed, at least 40 of them knew Ruby.[68]
But, Chief Curry writes that off as not a big deal:
A great deal has been written about the relationship of the Dallas Police Department with Jack Ruby. We have 1200 men in our department and we asked each man to submit a report regarding his knowledge or acquaintance with Jack Ruby. Less than 50 men even knew Jack Ruby.[69]
Whether Ruby knew 600 cops or only 50, either way, he knew a lot more than the average person. And while we know that Ruby had these relationships with police, we don’t know for sure whether Ruby used those relationships to gain access to kill Oswald. If he did, that evidence is not in the record.
Evidence of Conspiracy involving Jack Ruby
I’ve saved the best for last – now, I want to cover some of the juiciest Jack Ruby conspiracy issues that we have not yet touched on. Ruby died in prison from fast acting cancer before he was able to have a new trial for Oswald’s murder. The way that Ruby died, along with testimony from other people that support a conspiracy, makes this case all the more interesting.
First, we have the potential foreknowledge of Oswald’s murder by George Senator. According to reporter Seth Kantor, Ruby’s roommate, George Senator, called Dallas attorney Jim Martin from a payphone near the Eatwell Café and asked Martin to represent his friend Jack Ruby for murdering Lee Harvey Oswald. Senator placed this call minutes before the news came over the radio that Oswald had been shot – making it appear as though Senator had foreknowledge of the event.[70]
Next, there’s Detective Don Archer’s description of Ruby’s behavior upon hearing that Oswald was dead. Detective Archer was one of the first people who saw Ruby immediately after he shot Oswald. According to Detective Archer’s description of Ruby, QUOTE
“He was sweating profusely. I could hear his heart beating. He asked for one of my cigarettes. I gave him a cigarette. Finally, the head of the Secret Service came up and told me that Oswald had died. This should have shocked Ruby because it would have meant the death penalty. But Ruby became calm, he quit sweating, his heart slowed down. I asked him if he wanted a cigarette, and he advised me he didn’t smoke. I was just astonished… I would say his life had depended on him getting Oswald.[71]
For conspiracy theorists, hearing that Ruby looked relieved at finding out that Oswald had died, is one more fact to confirm that Ruby was killing Oswald on behalf of someone else – presumably someone whom Ruby feared. Still, this anecdotal testimony is highly subjective and is just the testimony of one detective. But, on the other hand, why would Detective Archer make this up?
The most significant evidence that we have regarding Ruby’s motive [comes from things that Ruby himself said. In Ruby’s confidential psychiatric evaluation documents from 1965 Ruby told psychiatrist Warner Teuterthat the assassination of President Kennedy was QUOTE “an act of overthrowing the government” and that he knew QUOTE “who had President Kennedy killed”. Ruby also told Teuter QUOTE “I am doomed. I do not want to die. But I am not insane. I was framed to kill Oswald.”[72] Pretty explosive, I know. We do have to take the Teuter psych notes with a grain of salt because Warner Teuter also told the New York Times in 1974 that he believed Ruby was insane and would not have been competent to stand trial had he lived.[73]
Next, there is the testimony of Al Maddox, a Dallas County deputy sheriff whose duty was to guard Ruby both in jail and when he was later taken to Parkland Hospital before he died.[74] Maddox claims that Ruby gave him a note that said Ruby was part of a larger conspiracy. Here is Maddox in an interview in 1996:
When he shook hands with me I knew he wanted me to read a note. Sure enough, it was a letter that Jack wrote saying that it was a conspiracy and that his motive was to silence Oswald.[75]
What happened to the note? We don’t know. Also, the interviewer is leading Maddox in the questions. But, the bottom line is that Al Maddox has decided to put his reputation on the idea that this thing he said happened actually happened. Maybe he is a liar who wants attention after the fact. Or maybe Al Maddox is telling the truth. That’s what we are trying to find out.
The biggest show stopper when it comes to Ruby’s involvement in a potential conspiracy is Ruby’s admission on camera during a break in his trial for killing Oswald. Here’s Ruby, flanked by his lawyers, in front of the press:
Everything pertaining to what is happening has never come to the surface. The world will never know the true facts of what occurred, my motives. The people who have so much to gain and have such a material motive to put me in the position I’m in will never let the true facts come above board to the world.
These people are in very high positions Jack? Yes.[76]
If you couldn’t clearly hear that audio, it’s Ruby saying that the world will never know his motives because there are powerful people who put him in that position and they won’t let the facts come out. If this is true, it’s earth shattering! But, is it true?
Now, many people say that Jack Ruby is crazy, and accordingly, anything that comes from his mouth should be disregarded. But, this whole conspiracy business would be a lot easier to prove wrong without Ruby himself admitting it was a conspiracy on camera. Ruby’s confession does not prove that what he is saying is true. Like everything else, it is one more fact to be considered. After we hear Ruby expressly acknowledge a conspiracy if the truth was that Ruby shot Oswald as revenge for killing JFK. If nothing else, Ruby’s statement severely undermines the popular notions about why he killed Oswald.
