Boss of US Body Parts Ring Gets 18-54 Years

Mastromarino had pleaded guilty to body stealing, reckless endangerment and enterprise corruption.

A New Jersey dentist behind a scheme to steal body parts from corpses, including that of British journalist Alistair Cooke, was sentenced to a minimum of 18 years and a maximum of 54 years in prison on Friday.

Michael Mastromarino, 44, in March admitted to leading a $4.6 million operation that stole body parts from funeral homes in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Earlier this month he spoke to relatives of the dead in court and apologized for the anguish he caused.

The ring dismembered more than 1,000 cadavers in unsanitary conditions, and sold parts to doctors who transplanted them into patients.

Mastromarino had pleaded guilty to body stealing, reckless endangerment and enterprise corruption.

"I am truly sorry for the pain that I have caused," Mastromarino said during the June 12 hearing as he faced relatives of the dead who were in court to deliver statements. "May God have mercy on my soul."

As part of the scheme, a team of so-called cutters removed bones, skin and tendons in an unsanitary embalming room, prosecutors said.

There are three co-defendants. One pleaded guilty, another was convicted at trial and the third is awaiting trial.

Cooke, the former newspaper foreign correspondent and host of the PBS television show "Masterpiece Theatre" and BBC's "Letter from America," died in 2004 at age 95 in New York.