2 Men Convicted In 1965 Murder Of Malcolm X To Be Exonerated
You’ve been had! Ya beentook! Ya been hoodwinked! Bamboozled! Led astray! Run amok!
After more than half a century, two men are set to be cleared in the assassination of Malcolm X.
CBS2’s Alice Gainer on Wednesday visited a site in Washington Heights that used to be the Audubon Ballroom. It’s where Malcolm X was assassinated 56 years ago. It’s now a memorial and educational center.
There is now word that after a nearly two-year investigation the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office is saying the wrongful convictions of two men will be vacated on Thursday.
Malcolm X was one of the civil rights era’s most compelling and controversial figures. The influential Black leader was assassinated as he began a speech in the Audubon Ballroom on Feb. 21, 1965.
Muhammad Aziz, Khalil Islam and a man later known as Thomas Hagan were convicted of murder the next year and sentenced to life in prison.
Hagan said he was one of three gunmen who shot Malcolm X, but testified that neither Aziz nor Islam were involved.
Hagan was paroled in 2010. Aziz was released in 1985 and is now 83 years old. Islam was released in 1987. He professed his innocence before he died in 2009.