New allegations surrounding the death of Malcolm X have surfaced in a letter written by a former New York City police officer on his deathbed.
On January 25, 2011, Ray Wood, who served as an undercover agent on the day of Malcolm X’s death, wrote a letter admitting that he “ participated in actions that were in retrospect regrettable and detrimental to the advancement of my own black people. “
When Wood was hired by the NYPD in 1964, his job was to “infiltrate civil rights organizations” to find evidence of criminal activity so that the FBI could discredit the subjects and arrest its leaders, Wood wrote in the letter that was issued. obtained by ABC News.
Wood’s handler devised the arrest of two of Malcolm X’s “key” security detail in a plot to bomb the Statue of Liberty days before his 1965 murder, Wood wrote. The plot involved three members of a black “ terrorist group ” and a Canadian woman who planned to blow up the Statue of Liberty, the Liberty Bell and the Washington Monument, the New York Times reported on February 16, 1965.
“My assignment was to induce the two men to commit a crime so they could be arrested by the FBI and not manage Malcolm X’s door security on February 21, 1965,” Wood wrote. “… at the time I didn’t know Malcolm X was the target.”
Malcolm X was murdered in the Audubon Ballroom in Manhattan on February 21, 1965 while addressing the Organization of African American Unity. Three members of the Nation of Islam were convicted of his murder.
Wood claimed in the letter that “his actions were taken on behalf of the New York City Police Department (BOSSI) under duress and fear,” adding that he could have had “harmful consequences” had he not followed the orders of his escorts.
“After witnessing repeated violence at the hands of my colleagues (police), I tried to resign,” he wrote. “Instead, I was threatened with arrest by pinning allegations of marijuana and alcohol trafficking to me if I didn’t follow instructions.”
Wood wrote that because he faced ill health, he was concerned that the family of Thomas Johnson, one of the men convicted of the murder of Malcolm X, would not be able to acquit him after Wood died. Johnson was arrested in the Audubon Ballroom the night Malcolm X was murdered to protect Wood’s cover and “the secrets of the FBI and NYPD,” Wood wrote.
Wood placed his full confession in the care of his cousin, Reginald Wood Jr., and requested that the information be kept until after his death.
“I hope this information is received with the understanding that I have carried these secrets with a heavy heart and am sorry for my participation in this matter,” Wood wrote.
Wood’s cousin, who wrote The Ray Wood Story, published earlier this month, described Wood in Good Morning America as a “good man who was deceived and forced to betray his own people.”
“And he felt sick and was sorry,” said Reggie Wood.
Last year, the New York City district attorney’s office reopened an investigation into the deaths of Malcolm X and those convicted after the documentary “Who Killed Malcolm X?” aired on Netflix.
In response to an investigation by ABC News, the Manhattan district attorney’s office stated, “Discussion of this matter by our office is active and ongoing.”
NYPD spokeswoman Sgt. Jessica McRorie said in a statement that the NYPD has provided “all available data relevant to that case” to the district attorney’s office.
The FBI did not respond to ABC News’s request for comment.
Civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump described the review of Malcolm X’s death as restorative justice.
“This is the only way we can bridge this gap,” Crump told GMA. “We need to have transparency and accountability, and that’s the only way we can ever trust.”
Derrick Johnson, president and CEO of the NAACP, told “GMA” that “Far too many African Americans who have risen, who speak equality and justice in this country, are being persecuted, prosecuted, or, in the case of Malcolm X, murdered. “
Sabina Ghebremedhin, Aaron Katersky and Samara Lynn from ABC News contributed to this report.