Post by John Duncan on Mar 29, 2023 19:50:24 GMT -5
Part II -- Corruption: The Foundation for Murder
Corruption In Texas
"The art of the police is not seeing what there is no use seeing." --- Napoleon
The State of Texas was not without its share of police and political corruption
For example, several officials in Jefferson County, Beaumont and Port Arthur were indicted for corruption in 1962.
In Jefferson County, Sheriff Charles Meyer admitted receiving $85,581 in campaign contributions, although he ran for sheriff unopposed.
The Chief of Police of Port Arthur also had received $65,000 in "campaign contributions", although he was appointed, not elected.
Beaumont Police Chief J.H. Mulligan was paid $ 735 a month, but had $40,000 in the bank and owned $73,000 worth of property.
Such corruption was not limited to Police Chiefs and County Sheriffs.
Jefferson County District Attorney Ramie Griffin charged between $5,000 and $10,000 to "fix" a relatively unimportant case. (1)
Political corruption wasn't limited to city and county officials.
The Box 13 Scandal was a political scandal that occurred in Jim Wells County, Texas during the Senate election of 1948, regarding disputed votes in a Democratic Senate primary involving Lyndon B. Johnson and Coke Stevenson.
And political corruption was the motive behind the murder of USDA agent Henry Marshall in Texas in 1961.
Police Corruption In Dallas
Citing the lawyers for the Warren Commission, Manchester has written (but without expanding on the idea), "If we write what we really think (of the Dallas police), nobody will believe anything else we say." (1)
Dallas's municpal budget was only half of that of Boston. As a result, city employees were dependent on incentives awarded for their obedience and silence. Police were paid by the city leaders to carry out their orders. The District Attorney and municpal Judges were equally corrupt. (2)
As an example of how this system worked, the Dallas Citizen's Council voted a motion of confidence in Police Chief Curry for his "good work" on November 22, 1963.
Generally, police corruption comes in many forms, one of which is the acceptance by law enforcement officers of gratuities. Although not illegal, many departments frown on their officers receiving gifts or food for free because receiving such items can effect how an officer handles a certain situation.
For example, if an officer has a case involving someone who has given him gifts in the past, his judgement could be influenced in favor of that gift giver, even though that gift giver may be in the wrong.
In that sense, it may not be illegal to receive a gift, there is certainly a question of ethics involved.
But that didn't stop FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover from engaging in corrupt practices. From all-expense-paid free three-month vacations at oil man Clint Richardson's La Jolla Motel in California to no-lose investments in oil drilling operations, Hoover was the epitome of a corrupt law enforcement official.
One of these businessmen who lavished gifts on Dallas officials was a strip club owner named Jack Ruby.
According to ex-Ruby employees, many of the Dallas Police officers frequented Ruby's strip club. And not only police officers, but also county officials, including District Attorney Henry Wade.
These "customers" were fed drinks "on the house" and his gracious nature with booze and his providing women made Jack Ruby a popular figure with the police.
It was this cozy relationship, between Ruby and the police, that gave him carte blanche access to police headquarters and provided him with the opportunity to kill Oswald.
Jack Ruby And The Dallas Police
“Not all cops are bent, but all departments have bent cops.”― Abhijit Naskar, Karadeniz Chronicle: The Novel
From the time of Oswald's arrest, police headquarters was off limits to anyone except police officers and reporters.
While the hallway on the third floor (the location of the Homicide Bureau) was mobbed, reporters were required to produce identification before being allowed into the building.
Pete Fisher was a photographer for UPI and told the FBI that, "on the evening of November 22, 1963...uniformed officers were checking credentials of newsmen on the first floor of the Police and Courts Building before newsmen were allowed to take the elevator to the third floor. Fisher said that after arrival on the third floor, all newmen's credentials were checked again by uniformed police officers." (25 H 178)
Ronald Jenkins, a KBOX radio reporter , told the FBI that on that same evening, the 22nd, he saw Jack Ruby on the "third floor of the police station". (25 H 178-179)
Photographs of the third floor hallway prove Jenkins was correct as Ruby can be seen milling around in the hallway as Jenkins described.
How did Ruby get through two different ID checkpoints, one on the first floor and one on the third floor?
