YOUNG MANHOOD (1933-43)
San Francisco (1933-37)
Jack Ruby reported that in about 1933, he and several Chicago friends went to Los Angeles and, shortly thereafter, to San Francisco.[A16-119] Although there is evidence that he stayed there until 1938, 1939, or 1940,[A16-120] Ruby stated that he returned to Chicago in about 1937,[A16-121] and this appears to have been the case.[A16-122] Eva Grant testified that Ruby went to the west coast because he believed employment would be available there.[A16-123]
Eva, who married Hyman Magid in Chicago in 1930,[A16-124] was divorced in early 1934, and in about June of that year joined her brother Jack in San Francisco. She and her son, Ronald, shared an apartment with him. In 1936, Eva married Frank Granovsky, also known as Frank Grant, in San Francisco, and Ruby shared a four-room apartment with them and Ronald for a short while.[A16-125]
Occupations and Activities
Ruby stated that when he and his friends arrived in Los Angeles, they sold a handicapper’s tip sheet for horseraces at Santa Anita racetrack which had just opened.[A16-126] Eva Grant testified that Ruby also worked as a singing waiter in Los Angeles, but made very little money.[A16-127]
When the group moved to San Francisco, Ruby continued to sell “tip” sheets at Bay Meadows racetrack.[A16-128] Subsequently, he became a door-to-door salesman of subscriptions to San Francisco newspapers.[A16-129] Although there is some evidence that he ultimately became chief of his crew and had several people working under him,[A16-130] other reports indicate that this is unlikely.[A16-131] Eva Grant testified that she also sold newspaper subscriptions but was less proficient than her brother and relied upon him for advice and support.[A16-132]
Although virtually all his San Francisco acquaintances knew Jack Ruby as “Sparky,”[A16-133] there is no evidence that he engaged in violent activities in San Francisco or was reputed to possess a vicious temper. One friend, who stated that he resided with Ruby and Eva for about a year, described him as a “well-mannered, likable individual who was soft spoken and meticulous in his dress and appearance.”[A16-134] Another friend described him as a “clean-cut, honest kid,”[A16-135] and the manager of a crew with which Ruby worked stated that he had a good reputation and appeared to be an “honest, forthright person.” The crew manager reported that Ruby associated with a sports crowd, some of whose members were involved with professional boxing, but not with criminals. He added that Ruby had a personal liking for law enforcement and would have wanted to become a police officer had he been larger physically.[A16-136]
One friend reported that although Ruby always associated with Jewish people, he never exhibited great interest in religion.[A16-137] Ruby met Virginia Belasco, granddaughter of the prominent playwright and actor, David Belasco, in about 1936 at a dance at the Jewish community center in San Francisco. Miss Belasco stated that while a teenager she saw Ruby socially on several occasions between 1936 and 1941.[A16-138] The only other evidence concerning Ruby’s social activities while in San Francisco is his statement to his long-time girl friend, Alice Nichols of Dallas,[A16-139] that while in San Francisco he met the only other woman, Virginia Fitzgerald or Fitzsimmons, that he ever considered marrying.[A16-140]
Chicago (1937-43)
Jack Ruby stated that following his return to Chicago, he was unemployed for a considerable period.[A16-141] However, when his mother was admitted to Elgin State Hospital in 1937,[A16-142] she reported that he was employed as a “traveling salesman” apparently living away from home.[A16-143] Although there is conflicting evidence about his ability to earn a comfortable living,[A16-144] he apparently was able to maintain a normal existence[A16-145] and required no financial assistance from his family or friends. He continued to be a so-called “hustler,” scalping tickets and buying watches and other small items for resale at discount prices.[A16-146] One of his closest Chicago friends stated that Ruby’s sales and promotions were “shady” but “legitimate.”[A16-147]
Labor union activities.—Ruby reported that in “about 1937” he became active in Local 20467 of the Scrap Iron and Junk Handlers Union.[A16-148] At this time, his friend, attorney Leon Cooke, was the local’s financial secretary.[A16-149] Records provided by the Social Security Administration indicate that Ruby was employed by the union from late 1937 until early 1940;[A16-150] he worked as a union organizer and negotiated with employers on its behalf.[A16-151]
On December 8, 1939, the union’s president, John Martin, shot Cooke, who died of gunshot wounds on January 5, 1940; Martin was subsequently acquitted on the ground of self-defense.[A16-152] Although a Jack Rubenstein is mentioned in the minutes of a union meeting on February 2, 1940,[A16-153] and Ruby is reported to have said after Cooke’s death that he wanted to “take over” the union,[A16-154] the evidence indicates that Ruby was so upset by Cooke’s death that he was unable to devote himself further to union activities and left its employ.[A16-155] Ruby reported that after Cooke’s death he adopted the middle name “Leon,” which he used only infrequently, in memory of his friend.[A16-156]
Since Ruby was the ultimate source of all but one of these accounts,[A16-157] other descriptions of Ruby’s separation from the union cannot with certainty be deemed inaccurate. These reports indicated that Ruby might have been forced out of the union by a criminal group, or might have left because he lacked the emotional stability necessary for sucessful labor negotiations[A16-159] or because he felt he was not earning enough money with the union.[A16-160]
