After Malcolm X was assassinated, three men were arrested. Despite holes in the investigation and the prosecution’s case, all three went to prison. In the years that followed, people close to Malcolm insisted there was more to the story. But then, decades later, after new information emerged in a 2020 docuseries Manhattan’s then-District Attorney decided to re-examine the case. Keep up with us on Instagram @theconspiracypod! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Chapter 1: What happened immediately after Malcolm X's assassination?
This episode includes discussions of violence and murder. Consider this when deciding how and when you'll listen. It's February 21st, 1965, and Officer Gene Roberts is on the phone with his supervisor. Roberts is an undercover officer embedded inside the Organization of African American Unity, a political group headed by Malcolm X. He's being questioned because he just saw Malcolm get murdered.
Roberts' superiors interview him exhaustively about what happened. He walks them through it moment by moment, but the brass gets hung up somewhere unexpected. Why Roberts administered CPR on Malcolm before paramedics arrived? Roberts is confused. It's his duty as a police officer to protect all life.
But what his superiors want to know is why Officer Roberts tried to save the target of their surveillance. Welcome to Conspiracy Theories, a Spotify podcast. I'm Carter Roy. You can find us here every Wednesday. Be sure to check us out on Instagram at The Conspiracy Pod, and we would love to hear from you. So if you're watching on the Spotify app, swipe up and give us your thoughts. Stay with us.
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True tales of horror, bizarre happenings, unexplainable events. On our podcast, Disturbed, terror takes center stage. Kidnappings, serial killers, hauntings, and the very essence of your worst nightmares coming to life on this weekly true horror show. Enter at your own risk.
Hello and welcome to the Kryptonaut Podcast. My name is Mark Storrs, and hanging out with me as always is... Chris Conicelli. Rob Morphy.
Join us each week as we explore some of the craziest cases from the wild, weird worlds of cryptozoology. Paranormal phenomena. The occult. Are you ready to dive headfirst into the murky, monster-infested waters of the uncanny? Then welcome to the Kryptonaut Podcast, and nothing is off limits. Monsters are real. Aliens are here.
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Chapter 2: Who were the men arrested for Malcolm X's murder and what evidence was used?
Multiple eyewitnesses confirmed seeing him with a gun, and an angry mob was attacking him at the time of his arrest. Authorities also have substantial physical evidence against him. That's not the case with Aziz and Islam. Police are primarily interested in Aziz and Islam because they both have recent assault charges and generally fit eyewitness descriptions of the assassins.
Aziz is ultimately arrested based off identification in a police lineup. A process that studies have suggested can be faulty even when conducted well. Most importantly, there's no physical evidence tying either of the other men to the scene or to the murder. But prosecutors proceed with an indictment, charging all three men with first-degree murder.
According to Islam, the first time he ever met Halim was that day in the courtroom when the prosecutor said they'd conspired to murder Malcolm X. The trial begins in 1966. Prosecutors claim that Halim and Aziz distracted security guards with a disturbance in the middle of the auditorium, which allowed Islam to fire the shotgun from the front row, killing Malcolm.
Then they say Halim and Aziz joined in the shooting. The entire case is based only on eyewitness testimony, but not all the statements are consistent. A witness for the defense claims he saw a completely different assailant holding the shotgun, a thick-set man with a dark complexion and heavy beard. Islam, a lighter-skinned, slender, and clean-shaven man, does not fit the description.
The defense further weakens the case against Islam and Aziz by presenting alibis for both men, placing them far away from the murder scene. Witnesses say they saw or spoke to the men on their home phones during the time the murder was being committed. The doctor even testifies that he treated Aziz the morning of the murder for an injury on his leg.
According to the doctor, Aziz couldn't even walk. Because the three men are being tried together, prosecutors argue that any evidence presented against one defendant should apply to all. but there's only a strong case against Halim. The evidence in his case seems like it might overwhelm the reasonable doubt the defense has established for Islam and Aziz. Then, Halim does something surprising.
He's already testified in his own defense, but he takes the stand a second time. He recants his earlier testimony where he claimed he was innocent. Now he admits that he was involved in Malcolm's murder. He says four other people were involved, just as the police originally suspected. But Aziz or Islam are not among them.
