Malcolm X (45 page)

New York, New York
February 16, 1965
Organization of Afro-American Unity
Internal Security—Miscellaneous

[BUREAU DELETION] OAAU held a public rally from 8:15
P.M
. to 10:15
P.M
., February 15, 1965, at the Audubon Ballroom, Broadway and 166th Street, New York City. Approximately six hundred persons were in attendance. There was extensive press coverage of the rally.

The meeting was opened by MMI Assistant Minister Benjamin X Goodman who made a few introductory remarks and then introduced the featured speaker, OAAU and MMI leader, Malcolm X Little.

Malcolm X talked at length on the firebombs which were thrown into his house in the early morning of February 14, 1965, destroying the house. He was quite angry and upset that the incident had placed his wife and daughters in danger and he angrily accused the NOI of doing it on the direct orders of NOI leader, Elijah Muhammad. He ridiculed the suggestion by the NOI that he set the fire himself and claimed that he knew absolutely nothing about his being evicted from the house on February
15, 1965, based on a court action by the NOI, until he heard it on the radio on February 15, 1965.

Malcolm X then claimed that a conspiracy exists between the NOI and the Ku Klux Klan that is not in the best interest of the black people. He alleged that both the NOI and the Klan have agreed to leave each other alone and that the Klan has offered land in North Carolina to the NOI for the latter's “separate state” for Negroes plan. Malcolm X also implied that Elijah Muhammad and his NOI are sympathetically linked with George Lincoln Rockwell and his American Nazi Party.

[An article in the February 16, 1965, edition of the
New York Times
] explained that the house of Malcolm X at 23-11 97th Street, East Elmhurst, Queens, New York, was set aflame by firebombs thrown into it on February 14, 1965, and a NOI official had previously indicated that he believed that Malcolm X had set off the firebombs himself to get publicity. This article further indicated that the NOI held title to the house and had obtained a court order in June, 1964, calling for Malcolm X to vacate the house, an order he had appealed to the New York Appellate Division. However, Malcolm X was evicted from the ruined house on February 15, 1965, when the (Queens County) Civil Court refused Malcolm X a further stay of the eviction.

This article went on to state that at the OAAU Rally on February 15, 1965, Malcolm X stated that in the racial situation he has switched his attack to the (Ku Klux) Klan and (George Lincoln) Rockwell, leader of the American Nazi Party. Malcolm X indicated that he was doing this because he had seen NOI leader Elijah Muhammad make agreements with Rockwell and the Klan that were not in the interests of Negroes.

Re Philadelphia teletype to Director, Chicago and New York dated 2/16/65, entitled “Organization of Afro-American Unity, IS—MISCELLANEOUS,”

Referenced teletype reflected a meeting of the OAAU was held on 2/15/65, at Audubon Ballroom, in New York City; that MALCOLM LITTLE was the main speaker and alleged that while he was active in the NOI in 12/60, he attended a meeting with [BUREAU DELETION] of ELIJAH MUHAMMAD's Mosque [BUREAU DELETION] and KKK officials at [BUREAU DELETION] home in Atlanta for the purpose of negotiating for land for ELIJAH MUHAMMAD to set up a separate state in Georgia or in South Carolina. LITTLE further alleged that GEORGE LINCOLN ROCKWELL and his American Nazi Party and KKK and ELIJAH MUHAMMAD were connected.

Regarding MALCOLM's allegations concerning the meeting with officials of the KKK in Atlanta in 1960, attention is directed to report of SA [BUREAU DELETION] dated 4/14/61. Pages 44 and 45 carry information reflecting ELIJAH MUHAMMAD spoke at Magnolia Ballroom in Atlanta, Georgia, on 9/11/60. Pages 96 and 97 set forth information regarding a meeting between MALCOLM LITTLE and [BUREAU DELETION] with
KKK leaders at Atlanta in late [BUREAU DELETION] This is apparently the meeting LITTLE was referring to.

Regarding LITTLE's allegations that MUHAMMAD is connected with the American Nazi Party, attention is directed to report of SA [BUREAU DELETION] dated 4/24/62. Pages 122 through 125 set forth information regarding an appearance by GEORGE LINCOLN ROCKWELL at the Annual Muslim Convention held at Chicago, Illinois, on 2/25/62, and also sets forth information regarding MUHAMMAD's comments regarding ROCKWELL and his associates. Attention is also directed to report of SA [BUREAU DELETION] dated 10/24/62. Page 132 sets forth information regarding alleged cooperation between the American Nazi Party and the NOI.

COMMUNICATIONS SECTION

FEBRUARY 18, 1965
TELETYPE

SENT BY CODED TELETYPE

FBI NEW YORK

7-16 PM URGENT 2-18-65 DAE

TO DIRECTOR -10- 100-399321

FROM NEW YORK 105-8999

MALCOLM K. LITTLE, AKA IS-MMI.

RENYAIRTELS AND LHM-S DATED FEB. SIXTEEN, SIXTY FIVE CAPTIONED AS ABOVE AND OTHER CAPTIONED OAAU, IS-MISC.