According to witnesses, security on Sunday, the 24th was no less.
In that same FBI interview Jenkins said that on November 24th, that he, "observed policemen, both in uniform and in civilian clothing checking the identification of persons entering the police department." and that style="font-size:x-large;"]"his idenitfication was checked on several occasions". (Ibid.)
Meaning police were checking IDs of newsmen even though they were already in the building.
And Not Only Newsmen.
Carl Thompson was an installer for Southwestern Bell who was called to the police station to install more phone lines in Chief Curry's office. At 10:30 am, he rode the elevator from the third floor down to the basement. When he arrived in the basement, "he was required to identify himself by an unknown officer in police uniform by exhibiting his telephone company identification card. The officer also looked through his tool pouch." (24 H 410)
This is not the description of the type of security that allows a man to walk down a ramp unseen and unchallenged. A man who Chief Curry claimed was known by only four Dallas Police officers.
This is the kind of security that is tight for those not known to police.
The fact that Jack Ruby could penetrate this security and make it all the way up to the third floor indicates, in spite of their denials, indicates that he had a special relationship with the Dallas Police and DA Wade.
And that relationship provided the opportunity to use Ruby to ambush Oswald in the basement of Police Headquarters.
Friday Night: A Missed Opportunity?
As previously mentioned, Ruby was seen on the third floor of Police Headquarters. Photographic and video evidence supports that.
The Warren Comission's Own Exhibits Show It.
And those same exhibits show that Ruby was in the showup room for DA Henry Wade's Press Conference that preceeded the "Midnight Press Conference" of Lee Harvey Oswald on Friday night.
Ruby corrected Wade when Wade mistakenly said that Oswald was a member of the Free Cuba Committee. Ruby corrected him by saying it was the Fair Play for Cuba Committee.
How did Ruby know that? According to him, he heard it on KLIF radio.
In his interview with FBI Agent C. Ray Hall, Ruby admitted carrying his revolver with him on Friday night. Hall's report says that, "Ruby said that he had his revolver in his right front trouser pocket all during this evening, November 22 and 23, except when he went to church services." (20 H 52)
In that same interview, Ruby told SA Hall that, "a number of officers of the Dallas Police Department knew he had a gun. He recalled that a number of times police officers had taken him out of jail and given his gun back to him. He did not recall the names of these officers." (20 H 55)
Ruby testified that before the "Midnight Press Conference", he was in a hallway with Oswald and was no more than 2 or 3 feet away from him. (5 H 188)
This would have been a perfect time to kill Oswald. Police had not yet developed evidence against him for assassinating the President and the timing would have saved police the trouble of a) arraigning him without evidence and b) presenting that evidence in a court trial.
But Ruby's failure to kill Oswald on Friday night forced the Dallas Police to do just that: to arraign Oswald for assassinating the President without any evidence against him.
The reason why Ruby didn't kill Oswald on Friday night is because he had not yet been instructed to do so.
Once Ruby was given the "contract" to kill Oswald, Fritz's job was to make sure Oswald was wide open and could not escape his fate. By leaving Oswald wide open, Fritz also made sure that Ruby's shot did not endanger any of his own men or the members of the press.
Ruby's Connection With Henry Wade
Mr. DULLES. You hadn't known him before?
Mr. WADE. I had never known him, to my knowledge. (5 H 223)
"I met Henry Wade sometime back, and I knew he would recognize me" (Testimony of Jack Ruby, 5 H 189)
Tom Brown, an attendant at the Nichols parking Garage (adjacent to the Carousel Club ), believed that at about 1:30 p.m. he heard Ruby mention Chief Curry's name in a telephone conversation from the garage.
Garnett C. Hallmark, general manager of the garage, then heard Ruby address someone at the other end of the telephone as "Ken" and caught portions of a conversation concerning the transfer of Oswald. Hallmark said Ruby never called Oswald by name but used the pronoun "he" and remarked to the recipient of the call, "you know I'll be there."
Ken Dowe, a KLIF announcer....confirmed that he was probably the person to whom Hallmark and Brown overheard Ruby speaking. In one call to Dowe, Ruby asked whether the station knew when Oswald would be moved and, in another, he stated he was going to attempt to locate Henry Wade. (Report, pg 346)
Observing Ike Pappas, (a reporter for New York radio station WNEW) holding a telephone line open and attempting to get the attention of District Attorney Wade, Ruby directed Wade to Pappas, who proceeded to interview the district attorney.
