The Department of Justice has decided not to investigate the 1965 assassination of Malcolm X, concluding that the statutes of limitations on any federal laws involved in the crime have long since expired.
“Although the Justice Department recognizes that the murder of Malcolm X was a tragedy, both for his family and for the community he served, we have determined that at this time, the matter does not implicate federal interests sufficient to necessitate the use of scarce federal investigative resources into a matter for which there can be no federal criminal prosecution,” the department said.
The DOJ’s decision was reported by Allan Lengel on his Tickle the Wire blog, which credited a report on Saturday in The New York Times.
“Alvin Sykes, an advocate for justice in civil rights-era cold cases, has suggested that the department has the discretion to investigate even if no prosecution is possible, an authority that has been used in the past to examine the assassinations of John F. Kennedy and the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.,” The Times reported. But the department concluded that the Malcolm X case did not merit similar treatment.
The black activist, who was born Malcolm Little in Omaha, was shot to death at close range in the Audubon Ballroom in New York City on Feb. 21, 1965, a few months before his 40th birthday. Three men, members of the Nation of Islam, were convicted of murder, but some who have followed the case believe that the investigation was bungled.
The biography “Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention,” by Manning Marable, has prompted some to push for a reopening of the case. (Marable died earlier this year, as his book was being released.)
