The only man to confess to killing legendary leader Malcolm X is being released from prison after 45 years.
Thomas Hagan, now 69, has been in custody ever since those shots rang out in Upper Manhattan’s Audubon Ballroom on Feb. 21, 1965, mortally wounding the venerated leader of the radical left.
Hagan was granted his unconditional release after a March 3 hearing and is scheduled to leave the institution on April 28, the New York Times reports.
Hagan, then known as Talmadge X, was brutally beaten by irate and horrified supporters of Malcolm after the fatal explosion of gunfire. Hagan was later convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to 20 years to life for assassinating the civil rights icon, who had by that time changed his name from Malcolm X to El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz and split with the Nation of Islam.
Two other alleged shooters were also convicted of taking active part in the assassination. They, however, never admitted to taking Malcolm’s life and were granted parole 20 years ago. The other shooters who Hagan said took part in the shooting were never identified.
Documents later released under the Freedom of Information Act revealed that FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover along with other agents used informants and illegal tricks to create a toxic atmosphere in order to purposely get Malcolm killed.
Hagan had been denied parole on 16 previous occasions. During his four-and-a-half decades in prison, Hagan attained his master’s degree. He actually has been on a work-release program for the past two decades and is only serving two days in lockup each week at the Lincoln Correctional Facility on West 110th St. in Manhattan. –terry shropshire