Seth Kantor testified that Ike Pappas told him that "the D.A. seemed to know Mr. Ruby". (15 H 91)
Ruby then called KLIF....and offered to secure an interview with Wade; he next summoned Wade to his phone, whereupon KLIF recorded a telephone interview with the district attorney.
A few minutes later, Ruby encountered Russ Knight, a reporter from KLIF who had left the station for the police department at the beginning of Ruby's second telephone call. Ruby directed Knight to Wade and waited a short distance away while the reporter conducted another interview with the district attorney. (Ibid., pg 342, 15 H 364)
Russ Knight testified......."he seemed to know Wade". (15 H 268)
Ruby drove to the Dallas Times-Herald, where he talked for about 15 minutes with composing room employee Roy Pryor, who had jug finished a shift at 4 a.m...Pryor testified that Ruby explicitly stated to him that he believed he was in good favor with the district attorney. (WCR pg. 344)
Fredric Rheinstein, a Producer-Director for NBC News, testified that...Ruby was alleged to have stolen a chicken dinner intended for the news crew members and was seen with it going into a third floor office where Henry Wade was working. Ruby later came out, followed by Wade 10 minutes later. Rheinstein testified that the cameraman and stage manager said that Ruby told them that he "knew Wade personally and he could get some information for us or he could get him to come out and talk to us". (15 H 356-357)
Ruby stole the chicken dinner for Henry Wade to eat.
As has already been mentioned, according to ex-Ruby employee Nancy Hamilton, Wade was a patron of Ruby's strip club and drank there for free.
Wade and Ruby knew each other.
Ruby's coziness with the Dallas D.A. and Police made him the perfect one to kill Oswald before custody of him transferred to the County Sheriff.
All that was needed was the opportunity.
Coming In Part III: A Lack Of Security
Notes:
(1) Farewell America, James Hepburn, Frontiers Publishing Company, 1968, pg. 345
(2) ibid., pg. 346
Corruption In Texas
"The art of the police is not seeing what there is no use seeing." --- Napoleon
The State of Texas was not without its share of police and political corruption
For example, several officials in Jefferson County, Beaumont and Port Arthur were indicted for corruption in 1962.
In Jefferson County, Sheriff Charles Meyer admitted receiving $85,581 in campaign contributions, although he ran for sheriff unopposed.
The Chief of Police of Port Arthur also had received $65,000 in "campaign contributions", although he was appointed, not elected.
Beaumont Police Chief J.H. Mulligan was paid $ 735 a month, but had $40,000 in the bank and owned $73,000 worth of property.
Such corruption was not limited to Police Chiefs and County Sheriffs.
Jefferson County District Attorney Ramie Griffin charged between $5,000 and $10,000 to "fix" a relatively unimportant case. (1)
Political corruption wasn't limited to city and county officials.
The Box 13 Scandal was a political scandal that occurred in Jim Wells County, Texas during the Senate election of 1948, regarding disputed votes in a Democratic Senate primary involving Lyndon B. Johnson and Coke Stevenson.
And political corruption was the motive behind the murder of USDA agent Henry Marshall in Texas in 1961.
Police Corruption In Dallas
Citing the lawyers for the Warren Commission, Manchester has written (but without expanding on the idea), "If we write what we really think (of the Dallas police), nobody will believe anything else we say." (1)
Dallas's municpal budget was only half of that of Boston. As a result, city employees were dependent on incentives awarded for their obedience and silence. Police were paid by the city leaders to carry out their orders. The District Attorney and municpal Judges were equally corrupt. (2)
As an example of how this system worked, the Dallas Citizen's Council voted a motion of confidence in Police Chief Curry for his "good work" on November 22, 1963.
Generally, police corruption comes in many forms, one of which is the acceptance by law enforcement officers of gratuities. Although not illegal, many departments frown on their officers receiving gifts or food for free because receiving such items can effect how an officer handles a certain situation.
