He was turned down for parole 16 times, but the 17th attempt has led to freedom Malcolm X’s only confessed assassin.

Thomas Hagan has been detained since moments after shots rang out in the Audubon Ballroom in 1965. He has been on work release for more than 20 years, but he still spends two days a week locked up at the Lincoln Correctional Facility on West 110th Street in Manhattan.

On March 3, however, Hagan was granted parole, according to the State Division of Parole. His final release date is tentatively scheduled for Wednesday.

Hagan, who turned 69 in jail on Tuesday, was a member of the Nation of Islam on Feb. 21, 1965, when Malcolm X was shot while giving a speech at the Audubon Ballroom, in Washington Heights.

Hagan, then known as Talmadge X, was captured by the crowd and shot at and beaten before being rescued by the police. Two other men, Muhammad Abdul Aziz(then known as Norman 3X Butler) and Kahlil Islam (then Thomas 15X Johnson), were also charged with murder.

While they maintained their innocence, Hagan did not, testifying at his trial in 1966 that he was responsible for the murder and that his co-defendants were innocent.

 

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The killers of Malcolm got off too easy which shows that the system had a big part in the****assination. When the CIA followed him around in the Mid-East and tried to poison him in Egypt, Malcolm's days were numbered. His movement was viewed as a larger threat to U.S. security than Dr. King's. He wanted to internationalize the black struggle.

by   
SPF
April 28, 2010, 2:26 pm
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Well all I can say is--maybe brother man better leave the country. I'm pretty sure there are some thuggish X-generationers out there who would like nothing better than be the one to avenge Malcolm's death--even though Malcolm would have strongly disagree with any form of retaliation done in his name.

by   
Lovelyhoney
April 28, 2010, 1:04 pm
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I went to school with Malcolm X daughters. The late Betty Shabazz did a magnificent job raising six girls without her husband. This man spent 45 years in jail for killing a black icon. It is amazing how the actions of one person can affect so many others. He has taken a life and lost his own in the process. Young people, learn to value life and be responsible for your own actions. THINK before you talk. THINK before you act. DON'T go to jail for 45 years and THROW YOUR WHOLE LIFE AWAY ..........................................................

by   
BigBlackW
April 28, 2010, 1:00 pm
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JiggySaid: "Wow, black on black crime started in the 1960's..."
********
Yeah...and White on White crime started way before Lincoln's****asination and even the Civil War. So shut the hell up you bigoted twit. Blacks don't hold the patent on crimes against one another---OF COURSE YOUR BIGOTED A$$ knows that you dumb-a$$ troll.

by   
Lovelyhoney
April 28, 2010, 12:53 pm
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Wow, black on black crime started in the 1960's

by   
Jiggy5
April 28, 2010, 11:11 am
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I smell a book deal.

by   
Zediva
April 28, 2010, 11:02 am
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He should have rotted in jail. How do you****assinate someone and get out of jail? He never told the truth about all involved in the crime. On what grounds is he getting out?

by   
LMJAlchemist
April 28, 2010, 10:09 am
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It is interesting that he simply wishes to be with his wife and raise his children while his actions took that away from another man and his family. Having learned his lesson he gets to move on, can't say the same for his victims. I pray he does serve as an example to anyone who thinks they can measure out justice in other people's lives. Time has shown how flawed an individuals thinking can be and though a lot of time has passed, we still remember how much was lost by so many people by other men's action.

by   
Wells2651
April 28, 2010, 7:28 am
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he will come out and make money for killing the X and lived rest of his life pretty good.

by   
Trdaye
April 28, 2010, 7:20 am
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I don't feel a bit of remorse for him. He was a government agent like the rest of those****s that pulled the trigger that Sunday afternoon in February 45 years ago.
If only someone could get to him and force his hand. Don't let this**** die before he tells the truth even if it means a gun in his mouth!

by   
Tellinuhowitiz
April 28, 2010, 6:59 am
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Rillar, this is so true.

by   
Jcdj0525
April 28, 2010, 6:40 am
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It is strange that what we know for shure in youth is often less certain later in life, looking at this man I see a defeated soul that changed the course of history by one youthful act that did nothing to enhance the world or himself. The poverty that he faces now is the same povery that Malcom was trying to address, who will advocate for him!

by   
Rillar
April 27, 2010, 8:35 pm
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