Three of Malcolm X’s daughters have filed a $100 million lawsuit on Friday, alleging that the CIA, FBI, New York Police Department, and other entities were complicit in the civil rights leader’s assassination in 1965.
The lawsuit, submitted in federal court in Manhattan, asserts that these agencies had knowledge of the conspiracy to assassinate Malcolm X and did not intervene to prevent his murder, alongside the claims made by the daughters and the Malcolm X estate.
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During a morning press conference, attorney Ben Crump stood alongside family members to discuss the lawsuit, expressing his hope that both federal and city officials would take the time to read the document “and learn all the dastardly deeds that were done by their predecessors and try to right these historic wrongs.”
Law enforcement agencies have yet to respond to inquiries regarding the lawsuit. Nicholas Biase, a spokesperson for the Department of Justice, which is also named in the suit, opted not to provide any comments.
For many years, the circumstances surrounding Malcolm X’s assassination have left more questions than answers. The civil rights leader was just 39 years old when he was killed on February 21, 1965, at the Audubon Ballroom on West 165th Street in Manhattan while addressing a crowd of several hundred. Originally born Malcolm Little in Omaha, Nebraska, he later adopted the name El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz.
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Three individuals were found guilty in connection with Malcolm X’s assassination, but in 2021, two of them had their convictions overturned after new investigations revealed inconsistencies in the evidence and that authorities had withheld critical information.
In their lawsuit, the family contends that the prosecution team concealed the government’s involvement in the assassination. They argue that there existed a “corrupt, unlawful, and unconstitutional” relationship between law enforcement and “ruthless killers that went unchecked for many years and was actively concealed, condoned, protected, and facilitated by government agents,” leading up to the murder of Malcolm X.
