Brooklyn Body Parts Scandal Ringleader Faces Philly Jail Time
April 29th, 2008 amy
Brooklyn’s BioMedical Tissue Services body parts scandal ringleader Michael Mastromarino, who has pleaded guilty to hijacking diseased corpses from funeral homes and fraudulently selling the parts, tried to make a deal earlier this month in Philadelphia so keep his sentence down to the 18-54 years he’d be getting in Brooklyn. But — not surprisingly — prosecutors are balking at a 2-for-1 deal. They want Mastromarino to serve an extra 20 to 40 years in Philadelphia, where he hacked up nearly 250 corpses.
The Associated Press reports that Mastromarino, 44, remains in New York custody after his guilty plea in Brooklyn Supreme Court last month. He did not appear at a pre-trial hearing in Philadelphia on April 4, but defense lawyer Charles A. Peruto Jr. vowed to push for concurrent sentences. The dispute will likely be left for Common Pleas Judge Glenn Bronson to resolve.
All together, the former oral surgeon plundered 1,077 cadavers from over 30 nursing homes (without relatives’ permission). He then orchestrated the illegal sale of unscreened tissue and body parts, forging documents to cover his trail. New York authorities dug up dozens of bodies to verify that parts were illegally harvested, causing emotional trauma to families of the deceased. Perhaps the most unfortunate of all are the folks implanted with the diseased tissue, who have become ill through these tragic unfortunate circumstances. Others who are not yet ill wait in fear of the day they will be diagnosed with something deadly.
