Cop killer to be paroled

The New York State Board of Parole has approved the release of a notorious convicted cop killer who was a member of a radical group in the 1970s. Herman Bell, 70, and two other members of the Black Liberation Army were convicted of luring Patrolman Joseph Piagentini and Patrolman Waverly Jones to a housing complex in Harlem with a 911 call and then shooting them to death in 1971. Authorities said Jones died from a single shot but Piagentini was shot 22 times. A judge sentenced Bell in 1979 to 25 years to life. New York did not have the death penalty at that time.