Did a Black undercover NYPD cop unwittingly aid Malcolm X s assassination?
By The Washington Post
By Sydney Trent
On Feb. 20, Reginald Wood Jr., a bespectacled, balding man in a dark suit and striped tie, walked across the wooden stage to the podium at the Malcolm X and Dr. Betty Shabazz Memorial and Educational Center in Manhattan.
The place and timing were weighty with symbolism. The centre had been built on the former site of the Audubon Ballroom, where Malcolm X was assassinated 56 years ago that very weekend. Wood was also speaking on the eve of the trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin in the killing of George Floyd last May. A heightened suspicion of law enforcement swirled in the air, just as it did after Malcolm was murdered.
In the letter he admits he was part of a conspiracy targeting Malcolm.
The letter was presented at a news conference in New York on February 20, by Malcolm’s three daughters and civil rights attorney Ben Crump. Wood’s cousin Reggie joined them in revealing the letter’s contents.
The announcement was made at the Malcolm and Dr Betty Shabazz Memorial and Educational Center, on the former site of the Audubon Ballroom, where Malcolm was assassinated.
Posthumous confession
Wood’s 2011 letter, which he gave to his cousin for release after his death, said he had been compelled by his supervisors at the NYPD to coax two members of Malcolm s security team into committing crimes, leading to their arrest just a few days before the assassination.
In the letter he admits he was part of a conspiracy targeting Malcolm.
The letter was presented at a news conference in New York on February 20, by Malcolm’s three daughters and civil rights attorney Ben Crump. Wood’s cousin Reggie joined them in revealing the letter’s contents.
The announcement was made at the Malcolm and Dr Betty Shabazz Memorial and Educational Center, on the former site of the Audubon Ballroom, where Malcolm was assassinated.
Posthumous confession
Wood’s 2011 letter, which he gave to his cousin for release after his death, said he had been compelled by his supervisors at the NYPD to coax two members of Malcolm s security team into committing crimes, leading to their arrest just a few days before the assassination.
Former copâs deathbed confession reveals his role in assassinating Malcolm X
Former copâs deathbed confession reveals his role in assassinating Malcolm X
February 28, 2021
At a press conference on Saturday, Feb. 20, 2021, almost 56 years to the day of Malcolm Xâs assassination, his daughters came together with their attorney, Ben Crump, to read aloud a deathbed ânon-confessionâ from Ray Wood, an infiltrator of various parts of the Black liberation movement, that states his supposed âcoercionâ by the FBI to murder the great leader and human rights fighter Malcolm X. Crump along with many other advocates are now calling for a reopening of the investigation into Malcolm Xâs assassination. â Photo: National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA)
The daughter of a police officer who allegedly wrote a letter saying NYPD and the FBI were behind the assassination of Malcolm X has insisted the document is a fake and had been circulated by a publicity-hungry relative.
The note, said to be a deathbed confession by undercover cop Ray Wood, claimed he was pressured by his supervisors to lure two members of the civil rights leader s security detail into committing crimes that led to their arrest just days before he was shot dead.
But Wood s daughter Kelly Wood said Friday that it was a forgery and her father s cousin, Reggie Wood, had released it to the media last weekend in a bid to attract attention to himself.