The family of civil rights leader Malcolm X has filed a lawsuit against the CIA, FBI, and other agencies, accusing them of complicity in his assassination. The legal battle aims to uncover the truth behind the 1965 killing.
Three daughters of Malcolm X have initiated a lawsuit against the CIA, FBI, and New York Police Department, alleging that these agencies were complicit in the assassination of the prominent black activist.
The lawsuit, submitted to a Manhattan court on Friday, asserts that the CIA, FBI, and NYPD were aware of a plan to assassinate Malcolm X but failed to intervene. It alleges that the NYPD detained his security team just days prior to the assassination while undercover agents from the CIA and FBI — who were at the scene during his murder — did nothing as he was shot.
The lawsuit claims there was a “corrupt, unlawful, and unconstitutional” relationship between the agencies and “ruthless killers,” which remained unchecked for many years. It further accuses government agents of actively concealing, condoning, protecting, and facilitating this connection.
“We believe that they all conspired to assassinate Malcolm X, one of the most influential thought leaders of the 20th century,” civil rights attorney Ben Crump stated at a press conference on Friday. He is representing the family.
According to Crump, the agencies concealed their role in the killing for decades, “denying the Shabazz family access to the truth and their right to seek justice.”
Malcolm X gained prominence as the national spokesperson for the Nation of Islam (NOI), a Black Muslim group that views white people as “devils” and supports racial segregation. During his involvement with the NOI, he adopted the name el-Hajj Malik el-Shabazz but severed ties with them in the early 1960s.
In 1965, Malcolm X was assassinated as he prepared to give a speech in a New York ballroom. Initially, three members of the NOI—Muhammad Abdul Aziz, Khalil Islam, and Thomas Hagan—were accused of involvement in his murder. All were subsequently charged, tried, and convicted for the crime.
After spending more than 20 years behind bars, Aziz and Islam were exonerated in November 2021 and granted $36 million for their wrongful convictions. This turn of events followed the revelation by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office that both prosecutors and the FBI had withheld crucial evidence that could have proved their innocence.
In contrast to Martin Luther King, who advocated for racial integration in the US, Malcolm X championed complete separation between whites and blacks. He believed that black Americans were entitled to reparations and an independent state in the southern US. Initially, he urged his followers to consider violence if needed to achieve this objective; however, over time, he softened his stance and began collaborating with other civil rights organizations.
His support for segregation led him to form a loose alliance with the Ku Klux Klan, who advocated for racial separation from their perspective on America’s racial divide. Malcolm X also famously met with George Lincoln Rockwell, leader of the American Nazi Party, who expressed complete agreement with the Nation of Islam’s agenda of racial separation.
