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Malcolm X's family intend to file $100M lawsuit saying NYC, state and feds conspired to kill icon
By
Samantha Max
Published Feb 21, 2023
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Samantha Max / Gothamist
By
Samantha Max
Published Feb 21, 2023
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Malcolm X's family is claiming that federal, state and New York City officials conspired to kill the civil rights leader and then covered it up with a botched investigation. They filed court papers on Tuesday, the 58th anniversary of the assassination, alerting the government agencies about their intent to file a $100 million wrongful death lawsuit.
“For years, our family has fought for the truth to come concerning his murder,” Malcolm X’s daughter, Ilyasah Shabazz, said at a press conference in Washington Heights, in the room where she watched her father get shot during a speech. “We’d like our father to receive the justice that he deserves.”
Spokespeople for the Manhattan district attorney's office, the state attorney general and the U.S. Department of Justice did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The city Law Department and the NYPD declined to comment.
Muhammad A. Aziz and Khalil Islam were convicted of the murder in 1966 and spent a combined 42 years in prison. The two were exonerated in 2021, following a review by the Manhattan district attorney’s office, the Innocence Project, and Shanies Law Office. The city agreed last fall to pay them each $13 million. It was one of a handful of multimillion-dollar sums the NYPD agreed to pay out last year for decades-old wrongful conviction cases.
Prominent civil rights attorney Ben Crump, the family's lawyer, said government officials set both men up to be wrongfully convicted for Malcolm X’s murder by withholding evidence that could have proven their innocence. Crump said information was concealed intentionally to hide what they believe was the government’s role in the killing.
With a lawsuit, Crump said, the family would have the opportunity to uncover troves of information that have been hidden from them and the rest of the public for decades.
Multiple historians and investigative journalists have scrutinized the case against Aziz and Islam, noting that law enforcement had no physical evidence linking the men to the scene of the shooting. Both claimed that they were home with their families when Malcolm X was killed. Another man, Mujahid Abdul Halim, also admitted that he fired at the civil rights leader and claimed that Aziz and Islam were innocent.
“There are many things that will be put forth in our lawsuit that speaks to this factual evidence — things that many people have speculated over the decades but were not substantiated,” Crump said. “We believe that now it can be substantiated, based on the recent exonerations.”
Tagged
Politics
Race And Justice Unit
manhattan
Washington Heights
Samantha Max
Samantha reports on whether New Yorkers feel safe and whether the institutions that are supposed to protect them are working. Before coming to WNYC/Gothamist, she spent three years covering the criminal justice system in Tennessee for Nashville Public Radio. Her reporting on Nashville's police department received multiple awards, including the Daniel Schorr Journalism Prize. Samantha was also part of the inaugural class of Report for America, a service journalism program that sends up-and-coming reporters to local newsrooms across the country. She is a Northwestern University grad, a Baltimore native and fluent in Spanish. Got a tip? Email [email protected] or Signal: samanthamaxwnyc.93.
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