(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) Malcolm X’s family slapped the CIA, DOJ, FBI and NYPD with a $100 million lawsuit, alleging these government entities conspired in the civil rights leader’s assassination.
The family, along with attorney Ben Crump, held a press conference Friday where they claimed the discovery of new evidence tying federal and local authorities in Malcolm X’s murder. They had initially announced the lawsuit in 2023.
“This cover-up spanned decades, blocking the Shabazz family’s access to the truth and their right to pursue justice,” Crump claimed in a press statement. “We are making history by standing here to confront those wrongs and seeking accountability in the courts.”
Today, we stand together for a momentous cause: to seek justice on behalf of Malcolm X from the U.S. government, DOJ, FBI, CIA, and NYPD — who we allege played key roles in X’s assassination and covered up their involvement for decades! We will confront these wrongs and seek… pic.twitter.com/9zjXdoXaVj
— Ben Crump (@AttorneyCrump) November 15, 2024
Malcolm X, a proponent of “Black Nationalism,” was killed on Feb. 21, 1965, in front of his wife, Betty Shabazz, and their daughters. He was 39 years old. Three men—Muhammad A. Aziz, Khalil Islam and Mujahid Abdul Halim—were arrested and convicted of his murder.
Aziz and Islam were exonerated in 2021 after the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office found evidence the FBI and the NYPD had withheld evidence that would have led to their acquittal, according to The New York Times.
Crump alleged that these entities failed to provide security for Malcolm X in the weeks leading up to his assassination. He accused the J. Edgar Hoover-led FBI of “actively conspiring to reduce his protection and leaving him vulnerable to an attack they knew was imminent.”
Crump added, “Despite knowing the gravity of the threats, the FBI failed to protect Malcolm X, instead actively compromising his safety by arresting his security team days before his assassination, removing security officers from the ballroom where he was killed, and not approving permits allowing him to purchase a firearm.”
Ilyasah Shabazz, Malcolm X’s daughter, invoked her mother’s name during the press conference: “We fought primarily for our mother, who was here,” Shabazz stated, according to ABC News. “My mother was pregnant when she came here to see her husband speak; someone who she just admired totally and to witness this horrific assassination of her husband…”
