On this day in 1967, a man named Jacob Rubenstein died in a Dallas hospital. Only weeks earlier doctors discovered that Rubestein, aka Jack Ruby, the infamous killer of Lee Harvey Oswald, had terminal lung, liver, and brain cancer.
Jack Ruby was a Chicago native, born of Jewish parents. He was a troubled child who was raised by troubled, abusive parents. He spent his teenage years gambling on horse races and skipping out of high school. As a young man he became involved with a local garbage collectors' union that eventually fell under the umbrella of the Teamsters' Union. Apparently he attracted the attention of a "mob" boss because he was set up as manager of several night clubs and drinking establishments in Dallas, even though he had never lived in Dallas nor did he have any "legitimate" connections in the Dallas area.
Dallas police and the Dallas County sheriff soon became familiar with Jack Ruby, some because they handled him for minor liquor violations, and some because, to curry favor with the police, Ruby provided them with free liquor and dining, AND prostitutes. The police also believed Ruby had ties to the Mafia due to his sudden appearance in Dallas and his quick rise to manager of so many "mob controlled" drinking establishments. Still, Ruby was considered only a minor crime figure, and a police buff. His familiarity (and bribery) of so many police officers opened many doors for Ruby to high police officials, and more importantly, gave Ruby a virtually unlimited pass to the restricted areas of the Dallas Police Department. Thus Jack Ruby was able to be "the man on the spot" when Lee Harvey Oswald was led out of his cell and through the basement of the Dallas police station. An armored car was waiting for President Kennedy's killer, but Oswald never made it out of the halls of the police building. Jack Ruby fired a single shot from his snub-nose revolver, but it was a deadly hit, damaging Oswalds, spleen, stomach, kidney, aorta, and vena cava. Oswald died only an hour later, in the very same hospital that the President had succumbed to Oswald's bullet.*
One interesting fact I never new about Jack Ruby was that he was actually convicted of murdering Oswald. I had always thought Ruby died of cancer before his trial. In fact, Ruby had been in prison since 1964. But in 1967 the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals reversed Ruby's conviction because (among other things) Ruby's oral confession to Oswald's murder was illegally obtained and should not have been admitted in the original trial. That seems absurd to me, since a Pulitzer prize winning photograph had captured forever the very moment that Jack Ruby shot Lee Harvey Oswald. So even with a void confession, the evidence against Ruby was overwhelming. Ah, but Justice moves in mysterious ways...
So Jack Ruby died on this day in 1967, an innocent man, at least in the eyes of the law, his conviction having been thrown out by the highest criminal court in Texas. Cancer killed Jack Ruby. I had always believed that the Mafia had picked Jack Ruby to kill Oswald, since Ruby himself was dying, and thus had nothing to lose, so to speak. But apparently no one knew Ruby had cancer, perhaps not even Jack Ruby himself. Or, did he?
*I am not entering the conspiracy debate in this post for purposes of brevity, but I will say that I am a member of the conspiracy theorists who do not believe the "lone gunman theory," a theory which is belied by the multiple directions the President's head flies during the shooting.
Jack Ruby was a Chicago native, born of Jewish parents. He was a troubled child who was raised by troubled, abusive parents. He spent his teenage years gambling on horse races and skipping out of high school. As a young man he became involved with a local garbage collectors' union that eventually fell under the umbrella of the Teamsters' Union. Apparently he attracted the attention of a "mob" boss because he was set up as manager of several night clubs and drinking establishments in Dallas, even though he had never lived in Dallas nor did he have any "legitimate" connections in the Dallas area.
Dallas police and the Dallas County sheriff soon became familiar with Jack Ruby, some because they handled him for minor liquor violations, and some because, to curry favor with the police, Ruby provided them with free liquor and dining, AND prostitutes. The police also believed Ruby had ties to the Mafia due to his sudden appearance in Dallas and his quick rise to manager of so many "mob controlled" drinking establishments. Still, Ruby was considered only a minor crime figure, and a police buff. His familiarity (and bribery) of so many police officers opened many doors for Ruby to high police officials, and more importantly, gave Ruby a virtually unlimited pass to the restricted areas of the Dallas Police Department. Thus Jack Ruby was able to be "the man on the spot" when Lee Harvey Oswald was led out of his cell and through the basement of the Dallas police station. An armored car was waiting for President Kennedy's killer, but Oswald never made it out of the halls of the police building. Jack Ruby fired a single shot from his snub-nose revolver, but it was a deadly hit, damaging Oswalds, spleen, stomach, kidney, aorta, and vena cava. Oswald died only an hour later, in the very same hospital that the President had succumbed to Oswald's bullet.*
One interesting fact I never new about Jack Ruby was that he was actually convicted of murdering Oswald. I had always thought Ruby died of cancer before his trial. In fact, Ruby had been in prison since 1964. But in 1967 the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals reversed Ruby's conviction because (among other things) Ruby's oral confession to Oswald's murder was illegally obtained and should not have been admitted in the original trial. That seems absurd to me, since a Pulitzer prize winning photograph had captured forever the very moment that Jack Ruby shot Lee Harvey Oswald. So even with a void confession, the evidence against Ruby was overwhelming. Ah, but Justice moves in mysterious ways...
So Jack Ruby died on this day in 1967, an innocent man, at least in the eyes of the law, his conviction having been thrown out by the highest criminal court in Texas. Cancer killed Jack Ruby. I had always believed that the Mafia had picked Jack Ruby to kill Oswald, since Ruby himself was dying, and thus had nothing to lose, so to speak. But apparently no one knew Ruby had cancer, perhaps not even Jack Ruby himself. Or, did he?
*I am not entering the conspiracy debate in this post for purposes of brevity, but I will say that I am a member of the conspiracy theorists who do not believe the "lone gunman theory," a theory which is belied by the multiple directions the President's head flies during the shooting.
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