"A fascinating blend of courtroom drama and legal analysis." -The Wall Street Journal "Clear, straightforward writing and superb research that pays attention to tension as well as humor make this riveting courtroom drama that feels as alive as it did it 1963." -NPR "Abrams and Fisher mine transcripts and news coverage to dramatize the trial as it unfolded... a bright spotlight on well-worn ground." -Kirkus Reviews "“An engrossing, lively and expertly crafted courtroom drama filled with colorful characters and having significant resonance for the present.” -The Washington Post “A fresh, detailed look at Jack Ruby and his trial…. Followers of all things regarding the JFK assassination will be fascinated by this account of one of the most unique trials of the twentieth century.” – Booklist “Dan Abrams is a favorite author of mine because of his storytelling ability and how he makes history come alive. His latest book recounts the trial of Jack Ruby, who shot Lee Harvey Oswald in cold blood. The trial adds color and texture to the lawyers, courtroom, and historical events.” –Forbes “Abrams and Fisher’s narrative is crisp and clear, yet able to deliver a riveting courtroom drama for their readers.” –Virginia Gazette “The book will fascinate nonfiction courtroom drama readers and JFK assassination buffs still looking for a conspiracy link between Oswald and Ruby.” –Library Journal Praise for Dan Abrams and David Fisher "Dan Abrams and David Fisher write the heart-pounding pulse of history.” — Diane Sawyer on Lincoln’s Last Trial “Abrams and Fisher do a superb job of clearly presenting the issues in this remarkable and intensely dramatic trial.” — Scott Turow on Theodore Roosevelt for the Defense “Abrams and Fisher are gifted writers, and their prose is neither overly spare nor showy; they're clearly fascinated by the trial, and their enthusiasm for their subject matter shows.” — NPR on Theodore Roosevelt for the Defense "The authors do a remarkable job of spinning the court transcripts into a fascinating tale of intrigue and underscoring the men and the issues at play." — Fredericksburg Book Review on John Adams Under Fire
Features & Highlights
NOW A NATIONAL BESTSELLER
New York Times
bestselling authors Dan Abrams and David Fisher bring to life the incredible story of one of America’s most publicized—and most surprising—criminal trials in history.
No crime in history had more eyewitnesses. On November 24, 1963, two days after the killing of President Kennedy, a troubled nightclub owner named Jack Ruby quietly slipped into the Dallas police station and assassinated the assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald. Millions of Americans witnessed the killing on live television, and yet the event would lead to questions for years to come.It also would help to spark the conspiracy theories that have continued to resonate today.Under the long shadow cast by the assassination of America’s beloved president, few would remember the bizarre trial that followed three months later in Dallas, Texas. How exactly does one defend a man who was seen pulling the trigger in front of millions? And, more important, how did Jack Ruby, who fired point-blank into Oswald live on television, die an innocent man?Featuring a colorful cast of characters, including the nation’s most flamboyant lawyer pitted against a tough-as-Texas prosecutor, award-winning authors Dan Abrams and David Fisher unveil the astonishing details behind the first major trial of the television century. While it was Jack Ruby who appeared before the jury, it was also the city of Dallas and the American legal system being judged by the world.
Customer Reviews
Rating Breakdown
★★★★★
30%
(214)
★★★★
25%
(178)
★★★
15%
(107)
★★
7%
(50)
★
23%
(163)
Most Helpful Reviews
★★★★★
1.0
AENUPAWD2HGU6XGL3YUT...
✓ Verified Purchase
This book is absolute trash as it traffics in one of the greatest lies in world history
This book is absolute garbage because it traffics in one of the greatest lies in world history: that a lone nut killed JFK and there was no conspiracy in either the murder of JFK or that of completely innocent CIA patsy Lee Harvey Oswald. The authors slander Lee Harvey Oswald with the murder of JFK, a ridiculous assertion that ignores the Zapruder film and endorses the ludicrous Magic Bullet Theory.
May I give this book a Zero Star rating?
Then the authors defame Oswald yet again, pinning the murder of Officer J.D. Tippit on him – that never happened either. Then the authors on p. 23 slander Oswald again saying that he shot at Gen. Edwin Walker in April, 1963. That never happened either and Gen. Walker contacted the HSCA and said that the bullet in evidence in this case was not the one that was pulled out of the wall of his study: meaning the bullet was a plant into the evidence and it was planted to frame Oswald for the Walker murder attempt.
A good example of how STUPID THIS BOOK IS, the authors of this book refer to ROGER STONE as “an author and former high ranking official in the administration of Richard Nixon.” Roger Stone was born in 1952; I wonder what kind of “high ranking” post Stone had in the Nixon Administration when he was 22 years old? Roger Stone was a college student who went to work for CREEP and then he became an aide to Nixon in his disgraced retirement.
