With so much of the novel leading up to Oswald's fateful shooting of Kennedy, it's easy to overlook the subsequent shooting of Oswald himself by Jack Ruby. In real life, the question of what, if any, conspiracy existed to assassinate the president must also cover Ruby's shooting of Oswald. Many have pointed to Ruby's ties to mob activity as evidence that Ruby was approached by mob members and told to kill Oswald to keep him from talking. DeLillo's portrayal of Oswald as someone who was, in a way, tricked into participating in the assassination supports this. We read Oswald's thoughts as he exits the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository - he plans to tell the truth to the authorities, to reveal that he was set up and that he didn't actually kill the president. This would be a perfect opportunity for DeLillo to portray Ruby as in on the plot. But he doesn't. He simply has Ruby absolutely sickened by the president's death and in utter hatred of Oswald. After a brief talk with his friend Jack Karlinsky, he decides to shoot Oswald. No conspiracy there.
Or is there? After all, it's Karlinsky who suggests that Ruby kill Oswald, and the same conversation between the two Jacks reveals that Karlinsky had been discussing the situation with Carmine Latta, who, as we have already seen, is a shady figure with mob ties and a deep hatred of Kennedy. Just the kind of person who would have helped orchestrate the president's assassination and just the kind of person who would want Oswald dead to keep him from talking.
DeLillo does, then, seem to strongly imply that the idea for Ruby to kill Oswald originated with, or at least went through, Carmine Latta, but he doesn't definitively answer this part of the mystery the same way that he does the shooting of Kennedy. Why does DeLillo leave this question open? Is it because he wants the novel to focus on the Kennedy assassination itself? Is it because the structure of the novel keeps him from adequately answering the question? Whatever the reason, DeLillo provides an interesting conclusion to the plot - after going into extreme detail in his explanation of the shooting of Kennedy, he fails to even definitively answer who was in on the shooting of Oswald.
Yes: as with Oswald, DeLillo manages to have it both ways. Ruby is, as he claims, overcome with anger, grief, and patriotic sentiment. AND he's doing it on behalf of the mafia, who would really prefer it if this Oswald were silenced. And history supports both possibilities equally: Ruby WAS in debt and anxious about it, and he also was really upset about Kennedy. DeLillo posits a plausible scenario whereby Karlinsky (like Ferrie, with Oswald) is quite easily able to "tip the scales" by playing on Ruby's strong feelings AND making him an offer he can't refuse. (And he ends up playing Ruby, just as Ferrie played Oswald on behalf of Banister et al.)
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