Oswald in the doorway: the blog of the Oswald Innocence Campaign, by Ralph Cinque

I would like to do a comparison between the official story of what Jack Ruby did, and the alternate story that others claim, but not me. You know what I claim: that Jack Ruby didn't do anything; that he did not shoot Oswald; that he was framed and bamboozled; made to think that he shot Oswald by lawmen whom he admired and trusted.  

But, let's put that aside for now and look at these other stories. So, Officialdom says that Jack Ruby went to the Main St. ramp because the crowd gathered there roused his curiosity, and then he went down the ramp to the garage for no particular reason, and then when Oswald was brought out, Ruby had an overwhelming, irresistible and compulsive urge to shoot Oswald, and he did.

And that's it; it's the whole official story. But, what do most conspiracists say, those who dispute the official story?

The conspiracists say that it was NOT a sudden, irresistible urge that caused Ruby to shoot Oswald. They say he did it consciously, that he had it all planned out, and that he was ordered to do it and threatened with death- and the death of his loved ones if he didn't do it. 

Now, as to who threatened him, there it is divided. Some conspiracists say it was the Mafia, while others say it was the CIA through operatives like Frank Sturgis. But, let's look at the whole idea of Ruby shooting Oswald because he and his family were threatened with death. 

Note first that there is no direct or indirect evidence for it. There is no evidence that anyone threatened Ruby; it is merely an assumption. But, is it reasonable? 

No, it is not reasonable because nobody would actually do that: kill someone just because of a threat of death. I know it has happened in the movies, but I know of no instances that it has happened in real life. And I say nobody would do it. NOBODY would kill somebody just because of such a threat. 

Of course. I wouldn't. You know that, right? And you wouldn't either, right? If someone threatened to kill your wife and/or your kids unless you kill a third person, are you going to do it? Are you going to commit the murder? Of course not. And the people who claim that Ruby did know that they wouldn't do it either. And yet, they are so sure that Jack Ruby would. 

So, let's look at the threat and see if it has legs. So, Frank Sturgis goes to Ruby and says, "You kill Oswald, or I am going to kill your sisters." What does Ruby do? Well, he has a lot of friends at the Dallas PD. So, he goes to them and tells them about the threat. It is a crime to make such a threat. Besides being a form of blackmail, it represents the plotting of two murders: the murder of the person he wants dead; and the murder of whoever he is threatening to kill if his acquaintance doesn't do it. These are serious crimes. They are prisonable offenses. And the police would take them very seriously. 

So, what would the police do? The might go talk to the person and ask him if he made the threat. But, they would know that he would surely deny it. So, they might try to trap him by having the person who came to them go back and talk to the guy while wearing a wire, hoping that he incriminates himself. There are other tricks they could try, but, they would definitely take it seriously and act on it. 

And even if you think the corrupt Dallas Police would do nothing to help Ruby, he could still go back to Frank Sturgis and say, "I reported your threat to the Dallas Police, and they made a record of it. And if anything happens to either of my sisters, you are the first one they are going to look for and bring in."

So, let's say Ruby doesn't kill Oswald, and now it's too late. So, what does Frank Sturgis do? Well, he doesn't go kill Ruby's sisters. There is nothing in that for him. Killing someone is a pain in the ass, and it's very risky business. There is no guarantee you'll get away with it. And in this case, since Ruby told the police, Frank is the first person they will suspect and bring in. And then what? Frank has to lie to the police; he has to come up with a phony alibi; he has to hire a lawyer? And all for what? For performing a murder that gained him nothing?  Frank Strugis is not going to bother fulfilling his threat of killing either or both of Ruby's sisters. It was just an idle threat. And Ruby, if he had any brains at all, would have figured that out. But, in addition, he could have taken whatever measures he could think of to protect his sisters, including asking for police protection. But, he was certainly not going to kill anyone over the threat, and nobody would. You hear me? I said NOBODY.  Nobody, nobody, nobody, nobody, nobody! It's just Mafia movie stuff.

So, Ruby could not have shot Oswald on order of Frank Sturgis or the Mafia or anyone else. Furthermore, if Ruby had any thought whatsoever of killing Oswald, he would have shown up on time. And the only time ever given was 10 AM.

Now, you need to understand something: when the 10:00 deadline arrived and then passed, the Dallas Police didn't follow it with any other advisement. They did not say that the jail transfer was postponed until 11:20. They didn't say anything. It just became that it will happen when it happens. So, there is no way that anybody could have told Ruby to get there by 11:20. And that's because when 10:00 passed, nobody knew a thing. Nobody had any idea when it was going to happen. There is nobody who cued Ruby about the time, and there is no way anybody could have cued Ruby about the time because nobody knew the time. Are you following this? So, there was no way Ruby could have been acting on behalf of anybody. And again: it's because the only known time was 10 AM. There was no other.  

So, if Ruby planned to kill Oswald, either on his own accord, or on behalf of anyone else who threatened him, he surely would have shown up before 10:00. He would have made absolutely certain that he was there at 10. And the only way one can be certain of being there at 10 is to get there before 10. 

So, there is really no way that Ruby could have planned to shoot Oswald- neither for himself nor anyone else. 

Now, let's talk further about the time, and I am leaving the hypothetical now and going back to the real. There was no plan to do it at 11:20. In fact, there was no plan to do it at any designated time, not even 10. What they knew is that they had to get Ruby hustled up to the 5th floor before they could begin the pomp and circumstance of the televised event. So, all along, it was going to happen when it reached the point that it could, and that is all there ever was to it.  

So, do you know who set the timetable? It wasn't the Dallas Police. IT WAS JACK RUBY. And he did it unwittingly. THEY WERE WAITING FOR HIM. They were waiting for him to get there. They knew they couldn't put on the show until they dealt with him. If he had gotten there say 20 minutes earlier, then the televised event would have occurred at 11 AM instead of 11:20.  He was the one calling the shots on the time, not them. 

But, he did it unwittingly- bumbling, stumbling. He was heavily drugged. They had set up the lure by creating a reason for him to go downtown close to the PD- just a block away- the WU office. One of the drugs they got into him was probably scopolamine, which wipes out a person's resistance to suggestion. It's know as the "zombie drug," and Ruby did look and seem like a zombie after his arrest. An early report said he was mumbling incoherently. Of course, that wasn't repeated. You might way it was scratched from the record. And they must have had people on the street steering Ruby to the ramp. Maybe someone at WU made a glib remark, "You should go down there and see what's going on." That's all it would have taken if he was on scopolamine. And as for the people at the ramp, there was no reason for them to be there at all since it was an incoming ramp. Who were they waiting to see pull in? This was Oswald's day, and he was going out the other ramp. So, what were they doing there? They should not have even been there, and they were only there to coax Ruby down the ramp. And, it wouldn't have taken much. "Hey. Go on down there. Check it out." This happened before Ray Vaughn began his shift. It was probably about 10:15. 

So, the zombied Ruby went down the ramp, got jumped by police, was hurried up to the 5th floor and immediately stripped. From his clothes, they got his receipt from Western Union and replaced it with their phony one, which said he sent the wire at 11:17. The rest, as they say, is history. 

Now, you may not like that story, but it is the best, most plausible, most practical, and most reasonable story there is, with much greater credibility than the official story or the alternate story that conspiracists like to tell of the Mafia or the CIA forcing Ruby to do it. There is no evidence for that, and it does not hold up to scrutiny.