Story originally printed in the La Crosse Tribune or online at www.lacrossetribune.com

Published - Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Man gets life in Milwaukee 'Body Snatchers' death

MILWAUKEE (AP) — A 42-year-old Milwaukee man authorities called "the muscle" of a drug dealing ring has been sentenced to life in prison for the 2000 death of another dealer.

Donald Cooper was convicted in May of first-degree intentional homicide in the slaying of Eugene "Mickey" Chaney. Prosecutors say Cooper worked for the Body Snatchers, a drug dealing outfit that kidnapped, tortured, robbed and killed other dealers.

Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Jeffrey Wagner described Cooper on Tuesday as "a dangerous person lacking any kind of conscience."

The judge also sentenced Cooper to 14 years in prison for the 2002 kidnapping of another dealer.

Investigators found the bodies of Chaney and another man in 2005 under concrete slabs in the backyard of a Milwaukee home. A criminal complaint said Cooper helped rob Chaney during a drug deal and then suffocated him with a plastic bag.

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