GUILTY NY - Michael Mastromarino & others charged in body part theft ring, Bronx, 2005

[BillyGoatGruff]

While I agree that this was a dangerous and unethical practice, tissue (unlike organs) can be harvested much later. That means skin, cartilage, tendons, arteries, corneas, bones (and in particular femurs - the largest and strongest bone in the body) can be safely harvested days after death. This is true of almost all connective tissues - that collagen injected in your face may be cadaver harvested.

Cadaver tissue is big business.

http://www.ocregister.com/features/body/day5.shtml
http://news.aol.com/topnews/articles?id=n20060218132109990001&cid=474
http://www.geocities.com/newcannibals/Ch9BodyPartsandBusiness.html
http://www.kneeguru.co.uk/html/dictionary/cadaver.html

Jackie

But from CANCER patients? Harvesting bones from a leukemia patient would be the equivalent of killing whoever it was inserted into--although I suspect a lot of this was for medical teaching specimans.

 

[Marine Mom]

my mom was freaking out this morning saying she so hopes that didnt happen to her sister who we buried 2 years ago.i know they said it was good amount of funeral homes that did this in the city.so we dont really know .thats way beyond horriable for them to do that

I can see her concern! No dignity for the dead, and now uncertainty for your mom. Hugs to you and your family. :blowkiss:

 

[Marine Mom]

But from CANCER patients? Harvesting bones from a leukemia patient would be the equivalent of killing whoever it was inserted into...

There are a lot of different scenarios to worry about. Not only illegally harvesting and forging documents, but think about the recepients. Let's see, there's AIDS, cancer, pick any disease, or how about old and worn out organs from the elderly. What about the donors who wanted their parts taken, but for whatever reason the organs were deemed unacceptable.

Wonder how many people had their new parts recalled. :doh:

 

[Mellen]

... And people with cancers, AIDS, hepatis, TB are NEVER harvested, even if they sign a organ donor card ...".

Actually, it does happen. There are a couple of lawsuits going on in MA of patients that died because they received cancerous organs. I was absolutely floored when I read this article:

http://www.islet.org/forum031/messages/32957.htm

 

[Marine Mom]

He said his mother wasn't told before the Feb. 4, 2002, transplant that the donor died of a fast-moving form of brain cancer called glioblastoma. Collins died of the same form of brain cancer on May 10, 2003.

I think this underscores the maliciousness of these crimes. This guy was changing the cause of death on the death certificate!

Snip from earlier link:

Vito Bruno was floored when the detectives showed him a death certificate stating that his father had died of a heart attack, not cancer. Then he was asked to inspect a donor card which granted permission to harvest his father's body.

 

[Marine Mom]

http://www.nbcsandiego.com/health/7576334/detail.html

Tissue was shipped to San Diego for transplants.

Snip from article:

So far, neither hospital knows of any complications or health issues related to the tissue transplants. Hospital officials say it's unlikely any recipients were harmed because all tissue is tested and sterilized before it's implanted. But they also say there are certain things they can't test for, including cancer, and infectious diseases the donor may have contracted just days before death.

 

[fran]

OHMyGosh, this is horrifying!

Truly unbelieveable!

fran

 

[deanws]

While I agree that this was a dangerous and unethical practice, tissue (unlike organs) can be harvested much later. That means skin, cartilage, tendons, arteries, corneas, bones (and in particular femurs - the largest and strongest bone in the body) can be safely harvested days after death. This is true of almost all connective tissues - that collagen injected in your face may be cadaver harvested.

Cadaver tissue is big business.

http://www.ocregister.com/features/body/day5.shtml
http://news.aol.com/topnews/articles?id=n20060218132109990001&cid=474
http://www.geocities.com/newcannibals/Ch9BodyPartsandBusiness.html
http://www.kneeguru.co.uk/html/dictionary/cadaver.html

Jackie

My back fusion wouldn't heal fast enough because I have had cancer, so a cadaver bone was used. It is nice of those who do sign cards so body parts can be used. I think it is horrible to use a body without the proper signatures.

 

[Jacklad]

My back fusion wouldn't heal fast enough because I have had cancer, so a cadaver bone was used. It is nice of those who do sign cards so body parts can be used. I think it is horrible to use a body without the proper signatures.

Oh, I'm not suggesting that tissue harvesting in wrong in any sense - but harvesting without permission, from people who have died with conditions that may compromise the safety of the tissues taken is beyond the pale.

Bless the donors, absolutely - but a pox on these body-part thieves.

Jackie

 

[chicoliving]

The daughter of "Masterpiece Theatre" host Alistair Cooke has testified against the man accused of hacking up her father's corpse in a gruesome body parts scheme.

Susan Cooke Kittredge testified Monday in Brooklyn court at the trial of Chris Aldorasi.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,343912,00.html

 

[hipmamajen]

The daughter of "Masterpiece Theatre" host Alistair Cooke has testified against the man accused of hacking up her father's corpse in a gruesome body parts scheme.

Susan Cooke Kittredge testified Monday in Brooklyn court at the trial of Chris Aldorasi.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,343912,00.html

From the article: Aldorasi has denied any wrongdoing.

What?! I'm finding it hard to see no wrongdoing in what he's been accused of.

 

[chicoliving]

A judge has convicted a man accused of secretly cutting up corpses — including that of "Masterpiece Theatre" host Alistair Cooke — as part of a multimillion-dollar body parts scheme.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,352985,00.html

 

[chicoliving]

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

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.

http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSN2744659520080627

 

[chicoliving]

Two brothers who ran a Philadelphia funeral home pleaded guilty to selling corpses to a company that trafficked in stolen body parts.

Louis and Gerald Garzone pleaded guilty Tuesday in Philadelphia to charges including conspiracy, theft and abuse of corpse. The pleas came on the day their trial was to begin.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,415261,00.html

 

[mysteriew]

Are they going to go after the company that was trafficking in the stolen body parts?

 

[OkieGranny]

From 2013:

http://www.brooklyneagle.com/articl...sh-body-parts’-scandal-dies-2013-07-08-200000

His ring illegally `harvested' bones; he died of bone cancer.

When Dr. Michael Mastromarino, the lead defendant in the infamous Brooklyn “body parts” trial, died on Sunday of bone cancer, some saw poetic justice...

"It's full circle, baby,” Vito Bruno, whose father’s organs were sold by Mastromarino after his death from kidney cancer in 2003, was quoted as saying by the Daily News. “Karma's a *****."

Nicelli and Brooklyn-based “cutters” Christopher Aldorasi and Lee Cruceta, received minimum sentences of about a decade each in their various trials...

In 2010, after the scandal, then-Governor David Paterson signed a bill that added the words “tissue” and “organ” to the current statute against unlawfully dissecting, stealing or receiving a dead human body in New York.