An East Harlem man was charged with murder tonight after he was caught on video disposing of a woman’s body stuffed inside a suitcase, police sources said.
Hassan Malik, 55, who has a long rap sheet for burglary and drugs, confessed to the strangulation slaying after he was grabbed by police and hauled into the 23rd Precinct station house for questioning, the sources said.
The break in the murder of Betty Williams, 28, came after a tipster saw the chilling video that shows the alleged assailant wheeling a suitcase to a spot on East 114th Street near First Avenue, near the famed Rao’s Italian restaurant.
Williams, who has 14 arrests, mostly for drugs, was found fully clothed inside the suitcase on Dec. 22 by a neighborhood resident who opened the bag and was stunned to see a leg pop out.
A second video later released by the NYPD showed another man flashing a wide grin in an East Harlem supermarket as he purchases cleaning supplies.
It’s not clear if or how he’s involved in the murder, although cops had said the video was connected to the case.
That man has not been charged.