Renowned civil rights attorney Ben Crump has unveiled two crucial witnesses in the investigation into the assassination of civil rights icon Malcolm X. On the 59th anniversary of Malcolm X’s death, Crump, along with co-counsel Ray Hamlin and Flint Taylor, introduced Khaleel Sayeed Ramakrishna and Walter Bowie as key witnesses who have come forward with evidence in the case.

Ramakrishna and Bowie, both security associates, revealed during a recent press conference that they were arrested one week before Malcolm X’s assassination, preventing them from attending his speech at Harlem’s Audubon Ballroom. Ramakrishna expressed his belief that his arrest was part of a conspiracy orchestrated by the New York City Police Department and Federal Bureau of Investigation to ensure the success of Malcolm X’s planned assassination.

“I believe I was detained in this conspiracy by the NYPD and FBI in order to ensure Malcolm X’s planned assassination would be successful. Had I not been arrested, I would have attended his speech and could have served as part of his security detail,” Ramakrishna said, according to a press release from Crump’s office.

Bowie, in an affidavit read during the press conference, echoed similar sentiments, stating that he believes the NYPD deliberately conspired to have him and other known members of Malcolm X’s security detail arrested, thereby guaranteeing the success of the assassination, News Nation reported.

Malcolm X was assassinated on Feb. 21, 1965, while delivering a speech at the Audubon Ballroom in Harlem in front of his wife and daughters. The circumstances surrounding his death have long been contested, with theories suggesting involvement by federal and New York government agencies, including the NYPD, FBI, and Central Intelligence Agency.

Last year, one of Malcolm X’s daughters, Ilyasah Shabazz, filed a lawsuit against FBI, CIA, and NYPD, Time reported.

The assassination resulted in the wrongful convictions of Muhammad Aziz, Islam, and Mujahid Abdul Halim, also known as Talmadge Hayer and Thomas Hagan. Hagan, who confessed to being one of three gunmen involved in the shooting, maintained that Aziz and Islam were not involved. Aziz and Islam, formerly known as Norman 3X Butler and Thomas 15 Johnson, consistently proclaimed their innocence and provided alibis at their trial. However, no physical evidence linked them to the crime.

Hagan was paroled in 2010, while Aziz and Islam were released in 1985 and 1987, respectively.

“Both the NYPD and FBI failed to disclose to prosecutors that they had undercover officers on the scene,” historian Zaheer Ali, the lead researcher for Marable’s biography Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention, wrote for TIME in November 2021. “They decided instead to protect their assets; there seemed to be a desire to wrap up the investigation quickly. What paths of inquiry were avoided or cut short as a result? If these two men were unjustly convicted, then who else was unjustly allowed to roam free?”

Ben Crump Files Lawsuit Against J&J For Marketing Product Linked To Ovarian Cancer Among Black Women (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)/Malcolm X (AP Photo/Victor Boynton)