Jack Ruby Biography

Birth of Jacob Rubenstein

Ruby contributed $1,100 toward the lease of the Singapore Supper Club, the Dallas nightclub his sister Eva Grant was preparing to operate.

Opens the Singapore Supper Club

Federal narcotics agents interviewed Jack and Hyman Rubenstein after Paul Roland Jones was arrested; both brothers acknowledged knowing Jones but denied knowing about his narcotics activity.

Ruby briefly managed the Ervay Theater, a Dallas motion-picture house, during a period when nightclub operations were otherwise his principal business.

Ruby visited Havana in 1959 at the invitation of Lewis McWillie, who supervised gambling activities at the Tropicana Hotel; Ruby later described the trip as recreational.

Ruby traveled to New Orleans in June 1963 and recruited the stripper known as Jada to become a featured performer at the Carousel Club.

Ruby traveled to New York in August 1963 while dealing with American Guild of Variety Artists problems and seeking entertainment talent for his clubs.

Ruby assisted the producers of the carnival show "How Hollywood Makes Movies" when it appeared at the Texas State Fair in October 1963.

Ruby promoted his twistboard exercise device at the Texas Products Show during the first week of November 1963, using one of his dancers to demonstrate it.

Ruby telephoned an American Guild of Variety Artists representative in Chicago on November 20 to complain about competitors' striptease contests and amateur performances.

Around midnight after the evening of November 21, Ruby met Chicago businessman Lawrence Meyers and Meyers' relatives at the Bon Vivant Room of the Dallas Cabana.

Ruby distributed Carousel Club membership cards on November 21 as part of his routine promotional activity before the assassination.

On November 21, Ruby paid the rent for the Carousel Club premises while conducting routine business before President Kennedy arrived in Dallas.

Ruby ate dinner with his friend and financial backer Ralph Paul between about 9:45 and 10:45 p.m. on November 21.

Ruby consulted an attorney on November 21 about continuing problems with federal tax authorities and his nightclub tax liabilities.

Ruby conferred about a peace bond on November 21 that resulted from a dispute and fight involving one of his striptease performers.

Ruby spoke with Dallas County Assistant District Attorney William F. Alexander on November 21 about insufficient-funds checks written by one of Ruby's friends.

At 2:37 p.m. on November 22, Ruby telephoned boyhood friend Alex Gruber in Los Angeles and became emotional while discussing the assassination.

Ruby spoke by telephone with former girlfriend Alice Nichols on November 22 and expressed shock over President Kennedy's assassination.

After leaving the Dallas Cabana, Ruby returned to the Carousel Club, closed the establishment, and collected the night's receipts before visiting the Vegas Club.

After learning of Kennedy's death, Ruby telephoned his sister Eileen Kaminsky in Chicago; she later described him as crying and completely unnerved.

Shortly after 9 p.m., Ruby telephoned his brother Hyman and two sisters in Chicago and discussed his distress about events in Dallas.

At about 10:30 p.m., Ruby purchased eight kosher sandwiches and ten soft drinks after hearing that Dallas police officers were working overtime.

Ruby bought a large quantity of cold cuts at the Ritz Delicatessen after his sister Eva Grant reminded him to obtain food for the weekend.

Unable to cancel his newspaper advertisement, Ruby changed it to announce that the Carousel and Vegas clubs would remain closed for the weekend.

At the Dallas Morning News, Ruby criticized the black-bordered "Welcome Mr. Kennedy" advertisement and questioned the identity of its listed chairman, Bernard Weissman.

Around 4 a.m., Ruby visited the Dallas Times-Herald composing room, discussed seeing Oswald at the press conference, and spoke about closing his clubs.

Ruby introduced himself to Justice of the Peace David L. Johnston after the press conference and gave Johnston a Carousel Club business card.

Ruby said he visited Dealey Plaza on November 23, viewed memorial wreaths, and spoke with a police officer about the Texas School Book Depository.

During the Oswald press conference, Ruby joined reporters in correcting District Attorney Henry Wade when Wade mistakenly referred to the "Free Cuba Committee."

At Oswald's press appearance, Ruby corrected District Attorney Henry Wade when Wade mistakenly referred to the Fair Play for Cuba Committee as the Free Cuba Committee.

After the press conference, Ruby approached District Attorney Henry Wade, identified himself, and reminded Wade that he operated the Vegas Club.

Ruby helped KLIF obtain a telephone interview with District Attorney Henry Wade by locating Wade at police headquarters and bringing him to the telephone.

After leaving KLIF, Ruby showed reporter Russ Knight a "Life Line" radio script titled "Heroism" and discussed political hostility toward President Kennedy in Dallas.

Early on November 23, Ruby spent about an hour talking with dancer Kay Helen Coleman and Dallas police officer Harry Olsen about the assassination.

Around midnight, Ruby attended the Dallas police press conference where Lee Harvey Oswald briefly appeared before reporters and television cameras.

Ruby visited a post office seeking the identity of the person renting a box listed on an "Impeach Earl Warren" billboard, but an employee refused to provide the information.

At Sol's Turf Bar, Ruby argued about Dallas and the assassination and displayed photographs of the "Impeach Earl Warren" billboard he had investigated.

Arrested for the assassination of Lee Harvey Oswald

When Ruby was arrested immediately after the shooting, he told several witnesses that he helped the city of Dallas "redeem" itself in the eyes of the public, and that Oswalds death would spare Jacqueline Kennedy the ordeal of appearing at Oswalds trial. Carlin phones Ruby for him to wire her $25, had she not phoned, Ruby would not have been in downtown Dallas. Assassinates Lee Harvey Oswald

After midnight, Ruby visited the Pago Club, ordered a Coke, and questioned why the establishment remained open while the city mourned President Kennedy.

The State of Texas indicted Jack Ruby on November 26, 1963, for the murder of Lee Harvey Oswald.

The Warren Commission examined whether foreign or Cuban influence had any connection to Ruby's shooting of Oswald and reported no evidence establishing such influence.

A hearing on Ruby's request to move his murder trial outside Dallas began on February 10, 1964; the trial court ultimately refused the requested change of venue.

Ruby's lawyers argued that he could not have received a fair trial in the city of Dallas because of the excessive publicity surrounding the case. Following Ruby's March 1964 conviction for murder with malice, Ruby's lawyers, led by Sam Houston Clinton, appealed to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, the

highest criminal court in Texas

A Dallas jury found Ruby guilty of murdering Lee Harvey Oswald on March 14, 1964, and assessed the death penalty.

The Warren Commission finds that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone in the murder of Kennedy, and that Jack Ruby acted alone in the murder of Oswald

The Warren Commission concludes that Jack Ruby acted alone when he killed Lee Harvey Oswald.

Arrangements were underway for a new trial to be held in February 1967, in Wichita Falls, Ruby was admitted to Parkland Hospital in Dallas, suffering from pneumonia

Ruby made a final statement from his hospital bed that he and he alone had been responsible for the murder of Lee Harvey Oswald

Death of Jack Ruby, from a blood clot in the lungs

doctors realized he had cancer in his liver, lungs, and brain