Law Commentary - California Edition
Malcolm X’s Family Files Lawsuit Against F.B.I., C.I.A., and New York City Police, Alleging the Agencies Obstructed Murder Investigation and Failed to Protect Him
The family of Malcolm X, led by his daughter Ilyasah Shabazz, filed a civil lawsuit in Manhattan federal court Friday, claiming law enforcement deliberately failed to protect Malcolm X, then obstructed investigations to identify his killers.
Malcolm X was assassinated sixty years ago in New York City, at the Audubon Ballroom, where a crowd of supporters including his family looked on as he was shot and killed. Malcolm X’s daughter and other family members filed the new lawsuit alleging the New York City Police, C.I.A. and F.B.I. all were responsible for his murder.
The complaint alleges that authorities in the three agencies at the time knew about credible threats against the famous Black civil rights leader.
A few days before the assassination, police arrested Malcolm X’s security team. As stated in court documents, the three agencies “failed to intervene on his behalf” and “intentionally removed their officers from inside the ballroom” despite the threats made against Malcolm X.
Furthermore, the suit alleges that after Malcolm X’s murder, the three agencies worked within a “fraudulent concealment and cover-up” in numerous ways, such as not informing his family of intelligence and stymieing the investigation to find his murderer.
Speaking at a news conference in New York City after the suit was filed, Ms. Shabazz said, “It has taken us a long time to get to this point.” Notice of intent to file a claim was filed nearly two years ago, as previously reported in Law Commentary at the time.
Since Malcolm X’s murder, his family, the press, and historians have shared doubts about the authorities’ reports regarding the murder and the suspects convicted at the time. Two convicted suspects, Muhammad A. Aziz and Khalil Islam, were exonerated after serving twenty years in prison. A third suspect, Thomas Hagan, was paroled in 2010.
A joint investigation by the attorneys for Mr. Aziz and Mr. Islam with the Manhattan District Attorney’s office reported that the F.B.I. had withheld “key evidence” at the time of the murder. The same report said that the agencies knew of the threats targeting Malcolm X by the Nation of Islam. In fact, a few days before Malcolm X’s murder, someone threw a firebomb into his home, in the children’s nursery, where his four daughters were at the time. Luckily, the family escaped without injury.
The suit is seeking “in excess of $100 million” in damages.
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