Real Crime Stories/Paranormal Hauntings/Conspiracy Theories Book II

The Life of Jack Ruby

Jack Leon Ruby (born JacobLeon Rubenstein; April 25, 1911 – January 3, 1967) was anAmerican nightclub owner. He fatally shot Lee Harvey Oswald onNovember 24, 1963, while Oswald was in police custody after beingcharged with assassinating United States President John F. Kennedyand murdering Dallas policeman J. D. Tippit about an hourlater. A Dallas jury found him guilty of murdering Oswald, and he wassentenced to death. Ruby's conviction was later appealed, and he wasgranted a new trial. However, as the date for his new trial was beingset, Ruby became ill in prison and died of a pulmonary embolism fromlung cancer on January 3, 1967.

In September 1964, the WarrenCommission concluded that Ruby acted alone in killing Oswald. Variousgroups believed Ruby was involved with major figures in organizedcrime and that he killed Oswald as part of an overall plotsurrounding the assassination of Kennedy.

Childhood and early life

Jack Ruby was born Jacob LeonRubenstein, on March 25, 1911, in the Maxwell Street area ofChicago the son of Joseph Rubenstein and Fannie Turek Rutkowski (orRokowsky), both Polish-born Orthodox Jews from Sokołów. Ruby wasthe fifth of his parents' 10 surviving children. While he was growingup, his parents were often violent towards each other and regularlyseparated; Ruby's mother was eventually committed to a mentalhospital. His troubled childhood and adolescence was marked byjuvenile delinquency with time being spent in foster homes. At age 11in 1922, he was arrested for truancy. Ruby eventually skipped schoolenough times that he spent time at the Institute for JuvenileResearch. Still a young man, he sold horse-racing tip sheets andvarious novelties, then acted as a business agent for a local refusecollectors union that later became part of the InternationalBrotherhood of Teamsters (IBT).

From his early childhood, Ruby wasnicknamed "Sparky" by those who knew him. Hissister, Eva Grant, said that he acquired the nickname because heresembled a slow-moving horse named "Spark Plug" or"Sparky" in the contemporary comic strip BarneyGoogle. ("Spark Plug" debuted as a character in thestrip in 1922, when Ruby was 11.) Other accounts say that the namewas given because of his quick temper. In either event, Grant statedthat Ruby did not like the nickname Sparky, and was quick to fightanyone who called him that.

In the 1940s, Ruby frequented racetracks in Illinois and California. He was drafted in 1943 and servedin the U.S. Army Air Forces during World War II, working as anaircraft mechanic at U.S. bases until 1946. He had an honorablerecord and was promoted to Private First Class. Upon discharge, in1946, Ruby returned to Chicago.

In 1947, Ruby moved to Dallas where heand his brothers soon afterward shortened their surnames fromRubenstein to Ruby. The stated reason for this was that the name"Rubenstein" was too long and that he was "well known"as Jack Ruby. Ruby later went on to manage various nightclubs, stripclubs, and dance halls. He developed close ties to many Dallas Policeofficers who frequented his nightclubs, where he provided them withfree liquor, prostitutes and other favors.

Ruby never married and had no children. At the time of the assassination, Ruby was living with a maleroommate, George Senator, who referred to Ruby as "my boyfriend"during the Warren Commission hearing, but denied the two beinghomosexual lovers. Warren Commission lawyer Burt Griffin later toldauthor Gerald Posner: "I'm not sure if Senator was honestwith us about his relationship with Ruby. People did not advertisetheir homosexuality in 1963".