Halim wants to prevent Islam and Aziz from being convicted for a crime he knows they didn't commit. But he's only willing to sacrifice himself for that goal. Halim says that Aziz and Islam aren't his accomplices, but he won't name anyone who is. Halim's incomplete testimony isn't enough to sway the jury. All three men are found guilty of first-degree murder.
They are sentenced to 20 years to life in prison. Islam and Aziz are both married. Aziz has six children. Islam has three. In 1977, after spending over a decade in prison, Halim revisits his testimony. Through his lawyer, William Kunstler, he issues an affidavit, a legal statement sworn by the writer to be true.
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Chapter 3: How did the trial of the accused unfold and what were key testimonies?
Such a man is worthy of death. In 1993, he seemed to take pride in Malcolm's murder in a speech to his followers. In a 2000 interview with 60 Minutes, Farrakhan himself admits that his constant railing against Malcolm could have contributed to his murder. But that's as far as he goes.
For all of the circumstantial indicators, there's never any hard evidence linking Farrakhan's rhetoric to the nuts and bolts planning of her murder. Plus, he was just one of many leaders in the nation who harbored contempt for Malcolm X. Remember, Halim's affidavit mentioned that all four of his accomplices came from the same mosque in New Jersey...
The leader of that mosque, James Shabazz, no relation to Malcolm's widow, Betty, is one of Malcolm's biggest detractors. James Shabazz publicly lambasted Malcolm for exposing the extramarital affairs the Nation of Islam leader, Elijah Muhammad, had with his secretaries. He says Malcolm committed a character assassination of a man Nation members consider a direct line to Allah.
When a reporter asks if one of his followers might be responsible for attacks on Malcolm, Chabaz essentially says, yes. He compares it to a Christian standing up for Jesus. But just like with Farrakhan, there's no evidence that Shabazz ever actually directed Halim or anyone else to pick up a gun. Trying to connect any Nation of Islam leader to the specifics of Malcolm's murder gets really sticky.
And that has to do with the culture and hierarchy of the organization. Former members now speculate that any explicit assassination planning would have been done independently of figureheads like Farrakhan or Shabazz. Protocol for the nation was to insulate leadership from any kind of unsavory activity.
But there was definitely a sense among nation rank and file that dispatching Malcolm would be an act of service to Elijah Muhammad. That was all anyone might need to make a move. A direct order wasn't required. After Halim's release, he confirms that he only acted on a general sense of duty. Malcolm's assassination wasn't the result of a direct order from leadership. He didn't need one.
Malcolm's betrayal of the nation and Elijah Muhammad was more than enough. But we don't really know if anyone gave an order or not because investigators never looked into Farrakhan or Shabazz or any of the alleged accomplices Halim names in 1977.
Authorities won't grant a new trial, even though William Kunstler demonstrates that there is new evidence and Kunstler only manages to uncover the tip of the iceberg. You might have noticed some key evidence missing from the trial that didn't make Kunstler's list. Eyewitness testimony from a police officer with a front row seat to the assassination. That's right.
Officer Gene Roberts was never called to testify. In fact, the lead NYPD investigator on Malcolm's murder never even knew that Roberts was an undercover officer. Why was the NYPD hiding evidence from its own department? To answer this question, let's back up.
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Chapter 4: What new evidence emerged years later and what impact did it have?
But the optics of the government's response to the civil rights movement at the time, with its violence and water hoses and police dogs, didn't fit into that image. Malcolm told foreign nations that the United States shouldn't hold any kind of moral high ground as long as they continued suppressing the rights of black people.
Having that hypocrisy brought into such harsh relief was embarrassing, but officials also worried it could hurt American credibility and foreign policy. The other reason the FBI perceived Malcolm's new OAAU approach as a threat was his growing mainstream appeal. The Bureau had worried about Malcolm's vitriolic rhetoric around civil rights since he was in the nation.
