SUITCASE KILLER CONFESSES! SAY'S HE'S SORRY!

The East Harlem man who copped to murdering a woman and stuffing her body in a suitcase said he was regretful as detectives led him out of a police station early Tuesday.

His head bowed and his hands cuffed behind his back, Hassan Malik, 55, gave a simple answer when a reporter asked him if he was sorry.

"Yes," the military veteran said outside the 23rd Precinct stationhouse in East Harlem about 1 a.m. Tuesday.

He was then asked if he had anything to say to the family of his victim, Betty Williams, 28, of the Bronx.

"Yes," he said, without elaborating.

The black suitcase that contained Williams' body was found last week by a man rummaging through trash on E. 114th St. in East Harlem.

It was found down the street from the famed Italian restaurant, Rao's - and just a few blocks away from Malik's home on Pleasant Ave.

Malik's neighbors said cops told them his fingerprints were found on the suitcase.

A tip led detectives to take Malik into custody Monday.

The tipster recognized Malik from a video that police released to the media after Williams' body was found Wednesday.

The video showed a man, wearing a dark hat and jacket, wheeling a suitcase down the E. 114th St. sidewalk, near where the gruesome find was made.

Malik's neighbors said he was the man in the video.

Williams, who was strangled, did short stints on Rikers Island for a dozen arrests since 2007, half of them drug-related. Police sources said she also had a history of prostitution.

Investigators believe she was turning a trick with Malik when they had a fight, the sources said. Williams may have been slain because she tried to take extra money from Malik, they added.

Cops said Malik smashed her in the back of the head with a blunt object - leading investigators initially to believe the impact killed her. An autopsy later revealed she had been strangled.

Malik's neighbors said he often boasted of bringing women to hotels and stealing their credit cards.

He was charged with second degree murder and was expected to be arraigned Tuesday.



SOURCE