NEW YORK – Three daughters of Malcolm X accused the CIA, FBI, New York Police Department and others in a $100 million lawsuit Friday of playing roles in the 1965 assassination of the civil rights leader.

In the lawsuit filed in federal court in Manhattan, the daughters—along with Malcolm X’s estate—claimed that the agencies knew about and were involved in the assassination plot and failed to stop the killing.

At a morning press conference, attorney Ben Crump stood with family members as he described the lawsuit, saying he hoped federal and city officials would read it “and find out all the dastardly things that were done by their predecessors and they will try to right these historical wrongs. ”

The NYPD and CIA did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Nicholas Biase, a spokesman for the Justice Department, which was also sued, declined to comment. The FBI said in an email that it is its “standard practice” not to comment on litigation.

For decades, there have been more questions than answers about who was to blame for the death of Malcolm X, who was 39 when he was assassinated on February 21, 1965, at the Audubon Ballroom on West 165th Street from Manhattan as he spoke. to several hundred people. Born Malcolm Little in Omaha, Nebraska, Malcolm X later changed his name to El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz.

Three men were convicted of the murders in the death, but two of them they were exonerated in 2021, after investigators took another look at the case and concluded that some evidence was shocking and authorities withheld some information.

In the lawsuit, the family said the prosecution team suppressed the government’s role in the assassination.

The lawsuit alleges that there was a “corrupt, illegal and unconstitutional” relationship between law enforcement and “ruthless killers that went unchecked for many years and was actively concealed, condoned, protected and facilitated by government agents” that led to murder. to Malcolm X.

According to the lawsuit, the NYPD, coordinating with federal law enforcement agencies, arrested the activist’s security detail days before the assassination and intentionally removed its officers from the ballroom where Malcolm X was killed. he adds, federal agencies had personnel, including undercover agents, in the ballroom but did not protect him.

The lawsuit was not brought sooner because the defendants withheld information from the family, including the identities of undercover “informants, agents and provocateurs” and what they knew about the planning leading up to the attack.

Malcolm X’s wife, Betty Shabazz, the plaintiffs, “and their entire family have suffered the pain of the unknown” for decades, the suit says.

“They did not know who killed Malcolm X, why he was killed, the level of orchestration by the NYPD, FBI and CIA, the identity of the government agents who conspired to ensure his demise or who fraudulently covered up their role,” it said. . “The damage to the Shabazz family is unimaginable, immense and irreparable.”

The family announced his intention to sue law enforcement agencies early last year.

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