Malcolm X's family files $100M lawsuit alleging assassination conspiracy

Nov. 17 (UPI) -- The family of Malcolm X has filed a $100 million lawsuit against multiple agencies including the CIA and the FBI over the 1965 assassination of the civil rights icon in New York City.

Malcolm X was shot while delivering a speech at the Audubon Ballroom in Harlem in front of his wife and children by three gunmen using a sawed-off shotgun and semi-automatic pistol. He later died from his injuries at a local hospital.

Civil rights groups and the public have long suspected a conspiracy around his death that allegedly involved police and the government. Additionally, in a UPI report at the time by Stanley Scott, who was one of just two reporters in the room when Malcolm X was killed, the journalist detailed foreboding observations about attention to the Black leader's safety.

"Even before entering Harlem's Audubon ballroom Sunday to hear Malcolm X reveal an 'action program' for the Negro people, I suspected trouble," Scott wrote for UPI. Days earlier, Malcolm X himself had given the premonitory warning that "there is a conspiracy that leads to my death."

Thomas Hagan, also known by the name Talmadge Hayer, was tackled by the crowd while trying to flee the scene and was arrested. He later admitted to being involved in the assassination and was one of only three suspects who confessed to the crime.

The other two suspects who were arrested shortly after the assassination were Muhammad Abdul Aziz and Khalil Islam, who both denied being involved in the crime. All three were convicted of first-degree murder in March 1966 and sentenced to life in prison.

Aziz and Islam were exonerated in 2021 after a new investigation by the Manhattan District Attorney's Office, which was aided in its decision by new evidence and declassified documents showing that authorities withheld evidence that could have proven their innocence.

More than half a century later, the famed civil rights attorney Ben Crump believes he can help Malcolm X's six children finally receive justice and accountability for their father's death.

"It's been three years since we began our journey of seeking justice for Malcolm X," Crump said in a statement. "In that time, we've uncovered truth and evidence never unearthed before that will help clear the path toward accountability and will see the light of day in the courts!"

The complaint specifically alleges that the FBI under the notorious direction of J. Edgar Hoover, as well as other U.S. government agencies and the NYPD, were aware of serious and credible threats to Malcolm X's life and allowed the assassination to take place.

Crump's team asserted in the complaint that Hoover's FBI and the CIA collaborated with undercover agents within the Nation of Islam, a group Malcolm X had been a part of but left, to reduce his protection before the assassination.