Malcolm X (104 page)

418
Freedom Now Party in Michigan.
MX FBI, Memo, W. C. Sullivan to J. F. Bland, February 1, 1965; MX FBI, Memo, Detroit Office, February 14, 1965, and February 17, 1965; and Clark, ed.,
February 1965
, pp. 75-107.

418
usual sharpness had abandoned him.
Rev. Albert Cleage, “Myths About Malcolm X,”
International Socialist Review
, vol. 28, no. 5 (September-October 1967), p. 33.

419
“power structure that’s so corrupt.”
Clark, ed.,
February 1965
, pp. 75-107.

419
“We sure didn’t bomb it.”
“Malcolm X's Home Is Bombed,”
Chicago Tribune
; “Three Fire Bombs Hit Home of Malcolm X,”
Los Angeles Times
; and “Malcolm X’s Home is Fire-Bombed,”
Washington Post,
February 15, 1965.

419
“house. That was the government.”
“Malcolm Accused Muslims of Blaze; They Point to Him,”
New York Times
, February 18, 1965; “Malcolm X Promises Names of Bombers,”
Los Angeles Sentinel
, February 18, 1965; “Malcolm X Denies He Is Bomber,”
Amsterdam News
; and “Bottle of Gasoline Found on Dresser in Malcolm X Home,”
New York Times
, February 17, 1965.

420
“by the Ku Klux Klan.”
Perry, ed.,
Malcolm X: The Last Speeches
, pp. 111-49; “Malcolm Links Klan, Muslims,”
New York Post
, February 16, 1965; FBI—Goodman, Summary Report, New York Office, February 17, 1966; and MX FBI, Memo, New York Office, February 16, 1965.

420
“to suffer the consequences for.”
Perry, ed.,
Malcolm X: The Last Speeches
, pp. 124-26.

420
discovered the house completely vacant.
“Malcolm X Averts Writ by Moving Out,”
New York Times
, February 19, 1965.

420
Hamer’s Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party.
James Booker, “Malcolm X Speaks,”
Amsterdam News
, February 6, 1965.

420
“resolved by death and violence.”
Goldman,
The Death and Life of Malcolm X
, p. 266.

421
“of living prevalent throughout Africa.”
Martin Paris, “Negroes Are Willing to Use Terrorism, Says Malcolm X,ʺ
Columbia Daily Spectator
, February 19, 1965.

421
“that I’m sorry for now.”
Clark, ed.,
February 1965
, pp. 240-42.

421
“before they came to rallies.”
Peter Bailey interview, September 4, 1968, Manuscript Division, Moorland-Spingarn Research Center, Howard University Library.

422
would be promptly revealed to the NYPD.
Roger Abel,
The Black Shield
(Bloomington, IN: Author House, 2006), pp. 471-72.

423
remaining there until the next day.
Rickford,
Betty Shabazz
, p. 225; and Goldman,
The Death and Life of Malcolm X
, pp. 267-68.

423
Sharon 6X may have joined him.
Oral history with James 67X Warden, June 18, 2003; and interview with Abdur-Rahman Muhammad, October 4, 2010.

423
confronted the men. They promptly left.
Goldman,
The Death and Life of Malcolm X
, p. 268.

424
the West and East Coasts.
Ibid.

425
“I have to stand up for.”
Michael Friedly,
Malcolm X: The Assassination
(New York: Carroll and Graf, 1992), p. 104; and Notes of Attorney William Kunstler, Case File

871-65, MANY.

426
they were well-known “enforcers.”
Goldman,
The Death and Life of Malcolm X
, pp. 250-51.

426
degree of civility impressed Johnson.
Thomas 15X Johnson interview, September 29, 2004.

427
law enforcement and the courts.
Ibid.

427
Shifflett resigned . . . as general secretary.
Oral history of Max Stanford, August 28, 2007; and interview with Abdur-Rahman Muhammad, October 4, 2010.

428
“his face from all directions.”
Mitchell,
Shepherd of Black-Sheep,
pp. 15-17.

428
“paid for his radical pioneering.”
Ibid., pp. 17-18.

428
better working relationship with Mitchell
. James 67X Warden interview, August 1, 2007.

428
“work for it,” Charles advised.
FBI—Morris, Summary Report, New York Office, March 1, 1965.

429
vetoed by her husband, Ossie Davis.
Rickford,
Betty Shabazz
, p. 215.

429
“caught me,” he admitted to her.
Goldman,
The Death and Life of Malcolm X
, p. 266.

