The family of Malcolm X has released a letter he said was written by a deceased New York police officer claiming that the NYPD and the FBI were behind the 1965 Harlem assassination of civil rights activists.
Malcolm X was shot dead in the Audubon Ballroom in Manhattan for a year after breaking the leadership with the Nation of Islam.
Three members of the black separatist group were found guilty of the shooting.
Some of Malcolm X’s daughters released a letter on Saturday addressed to a former NYPD officer, Raymond Wood, on the grounds of the former 165th Street hotel. The family members were accompanied by Reggie Wood, a cousin of the deceased officer.
In the letter, Raymond Wood allegedly wrote that NYPD supervisors put him under pressure to lure two members of Malcolm X’s security details to commit crimes that led to their arrest in the days before the activist was killed.
The letter states that the arrests offer a chance for lax through security at the hotel’s ballroom and that it is part of a conspiracy between federal investigators and New York police to have Malcolm killed.
“Under the guidance of my handlers, I have been instructed to encourage leaders and members of the civil rights groups to commit criminal acts,” the letter reads.
Attorney Cy Vance, district attorney, said last year that his office would reopen the case to investigate the years-long disputes by some historians and scholars that the wrong suspects had been arrested for the manslaughter.
In the aftermath of the letter, Vance’s office issued a statement saying the “investigation into this case is active and ongoing.”
The NYPD said he was working with the prosecutor.
‘The NYPD has provided all available records relevant to the case to the district attorney. The department is still committed to assisting with the review in any way, ”said ao. Edward Riley wrote in a statement to the Post on Sunday.
The FBI declined to comment.
Ilyasah Shabazz, the daughter of Malcolm X, said she has always lived with uncertainty surrounding the circumstances of her father’s death.
With Post Wires