If you want to know who murdered JFK, it was Lyndon Johnson who was acutely aware of the secret Kennedy program to destroy him in the fall with coordinated media exposes and a Senate Rules Committee investigation into LBJ's gargantuan corruption. LBJ and his elite Texas powerbrokers used their CIA/military intelligence connections to murder JFK: many books and web pages on those topics!
The authors totally blow who Joe Tonahill was. Joe Tonahill, the Ruby lawyer, was a plant on the Ruby defense team by Ed Clark, the not so secret political boss of Texas (see Texas Monthly's "Death of a Fixer", and Clark's blood brother in elite crime Lyndon Johnson. Tonahill was put there to keep Ruby quiet and make sure he got convicted, got the death penalty, got executed and was completely wiped off the face of the Earth so that Lyndon Johnson’s role in the murder of JFK and Lee Harvey Oswald would not be exposed.
Notice how the Judge in this case Joe Brown made every ruling in favor of the prosecution INCLUDING not allowing for a change of venue. That is smoking gun proof that the fix was in to get Ruby convicted (he was guilty as sin, I agree) and given the death penalty (which he was). Jack Ruby later died of an embolism and I fully agree with Jack Ruby that the Government was trying to inject him with cancer cells in order to kill him.
Now it is time to tell you some stuff that is not in this garbage can of a book: what really happened with the Jack Ruby trial.
In 1970 LBJ’s law firm of Clark, Thomas & Winters defended Jack Ruby’s lawyer Joe H. Tonahill in an income tax evasion case! The investigation of Tonahill began in October of 1962! LBJ lawyer and fixer Ed Clark owned and controlled Joe Tonahill.
[Ed Clark, who was Lyndon Johnson's inner circle blood brother and lawyer for decades, represented Jack Ruby's lawyer Joe Tonahill in the years just before the JFK assassiation. Joe Tonahill was put in to control Ruby so no one would know who sent him to kill Oswald. LBJ pal Abe Fortas represented Bobby Baker in the fall of 1963. LBJ lawyer John Cofer represented Mac Wallace in 1952. LBJ lawyer John Cofer represented Billie Sol Estes who was Lyndon Johnson's #1 cash cow for illegal money. In all cases those lawyers were protecting LYNDON JOHNSON and not the interests of their criminal clients.]
See: United States v. Joe H. Tonahill, 430 F.2d 1042 (5th Cir. 1970)
Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
Filed: August 13th, 1970
Precedential Status: Precedential
Citations: 430 F.2d 1042
Docket Number: 29426
430 F.2d 1042
70-2 USTC P 9511
Too bad the authors Dan Abrams and David Fisher don’t tell you what Jack Ruby *really though* about the JFK assassination – that Lyndon Johnson murdered JFK.
Jack Ruby called Lyndon Johnson a “Nazi” of the worst order” and said that if JFK had picked Adlai Stevenson instead of LBJ, Kennedy would still be alive.
A year after his conviction, in March 1965, Ruby conducted a brief televised news conference in which he stated: "Everything pertaining to what's happening has never come to the surface. The world will never know the true facts of what occurred, my motives. The people who had so much to gain, and had such an ulterior motive for putting me in the position I'm in, will never let the true facts come above board to the world." When asked by a reporter: "Are these people in very high positions Jack?", he responded "Yes."
Jack Ruby also said to his jailer: "Now there're going to find out about Cuba, the guns, New Orleans and everything"
Jack Ruby (Oswald's assassin) makes a statement to reporters after he has been permitted a new trial. He says :
Everything pertaining to what's happening has never come to the surface. The world will never know the true facts, of what occurred, my motives. The people had , that had so much to gain and had such an ulterior motive for putting me in the position I'm in, will never let the true facts come above board to the world.
Reporter : Are these people in very high positions Jack ??
Jack : Yes.
Why has nobody seen this footage at the time it was shot? Because certain people with enough power didn't want you to see it. Just like they didn't want you to see the Zapruder film. Imagine what would have happened if the american public was shown just both of these films.
Other quotes of Jack Ruby that are on film:
"Gentlemen, I want to tell the truth, but I cannot tell it here. If you want a fair shake out of me, you have to take me to Washington"
"When I mentioned about Adlai Stevenson, if he was vice president there would never have been an assassination of our beloved President Kennedy " Asked if he would explain it again Ruby continued "Well the answer is the man in office now" - that man was Lyndon Johnson.
Jack Ruby fingers Lyndon Johnson for JFK Assassination, Jack Ruby:
"First, you must realize that the people here want everyone to think I'm crazy...isn't it strange that Oswald...should be fortunate enough to get a job at the Texas Schoolbook Depository Building two weeks before...Only one person could have had that information, and that man was Johnson...because he was the one who was going to arrange the trip...The only one who gained by the shooting...They alone planned the killing, by they I mean Johnson and others...you may learn quite a bit about Johnson and how he has fooled everyone..." 1
Some of the killers who actually fire alone planned the killing, by they I mean Johnson and others...you may learn quite a bit about Johnson and how he has fooled everyone.
