The city of New York has agreed to pay $26 million to settle claims brought on behalf of two men who were exonerated last year for the killing of Malcolm X, agreeing to compensate for false convictions that led to both men spending decades behind prison.
New York will provide an additional $10 million. On Sunday, David Shanies, an attorney for the men, verified the payments.
“Muhammad Aziz, Khalil Islam, and their families suffered because of these unjust convictions for more than 50 years,” said Shanies said in an email. “The City recognized the grave injustices done here, and I commend the sincerity and speed with which the Comptroller’s Office and the Corporation Counsel moved to resolve the lawsuits.”
Shanies said the settlements send a message that “police and prosecutorial misconduct cause tremendous damage, and we must remain vigilant to identify and correct injustices.”
Last year, a Manhattan court overturned Aziz’s, now 84, and Islam’s, who died in 2009, convictions after prosecutors said fresh evidence of witness coercion and suppression of exculpatory evidence damaged the men’s case. Then-District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. apologized for “serious, unacceptable violations of law and the public trust.”
According to a spokesperson for the New York City Law Department, the financial agreement “brings some measure of justice to individuals who spent decades in prison and bore the stigma of being falsely accused of murdering an iconic figure,” and it “stands by” Vance’s opinion that the men were wrongfully convicted.
Shanies stated that the settlement forms will be signed in the coming weeks, and the New York court that handles probate affairs would have to approve the deal for Islam’s estate. The amount of $36 million will be split evenly between Aziz and Islam’s inheritance.
Aziz and Islam were paroled in the 1980s after maintaining their innocence in the 1965 homicide at Upper Manhattan’s Audubon Ballroom.
Malcolm X rose to national notoriety as the Nation of Islam’s spokesperson, exhorting Black people to fight for their civil rights “by any means necessary.” His autobiography, co-written with Alex Haley, has become a modern American literary classic.
Malcolm X separated from the Black Muslim group near the end of his life and began preaching about the possibility of racial unification following a journey to Mecca. It earned him the wrath of certain Nation of Islam members, who considered him as a traitor.
On February 21, 1965, he was shot to death as he began a speech. He was 39.
In March 1966, Aziz and Islam, then known as Norman 3X Butler and Thomas 15X Johnson, and a third man were convicted of murder. They received life sentences in jail.
Mujahid Abdul Halim, also known as Talmadge Hayer and Thomas Hagan, acknowledged to killing Malcolm X but denied any involvement by Aziz or Islam. The two provided alibis, and there was no physical evidence linking them to the crime. The case was based on eyewitness testimony, which had discrepancies.
In complaints, attorneys representing Aziz and Islam stated that both Aziz and Islam were at their residences in the Bronx when Malcolm X was slain. They said Aziz spent 20 years in jail and more than 55 years suffering with the agony and humiliation of being wrongfully labeled as the killer of one of history’s most prominent civil rights leaders.
Islam was imprisoned for 22 years and died still seeking to clear his name.