Who killed John F. Kennedy?

Encyclopedia of Opinion

Question: Who killed John F. Kennedy?
Position‹3 of 5›: The mafia killed JFK
Argument1 of 3›: Jack Ruby

Jack Ruby murdered Lee Harvey Oswald, proving that he was working as part of a larger organization.

The argument

On November 24, 1963, Lee Harvey Oswald was being moved to a different prison when he was shot and killed by Jack Ruby. The timing is what proponents of this position build on: the death was unexpected, it removed the only person in custody for the assassination, and it has sparked conspiracy theories ever since — among them the claim that Oswald was tied to the mob through Jack Ruby. Ruby's own account was that he had murdered Oswald impulsively, out of grief and because he didn't want Jackie Kennedy to have to return to Dallas for a trial. That explanation divided opinion. To some, Ruby is seen as a hero for killing Kennedy's assassin; others were angry Oswald was shot precisely because it meant he never testified. Both reactions register the same underlying fact: whatever Ruby's motive, the effect of the shooting was to close the record before it could be made. Since Oswald died so shortly after the assassination, investigators don't know a lot of information about his motives, and the gap has never been filled. It is that gap the mafia theory is offered to explain. Some conspiracists believe Ruby killed Oswald to cover him from revealing names, or the details of a huge plan to assassinate Kennedy — reading the killing not as an outburst but as a silencing carried out under cover of one. Given Ruby's ties to mob leaders, proponents hold this theory is plausible, since those ties supply both a party with a reason to want Oswald quiet and a route by which the instruction could have reached the man who shot him. On this reading Jack Ruby most likely assassinated Oswald in order to prevent him from ever revealing his motives, and the mafia is the actor best placed to have wanted that outcome.

Premises

[P1]Jack Ruby killed Lee Harvey Oswald before Oswald could testify or reveal his motives for assassinating Kennedy. [P2] Ruby had documented ties to mob leaders, giving the mafia a means to silence Oswald through him. [P3] Silencing Oswald so quickly is best explained by a coordinated effort to conceal the identities and plans of those behind the assassination. [C] Therefore, the mafia most likely orchestrated JFK's killing, using Ruby to eliminate Oswald and protect the conspiracy.

Counter-arguments

It cannot be confirmed that Jack Ruby was working with the mafia at the time of Kennedy's assassination. He was known to have minor ties to the mob previously due to owning multiple strip clubs and dance halls in Dallas. Additionally, Ruby officially testified to have shot Oswald because he was overwhelmed with grief for the Kennedy family, and not as part of a larger cover up. It cannot be confirmed that the mafia had any connections to JFK's assassination.

Rejecting the premises

[Rejecting P3] Jack Ruby claimed to kill Oswald because he was grieving.