Although the AFL-CIO investigated the ethical practices of local 20467 in 1956, placed the local in trusteeship, and suspended Paul Dorfman, who succeeded Martin and Cooke, there is no evidence that Ruby’s union activities were connected with Chicago’s criminal element.[A16-161] Several longtime members of the union reported that it had a good reputation when Ruby was affiliated with it[A16-162] and employers who negotiated with it have given no indication that it had criminal connections.[A16-163]
Subsequent employment.—In 1941, Ruby and Harry Epstein organized the Spartan Novelty Co., a small firm that sold in various northeastern States small cedar chests containing candy and gambling devices known as punchboards.[A16-164] Earl Ruby and two of Jack Ruby’s friends, Martin Gimpel and Martin Shargol, were also associated in this venture. The group had no fixed addresses, living in hotels.[A16-165]
Late in 1941, Jack Ruby returned to Chicago, where he continued his punchboard business through the mails.[A16-166] Following the December 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor, he and several friends decided to design and sell plaques commemorating the Day of Infamy. However, the venture was impeded by Ruby’s perfectionistic approach to details of design which resulted in numerous production delays.[A16-167] By the time Ruby’s copyrighted plaque [A16-168] was finally ready for sale, the market was flooded with similar items.[A16-169] At about this time, Ruby also sold busts of Franklin Delano Roosevelt.[A16-170] In late 1942 and 1943, Ruby was employed by the Globe Auto Glass Co.[A16-171] and Universal Sales Co.[A16-172]
Although one of Ruby’s acquaintances at this time described him as a cuckoo nut on the subject of patriotism,[A16-173] the evidence does not indicate that Ruby’s promotion of “Remember Pearl Harbor” plaques and Roosevelt busts was motivated by patriotic or political considerations. Rather, the sale of these items was, to Ruby, just another commercial venture, but he might also have considered these sales “a good thing.”[A16-174] Numerous friends reported that Ruby had no interest in political affairs during this period,[A16-175] although he greatly admired President Roosevelt.[A16-176]
Other activities.—The evidence indicates that Ruby led a normal social life during these years. Virginia Belasco stated that while Ruby was selling punchboards in New York during November 1941, he entertained her each weekend.[A16-177] Other reports indicate that Ruby fancied himself a “ladies’ man,” enjoyed dancing, almost always had female accompaniment and was “very gentlemanly” with women.[A16-178]
Ruby, with several friends, frequently attempted to disrupt rallies of the German-American Bund.[A16-179] One acquaintance reported that Ruby was responsible for “cracking a few heads” of Bund members.[A16-180] Apparently he joined in this activity for ethnic rather than political reasons. The young men in the group were not organized adherents of any particular political creed, but were poolhall and tavern companions from Ruby’s Jewish neighborhood who gathered on the spur of the moment to present opposition when they learned that the pro-Nazi and anti-Semitic Bund movement was planning a meeting.[A16-181] Hyman Rubenstein testified that Ruby would fight with any person making derogatory comments about his ethnic origins, and others have stated that Ruby would fight with anyone he suspected of pro-Nazi or anti-Semitic tendencies.[A16-182]
During this period Ruby, though temperamental, apparently engaged in no unusual acts of violence. However, he did interfere on several occasions when he thought someone was treated unfairly. A friend who described Ruby as “somewhat overbearing regarding the rights and feelings of others,” reported that Ruby fought two college students who insulted a Negro piano player.[A16-183] Another friend reported that Ruby had a “bitter” fight with a man who was abusing an older woman.[A16-184]
Maintaining his friendship with Barney Ross, and still an ardent sports fan, Ruby associated with various figures in the boxing world and regularly attended the fights at Marigold Gardens.[A16-185] He frequented the Lawndale Poolroom and Restaurant, a rallying point for the anti-Bundists and chief “hangout” of many of Ruby’s friends.[A16-186] In addition, Ruby, described as a “health nut”[A16-187] who earnestly contended that he could hit harder than Joe Louis,[A16-188] exercised at several athletic clubs.[A16-189]
Despite Ruby’s participation in “shady” financial enterprises, his association with a labor union subsequently disciplined by the AFL-CIO, his participation in violent anti-Bund activities, and his connection with a poolroom, the evidence falls short of demonstrating that Ruby was significantly affiliated with organized crime in Chicago. Virtually all of Ruby’s Chicago friends stated he had no close connection with organized crime.[A16-190] In addition, unreliable as their reports may be, several known Chicago criminals have denied any such liaison.[A16-191] The Commission finds it difficult to attach credence to a newspaper reporter’s contrary statement that his undisclosed “syndicate sources” revealed Ruby was connected with organized crime and confidence games.[A16-192] Ruby was unquestionably familiar, if not friendly, with some Chicago criminals,[A16-193] but there is no evidence that he ever participated in organized criminal activity.