Jack Ruby was a descendent of White Russia as well and he was a known
Solidarists (anti-Communist) like George DeMohrenschildt. Ruby would also
accuse LBJ of being involved in the assassination while in jail. In
letters smuggled from jail, Jack Ruby constantly said that Nazis and
Fascists were behind the Kennedy murder. Ruby was much more
knowledgeable about the conspiracy than most. He would be quoted as
saying the following:
"The world has the right to hear the truth."
He said newsman should search "in the high sources of our political
government" to find out how Oswald got a job at the Depository on the
motorcade route; said that the full story of the assassination would
not come out because "unfortunately some people in high places had so
much to gain by putting me in this position", and when asked to
elaborate on this, said that the results of the lie detector test had
not been divulged, and said that there was a "terrible conspiracy"
behind Kennedy's death and he, Ruby, "happened to be a scapegoat to
walk into a trap and make that possible."
"...if Adlai Stevenson had been Vice President, Kennedy would still be
alive today."
Ruby wrote that Johnson "found me as the perfect setup for a frame.
Remember they had the President killed, and now with me in the
picture, they'll make it look as though Castro or the Russians had it
done. Remember the only one who had all to gain was Johnson himself.
Figure that out. "
Jack Ruby to Al Maddox while he was in jail:
"In order to understand the assassination, you have to read the book 'A Texas Looks at Lyndon.'"
Google:
QUOTE
After he shot Lee Harvey Oswald, Jack Ruby’s psychosis was diagnosed by the same CIA doctor who had once killed an elephant with psychedelics
UNQUOTE
MKULTRA researcher Dr. Jolyon West wanted to continue his mind control experiments at the same time he was treating Ruby. Some researchers in the JFK assassination community are aware of the fact that one of the doctors that treated Jack Ruby was none other than Louis Jolyon West, a figure equally infamous for allegedly killing an elephant with LSD and for his work in MKULTRA - the Central Intelligence Agency’s infamous interrogation, hypnosis, and mind control program. An analysis of available documents from the CIA’s declassified archives and the recovered MKULTRA files shows that not only did West want to continue his work with the Agency during the period he was treating Ruby, the University he researched at thought that’s exactly what he was doing.
In a UPI article published by the New York Times, Sharp reveals the the University performed LSD tests on animals in the 1960s, which included the time period when West killed Tusko the elephant with LSD (and other drugs). According to an Associated Press article, the university president believed that this referred to the research that had been conducted by West. According to the same article, West said that he received funds from the Geschickter Fund sometime “before coming to Oklahoma.” Surviving MKULTRA documents and his resume show that he began MKULTRA work with money from the “Geschickter Foundation for Medical Research” in 1955 - the year he came to the University of Oklahoma.
West also said that his LSD research was limited to animals, although it’s known from the recovered documents that he worked with humans. While he publicly denied being aware that the project was CIA funded, documents show that he was explicitly aware of it and he was in direct contact with the CIA project heads.
Not surprisingly, authors Abrams and Fisher make no reference to Mel Barney's incredibly important book Four Wars and its mention of Jack Ruby. Mel Barney reveals Jack Ruby received secret military clearance to fly CIA-Texas Instruments test flights that were testing low altitude flying (to evade radar detection).
QUOTE
Texas Instruments had already developed a secret system (now declassified) that would safely and automatically fly high-speed military aircraft at altitudes as low as 200 feet above the ground. (Below radar detection altitude.) The CIA was responsible for locating nuclear development and launch sites in Russia and Cuba. Soon after CIA U-2 Pilot Gary Powers was shot down on May 1, 1960 at an altitude 74,000 feet, the Texas Instruments System was purchased by the CIA to provide the functions formerly assigned to the highflying U-2 aircraft. The system was classified US military secret and a ’need to know’ was required before anyone was allowed to observe demonstration flights. I (Mel Barney) was the program manager for the development of this automatic terrain following system. I still have the original flight log for the development of this system. The log shows the date, pilot, and observers of each of these very dangerous flights over both flatlands and mountains. The system was quickly put into production and various versions of the system was installed on the McDonnell RF-4C, General Dynamics F-111, LTV A-7, Grumman A-6, C-130 and several other military aircraft. Several of these military aircraft were responsible for finding the Russian missile sites in Cuba that initiated the Cuban Missile Crisis. Information included in the original flight log identifies all of the people who were able to get the secret clearance and the ‘need to know’ that was required to observe these low-level dangerous flights. On September 1, 1962, Jack Ruby, who Mel recognized, received military secret clearance and a ‘need to know’ to fly on two of these flights. Jack Ruby was then allowed to observe flights over the Appalachian Mountains west of Washington DC.