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Malcom X Assassin Thomas Hagan Granted Formal Release

by Rory Cripps | March 20, 2010 at 10:33 am

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Thomas Hagan, 69, granted formal release 45 years after Malcom X shot in Harlem's Audobon Ballroom

Thomas Hagan, age 69, the last of the men still remaining incarcerated for the assassination of Malcolm X has been granted parole and is scheduled to be freed in late-April, 45 years after the civil rights leader was shot to death at Harlem's Audubon Ballroom.

Hagan made 17 appearances before the New York State parole board panel and was finally granted formal release from custody on March 3.

Hagan had been a part-time prisoner for most of the past 20 years, and had spent as little as two days a week in custody because of an upper Manhattan work release facility program arrangement, according to state records.

This "five out, two in" program allowed Hagan, one of three men convicted of the assassination - to work and live with his family.

The two other gunmen had been paroled prior to Hagan. Hagan was caught when he fled the scene, due to having sustained a gunshot wound, and was arrested outside the Audubon carrying a clip from the .45 caliber pistol used during the attack.

First-person accounts of the shooting were provided to investigators by a variety of witnesses, including a Queens man, William Parker, who was struck with a stray bullet, and Betty Shabazz, Malcolm's wife, who testified before a Manhattan grand jury. An NYPD report details the results of an autopsy performed at the Bellevue Morgue: "Cause of death: Multiple shotgun and other caliber bullet wounds of Heart and aorta."

Source: thesmokinggun.com