Renowned civil rights lawyer Ben Crump has initiated a $100 million lawsuit against various government bodies, including law enforcement, asserting their involvement in the conspiracy that resulted in the assassination of Malcolm X in 1965.

Crump made this announcement alongside Ilyasah Shabazz, one of Malcolm X’s daughters, at the Malcolm X & Dr. Betty Shabazz Memorial and Educational Center, located at the site of the assassination. Crump had previously expressed his plans to file this lawsuit.

“It’s no secret that justice has been long overdue in this case. Today, we are prepared to present our case comprehensively,” Crump stated. “There is clear evidence linking government entities to the assassination of Malcolm X, and we believe we can substantiate it.”

The lawsuit implicates the U.S. government, including the Department of Justice, the FBI, the CIA, and the New York Police Department, in the events surrounding Malcolm X’s murder and the subsequent cover-up that lasted decades. Allegations include excessive use of force, creating dangerous situations, failure to offer protection, obstructing access to the legal system for Malcolm X’s family, conspiracy, fraud, and wrongful death.

Malcolm X was shot 21 times by several attackers while speaking at the Audubon Ballroom in New York on February 21, 1965, at the age of 39. His wife and children were present in the audience during the incident.

This lawsuit follows Crump’s claims of emerging evidence in the case.

“In the last three years, we have consistently uncovered new information,” Crump remarked. “Witnesses are coming forward who had remained silent about their experiences during the tumultuous 1960s.”

Of the three men initially found guilty of the assassination, two were exonerated in 2021: Muhammad Aziz and the deceased Khalil Islam, both of whom maintained their innocence during their lengthy prison sentences. An inquiry revealed that the FBI and NYPD concealed crucial evidence during the trial. As a result, both men received settlements totaling $36 million from the city and state of New York.

In addition, recently revealed information from the family of Raymond Wood, a former New York police officer who has since passed away, recounts a letter he wrote in 2011. In this letter, he claimed that both the NYPD and the FBI concealed facts about the assassination. Wood stated he was pressured to set up members of Malcolm X’s security team to commit crimes so they would be arrested just prior to the assassination.

“My job was to tempt these two men into committing serious crimes so the FBI could arrest them and prevent them from being involved in Malcolm X’s security at the time of his assassination,” Wood disclosed. “At that moment, I was unaware that Malcolm X was the actual target.”

The lawsuit also alleges that government officials were aware of real threats to Malcolm X’s life yet did not take any preventive measures prior to his murder. It claims that the FBI worked with undercover informants from the Nation of Islam, which Malcolm X had left before his death.

Furthermore, the lawsuit asserts that the agencies removed security from the ballroom where the assassination occurred, enabled the murder to happen, and then obscured their involvement afterward.

The release goes on to state: “Under the leadership of J. Edgar Hoover, the former head of the FBI, these agencies engaged in conspiracy beyond mere illegal surveillance of Malcolm X, actively facilitating a reduction in his security and leaving him unprotected from a threat they recognized as imminent.”