Malcolm X‘s family is filing a lawsuit against several government entities saying several agencies played a key role in his assassination in 1965. The complaint, filed by Malcolm X’s daughters, names the CIA, FBI, DOJ and NYPD. According to the lawsuit, the federal agencies were aware of the credible threats facing their father, but nothing was done to stop the tragedy.
The family raised allegations against former FBI director J. Edgar Hoover, saying he allowed the agencies to illegally surveil Malcolm X. Hoover also purposely reduced Malcolm X’s protection, the lawsuit states. Additionally, the family said the agencies manipulated witnesses with false information and hid evidence they had about the assassination plot, TMZ reported.
What is the family asking for in the lawsuit?
The family is now asking for more than $100 million in damages.
Attorney Ben Crump stood with family members at a press conference and addressed the complaint, the Associated Press reported. Crump said he wants federal and city officials to read the lawsuit “and learn all the dastardly deeds that were done by their predecessors and try to right these historic wrongs.”
Malcolm X was speaking to several hundred people when he was assassinated at the Audubon Ballroom in Manhattan on Feb. 21, 1965. The civil rights hero died at age 39.
Two of the three men who were convicted for his death were exonerated in 2021
Investigators determined that the evidence against the two men was unreliable. The lawsuit from Malcolm X’s family states that law enforcement had a “corrupt, unlawful, and unconstitutional” relationship with “ruthless killers that went unchecked for many years.”
The family said the NYPD worked with federal law enforcement agencies to arrest Malcolm X’s security detail shortly before the assassination.
The NYPD also removed officers from the ballroom as Malcolm X prepared to make his appearance, the complaint adds. Malcolm X’s wife, Betty Shabazz, “and their entire family have suffered the pain of the unknown” for decades, the complaint states.
“They did not know who murdered Malcolm X, why he was murdered, the level of NYPD, FBI and CIA orchestration, the identity of the governmental agents who conspired to ensure his demise, or who fraudulently covered-up their role,” the lawsuit states. “The damage caused to the Shabazz family is unimaginable, immense, and irreparable.”
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