429
“Martin Luther King,” her mother advised.
Angelou,
A Song Flung Up to Heaven
, pp. 8-11, 14.

429
“‘brother should be more careful.’”
Herman Ferguson interview, July 24, 2004.

429
the likelihood of impending murder.
Goldman,
The Death and Life of Malcolm X
, p. 418.

429
leader truly wanted to die.
James 67X Warden interviews, June 18, 2003, and August 1, 2007.

430
struggle for freedom and justice.
Esposito, ed.,
The Oxford Dictionary of Islam
, pp. 27, 120.

431
“viewed him like the enemy.”
Gerry Fulcher interview, October 3, 2007.

431
the Rose and the larger Grand.
Goldman,
The Death and Life of Malcolm X
, pp. 261-62.

431
“But I felt we was in accord.”
Ibid., p. 416; and Notes of Attorney William Kunstler, Case File 871-65, Series I, MANY.

432
his life to kill Malcolm.
Goldman,
The Death and Life of Malcolm X,
pp. 416-17; and Peter Goldman interview, July 12, 2004.

432 “we
knew he’d be.
” Goldman,
The Death and Life of Malcolm X,
pp. 417-18.

432
next afternoon, Sunday, February 21.
Almustafa Shabazz, Offender Details, New Jersey Department of Corrections. Information can be found online using the New Jersey offender search (
http://www.state.nj.us/corrections/
). In the 1970s and 1980s, Bradley began calling himself Mustafa, or Almustafa Shabazz. His surname Shabazz indicates a continuing relationship to NOI.

432
would not be frigid
. Goldman,
The Death and Life of Malcolm X
, p. 268.

433
“get ready and go see Daddy.”
Rickford,
Betty Shabazz
, pp. 226-27.

433
on the main ballroom’s stage.
Goldman,
The Death and Life of Malcolm X
, pp. 269-70.

434
at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital.
Ibid., p. 269; and Peter Goldman interview, July 12, 2004.

434
rear room behind the Grand Ballroom’s main stage.
Peter Bailey interview, June 20, 2003.

434
“should know better than that.”
Goldman,
The Death and Life of Malcolm X
, p. 271; and James 67X Warden interviews, June 18, 2003, and August 1, 2007.

434
he yelled, “Get out of here!”
Goldman,
The Death and Life of Malcolm X
, p. 271.

434
almost at his “wit’s end.”
Ibid.

435
“‘with their problems in mind.’”
Mitchell,
Shepherd of Black-Sheep
, p. 7.

435
Audubon audience burst into applause.
Goldman,
The Death and Life of Malcolm X
, p. 271; Transcript of address by Benjamin 2X Goodman, delivered at the Audubon Ballroom, February 21, 1965. Copy and audiotape recording in possession of author.

435
booth close to the stage.
Betty Shabazz interview with NYPD, March 1, 1965, Case File 871-65, Series I, MANY; and Jessie 8X Ryan interview with NYPD, no date, Case File 871-65, Series I, MANY.

435
“Minister Malcolm,” Benjamin hastily announced.
Transcript of address by Benjamin 2X Goodman. Benjamin’s subsequent reconstructions of his final remarks bore faint resemblance to what he actually said on February 21, 1965. To journalist/historian Peter Goldman, Benjamin recounted that he had introduced Malcolm with these stirring words: “I present . . . one who is willing to put himself on the line for you. . . . A man who would give his life for you.” See Goldman,
The Death and Life of Malcolm X
, pp. 271-73.

436
“Hold it! Hold it! Hold it!”
Ibid.

436
the men from the rear.
Roberts responded to the disruption in the audience by moving forward from the rear of the ballroom. See Goldman,
The Death and Life of Malcolm X
, p. 273.

437
“hit the floor with a crash.”
Herman Ferguson interview, June 27, 2003.

437
“over chairs and people’s bodies.”
Ibid.

437
he, too, “fell to the ground.”
John D. Davis interview with NYPD, March 5, 1965, Case File 871-65, Series I, MANY.

437
he “did not see anything.”
Charles 37X Morris interview with NYPD, no date, ibid.

438
conspirators managed to escape.
Goldman,
The Death and Life of Malcolm X
, pp. 275-77.

438
William would later recount.
William H. George, interview with New York District Attorney’s office, March 18, 1965, Case File 871-65, Series I, MANY.

