Triple Essex Boys killer Michael Steele could be released within weeks after more than 25 years in prison.
The 81-year-old was given a life sentence with a minimum term of 15 years by Jack Whomes, 62, in 1998.
They were convicted of the 1995 murders of drug dealers Pat Tate, 37, Tony Tucker, 38, and Craig Rolfe, 26.
The three were shot dead in a Range Rover on a remote snowy track in Rettendon, near Basildon.
The infamous gangland killings spawned a series of gangster films, such as the 2000 film Essex Boys starring Sean Bean.
Steele's parole hearing took place last May, but the case was postponed until Thursday.
Both Whomes, released in 2021, and Steele have always maintained their innocence, but a series of calls and requests for
the Criminal Case Review Commission has failed.
In March, the Sunday Express revealed that the CCRC has launched a new investigation after a team of former murder detectives who worked on the case for four years said there were shortcomings in disclosure and that the case was mired in corruption.
Dean Kingham, Steele's lawyer from Reece Thomas Watson, said: “Mr Steele is 81, soon to be 82. It is not believed he poses a risk unless he returns to a criminal lifestyle.
“He meets the board's statutory release test in that it is no longer necessary for the protection of the public that he remains incarcerated.
“The Department of Justice is attempting to justify keeping him in lockdown to access personality work because of 'personality traits' that we claim are not relevant to his current or future risks.”