Guilty Plea Expected in Body Parts Case

[January 16, 2008]  NEW YORK (AP) -- A former oral surgeon has agreed to plead guilty to charges that he orchestrated a grisly plot to plunder corpses and sell body parts for transplants, his lawyer said Tuesday.

Prosecutors say Michael Mastromarino, 44, was making millions by covertly carving up hundreds of corpses at a Brooklyn funeral home and selling the parts for dental implants, hip replacements and other procedures nationwide.

Mastromarino "was facing a daunting battle, and he sees this as his best opportunity to accept responsibility and move on," said his attorney, Mario Gallucci.

Prosecutors said that the cadavers were looted without permission or proper screening for diseases and that an untold number of patients were unknowingly exposed to infection. Among the bodies was that of "Masterpiece Theatre" host Alistair Cooke, who died in 2004.

Authorities released photos of exhumed corpses that were boned below the waist. Prosecutors said the defendants had made a crude attempt to cover their tracks by sewing PVC pipe back into the bodies in time for open-casket wakes.

Mastromarino, a Brooklyn mortician and two so-called "cutters" were charged in 2006 with enterprise corruption, body stealing, opening graves, unlawful dissection and forgery. Since then, seven funeral directors have pleaded guilty to undisclosed charges and agreed to cooperate.

Mastromarino, who remains behind bars, had been expected to go to trial as early as next month. His lawyer said instead he will enter the guilty plea Jan. 22 and face 18 to 54 years in prison. He was owner of Biomedical Tissue Services of Fort Lee, N.J. About 10,000 people received tissue supplied by BTS.

As part of the deal, Mastromarino would cooperate with an inquiry by federal and state investigators into possible misconduct by tissue processors that bought the stolen parts, his lawyer said. The processors "loved his tissue and encouraged him to get more and more," he said.

Gallucci said his client expects to plead guilty in Philadelphia, as well, and hopes to serve any sentences concurrently.

Brooklyn prosecutors had no immediate comment; their Philadelphia counterparts did not immediately respond to a phone message.

[Associated Press; By TOM HAYS]

Associated Press Writer Adam Goldman contributed to this report.

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