CONCLUSION
I don’t know whether the cops helped Ruby get in the building. The weight of the evidence is against Ruby coming down the Main Street Ramp as the Warren Report claims. So, he must have gotten in the building somewhere else. Where exactly? I don’t know.
The big picture question of this episode is whether Jack Ruby killed Oswald alone or as part of a conspiracy. There are inconsistencies in Ruby’s story versus witness testimony. But, Ruby’s own words, when viewed with his psychiatric notes, paint a picture of someone who was a participant in a conspiracy – not someone who killed Oswald alone.
When you combine Ruby’s words with the inconsistencies in the Karen Carlin/Western Union story and all of the Jack Ruby sightings at the police department over the weekend, it looks to me as if Ruby had planned in advance to kill Oswald as part of a conspiracy. To get an idea of what that conspiracy looks like, and whether there was one, we have a lot more research and work to do.
NEXT TIME ON SOLVING JFK: We have wrapped up the main part of Season 1. The next episode will be Recap and Rebuttals Part 4 for Episodes 20-26 featuring Jerry DePizzo, Solving JFK Producer and guitarist/saxophonist for multi platinum rock band, O.A.R. Then, we’ll do a conclusion episode that summarizes everything we’ve talked about so far, issue by issue.
[1] Warren Report at 229. [2] Id. [3] What reason did the Dallas police have for wanting to wait to transfer Oswald? On Saturday, Chief Curry was asked by reporters whether they should sleep at the police station over night to make sure they got Oswald’s transfer on camera. Curry told the reporters that if they returned to the police station by Sunday morning at 10am then “they would not miss anything.” - https://www.archives.gov/files/research/jfk/releases/docid-32261319.pdf So, when we examine the record, the police chief trying to make the media’s job easier seems to be the real driver of the Sunday morning timing for Oswald’s departure. [4] https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/jack-ruby-kills-lee-harvey-oswald [5] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6PcVCqg3tg [6] Rush to Judgment at 1:13:19. [7] Warren Report at 333. [8] https://www.jfk-assassination.net/Ruby_FPCC.htm [9] Id. [10] Hansen Exhibit 1. (FBI interview on 12/11/63)(15H 442) [11] Id. [12] Robertson Exhibit 1 (15H 353) [13] Jenkins Exhibit 1 [14] Eberhardt, Exhibit 5026 (13H 187) [15] Sylvia Meagher, Accessories After the Fact at 391. [16] Id. at 432. [17] James DiEugenio, Reclaiming Parkland at 198. (See for example, Bulgiosi) [18] Id. [19] Id. [20]http://jfk.hood.edu/Collection/White%20Materials/White%20Assassination%20Clippings%20Folders/Ruby/Item%20213.pdf [21] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Ruby [22] https://www.archives.gov/research/jfk/warren-commission-report/chapter-5.html , WR at 219 [23] DiEugenio at 201. [24] Id. at 200. [25] Warren Report at 353. [26] http://aarclibrary.org/publib/jfk/wc/wcvols/wh25/pdf/WH25_CE_2287.pdf [27] Warren Report at 349. [28] Warren Report at 349. [29] DiEugenio at 203. [30] Id. at 202. [31] https://history-matters.com/archive/jfk/wc/wcvols/wh15/pdf/WH15_KarenCarlin.pdf [32] https://history-matters.com/archive/jfk/wc/wcvols/wh15/pdf/WH15_KarenCarlin.pdf [33] DiEugenio at 202. [34] Id. [35] Id. [36] Warren Report at 352. [37] Warren Report at 352-53. [38] Id. [39] 13H 292-293 [40] Id. [41] Warren Report at 352. [42] Warren Report at 219. [43] Warren Report at 212. [44] CE 2037 [45] CE 2044 [46] CE2047 [47] 13H 131 [48] CE 2052 [49] CE 2054 [50] Kantor Exhibits [51] Beers Exhibit [52] Warren Report at 219. [53] Warren Report at 221-22. [54] Rush to Judgment at 1:12:49 [55] DiEugenio at 199. [56] Rush to Judgment at 1:12:28 [57] Warren Report at 221. [58] CE 2050 [59] 15H 682-83 [60] DiEugenio at 203-204. [61] Id. [62] Id. at 199. [63] http://aarclibrary.org/publib/jfk/hsca/reportvols/vol9/pdf/HSCA_Vol9_5A_ShootingLHO.pdf [64] Id. [65] Id. [66] Id. [67] Warren Report at 224. [68] Meagher at 423. [69] Rush to Judgment at 1:17. [70] Jim Marrs, Crossfire, at 419 citing Seth Kantor, Who Was Jack Ruby . [71] DiEugenio at 207 citing Marrs at 423-434. [72] http://jfk.hood.edu/Collection/Weisberg%20Subject%20Index%20Files/R%20Disk/Ruby%20Jack%20Psychiatric/Item%2001.pdf [73] https://www.nytimes.com/1974/06/02/archives/psychiatrist-asserts-ruby-was-too-iii-for-67-trial.html [74] https://www.jfk.org/oral_histories/al-maddox/ [75] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMu87eralcE [76] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U77Rj46ncY8
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