THE ASSASSINATION OF MALCOLM X L UNANSWERED QUESTIONS By George Breitman 2. THE TRIAL By Herman Porter 50C INTRODUCTORY NOTE This pamphlet reprints twelve articles about the assassination of Malcolm X on February 21, 1965, and the trial, from January I. Unanswered Questions 21 to March 11, 1966, of three men charged with the assassina- By GEORGE BREITMAN tion. The three defendants were sentenced to life imprisonment. The articles were written for The Militant, weekly socialist news- paper. The three by George Breitman, written from Detroit, ap- peared during July and August 1965. The nine articles by Herman Porter, who reported the trial in New York for The Militant, ap- The Missing 'Second' Man peared in its issues from January to March 1966. George Breitman has requested that the following be added: "The DETROIT, July 4 — Some mys- er, 22, of Paterson, N.J., had re- questions I asked about the role of the police in the assassination tifying questions about the assas- ceived a bullet in the leg by the of Malcolm X were transmitted to the defense attorneys in the hope sination of Malcolm X arise it you time he got to the exit of the that they would raise them during the trial. As Herman Porter's carefully read the New York building. The police also alleged reports indicate, they deliberately avoided doing so. Readers newspaper reports printed right that he had been wounded by should also understand that if the New York police were involved after the assassination, as I have Reuben Francis, a Malcolm guard. just done. Some of them concern Hayer was seized outside the in the assassination (and nothing said or done at the trial, or in the role of the police. building by the people pursuing the four years since the crime, has absolved them of this charge), I should explain, at the begin- him. So was another man. The that involvement could not have been on tlagsir own initiative, but ning, that I have no fixed theory people began to beat and kick must have resulted from the decision and direction of the govern- about the killing. I don't know if Hayer and the second man. Police agents of the Black Muslims did arrived and rescued the two being ment in Washington, that is, the CIA." it; or if agents of white racists beaten, taking them away from did it; or if agents of the govern- the crowd. ment or the police did it; or if The third man got away. He First printing February, 1969 agents of a combination of these got away because the crowd did forces, who all hated Malcolm, did Second printing May, 1969 not catch him. Hayer and the sec- it. I am, at this point, only asking ond man also would have got away some questions provoked by study- if the crowd hadn't caught and Merit Publishers ing different editions of the six held them until the police showed 873 Broadway New York daily papers after the up. killing. New York, N. Y. 10003 Certain things seem agreed upon Now let us turn to the New by everybody: York Herald Tribune dated Mon- Manufactured in the United States of America The Organization of Afro-Amer- day, Feb. 22. This is a morning ican Unity had scheduled a rally paper, which means that the first on Sunday afternoon, Feb. 21, at edition of the paper dated Monday CONTENTS the Audubon Ballroom in Har- actually appeared Sunday evening, lem. This was one week after a few hours after the killing. The Part I. UNANSWERED QUESTIONS by George Breitman Malcolm's home was fire-bombed top headline in the first (city) edi- The Missing 'Second' Man 3 and he and his family narrowly tion reads: "Malcolm X Slain by escaped injury or death. People Gunmen as 400 in Ballroom The Role of the Police 5 Watch." The subhead, over the Were Butler and Johnson There? entering the rally were not 8 searched. On the other hand, they lead article by Jimmy Breslin, were all scrutinized by OAAU reads: "Police Rescue Two Sus- Part II. THE TRIAL by Herman Porter aides as they entered the hall. pects." Selection of the Jury 11 Malcolm had just begun to Breslin's story in this edition re- The First Witness 12 speak when two men began a scuf- ports that Hayer was "taken to Unreliable Observers fle deliberately designed to dis- Bellevue Prison Ward and was 14 tract the attention of Malcolm's sealed off by a dozen policemen. Conflicting Testimony 17 guards„ Three men rushed toward The other suspect was taken to Technical Evidence 21 Malcolm, opening fire and wound- the Wadsworth Avenue precinct, Defense Opens Case 22 ing him mortally; they then ran where the city's top policemen im- Talmadge Hayer Confesses 24 out of , the ballroom, pursued by mediately converged and began several of Malcolm's supporters. one of the heaviest homicide in- Summary of the Testimony 26 Police said that one of the three, vestigations this city has ever Mystery Not Solved by Verdict 30 identified later as Talmadge Hay- seen." 3 4 5 Next we turn to a later (late subhead. In fact, the story has Fantastic? Only if you don't present in the audience at the city) edition of the same paper more about Hoy than it had in the know anything about the police, time of the killing. (BOSS is the for the same day. The top head- city edition. FBI, CIA, etc. police agency involved in the line is unchanged. But the sub- This time the Times reports: It is standard procedure for Statue of Liberty provocation.) head is different. This time it "'As I brought him to the front them to infiltrate radical, black After talking to this high police reads, "Police Rescue One Sus- of the ballroom, the crowd began nationalist and just militant or- official, Herald Tribune staff pect." beating me and the suspect,' Pa- ganizations. Sometimes, as the re- member Milton Lewis wrote: The "second" suspect has trolman Hoy said. He said he put cent "Statue of Liberty" case "It is no secret that BOSS police dropped not only out of the head- this man — not otherwise identi- showed, these police agents worm fied later for newsmen — into a their way into positions where — who never wear uniforms - line, but out of Breslin's story have credentials to cover almost too. Nothing about his being police car to be taken to the Wads- they can carry out provocations caught and beaten by the crowd, worth Avenue station." or cause other damage, in addi- any situation, so that if they were tion to merely "reporting" what required to have a card or em- nothing about his being rescued Then Hoy's captive disappears blem of the Black Nationalist sect by the police, nothing about his from the Times as completely and happens inside the organizations infiltrated. it is a safe bet that they had being taken to the Wadsworth as permanently as he did from the them." station, nothing about the city's Herald Tribune, and from all the We do not have to speculate top police converging on that sta- other daily papers. about whether or not the police So perhaps the "second" man tion. But there cannot be any doubt infiltrated the Organization of was a police agent, and perhaps Not only does he disappear from in the mind of anyone reading Afro-American Unity and whether the strange behavior of the top Breslin's story in the late city the accounts I have cited that a or not such police agents were police results from their desire edition, but he disappears from second man was captured and present at the Audubon Ballroom to protect one of their own "sev- the Herald Tribune altogether taken away by the police. at the time of the assassination. eral" men present at the Audubon. from that date to this. Who was he? The answer is yes, without any But in that case, the question Perhaps the whole thing never Why did the press lose interest speculation. must be asked again, and such happened? Perhaps Breslin, in the in him so suddenly, at a time that A "high police official" said, as questions will keep on being asked heat of the moment, had in his it was filling its pages with all reported in the Herald Tribune until the whole story is told: Why first story reported a mere rumor kinds of material about the mur- Feb. 23, that "several" members was the crowd convinced that the as a fact, and, being unable to der, including the silliest triviali- of the highly secretive Bureau of "second" man was one of the verify it, decided not to repeat it ties and wildest rumors? Was it Special Services (BOSS) were killers? in later editions? because the police "advised" them But there are three morning to? papers in New York, and in their Why did Patrolman Hoy deem first editions they all said it hap- the "second" man to be a suspect? pened. What was he doing at the time The Role of the Police For example, let us examine Hoy grabbed him? the first (city) edition of the New Why did the crowd deem him to be a suspect? What had they DETROIT, July 18 — "Why proved it remains only a possibil- York Times for Feb. 22. The sub- don't you admit that the Black head is very clear: "Police Hold seen him doing before Hoy ity — one among others.