The drama continued. Before Oswald could be questioned, he himself was shot to death, before the disbelieving eyes of reporters, police officers and a nationwide television audience.
On November 24, two days after the death of John Kennedy, Oswald was being transferred from the Dallas police headquarters to a more secure county jail. As Oswald was brought into the crowded room, mobster and nightclub owner Jack Ruby emerged from the crowd and fatally wounded him with a single shot from a concealed .38 revolver. Ruby claimed he was enraged by the shooting of the president. He was charged with first degree murder.
Ruby experienced a troubled childhood in Chicago working as a door to door salesman and sometime ticket scalper. He served in the Army Air Force. In the late 1940s, he moved to Dallas, becoming a small time operator in the world of nightclubs and gambling. He ran up a series of minor offenses. He had a reputation as a name dropper and publicity seeker. He had no known political affiliations.
John Fitzgerald Kennedy had a dramatic and romantic life that was cut short in Dallas. Kennedy himself was supported in his election to the presidency by those boys-of-endless-sunshine, the Las Vegas Rat Pack: Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Joey Bishop and Peter Lawford. They lived in a world of showbiz, booze, and broads, and were among the few who could get away with onstage drinking. It was common at the Sands Hotel in Las Vegas for 34,000 people to share the glow of the singers, actors and comedians who thrived on hedonism, and in the shadow of organized crime.
Some assert that Frank Sinatra was the greatest blues singer of the 20th century. Years before the Kennedy election, Sinatra and Kennedy met at a Democratic rally where performers sang advocating religious and racial tolerance. Sinatra and Kennedy started spending time 
together at the singer's home in Palm Springs and the young senator's hotel suite in Washington. Peter Lawford, was Kennedy's brother-in-law; having married JFK's sister, Patricia, in 1954.
Article comments
1 - peter petterson
Of course Oswald was the tip of the iceberg, a patsy for organised crime and other shadowy figures. Kennedy and his brother were out to target rascism, and organised crime. The kennedy boys were not chips off the Joseph kennedy Snr figurehead.
JFK was as much loved Down Under as in America. We know he was contracted out of existence. Dallas was a hotbed of rascism too - Texans were and still are rascist from the blacks to latinos now.
2 - John Lake
Texas might have been more racist than some cities, back in the 20th century.
I hope that your native New Zealand is doing well in ending notorious discrimination toward the indigenous M?ori and non-M?ori Polynesians.
3 - pablo
What a load of crap this article is. Particularly in lieu of the House Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA)who over 35 years ago ruled that the assassination of JFK was more than likely the result of a conspiracy.
The author talks about the Texas Theater where Oswald was apprehended but makes no mention of another man that was taken by the police there.
No mention is made by John Lake of Oswald's numerous connections to both the FBI and the CIA, or the fact that during the height of the cold war, a so called defector from the USA could come back home and not be debriefed (bullied) by the FBI.
Nor does the author of this absurd article mention anything other than the official debunked Warren Commission pablum, or the fact that over 80% of the American people do no believe the official story to this day.
The one link that the author does provide in this article is to the Warren Report!
You should be ashamed of yourself Mr. Lake to write such obvious BULLSHIT 50 years later, when those of us that have taken the time to look deeply into this case know that the Warren Commission was a coverup. Hey I got an idea! Lets appoint to the Warren Commission Allen Dulles who was just fired by JFK! Give me a fucking break Lake.
4 - John Lake
Pablo you occasionally skim over an article and vent your wrath. You have not absorbed the material, and I do take interest in your suggestion of a connection of Oswald (did you mean Ruby?) to the FBI and CIA. In either case, that's news to me.
For your convenience, here is a copy of the Report of the Warren Commission.
THE ASSASSINATION of John Fitzgerald Kennedy on November 22, 1963, was a cruel and shocking act of violence...
5 - Igor
I remember the JFK assassination well. Even as a republican I was concerned that JFK went to Dallas because it was a hotbed of JFK hatred. He went to the lions den, so when he was shot I left work immediately to avoid the riot I expected to erupt. I discovered that my employer was anti-JFK when he refused to honor the day of mourning that followed.
Tempers were running very high in those days. No less vicious attacks than what we see today.
Most of us were glad when Oswald was fingered. If it had been a rightist there would have been an open revolution in America.
We knew that the Warren commission would issue a whitewash to pacify the populace. We fervently hoped for it.
Everyone had a conspiracy theory. My own conspiracy theory was quite simple: JFK was shot by American patriots (possibly the FBI and CIA) who were afraid that JFKs close ties with the Mafia made the USA susceptible to takeover by criminals. At that time he was deeply involved with Sam Giancanas playgirl empire, especially Judith Exner (Campbell?).
Probably not a good theory: nobody else ventured it. That's just the first thing that occurred to me. FWIW.
6 - John Lake
Thank you Igor. It seems that an impeachment in that situation would have been more reasonable than a murdering gunshot.
You do provide considerable insight. As it happens, I remember Sam Giancana.
7 - Igor
Impeachment seemed like a forbidden move at that time. We had impeached few presidents but assassinated several, so assassination seemed more likely. And JFK was openly threatened with violence, ala the "second amendment remedies" talked about today.
And the idea was re-enforced as gunshots rang out across the political arena in the 60's.
We were very bloodthirsty then. I remember the account of a young Kent state co-ed who protested to her Dad after the shootings: "But dad, it could have been me". And he replied "and you would have deserved it!".