JFK Facts

Tag Archive for Gail Raven

Ex-flame says Jack Ruby ‘had no choice’ but to kill Oswald

August 2, 2019jeffmorleyAssassination, Best of, News, Popular262 comments

“Gail Raven,” an exotic dancer in the southwestern United States in the 1960s, became friends with Jack Ruby.

Who says new JFK witnesses can’t be found?

After JFK Facts recounted Jack Ruby’s pursuit of an exotic dancer named Gail Raven in January 1963, I received a message from a woman who identified herself as Raven’s daughter. She told me that her mother was still alive, and she confirmed that her mother and Jack Ruby were close. I asked her if her mother would share her memories of the man who killed accused assassin Lee H. Oswald. She said yes.

In 1963 Gail Raven was the stage name of a precociously mature 20-year-old woman who danced on the national nightclub circuit that included Ruby’s Carousel Club in Dallas. Ruby (born Jack Rubenstein) was a Chicago tough guy who took a shine to her, and they became friends.

Now close to 70 years old, Gail Raven is living in the southern United States. I have confirmed her real name but have agreed not to publish it here to protect her privacy.

The hit man and the mobster: Jack Ruby and Santos Trafficante

August 31, 2014Arnaldo M. FernandezAssassination, Question129 comments

Why did Jack Ruby kill Lee Oswald?

JFK Facts Top 5 for the month of May

May 30, 2014jeffmorleyAssassination, News3 comments

Usually, we recap the Top 5 JFK stories of the week on Friday, but as the end of the month nears, it’s time to take a look at the bigger picture: What are the best-read JFK stories in May?
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JFK Facts Top 5: Oswald’s wallet fascinates

May 2, 2014jeffmorleyAssassination, Popular97 comments

The runaway winner of the best-read JFK Facts story for the second week in a row is Bill Simpich’s investigation of Oswald’s wallet.

The Top 5: Read more

JFK Facts Top 5: Opening Oswald’s wallet

April 25, 2014jeffmorleyAssassination, News2 comments

John Judge

The runaway winner of the best read story of the week was Bill Simpich’s inquiry into the curious case of Oswald’s wallet.

Readers also gravitated to three stories about the late John Judge, founder of Coalition on Political Assassinations.

The Top 5: Read more

JFK Facts Top 5: Oswald and the theologians

April 18, 2014jeffmorleyAssassination, NewsOne comment

The single most popular story on JFK Facts for the week of April 10-17 recounted how Lee Oswald apparently fired a rifle shot at Gen. Edwin Walker, a right-wing firebrand and critic of JFK, in April 1963. The second most popular story linked United Methodist minister Lance Moore and theologian James Douglass as a unique type of JFK author:

The top five:

JFK Facts Top 5: Comments and recommendations

April 4, 2014jeffmorleyAssassination, NewsNo comments

While the site was under construction, readers flocked to Comment Editor Peter Voskamp’s directive to the commenting crowd, and perennially popular pages about Gail Raven’s memories of her friend Jack Ruby, about secret CIA files and about the best JFK websites.

These were the most-read stories from March 27 to April 3: Read more

JFK Facts Top 5: Stories with legs

March 21, 2014jeffmorleyAssassination, News27 comments

Cops runs to the grassy knoll

Readers responded to Sunshine Week in Washington by making our story about secrecy around JFK records the favorite story of the week. In self-referential twist, last week’s Top 5 Countdown was the second most popular story of the week thus landing in this week’s countdown. And for the 2nd week in a role the story of cops gravitating to the grassy knoll in the aftermath of JFK’s assassination came in at number 5. As we say in the journalism business, that story has legs.

JFK Facts Top 5: Stories about evidence find favor

March 14, 2014jeffmorleyAssassination, Popular98 comments

U.S Attorney Ron Machen changes the government’s story.

The story of how the U.S. Attorney in Washington DC made a small but significant change to the government’s accounting of the whereabouts of undercover CIA officer George Joannides in 1963 was the most viewed JFK Facts story for the week of March 6-13.

That story, like popular stories about Douglas Horne’s take on the medical evidence and sound engineer Ed Primeau’s work on the Air Force One tapes, is based on granular examination of facts and their pattern.

It seems that readers want evidence, not theories.
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JFK Facts Top 5: Readers flock to unanswered NSA questions

March 7, 2014jeffmorleyAssassination, News12 comments

Last week’s post about the possibility of NSA targeting JFK Web sites for “cognitive infiltration”–and the NSA’s refusal to respond to questioning–was the most popular story of the week, followed closely by Rick Bauer’s recollections of his friend David Ferrie.

Gail Raven’s ever-popular recollections about her friend Jack Ruby fell to third place.

And the winners are: