A convicted drug dealer, who participated in the 1993 murder of a man whose heart and liver were transplanted into a dying Gov. Robert Casey, faces a return to prison for violating the terms of his release.
Michael "Fat Mike" McKoy of Uniontown served 12 years in a federal prison for money laundering and a concurrent 10- to 20-year state prison term for the 1993 beating death of William Michael Lucas of Monessen.
Lucas was killed by members of a drug gang masterminded by Ronald Whethers of Edenborn, Fayette County, who is serving a life term in federal prison on drug and racketeering charges.
McKoy faces a Sept. 24 hearing in U.S. District Court in Pittsburgh. His supervised release could be revoked, and he could be sent back to prison.
According to a revocation petition, he admitted to a parole officer that in the fall of 2009 he sold $5,000 worth of heroin to another convicted felon.
He was detained by members of the Fayette County Drug Task Force and agreed to become an informant.
Under the terms of his release, McKoy must not commit any crimes and must report any contact with law enforcement authorities within 72 hours. In addition, he cannot serve as an informant without court permission.
He was released from federal prison last year and began serving five years of supervised release.
Lucas, 34, had been falsely accused by a member of the Whethers drug ring, which was dismantled by county, state and federal authorities in the 1990s.
Whethers ordered Lucas to be beaten in order to recover a kilogram of cocaine that he was accused of stealing.
Later, it was revealed that another member of the drug ring had made up the story to hide his theft of the drugs.
Lucas lived for seven days after the beating. When he died, his heart and liver were donated to Casey, who was dying of a rare genetic disease, familial amyloidosis.
Casey survived his term as governor but died in 2000.
