The family of civil rights leader Malcolm X marked the anniversary of his assassination in 1965 on Tuesday by announcing plans to sue agencies including the CIA, FBI and New York Police Department, among others, for $100 million. dollars accusing them of playing a role in his death.
Two of his daughters, Ilyasah Shabazz and Qubilah Shabazz, orThey gave a press conference accompanied by attorney Ben Crump at the former Audubon Ballroom theater and ballroom in Manhattan, where Malcolm X died after being shot as a crowd gathered to hear him speak on February 21, 1965.
Questions about who was responsible for his death have circulated for decades.
Three men were convicted, but two of them were exonerated in 2021 after a new investigation showed that the evidence used to obtain the convictions was flimsy and that authorities had withheld certain information.
Ilyasah Shabazz, co-administrator of her father’s estate, filed notices of claim, which is the first step in the process, asserting that the agencies “conspired with each other and with other individuals and acted, and failed to act, in such a manner as to cause the death unfair Malcolm X”.
“For years, our family has fought for the truth to come out,” he said at the press conference. “We want justice for our father.”
Emails to the CIA, FBI, Justice Department and New York City Law Department seeking comment went unanswered. The Justice Department and the New York police declined to comment.
Crump mentioned the anniversary date, saying that since then “there has been speculation as to who was involved in the assassination of Malcolm X.”
He cited the 2021 exonerations and said government agencies, including the Manhattan district attorney’s office, the New York Police Department and the FBI, “had factual evidence, exculpatory evidence that they fraudulently concealed from the men who were wrongfully convicted of the murder of Malcolm X.”
Asked if he believes government agencies conspired to kill Malcolm, Crump replied: “That’s what we allege, yes. They infiltrated many civil rights organizations.”