Tupac Shakur's stepfather denied parole after 30 years behind bars for a string of deadly armed robberies - but can try again for release in just two years

Tupac Shakur's stepfather will stay behind bars for at least two more years after parole for his 60-year sentence was denied on Thursday.

He had served 30 years in jail for masterminding a string of deadly armed robberies.

Mutulu Shakur, once on the FBI's most wanted list, was convicted in 1988 of leading a revolutionary group known as 'The Family' who were responsible for killing an armed guard and two New York police officers.

Federal officials declined to comment on why Shakur's parole was denied, saying the information was 'not publicly releasable'.

Shakur will be eligible for parole again in two years, U.S. Justice Department spokesman Peter Carr said.

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Mutulu Shakur, (pictured) once on the FBI's most wanted list, was convicted of leading a revolutionary group known as 'The Family' who were responsible for killing an armed guard and two New York police officers

Tupac Shakur is pictured spitting at reporters as he leaves the state Supreme Court in New York following a pretrial hearing on charges of sodomy and sexual abuse

The 65-year-old was eligible for mandatory parole after serving half his 60-year sentence and could only be denied parole if the commission found likely to reoffend or had frequently violated prison rules.

Although federal parole was abolished in 1987, it is still granted for inmates convicted before then. 

Shakur's parole hearing was held on April 7 at the federal penitentiary in Victorville, California, where he is serving his sentence.

His lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

Shakur was an active member of the Black Liberation Army (BLA), a nationalist group that broke away from the Black Panthers.

The BLA favoured a militant approach to achieve self-determination for Black people in the United States. Shakur worked closely with a small circle of members, known as 'The Family', who carried out robberies with the intention to fund their campaign.  

The possibility that Shakur could walk free outraged Michael Paige, whose father, a Brinks security guard, was killed in a $1.6 million holdup of an armored truck at a mall in suburban Rockland County, New York, in October 1981.

Days before the parole hearing, Mr Paige described the prospect of Shakur's release as 'incomprehensible' and 'sickening.'

'That's the going rate? Thirty years for at least three lives that were taken?' he said on April 4. 'I was 16 years when he was killed by these animals. Not a day goes by that I don't think about my father.'

Less than an hour after Peter Paige was killed during the Brinks heist, two Nyack police officers, Waverly Brown and Sgt. Edward O'Grady, were killed in an ambush after stopping a truck at a roadside checkpoint.

Shakur was added to the FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list after the heist. He remained on the run until he was arrested in Los Angeles in 1986.

Tupac Shakur was killed in a drive-by shooting after a Mike Tyson boxing match in September 1996

Mutulu Shakur (left) was the mastermind of 'The Family'. Joanne Chesimard, (right) AKA Assata Shakur, was the first woman ever to be placed on the FBI's list of top 10 most wanted terrorists after she was  convicted of shooting dead New Jersey State Trooper Werner Foerster

Mutulu Shakur was jailed for masteminding a series of robbies including a Brinks armored truck robbery (pictured) at the Nanuet Mall in Nanuet, N.Y., where multiple Nyack police officers and a Brinks guard were killed

Shakur was also charged with aiding fellow revolutionary Joanne Chesimard's escape from a New Jersey prison, where she was serving a sentence for killing New Jersey state trooper Werner Foerster in 1973.

An admitted accomplice testified at Shakur's trial that armed members of his revolutionary group had visited the prison, captured two guards and then drove Chesimard out in a prison van. He said Shakur was protecting the escape route.

Chesimard, who now goes by the name Assata Shakur, fled to Cuba and remains at large. She was granted asylum by Fidel Castro, but some U.S. officials have pushed for her to be extradited to the U.S. after the countries re-established diplomatic relations.

O'Grady's son, also named Edward, urged the U.S. Parole Commission to deny Shakur's bid for release and make sure he spends the rest of his life in prison 'where terrorists like him belong.'

'I offer that the crimes Mr. Shakur was convicted of are a brand of violent extremism similar in scope, if not scale, to what we are seeing from the Islamic State and Al Qaeda before them,' wrote O'Grady, a Navy commander.

Attempts to reach Brown's family were unsuccessful.

Shakur has maintained his innocence since his arrest. At his trial in the 1980s, his attorney argued there was no proof that his client participated in the robberies or aided in the prison escape.

Shakur has amassed a large group of supporters throughout his incarceration, many of whom believe he is a political prisoner. They have coordinated letter-writing campaigns and phone banks to demand his release and to solicit donations to support his legal fund.

Shakur did not respond to a letter The Associated Press sent him in prison.