Malcolm X’s family is suing the CIA and FBI for $100 million over wrongful death

The family of slain civil rights leader Malcolm X plans to sue the CIA, FBI, New York Police Department and others for $100 million, over their alleged role in his death.

The announcement on Tuesday came as the family and their followers marked the anniversary of his 1965 assassination on Tuesday.

Attorney Ben Crump joined two of his daughters, Elisa Shabazz and Tribe Shabazz, at a news conference at the site of the former Audubon Ballroom in upper Manhattan where Malcolm X was killed as a crowd gathered to hear him speak on Feb. 3. 21, 1965.

For decades, questions have circulated about who was responsible for his death.

Three men were convicted, but two were acquitted in 2021 after a renewed investigation into the cases against them showed that the evidence used to convict them was shaky and that authorities withheld some information.

Elisa Shabazz, co-manager of her father’s estate, filed notices of claim, the first step in the process, saying the agencies “conspired with each other and with other individuals and acted, and failed to act, in such a way as to bring about the wrongful death of Malcolm X.”

“Our family has fought for years for the truth to come out,” she said at the news conference. We want justice to serve our father.”

Emails seeking comment were sent to the CIA, the FBI, the Department of Justice and the New York City Legal Department. The Department of Justice and the New York Police Department declined to comment.

Noting the date of the anniversary, Crump said that since then, “there has been speculation about who was involved in the assassination of Malcolm X.”

He cited the 2021 acquittals and said government agencies including the Manhattan District Attorney, the NYPD and the FBI “have factual evidence, adversarial evidence that they withheld from the men wrongly convicted of the murder of Malcolm X”.

Asked if he believed government agencies conspired to assassinate Malcolm, Crump said, “That’s what we claim, yes. They infiltrated many civil rights organizations.”