New allegations surrounding the death of Malcolm X surfaced in a letter written by a former New York City police officer on his deathbed.
On January 25, 2011, Ray Wood, who had served as a secret police officer on the day of Malcolm X’s death, wrote a letter acknowledging that he had “participated in actions that were regrettable and detrimental to the advancement of my own black people. ‘
When Wood was appointed by the NYPD in 1964, it was his job to ‘infiltrate civil rights organizations’ to find evidence of criminal activity so that the FBI could discredit the nationals and arrest its leaders, Wood wrote in the letter. which ABC News received.
Wood’s handler had in mind the arrest of two of Malcolm X’s ‘most important’ security detailers in a conspiracy to bomb the Statue of Liberty days before his assassination in 1965, Wood writes. The plot involved three members of a black “terrorist group” and a Canadian woman who intended to dynamize the Liberty Statue, the Liberty Bell and the Washington Monument, the New York Times reported on February 16, 1965.
“It was my order to lure the two men into a criminal federal crime so that they could be arrested by the FBI on February 21, 1965, and kept away from managing Malcolm X’s door security,” Wood wrote. “… At that point, I was not aware that Malcolm X was the target.”
Malcolm X was assassinated in the Audubon Ballroom in Manhattan when he addressed the Organization of African American Unity on February 21, 1965. Three members of the Nation of Islam were convicted of his murder.
Wood claims in the letter that ‘his actions on behalf of the New York City Police Department (BOSSI) were done under duress and fear’, adding that he could have had ‘adverse consequences’ if he had not followed the instructions of his handlers. not.
“After repeatedly seeing the brutality of my colleagues (Police), I tried to resign,” he wrote. “Instead, I was threatened with arrest by setting my charges of marijuana and liquor trafficking if I did not follow the instructions.”
Wood wrote that since he was in poor health, he was worried that the family of Thomas Johnson, one of the men convicted of the murder of Malcolm X, would not be able to release him after Wood’s death. is not. Johnson was arrested in the Audubon Ballroom the night Malcolm X was killed to protect Wood’s coverage and “the secrets of the FBI and NYPD,” Wood wrote.
Wood placed his full confession in the care of his cousin, Reginald Wood Jr., and asked that the information be kept until after his death.
“It is my hope that this information is received with the understanding that I have carried these secrets with a heavy heart and regret my participation in this matter,” Wood wrote.
Wood’s cousin, who wrote the book ‘The Ray Wood Story’ earlier this month, described Wood with ‘Good Morning America’ as a ‘good man who was deceived and forced to betray his own people’.
“And he felt bad and remorseful about it,” Reggie Wood said.
Last year, the New York District Attorney’s Office launched another investigation into the deaths of Malcolm X and those convicted after the documentary “Who Killed Malcolm X?” aired on Netflix.
In response to an ABC News investigation, the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office said, “Our office’s review of this matter is active and ongoing.”
NYPD spokesman Sgt. Jessica McRorie said in a statement that the NYPD had provided “all available records relevant to the case” to the district attorney’s office.
The FBI did not respond to ABC News’ request for comment.
Civil rights lawyer Benjamin Crump described the review of Malcolm X’s death as restorative justice.
“This is the only way we can bridge this gap,” Crump told GMA. “We need to have transparency, provide accountability, and that’s the only way we can ever trust.”
Derrick Johnson, President and CEO of the NAACP, told ‘GMA’ that ‘far too many African Americans who have stood up, who speak out for equality and justice in this country, find themselves being persecuted, persecuted or in the case of Malcolm X, killed. ‘
ABC News’s Sabina Ghebremedhin, Aaron Katersky and Samara Lynn contributed to this report.