But now, Malcolm was pivoting to messaging that was more in line with the broader civil rights movement. The possibility that Malcolm could bring some of his extremist views to a bigger, more mainstream audience made him seem more dangerous to them than ever before.
during this time the nypd had a special unit dedicated to just surveilling malcolm in the oaau everything they gathered was for bureau eyes only even information relevant to ongoing nypd investigations
So when investigators at the NYPD were trying to figure out who killed Malcolm X, their officers in their own department withheld relevant information, like that an undercover officer saw the entire assassination go down. The FBI had their own informants inside the OAAU as well. Some of them were present at the assassination. The Bureau collected their witness statements,
but failed to share that information with the investigators trying to solve Malcolm's murder. The FBI denies any direct responsibility for the murder of Malcolm X, but some experts say their unwillingness to share information relevant to the investigation might indicate the awareness of some responsibility.
Their own records show years of manpower dedicated to creating the circumstances that could have led to Malcolm's death. It's impossible to know how much blame they should hold, but a number of scholars maintain that FBI actions contributed to Malcolm's murder. And not just his murder. It's possible they contributed to a miscarriage of justice during the trial.
When the Bureau withheld key witness statements to protect themselves, they also could have protected Malcolm's real killer. Internal FBI records show that multiple informants supplied the same description for the man holding the shotgun. A stocky man with a dark complexion. The same description as the defense witness at trial.
Islam, the man prosecutors sent to prison for firing the shotgun does not fit this description. It does match another man, William Bradley. In 2020, Netflix released a docuseries called Who Killed Malcolm X? It's centered on independent scholar Abdur Rahman Muhammad. Rahman dedicated his life to finding the man who many scholars believe killed Malcolm X, William Bradley.
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Chapter 5: Who in the Nation of Islam might have been responsible for Malcolm X's assassination?
Many of the participants in the original trial, witnesses, attorneys, law enforcement officers, are dead. A lot of the physical evidence, including the murder weapons, as well as case notes, are no longer in NYPD storage. But Vance and his associates do have access to the same records that Rachman used to track down Mustafa.
They interview every living participant in the original investigation and trial. The team also tracks down new witnesses and gets access to previously unseen FBI and NYPD files. In November 2021, Vance is ready to report his findings. This time, the system that Malcolm and Aziz mistrusted takes a step toward regaining credibility and justice.
Vance announces the official and complete exoneration of Muhammad Aziz and Khalil Islam on the charge of first-degree murder. Vance's investigation confirms what civilians familiar with the murder of Malcolm X had known for decades. FBI documents show that law enforcement withheld evidence that would have prevented Aziz and Islam's incarceration. Aziz is 83 when his name is finally cleared.
The family members present to support him burst into applause when they hear the good news. But when Aziz stands to speak, he's not celebratory. I do not need this court, these prosecutors, or a piece of paper to tell me I'm innocent. I am an 83-year-old man who was victimized by the criminal justice system. A civil rights lawyer representing both Aziz and Islam agrees.
He says the wrongful convictions had a horrific, torturous, and unconscionable impact on their lives that will never be remedied. While Aziz and Islam were incarcerated, both their marriages disintegrated. Even after their release, both men were known as murderers, which prevented them and their families from living freely.
Aziz describes the ongoing effect of his incarceration as a fissure in his family that has driven generations apart. He missed his children growing up, and now he doesn't have much of a relationship with his grandchildren, great-grandchildren, or great-great-grandchildren. Vance admits that the system failed Aziz and Islam. He apologizes to them on behalf of all law enforcement.
but acknowledges that there's no real way to make amends civil lawsuits on behalf of both men eventually settled for 36 million dollars vance was very specific with the scope of his investigation he stayed focused on whether or not aziz and islam received a fair trial
He didn't attempt to address the outstanding questions about the other accomplices Halim named in his affidavit, why none of them were investigated, or why the NYPD and FBI acted in a way that resulted in a gross miscarriage of justice. But he does leave one torch lit for someone else to pick up.
Vance's investigation finds that the FBI and NYPD could have done more to prevent Malcolm's assassination. Malcolm's family picks up that torch and runs with it. In November 2024, three of Malcolm's daughters announced they are suing the CIA, FBI, NYPD, and others for $100 million. Their lawsuit claims that officials knew Malcolm's life was in danger and did not adequately protect him.
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