For example, if an officer has a case involving someone who has given him gifts in the past, his judgement could be influenced in favor of that gift giver, even though that gift giver may be in the wrong.
In that sense, it may not be illegal to receive a gift, there is certainly a question of ethics involved.
But that didn't stop FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover from engaging in corrupt practices. From all-expense-paid free three-month vacations at oil man Clint Richardson's La Jolla Motel in California to no-lose investments in oil drilling operations, Hoover was the epitome of a corrupt law enforcement official.
One of these businessmen who lavished gifts on Dallas officials was a strip club owner named Jack Ruby.
According to ex-Ruby employees, many of the Dallas Police officers frequented Ruby's strip club. And not only police officers, but also county officials, including District Attorney Henry Wade.
These "customers" were fed drinks "on the house" and his gracious nature with booze and his providing women made Jack Ruby a popular figure with the police.
It was this cozy relationship, between Ruby and the police, that gave him carte blanche access to police headquarters and provided him with the opportunity to kill Oswald.
Jack Ruby And The Dallas Police
“Not all cops are bent, but all departments have bent cops.”― Abhijit Naskar, Karadeniz Chronicle: The Novel
From the time of Oswald's arrest, police headquarters was off limits to anyone except police officers and reporters.
While the hallway on the third floor (the location of the Homicide Bureau) was mobbed, reporters were required to produce identification before being allowed into the building.
Pete Fisher was a photographer for UPI and told the FBI that, "on the evening of November 22, 1963...uniformed officers were checking credentials of newsmen on the first floor of the Police and Courts Building before newsmen were allowed to take the elevator to the third floor. Fisher said that after arrival on the third floor, all newmen's credentials were checked again by uniformed police officers." (25 H 178)
Ronald Jenkins, a KBOX radio reporter , told the FBI that on that same evening, the 22nd, he saw Jack Ruby on the "third floor of the police station". (25 H 178-179)
Photographs of the third floor hallway prove Jenkins was correct as Ruby can be seen milling around in the hallway as Jenkins described.
How did Ruby get through two different ID checkpoints, one on the first floor and one on the third floor?
According to witnesses, security on Sunday, the 24th was no less.
In that same FBI interview Jenkins said that on November 24th, that he, "observed policemen, both in uniform and in civilian clothing checking the identification of persons entering the police department." and that style="font-size:x-large;"]"his idenitfication was checked on several occasions". (Ibid.)
Meaning police were checking IDs of newsmen even though they were already in the building.
And Not Only Newsmen.
Carl Thompson was an installer for Southwestern Bell who was called to the police station to install more phone lines in Chief Curry's office. At 10:30 am, he rode the elevator from the third floor down to the basement. When he arrived in the basement, "he was required to identify himself by an unknown officer in police uniform by exhibiting his telephone company identification card. The officer also looked through his tool pouch." (24 H 410)
This is not the description of the type of security that allows a man to walk down a ramp unseen and unchallenged. A man who Chief Curry claimed was known by only four Dallas Police officers.
This is the kind of security that is tight for those not known to police.
The fact that Jack Ruby could penetrate this security and make it all the way up to the third floor indicates, in spite of their denials, indicates that he had a special relationship with the Dallas Police and DA Wade.
And that relationship provided the opportunity to use Ruby to ambush Oswald in the basement of Police Headquarters.
Friday Night: A Missed Opportunity?
As previously mentioned, Ruby was seen on the third floor of Police Headquarters. Photographic and video evidence supports that.
The Warren Comission's Own Exhibits Show It.
And those same exhibits show that Ruby was in the showup room for DA Henry Wade's Press Conference that preceeded the "Midnight Press Conference" of Lee Harvey Oswald on Friday night.
Ruby corrected Wade when Wade mistakenly said that Oswald was a member of the Free Cuba Committee. Ruby corrected him by saying it was the Fair Play for Cuba Committee.
How did Ruby know that? According to him, he heard it on KLIF radio.
