Diary of Malcolm X to Be Sold at Auction

The bloodied, bullet-riddled diary of Malcolm X, which was in his coat pocket when he was assassinated, is going up for auction. But his family insists they are the rightful owners of the 146 pages once used as evidence in the trial of the men convicted of killing the black Muslim leader. The red, mock-leather booklet was People’s Exhibit 60 at the trial of the three men found guilty in Malcolm X’s killing on Feb. 21, 1965, in a Harlem ballroom. An auction house in San Francisco, Butterfield & Butterfield, is to sell the diary on May 27. New York City officials are now investigating how the item got into the hands of a private collector, who sold it to the current owner.