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Drug trafficker gets life sentence

DETROIT, Dec. 14 (UPI) -- A Detroit man convicted of drug trafficking but acquitted on homicide charges has been sentenced in federal court to life in prison, authorities said.

Adarus Mazio Black 38, was convicted of drug trafficking and escaping custody, the Detroit News reported Monday. Prosecutors in Michigan and Wisconsin accused him of soliciting several killings, including two that a self-confessed Detroit hit man is accused of committing, the newspaper said.

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"I haven't been able to figure out any other way of dealing with you," U.S. District Judge Marianne O. Battani told Black during sentencing Monday.

One of the alleged victims was a Detroit car dealer who sold Black luxury vehicles. Prosecutors say Black was involved in the May 2007 killing of two bus drivers involved in transporting his drugs and money.

Black allegedly used concert tour buses to move large amounts of drugs and cash around the country.

Black's attorney, Keith Golden, argued that the sentence should be based only on the charges he was convicted of, not on the unproven allegations.

Prosecutors allege Black fled to Mexico to avoid arrest and had plastic surgery to change his fingerprints and facial looks. After his arrest in California in 2007, Black attempted to escape by leaping from a moving prisoner transport van while handcuffed and shackled, prosecutors said.

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"Mr. Black is without question one of the most cunning, one of the most sophisticated, one of the most dangerous individuals I've ever prosecuted," Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Buckley said.

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