Malcolm X’s family released a letter written by a deceased New York police officer claiming that the NYPD and the FBI were behind the murder of the civil rights activist in Harlem in 1965.
Malcolm X was gunned down in the Audubon Ballroom in Manhattan a year after breaking ranks with the Nation of Islam.
Three members of the black separatism group were convicted in the shooting.
On Saturday, some of Malcolm X’s daughters released a letter attributed to a former NYPD undercover officer, Raymond Wood, in the grounds of the former 165th Street hotel. The relatives were joined by Reggie Wood, a cousin of the deceased officer.
In the letter, Raymond Wood reportedly wrote that NYPD executives were pressuring him to trick two members of Malcolm X’s security records into committing crimes that led to their arrests in the days before the activist was murdered.
The letter said the arrests opened up the opportunity for lax door security in the hotel ballroom and that they were part of a conspiracy between federal detectives and New York police to have Malcolm murdered.
Under the direction of my escorts, I was told to encourage leaders and members of civil rights groups to commit crimes, the letter said.
Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance said last year his office would reopen the case to investigate the long-held claims of some historians and scientists that the wrong suspects had been arrested for the murder.
In the wake of the letter, Vance’s office released a statement saying that “the review of this issue is active and underway”.
The NYPD said it is partnering with the prosecution’s efforts.
The NYPD has provided all available data relevant to that case to the prosecutor. The department remains committed to assisting in that review in any way, ”Sgt. Edward Riley wrote in a statement to the Post on Sunday.
The FBI declined to comment.
Ilyasah Shabazz, Malcolm X’s daughter, said she had always lived in uncertainty about the circumstances surrounding her father’s death.
With pole wires