JACK RUBY MOVING TOWARD OSWALD IN FRONT OF NEWSMAN IKE PAPPAS
PAPPAS DEPOSITION EXHIBIT 1
PAPPAS DEPOSITION EXHIBIT 2
Evaluation of activities.—Examination of Ruby’s activities immediately preceding and following the death of President Kennedy revealed no sign of any conduct which suggests that he was involved in the assassination. Prior to the tragedy, Ruby’s activities were routine. Though persons who saw him between November 22 and 24 disagree as to whether or not he appeared more upset than others around him, his response to the assassination appears to have been one of genuine shock and grief. His indications of concern over the possible effects of the assassination upon his businesses seem consistent with other evidence of his character.[C6-1107] During the course of the weekend, Ruby seems to have become obsessed with the possibility that the Impeach Earl Warren sign and the Bernard Weissman ad were somehow connected and related to the assassination. However, Ruby’s interest in these public notices was openly expressed and, as discussed below, the evidence reveals no connection between him and any political organization.
Examination of Larry Crafard’s sudden departure from Dallas shortly before noon on November 23 does not suggest that Ruby was involved in a conspiracy. To be sure, Crafard started hitchhiking to Michigan, where members of his family lived, with only $7 in his pocket.[C6-1108] He made no attempt to communicate with law enforcement officials after Oswald’s death;[C6-1109] and a relative in Michigan recalled that Crafard spoke very little of his association with Ruby.[C6-1110] When finally located by the FBI 6 days later, he stated that he left Ruby’s employ because he did not wish to be subjected to further verbal abuse by Ruby and that he went north to see his sister, from whom he had not heard in some time.[C6-1111]
An investigation of Crafard’s unusual behavior confirms that his departure from Dallas was innocent. After Oswald was shot, FBI agents obtained from the Carousel Club an unmailed letter drafted by Crafard to a relative in Michigan at least a week before the assassination.[C6-1112] The letter revealed that he was considering leaving Dallas at that time.[C6-1113] On November 17, Crafard, who had been receiving only room, board, and incidental expenses, told Ruby he wanted to stop working for him; however, Crafard agreed to remain when Ruby promised a salary.[C6-1114] Then on the morning of November 23, Ruby and Crafard had a minor altercation over the telephone.[C6-1115] Although Crafard did not voluntarily make known to the authorities his associations with Ruby, he spoke freely and with verifiable accuracy when questioned. The automobile driver who provided Crafard his first ride from Dallas has been located; his statement generally conforms with Crafard’s story; and he did not recall any unusual or troubled behavior by Crafard during that ride.[C6-1116]
Although Crafard’s peremptory decision to leave Dallas might be unusual for most persons, such behavior does not appear to have been uncommon for him. His family residence had shifted frequently among California, Michigan, and Oregon.[C6-1117] During his 22 years, he had earned his livelihood picking crops, working in carnivals, and taking other odd jobs throughout the country.[C6-1118] According to his testimony, he had previously hitchhiked across the country with his then wife and two infant children.[C6-1119] Against such a background, it is most probable that the factors motivating Crafard’s departure from Dallas on November 23 were dissatisfaction with his existence in Ruby’s employ, which he had never considered more than temporary, Ruby’s decision to close his clubs for 3 days, the argument on Saturday morning, and his own desire to see his relatives in Michigan. There is no evidence to suggest any connection between Crafard’s departure and the assassination of the President or the shooting of Oswald.
The allegations of Wanda Helmick raised speculation that Ruby’s Saturday night phone calls to Ralph Paul and Breck Wall might have concerned the shooting of Oswald, but investigation has found nothing to indicate that the calls had conspiratorial implications. Paul was a close friend, business associate, and adviser to Jack Ruby. Ruby normally kept in close telephone contact with Paul, who had a substantial sum of money committed to the Carousel Club.[C6-1120] Paul explained that Ruby called him Saturday evening once to point out his ads, another time to say that nobody seemed to be doing any business in downtown Dallas, and a third time to relate that both he and his sister were crying over the assassination.[C6-1121] Between two of those phone calls to Paul, Ruby telephoned to Galveston, Tex., to speak with Wall, a friend and former business associate who was an official of the American Guild of Variety Artists. Wall related that during that call Ruby criticized the Weinsteins for failing to close their clubs.
Having earlier made the same complaint to Lawrence Meyers to whom he mentioned a need “to do something about this” it would have been characteristic for Ruby to want to direct Breck Wall’s attention, as an AGVA official, to what he regarded as the Weinsteins’ improper conduct. The view that the calls to Wall and Paul could have had conspiratorial implications also is belied in large measure by the conduct of both men before and after the events of November 22-24. A check of long-distance telephone records reveals no suspicious activity by either man.[C6-1122] Paul, in fact, is not known to have visited Dallas during the weekend of the assassination except to appear openly in an effort to arrange counsel for Ruby within a few hours of the attack on Oswald. Neither the FBI nor the CIA has been able to provide any information that Ralph Paul or Breck Wall ever engaged in any form of subversive activity.[C6-1123]
Moreover, Mrs. Helmick’s reliability is undermined by her failure to report her information to any investigative official until June 9, 1964.[C6-1124] Although a sister-in-law confirms that Mrs. Helmick wrote her “something about a gun” shortly after the shooting,[C6-1125] the only mention of any statement by Paul which was included in a letter written by Mrs. Helmick after the Ruby trial was that Paul believed Ruby was “not in his right mind.”[C6-1126] No corroborating witness named by Mrs. Helmick has been found who remembers the conversations she mentioned.[C6-1127] Both Ruby and Paul have denied that anything was said, as Mrs. Helmick suggests, about a gun or an intent to shoot Oswald, and Wall has stated that Ruby did not discuss such matters with him.[C6-1128] Even if Mrs. Helmick is accurate the statements ascribed to Paul indicate only that he may have heard of a possible reference by Ruby to shooting Oswald. According to her, Paul’s response was to exclaim “Are you crazy?” But under no circumstances does the report of Mrs. Helmick or any other fact support a belief that Paul or Wall was involved in the shooting of Oswald.