439
“alive! His heart’s still beating.”
Welton Smith, “The 15 Seconds of Murder: Shots, a Bomb, and Despair,”
New York Herald Tribune
, February 22, 1965. Other detailed media accounts of Malcolm X's assassination include: John Mallon, “Gunned Down as He Addresses Rally; 3 Men Wounded,”
New York Daily News
, February 22, 1965; Walter Blitz, “Gunmen Kill Malcolm X: Black Nationalist Is Shot at Rally in NY,ʺ
Chicago Tribune
, February 22, 1965; “There Are Three Who Will Remember,”
New York World-Telegram
, February 22, 1965; and Richard Barr, “Malcolm X Slain—The Reason Why,”
New York Journal-American
, February 22, 1965.

439
because she was clearly hysterical.
Rickford,
Betty Shabazz
, pp. 229-30.

439
revive him with mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.
Jenkins, ed.,
Malcolm X Encyclopedia
, pp. 471-72.

440
camera and began taking photographs
. Earl Grant, “The Last Days of Malcolm X,ʺ in Clarke, ed.,
Malcolm X: The Man and His Times
, p. 96.

440
“to myself that he was gone.”
Herman Ferguson interview, July 24, 2004.

441
“knew as Malcolm X is dead.”
Goldman,
The Death and Life of Malcolm X
, p. 278.

441
“when it comes, it comes on time.”
Benjamin Karim, with Peter Skutches and David Gallen,
Remembering Malcolm
(New York: Carroll and Graf, 1992), p. 190.

441
“‘Don’t hurry; come tomorrow!’”
Mitchell,
Shepherd of Black-Sheep
, p. 20.

441
“life go out of his body.”
Abdullah Abdur-Razaaq interviewed by journalist Gil Noble,
Like It Is
, ABC, June 7, 1998, New York City.

441
“shoot [Captain] Joseph” in retaliation.
Ibid. In this 1998 television interview Abdur-Razaaq insisted, “There’s no question in my mind Malcolm was executed. He was not assassinated. When you assassinate someone, you are concerned with the manner and the audience that see this. And you have an authority behind you when someone is executed. . . . There is no question in my mind that the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Bureau of Special Services of the New York Police Department [were] in cohort with those who pulled the trigger,” stated James.

442
main stairwell into the street.
Goldman,
The Death and Life of Malcolm X
, p. 274.

442
dispatched to the crime scene.
Investigation Timeline, February 21, 1965, Case File 871-65, Series I, MANY.

442
reaching the emergency room.
Ibid.

442
“the pen for immediate use.”
Ibid.

443
“told him I had been hit.”
Willie Harris interview with NYPD, February 21, 1965, Case File 871-65, Series I, MANY.

443
Malcolm’s was the sole fatality.
William Parker interview with NYPD, February 21, 1965, ibid.

443
“their hands in their pockets.”
Grant, “The Last Days of Malcolm X,ʺ p. 96.

443
“this wasn’t nothing but coincidence.”
Smith, “The 15 Seconds of Murder: Shots, a Bomb, and Despair.”

444
gangs feuding against each other.
In a 2004 interview, Goldman sharply posed the question “What should the police have done? . . . They should have taken the threat very seriously. They should not have said in the press that the firebombing, for instance, was a publicity stunt. They should have been more aggressive in trying” to stop the assassination. To Goldman, the FBI was far more responsible for triggering Malcolm X's murder than the NYPD, because it had “inflamed the civil war” between Malcolm’s followers and the NOI. Peter Goldman interview, July 12, 2004.

444
“seated in the Audubon Ballroom.”
Abdur-Razaaq,
Like It Is
, June 7, 1998.

444
“Mr. Warden stopped talking.”
James Warden interview with the New York Assistant District Attorney Herbert Stern and NYPD, February 21, 1965, Case File 871-65, Series I, MANY.

444
“nothing of any further value.”
Reuben Francis interview with Herbert Stern and NYPD, February 21, 1965, ibid.

445
light of the recent firebombing.
Peter Goldman interview, July 12, 2004.

445
as advertised, at seven p.m.
DeCaro,
On the Side of My People
, pp. 271-72.

445
fired four or five shots
. FBI “Informant Report,” unnamed, February 22, 1965, Case File 871-65, Series I, MANY. Author's note: The FBI maintained numerous open files on Malcolm X, Elijah Muhammad, and other NOI leaders, at FBI headquarters and at different field offices throughout the United States. Each individual document, even relevant newspaper clippings pertaining to the subjects, were individually cataloged. For several relevant FBI documents, both redacted and unredacted, that are available in the New York District Attorney’s case file on the murder of Malcolm X, I have simply identified the document by its contents and date.