The family of Malcolm X has aligned with civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump and announced a lawsuit against the New York City Police Department and other government agencies. The suit alleges the entities covered up information related to Malcolm X’s murder.
According to CBS News, Crump and two of Malcolm X’s daughters, Qubilah Shabazz and Ilyasah Shabazz, held a news conference to provide “formal notice” to New York City, New York state, the district attorney’s office, the FBI, CIA, and other law enforcement agencies.
The $100 million lawsuit alleges the named “had factual evidence and exculpatory evidence that they fraudulently concealed from the men who were wrongfully convicted for the assassination of Malcolm X.”
In 2021 two of the three men convicted for Malcolm X’s murder were exonerated. A following investigation revealed Muhammad A. Aziz and the late Khalil Islam were wrongfully convicted. Mujahid Abdul Halim admitted to his part in the shooting and denied the other two men were involved.
During the Tuesday presser, crump questioned the actions of the government.
“The rhetorical question is this: if the government compensated the two gentlemen that were wrongfully convicted for the assassination of Malcolm X with tens of millions of dollars, then what is to be the compensation for the daughters who suffered the most from the assassination of Malcolm X?”
Crump added, “We intend to have vigorous litigation of this matter, to have discovery, to be able to take depositions of the individuals who are still alive, 58 years later, to make sure that some measure of justice can be given to Malcolm X’s daughters.”
Malcolm X was assassinated on Feb. 21, 1965, shot 21 times as he was about to speak during a civil rights event at the Audubon Ballroom in NYC. X’s daughters connected with crump after a former officer, Raymond Wood, wrote a death letter stating he “participated in actions that in hindsight were deplorable and detrimental to the advancement of my own black people” during his patrol on the day of Malcolm X’s assassination.
