New allegations surrounding Malcolm X’s death emerged in a letter written by a former New York Police Department officer on his deathbed.
On January 25, 2011, Ray Wood, who was serving as an undercover police officer on the day of Malcolm X’s death, wrote a letter in which he admitted to “taking part in actions that, in retrospect, were deplorable and detrimental to the progress of my own blacks. “
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 their leaders, Wood wrote in the letter obtained by ABC News.
Wood’s manipulator planned to arrest two members of Malcolm X’s “key” security in a conspiracy to bomb the Statue of Liberty days before his 1965 assassination, Wood wrote. The plot involved three members of a black and a Canadian “terrorist group” who planned to dynamite the Statue of Liberty, the Liberty Bell and the Washington Monument, reported the New York Times on February 16, 1965.
“It was my mission to lure the two men into a federal criminal offense, so that they could be arrested by the FBI and kept away from managing security at Malcolm X’s door on February 21, 1965,” wrote Wood. “… At that time I didn’t know that Malcolm X was the target.”
Malcolm X was murdered in the Manhattan Audubon Ballroom while speaking to the Organization of African American Unity on February 21, 1965. Three members of the Nation of Islam were convicted of his murder.
Wood claimed in the letter that “his actions on behalf of the New York Police Department (BOSSI) were carried out under duress and fear”, adding that he could have faced “harmful consequences” if he had not followed orders from his officers.
“After witnessing the repeated brutality at the hands of my co-workers (police), I tried to resign,” he wrote. “Instead, I was threatened with arrest on charges of marijuana and alcohol trafficking against me if I didn’t do my job.”
Wood wrote that when facing health problems, he was concerned that the family of Thomas Johnson, one of the men convicted of killing Malcolm X, would not be able to exonerate him after Wood died. Johnson was arrested at the Audubon Ballroom the night Malcolm X was killed 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 that this information will be received with the understanding that I carried these secrets with a heavy heart and with regret I regret my participation in this matter,” wrote Wood.
Wood’s cousin, who wrote the book “The Ray Wood Story”, published earlier this month, described Wood to “Good Morning America” as a “good man who was deceived and forced to betray his own people”.
“And he felt bad and remorseful for it,” said Reggie Wood.
Last year, the New York prosecutor’s office launched another investigation into the death of Malcolm X and those convicted after the documentary “Who Killed Malcolm X?” streamed on Netflix.
In response to an ABC News investigation, the Manhattan district attorney’s office stated, “The review of our office on this matter is active and ongoing.”
Sgt. NYPD spokeswoman Jessica McRorie said in a statement that the NYPD provided “all available records relevant to that case” to the prosecutor’s office.
The FBI did not respond to ABC News’ request for comment.
Civil rights lawyer Benjamin Crump described the review of Malcolm X’s death as restorative justice.
“This is the only way to overcome this divide,” Crump told “GMA”. “We need to have transparency, present accountability and that is the only way we will be able to trust.”
Derrick Johnson, president and CEO of NAACP, told “GMA” that “many African Americans who have stood up, who express equality and justice in this country, have been persecuted, prosecuted or, in the case of Malcolm X, murdered.”
Sabina Ghebremedhin, Aaron Katersky and Samara Lynn of ABC News contributed to this report.