In his interview with FBI Agent C. Ray Hall, Ruby admitted carrying his revolver with him on Friday night. Hall's report says that, "Ruby said that he had his revolver in his right front trouser pocket all during this evening, November 22 and 23, except when he went to church services." (20 H 52)
In that same interview, Ruby told SA Hall that, "a number of officers of the Dallas Police Department knew he had a gun. He recalled that a number of times police officers had taken him out of jail and given his gun back to him. He did not recall the names of these officers." (20 H 55)
Ruby testified that before the "Midnight Press Conference", he was in a hallway with Oswald and was no more than 2 or 3 feet away from him. (5 H 188)
This would have been a perfect time to kill Oswald. Police had not yet developed evidence against him for assassinating the President and the timing would have saved police the trouble of a) arraigning him without evidence and b) presenting that evidence in a court trial.
But Ruby's failure to kill Oswald on Friday night forced the Dallas Police to do just that: to arraign Oswald for assassinating the President without any evidence against him.
The reason why Ruby didn't kill Oswald on Friday night is because he had not yet been instructed to do so.
Once Ruby was given the "contract" to kill Oswald, Fritz's job was to make sure Oswald was wide open and could not escape his fate. By leaving Oswald wide open, Fritz also made sure that Ruby's shot did not endanger any of his own men or the members of the press.
Ruby's Connection With Henry Wade
Mr. DULLES. You hadn't known him before?
Mr. WADE. I had never known him, to my knowledge. (5 H 223)
"I met Henry Wade sometime back, and I knew he would recognize me" (Testimony of Jack Ruby, 5 H 189)
Tom Brown, an attendant at the Nichols parking Garage (adjacent to the Carousel Club ), believed that at about 1:30 p.m. he heard Ruby mention Chief Curry's name in a telephone conversation from the garage.
Garnett C. Hallmark, general manager of the garage, then heard Ruby address someone at the other end of the telephone as "Ken" and caught portions of a conversation concerning the transfer of Oswald. Hallmark said Ruby never called Oswald by name but used the pronoun "he" and remarked to the recipient of the call, "you know I'll be there."
Ken Dowe, a KLIF announcer....confirmed that he was probably the person to whom Hallmark and Brown overheard Ruby speaking. In one call to Dowe, Ruby asked whether the station knew when Oswald would be moved and, in another, he stated he was going to attempt to locate Henry Wade. (Report, pg 346)
Observing Ike Pappas, (a reporter for New York radio station WNEW) holding a telephone line open and attempting to get the attention of District Attorney Wade, Ruby directed Wade to Pappas, who proceeded to interview the district attorney.
Seth Kantor testified that Ike Pappas told him that "the D.A. seemed to know Mr. Ruby". (15 H 91)
Ruby then called KLIF....and offered to secure an interview with Wade; he next summoned Wade to his phone, whereupon KLIF recorded a telephone interview with the district attorney.
A few minutes later, Ruby encountered Russ Knight, a reporter from KLIF who had left the station for the police department at the beginning of Ruby's second telephone call. Ruby directed Knight to Wade and waited a short distance away while the reporter conducted another interview with the district attorney. (Ibid., pg 342, 15 H 364)
Russ Knight testified......."he seemed to know Wade". (15 H 268)
Ruby drove to the Dallas Times-Herald, where he talked for about 15 minutes with composing room employee Roy Pryor, who had jug finished a shift at 4 a.m...Pryor testified that Ruby explicitly stated to him that he believed he was in good favor with the district attorney. (WCR pg. 344)
Fredric Rheinstein, a Producer-Director for NBC News, testified that...Ruby was alleged to have stolen a chicken dinner intended for the news crew members and was seen with it going into a third floor office where Henry Wade was working. Ruby later came out, followed by Wade 10 minutes later. Rheinstein testified that the cameraman and stage manager said that Ruby told them that he "knew Wade personally and he could get some information for us or he could get him to come out and talk to us". (15 H 356-357)
Ruby stole the chicken dinner for Henry Wade to eat.
As has already been mentioned, according to ex-Ruby employee Nancy Hamilton, Wade was a patron of Ruby's strip club and drank there for free.
Wade and Ruby knew each other.
Ruby's coziness with the Dallas D.A. and Police made him the perfect one to kill Oswald before custody of him transferred to the County Sheriff.
All that was needed was the opportunity.
Coming In Part III: A Lack Of Security
Notes:
(1) Farewell America, James Hepburn, Frontiers Publishing Company, 1968, pg. 345
(2) ibid., pg. 346