Malcolm X Killer -Thomas Hagan Says He's Sorry

                                                                 Malcolm X

                                                             Thomas Hagan

Manhattan ---As his years went by in prison , Thomas Hagan came to realize that the things that motivated him to kill Malcolm X were completely wrong .

He left the Nation of Islam but remained a Muslin . He studied a lot of history and sociology . And he decided that he'd been lied to.

In an interview with state Parole Board officials earlier this month , Hagan said he was a "very young man , a very uneducated man," when he plotted to murder Malcolm X , according to transcripts obtained by DNAinfro .
And said he's sorry .
"I've had a lot of time , a heck of a lot of time to think about it ," Hagan said . "Being more educated in terms of social events and so forth , I understand a lot better the dynamics of movements and what can happen inside movements and conflicts that can come up , but I have deep regrets about my perticipation in that ."

After that March 3 interview , the board agreed to set him free . He is expected to be released from a minimum-security prison in Harlem on April 28 .

Hagan was a 22-year-old rank and file member of the Nation of Islam  when Malcolm X split from the group and went public with allegations that it's leader was fathering children out of wedlock .

Nation of Islam ministers responded with charges that Malcolm X was a lying hypocite , and was planning armed attacks against the group members . So Hagan and a couple others got together in New Jersey and planned to assassinate him.

On February 21, 1956 , they gunned Malcolm X down as he spoke at the Audubon Ballroom in Washington Heights.

"Of course , as we know history has revealed , a lot of what [Malcolm X] was saying was true ,"  Hagan said , according to the transcripts .

Parole won't change Hagan's life dramatically . Since 1989 , he has been allowed to leave prison on a work-release program in which he spends many days working and visiting his wife and children in Brooklyn .

In prison , Hagan obtained a master's degree in sociology . He hopes to become a substance-abuse counselor when he gets out . He has also been volunteering at a mosque.

State authorties would not reveal where exactly Hagan lives or works . That information was blacked out of transcripts  provided by DNAinfo.

In 2008 , Hagan was living in Sunset Park , Brooklyn , and working in a fast-food restaurant , according to the New York Post .

Hagan has maintained that the two other  Nation of Islam members who was convicted with him ... Muhammad Abdul Aziz and Kahill Islam ... was not part of the plot  . In his parole interview , Hagan repeated claims he made in a 1970s affidavit that his accomplices were two other men who were never charged .
Aziz and Islam was paroled years ago .