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During the era when Jack the Ripper did his deeds there was much interest in the human organs, their function, and the potential for playing God by piecing a human together, with the best of this or that. DNA and the manner in which its influence permeates all parts of the body, or the difficulties doctors face when transplanting organs that soon are rejected by the new host, were unknown to doctors and scientists during that era. That the story of the Frankenstein Monster arose during that era is indicative of the interest in this subject. Where the story of a living monster, pieced together from body parts harvested from the dead or living, is fiction, the story of attempts to create such a monster is not fiction. There were many Dr. Frankensteins, and as doctors came from the upper classes during that era, they were well connected.
The identity of Jack the Ripper is not known to the public, but was known to the authorities, at least those who made the decision on whether to pursue a line of investigation or the path that investigation was to take. The influence the upper classes has on the police and regulatory agencies is not new, and pressure to look the other way or financial inducements have always been a facet of human society. The rumor that the perpetrator was royalty was spread to explain why the authorities had little luck. The common man could comprehend a reluctance to indict royalty, and that royalty would be able to suppress an investigation.
Jack the Ripper was not one man, but a group of scientists and doctors, actively pursuing in real life what Dr. Frankenstein was pursuing in fiction. Fresh corpses were routinely delivered to medical schools for autopsy practice and the training of students, so harvesting fresh organs from the recently deceased was not difficult. However, when those wishing to play God found that dead organs only resulted in a dead body, they sought living organs. Prostitutes were easy prey, as they could be relied upon to follow a client into a dark alley, willingly. Being the weaker sex, they also were anticipated to put up less of a struggle. Each failure to create life from dead or dying body parts was followed by yet another experiment, until the group finally despaired. Were they to have had success, however modest, Jack the Ripper might be with us still today, as at no time did the group feel any compunction to curtail their activities.