Malcolm X Item May Not Be Sold

The bullet-pierced, bloodstained address book of Malcolm X, scheduled to be displayed by a prestigious auction house in Los Angeles on Friday, will be withdrawn from a May 27 sale if there is compelling evidence that it was stolen, a spokesman said.

The decision by Butterfield & Butterfield comes amid a heated controversy over how a private collector got the book that was in the black leader’s pocket when he was gunned down by assassins 34 years ago.

Levy Morgan, a spokesman for Butterfield & Butterfield, said the New York City counsel’s office has told his company it has evidence it was stolen. Calls to that office were not returned.

“If those reports are true, obviously we would never offer something at auction that was not the property of our consigner,” Morgan said, adding that a decision could come today.

Joseph Fleming, the lawyer representing the estate of Malcolm X’s deceased widow, said that he will file an injunction to enjoin the sale, which is to take place in San Francisco on May 27, if he does not received assurance today that the book will be withdrawn.

Fleming said Malcolm X’s six daughters are “appalled that this item, representing one of the most intimate moments of their father’s life, should fall into private hands for purposes of profiteering. That’s not something they’re going to allow to happen.”

Malcolm X, one of the most controversial and influential black leaders of the 1960s, was immortalized by his best-selling “Autobiography of Malcolm X.” He has been the subject of a Hollywood movie, and his picture is currently on a U.S. postage stamp.

The faux-leather book, which --contains 146 pages crammed with names of supporters, friends and such personalities as actor Ossie Davis, was last seen publicly as a piece of evidence in the trial of three men convicted of assassinating the Muslim leader in February 1965.

Morgan said Butterfield & Butterfield’s Los Angeles office was approached a few months ago by a collector who wanted them to handle the sale of the book and provided an authenticating letter from the man he said he bought it from.

The man expressed great admiration for Malcolm X in his letter, and said he had purchased the book “after it was discarded,” Morgan said.

“It was my understanding that after 25 years, the court personel [sic] purged their court cases,” the man wrote. “I felt privileged to own this small piece of history that almost was lost forever.”

But the Malcolm X file was not “purged.” Like most cases in New York City, it was merely filed away, and authorities are still trying to find out how the book made it to the auction block.

G. Foster Mills, the managing attorney for the counsel of the city of New York, which reportedly had evidence that it was stolen, did not return calls for comment.

A spokesman for the Manhattan district attorney’s office said the Malcolm X file should have been stored at its archives for 25 years after the trial, then moved to the Municipal Archives, though sometimes police retain key bits of evidence.

Kenneth Cobb, director of the Municipal Archives, said the only trace of the book in the file is an empty envelope classified as “1965 Red Diary With Three Bullet Holes.” It is marked “Personal Property of Malcolm X Little”--adding a surname that Malcolm X discarded as a name bestowed by slave owners.

He said it would be “extremely unusual” for that type of evidence to be sent to Municipal Archives and he does not know if the book arrived with the file in 1993.

“It clearly belonged to Malcolm X and should have gone back to the family in 1965,” Cobb said.

New York City Police Department Inspector Michael Collins said the book was entered as evidence in 1965. Usually such evidence is held by the district attorney’s office and returned to the family, he said.

“I’m willing to bet it never came back to this department after the trial,” Collins said.

Morgan said there is a possibility that the auction legal staff will conclude that the collector has “clear title” to the book--even if the family contests that claim.

In that case, though it would be disputed, “it would be his right to sell, and we would proceed to auction,” Morgan said. “If we did auction it, it would be up to the bidder to decide what to do with it.”

The book is to be displayed along with dozens of other items at the auction house’s Los Angeles showroom through the weekend.

So far, Morgan said, three wealthy collectors from the East Coast have contacted the auction house and said they would like to buy the book just to give it back to the family, whose surname is Shabazz. Its worth is estimated at up to $50,000.

“Wouldn’t that be a nice little stroke?,” Morgan said. “Either way, it wouldn’t be surprising to me to find that the Shabazz family would regain” the book.

Joseph Fleming, the attorney for the family, was not heartened.

“We appreciate that type of offer, but we would not like to see anyone profit from the theft of the [book],” Fleming said. “Malcolm X represents one of the great figures of the 20th century. I think there is a great deal of interest that a piece of history could be stolen in this way and then find itself across the continent up for sale at an auction house.

“No matter how many levels Butterfield might be removed from that process, it’s still stolen property,” he said. “We’ll see what kind of reputation they want to maintain by how they respond.”

Fleming said he is fielding numerous calls from people who want to start letter-writing campaigns or help pay the legal costs of suing the auction house.

The auction house, too, has received calls from angry citizens, spokesman Morgan said.

Morgan says callers have listened to talk radio shows that portray Butterfield & Butterfield as “the bad guy.”

When one woman told him that “as an African American woman,” he began his reply with: “As an African American man . . .”

“I told one woman, ‘It’s a good thing Butterfield is marketing the property,’ ” he said. “Had this been sold privately, no one would have ever known.”