AT NINE AM FEB. EIGHTEEN, SIXTY FIVE MALCOLM X OFFICIALLY EVICTED FROM HIS RESIDENCE TWENTY THREE-ELEVEN NINETY SEVENTH ST., EAST ELMHURST, QUEENS, NY, AT WHICH TIME REGINALD THORPE, MARSHAL OF CITY OF NEW YORK TURNED RESIDENCE OVER TO [BUREAU DELETION] NOI MOSQUE NUMBER SEVEN, NYC. MALCOLM X MOVED BELONGINGS FROM RESIDENCE AT ONE AM FEB.
EIGHTEEN, SIXTY FIVE. [BUREAU DELETION] ADVISED FEB. EIGHTEEN, SIXTY FIVE MALCOLM X NOW RESIDING AT THIRTY FOUR-FIFTY ONE HUNDRED TENTH ST., EAST ELMHURST, QUEENS, NY WITH MMI MEMBER.

SND AND PLS HOLD............

COMMUNICATIONS SECTION

FEBRUARY 22, 1965
TELETYPE

FBI PHILA

1-58 PM URGENT 2-22-65 RM

TO DIRECTOR /100-399321/ AND NEW YORK /105-8999/

NEW YORK VIA WASH

FROM PHILADELPHIA /100-39918/

MALCOLM K. LITTLE, AKA IS-MMI.

RE NEW YORK TELETYPE 2-21-65.

[BUREAU DELETION] THEY POSSESSED NO INFO ON KILLING OF SUBJECT OR ATTEMPT TO RETALIATE BY HIS FOLLOWERS. THEY WILL IMMEDIATELY ADVISE THIS OFFICE SHOULD THEY OBTAIN INFO CONCERNING ABOVE.

[BUREAU DELETION] WAS AT RALLY NEW YORK CITY WHEN MALCOLM X WAS KILLED. [BUREAU DELETION] BALLROOM BENJAMIN X WAS SPEAKING. MALCOLM WAS NOT IN SIGHT. ABOUT THREE PM MALCOLM APPEARED ON STAGE RIGHT AND WALKED TO LECTERN. BENJAMIN THEN LEFT STAGE. MALCOLM GAVE MUSLIM GREETING AND THEN SAID QUOTE BROTHERS AND SISTERS UNQUOTE. AT THIS POINT A NEGRO MALE, WEARING THREE QUARTER LENGTH BLACK LEATHER JACKET, PUSHED HIS CHAIR BACK STOOD UP AND ACCUSED NEGRO MALE SITTING ON HIS LEFT OF HAVING HIS HAND IN HIS
POCKET. THE NEGRO MALE WHO STOOD UP WAS VERY DARK COMPLEXED [
sic
], SLENDER BUILD, ABOUT FIVE FEET TEN INCHES TALL, WEIGHT ONE HUNDRED SIXTY POUNDS, AGE IN LATE TWENTIES, LEAN FACE MEDIUM LENGTH STRAIGHT HAIR.

THIS MAN PUSHED HIS COAT BACK AND PRODUCED AN OBJECT WHICH LOOKED TO BE METALLIC AND RAISED HIS ARM. PEOPLE FROM THE AUDIENCE OF ABOUT FOUR HUNDRED PERSONS BEGAN JUMPING TO THEIR FEET. MALCOLM TOLD EVERYONE TO QUOTE TAKE IT EASY UNQUOTE. THE NEXT THING [BUREAU DELETION] RECALLS WAS THAT THEY HEARD ABOUT FOUR GUNSHOTS WHICH WERE RAPID, SOUNDING LIKE THEY CAME FROM A SEMIAUTOMATIC PISTOL. [BUREAU DELETION] THEN FELL TO THE FLOOR AND BELIEVED HE SAW BLOOD ON MALCOLMS FACE.

WHILE LYING ON THE FLOOR ABOUT FOUR MINUTES LATER [BUREAU DELETION] AT LEAST TEN OR ELEVEN MORE SHOTS WHICH SOUNDED LIKE THEY CAME FROM THE SAME TYPE GUN MENTIONED ABOVE AND FROM SAME LOCATION. WHILE STILL LYING ON THE FLOOR AND IMMEDIATELY AFTER LAST BURST OF GUNFIRE, [BUREAU DELETION] OBSERVED A MAN FROM THE WAIST DOWN PAST HIM, LOADING A GUN CLIP. [BUREAU DELETION] BELIEVED THIS CLIP TO BE SMALLER THAN A FORTY-FIVE CALIBER CLIP BUT COULD NOT BE MORE SPECIFIC. [BUREAU DELETION] DID NOT BELIEVE THIS MAN TO BE THE ONE WEARING THE BLACK LEATHER JACKET AS HIS HANDS APPEARED TO BE THAT OF A LIGHT NEGRO. THIS MAN WORE BROWN OR CORDOVAN COLORED SHOES WITH MEDIUM SIZE FEET. SOURCE COULD FURNISH NO FURTHER INFO AS SCENE WAS NOW IN UTTER CONFUSION.

[BUREAU DELETION] COULD FURNISH NO INFO CONCERNING ANY PLANS OF RETALIATION BY MALCOLM X FOLLOWERS. [BUREAU DELETION]

[BUREAU DELETION]

[BUREAU DELETION] WAS AT BALLROOM WHEN MALCOLM KILLED AND MAY POSSIBLY COME TO PHILA. [BUREAU DELETION]

[BUREAU DELETION] AND BUREAU AND NEW YORK WILL BE KEPT IMMEDIATELY ADVISED OF ANY PERTINENT DEVELOPMENTS.

SECRET LHM FOLLOWS.

WA FOR RELAY HOLD CORR

E

WA FOR RELAY LRA

FBI WASH DC AND RELAY

TU AND SI DISC 5