Two men convicted of killing Malcolm X will be exonerated

Manhattan’s District Attorney announced Wednesday that two of three men convicted in 1965 of Malcolm X’s murder were soon exonerated.

According to the New York Times, after 22 months of investigation, District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. discovered that authorities withheld evidence during the trial of Muhammad A. Aziz (83) and Khalil Islamic (who died in 2009). They spent over two decades behind bars for a crime they claimed they didn’t commit.

Vance Jr. will hold Thursday’s news conference to announce the results of the investigation. 

Malcolm X, a son of Malcolm Little, was shot and killed in New York’s Audubon Ballroom on February 21st 1965. Aziz, Islam, Thomas Hagan and another man were convicted of the murder. However, Aziz Islam and Islam maintained their innocence. 

Vance’s investigation revealed that important physical evidence and documents had been lost over the years. The murder weapons could not be tested and many witnesses, investigators and potential suspects died. According to the report, FBI documents implicated additional suspects and “pointed away from Islam and Aziz”.

Vance stated to the publication that this “points to the truth of the fact that law enforcement throughout history has often failed to fulfill its responsibilities.” “These men did NOT get the justice they deserved.”

In November 2020, Raymond Wood released a letter. Wood claimed that he was coerced into committing crimes by Malcolm X’s security team by his NYPD supervisors. This led to the FBI arresting them just days before the shooting.

Reginald Wood Jr., Reginald’s cousin, stated that there was no security to stop the gunman entering the building.

After the Netflix documentary “Who Killed Malcolm X?” was released, the district attorney’s office opened an investigation. Phil Bertelsen was the documentary’s producer and spoke with CBS Evening News to discuss the film.

“The FBI had eyewitness testimony, presumably from the nine informants who were present that day about the crime. The full descriptions of the men, including the shotgun-wielding man, are available. Bertelsen stated that this was information that was not provided to the NYPD.

Ilyasah, Malcolm X’s daughter, told CBS News that her family had always had Malcolm X’s permission to speak on February 2. QuestionsThe death of her father. “I can only say that I was surprised, because I was caught off guard. But it’s something that my family has always wondered. We wanted to ensure the truth was revealed,” she stated.