The family of Malcolm X, the influential civil rights leader assassinated nearly 60 years ago, has filed a $100 million federal lawsuit accusing the FBI, CIA, and the New York Police Department (NYPD) of complicity in his murder.

The lawsuit, led by Malcolm X's daughter, Ilyasah Shabazz, and other family members, claims that these law enforcement agencies were aware of the plot to kill him but failed to take action to prevent it.  

At a press conference, civil rights attorney Ben Crump, representing the family, stated, “We believe that they all conspired to assassinate Malcolm X, one of the greatest thought leaders of the 20th century."   

The wrongful death lawsuit was revealed at a memorial center in New York City, the site where Malcolm X was killed in 1965. It seeks to uncover the truth behind his assassination and correct the historical record, as well as demand justice for the family's suffering.

“As a direct result of the Defendants’ intentional, bad faith, willful, wanton, reckless, unreasonable and/or deliberately indifferent acts and omissions, Malcolm X was deprived of his federal constitutional rights, was robbed of his life and freedom, and sustained severe physical, emotional, and monetary damages, including conscious physical pain and suffering,” the lawsuit states.

Crump also highlighted that the lawsuit aims to bring reparations to the family. There was no immediate response from the FBI, CIA, or NYPD on the matter.  

“This cover-up spanned decades, blocking the Shabazz family’s access to the truth and their right to pursue justice,” Crump said in a statement. “We are making history by standing here to confront those wrongs and seeking accountability in the courts.”

Malcolm X gained prominence as the national spokesperson for the Nation of Islam, an African American Muslim group advocating for Black separatism. After parting ways with the Nation in 1964, he moderated some of his earlier views on racial separation, which led to death threats from former members. Talmadge Hayer, a former member of the Nation of Islam, later confessed to being one of the three men who assassinated Malcolm X. However, suspicions that the government may have had knowledge of the plot and allowed it to happen have persisted for years.  

Ilyasah Shabazz, who was only two years old when her father was murdered on February 21, 1965, was present with her mother and siblings when the shooting occurred at New York’s Audubon Ballroom in Washington Heights.