In a landmark legal move, three daughters of Malcolm X have filed a $100 million lawsuit against the CIA, FBI, the New York Police Department and other agencies, accusing them of being complicit in the 1965 assassination of the iconic civil rights leader.
The lawsuit, filed on Friday in Manhattan federal court, claims that these agencies not only knew about the plot to kill Malcolm X but also failed to stop it, according to The Associated Press. The plaintiffs — along with the Malcolm X estate — argue that these powerful institutions played active roles in his assassination and conspired to cover up their involvement.
Civil Rights attorney Ben Crump, known for his advocacy in high-profile cases, expressed the hope that the lawsuit would bring long-overdue justice saying he hoped federal and city officials would read it “and learn all the dastardly deeds that were done by their predecessors and try to right these historic wrongs.”
For decades, the question of who was responsible for Malcolm X’s death has loomed without many answers. The revered activist, born Malcolm Little in Omaha, Nebraska, and later known as El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz, was shot and killed on February 21, 1965, at the Audubon Ballroom in Harlem. At just 39 years old, his life was tragically cut short while addressing a crowd of supporters.
While three men were initially convicted for his murder, two of them were exonerated in 2021 after a new investigation revealed shaky evidence and questionable practices by law enforcement. The family’s lawsuit now contends that the government intentionally suppressed crucial details about the role of the NYPD, FBI and CIA in the assassination.
As the lawsuit reads, the Shabazz family, including Malcolm’s widow, Betty Shabazz, has endured the pain of not knowing who was behind the plot to take his life — nor why they did it. The family’s suffering, they argue, is a direct result of a deep and ongoing conspiracy to conceal the truth.
“They did not know who murdered Malcolm X, why he was murdered, the level of NYPD, FBI, and CIA orchestration, or the identity of the governmental agents who conspired to ensure his demise,” the lawsuit states. “The damage caused to the Shabazz family is unimaginable, immense and irreparable.”
The federal agencies named in the suit have yet to respond publicly to the legal action, and a spokesperson for the Department of Justice declined to comment, The Associated Press reports.