Apr. 4—A former Fayette County drug kingpin is living in Masontown after serving more than 30 years in state and federal prison.

Ronald Whethers, who was among those convicted of ordering the killing of a Monessen man whose heart and liver were transplanted into then-Gov. Robert Casey as part of a life-saving operation, was paroled March 22 from a state prison in Mercer County.

Whethers, 63, was paroled from federal prison last summer. He is living with his daughter in the Monongahela River town along the Greene County border, according to court records made public this week in Westmoreland County.

A woman who identified herself as Whethers' daughter hung up on a call from the Tribune-Review.

Prosecutors said Whethers operated one of the largest cocaine trafficking networks on the East Coast in the early 1990s when he was charged with ordering the fatal beating in 1993 of William Michael Lucas of Monessen. Police said Lucas was killed as retribution after he was falsely accused by members of Whethers' operation of stealing drugs.

In the days after the murder, Casey, then Pennsylvania's governor — who had been diagnosed with a rare, fatal disease called amyloidosis — underwent the transplant operation in which he received Lucas' heart and liver. Casey served two terms as governor and died in 2000.

In 1995, Whethers was charged with homicide in connection with Lucas' fatal beating. He pleaded no contest to third-degree murder and guilty to conspiracy charges. He was sentenced in 2001 to serve 15 to 30 years in prison. His sentence was to run through 2031.

Whethers was among nine men convicted in connection with Lucas' murder.

"He always proclaimed his innocence to the murder charge and that he never laid a hand on the victim," said lawyer Tim Dawson, who served as Whethers' defense attorney starting in the late 1990s. "It was the biggest case I was ever involved with."

Most of Whethers' time was served in a federal prison. In addition to the state murder charge, he was convicted of federal drug trafficking offenses. Originally, Whethers was ordered to serve a life prison sentence for the federal drug counts, but, in 2016, his penalty was reduced to 37 years behind bars.

Court records indicate he was paroled from his federal sentence in September after receiving credit for good behavior.

"Ronald Whethers ran that organization for years, but they could never nail him. He was one of the most intelligent clients I ever had, a smart businessman who built his empire," Dawson said.

It was conspiracy charges filed against another Whethers daughter, Rachel, that ultimately prompted him to plead no contest to the murder charge. Dawson said a deal was cut with prosecutors that allowed then 21-year-old Rachel Whethers to receive a probation sentence for her role in the drug organization in return for her father's plea in connection with the murder.

Authorities said Whethers, with his daughter's help, continued to run his drug empire while in Westmoreland County Prison. A state grand jury investigation found evidence that jail guards helped smuggle a cellphone into the facility to allow Whethers to remain in control of the operation. Whethers was also accused of receiving special treatment while incarcerated, including one allegation that claimed he was allowed to order chicken wings.

That investigation resulted in the firing of the jail warden and institution of a policy that is still in place that prohibits cellphones from being brought into the facility.

Rich Cholodofsky is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Rich by email at rcholodofsky@triblive.com or via Twitter .