Three of civil rights activist Malcolm X’s daughters announced that they have filed a lawsuit against the CIA, FBI and the New York Police Department for their role in their father’s assassination.
Filed in a Manhattan federal court, the $100 million lawsuit claims that all of the named departments were aware of the plans to assassinate X, but failed to do anything to prevent the perpetrators from following through with their plans.
The lawsuit also claims that the NYPD, alongside the FBI and CIA, arrested X’s security team days before the assassination intentionally while the FBI agents undercover in the ballroom where the civil rights activist was killed also did nothing.
Represented by famed civil rights attorney Ben Crump, the daughters are alleging that the prosecution team attempted to hide the government’s involvement in X’s death. They also said that they were unable to file a lawsuit earlier because names were kept hidden from them. Nine causes of action were named in the legal documents, including excessive force and the “deliberate creation of danger.”
“This cover-up spanned decades, blocking the Shabazz family’s access to the truth and their right to pursue justice,” said Attorney Ben Crump in an official statement. “We are making history by standing here to confront those wrongs and seeking accountability in the courts.”
NEWS ALERT: The estate of Malcolm X has filed a lawsuit against the U.S. government, the DOJ, FBI, CIA, and NYPD, alleging these entities played a significant role in the events leading to X’s assassination and engaged in a cover-up to shield their involvement from the public. pic.twitter.com/aruwn61PIQ
— Ben Crump Law, PLLC (@BenCrumpLaw) November 15, 2024
On Feb. 21, 1965, X was murdered at the age of 39. While preparing to hold a speech for the Organization of Afro-American Unity at the Audubon Ballroom in Washington Heights, the civil rights icon was shot multiple times and was pronounced dead at 3:30 p.m. at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital.
Three men- Muhammad Aziz, Mujahid Halim and Khalil Islam- were convicted of the assassination.
In 2021, Aziz and Islam were exonerated after spending over 20 years in prison. The judge eventually ruled that their cases were those of “serious miscarriages of justices.”
The reinvestigation into their cases was launched by then-Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance who found that, when the men were tried, significant evidence such as FBI documents were withheld from presentation at the trial.
Two years after he was exonerated, Aziz announced that he filed his own lawsuit against the federal government, alleging that they concealed evidence that would have proven his innocence.
“This is the last chapter in a legal battle that’s gone on for almost 60 years, and holding the federal government accountable for its misconduct would be a fitting end to this saga,” said his attorney, David B. Shanies, per CNN.
