Two brothers who ran a Philadelphia funeral home have pleaded guilty to selling corpses, including the body of broadcaster Alistair Cooke, to a company that trafficked in stolen body parts.
Louis and Gerald Garzone are the latest to appear in court in relation to the macabre multi-million dollar scheme that saw bones and tissue recovered from corpses without permission and sold on to medical companies for use in transplants and other medical procedures.
The brothers pleaded guilty on Tuesday in Philadelphia on the day their trial was due to start to charges including conspiracy, theft and abuse of corpse.
The man who masterminded the scheme, Michael Mastromarino, 44, last week pleaded guilty to hundred of charges that could send him to prison for life. He admitted he never got permission for any of the hundreds of bodies raided for parts.
Mastromarino's company took corpses from funeral homes in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania and subjected them to clandestine procedures without families' permission and without medical tests.
The New Jersey native, who ran a company called Biomedical Tissue Services, made millions of dollars form the scheme, which frequently saw diseased body parts and tissues sold on to medical companies.
The parts were sold around the country for dental implants, knee and hip replacements and other procedures. About 10,000 people received tissue supplied by Mastromarino's company. Some say they have contracted diseases from tainted body parts.
One of the men involved, convicted in April of chopping up the bodies, was last week sentenced to nine to 27 years in prison for his role in the scheme.
Christopher Aldorasi, 36, was convicted of 20 counts, including corruption and reckless endangerment.
Mastromarino, was accused of running the operation with three Philadelphia funeral directors.
Last month James McCafferty, 38, another Philadelphia funeral director accused to conspiring to illegally harvest body parts pleaded guilty to 248 felonies related to the case.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/...neral-home.html
It's like Something from a Horror Film
Louis and Gerald Garzone are the latest to appear in court in relation to the macabre multi-million dollar scheme that saw bones and tissue recovered from corpses without permission and sold on to medical companies for use in transplants and other medical procedures.
The brothers pleaded guilty on Tuesday in Philadelphia on the day their trial was due to start to charges including conspiracy, theft and abuse of corpse.
The man who masterminded the scheme, Michael Mastromarino, 44, last week pleaded guilty to hundred of charges that could send him to prison for life. He admitted he never got permission for any of the hundreds of bodies raided for parts.
Mastromarino's company took corpses from funeral homes in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania and subjected them to clandestine procedures without families' permission and without medical tests.
The New Jersey native, who ran a company called Biomedical Tissue Services, made millions of dollars form the scheme, which frequently saw diseased body parts and tissues sold on to medical companies.
The parts were sold around the country for dental implants, knee and hip replacements and other procedures. About 10,000 people received tissue supplied by Mastromarino's company. Some say they have contracted diseases from tainted body parts.
One of the men involved, convicted in April of chopping up the bodies, was last week sentenced to nine to 27 years in prison for his role in the scheme.
Christopher Aldorasi, 36, was convicted of 20 counts, including corruption and reckless endangerment.
Mastromarino, was accused of running the operation with three Philadelphia funeral directors.
Last month James McCafferty, 38, another Philadelphia funeral director accused to conspiring to illegally harvest body parts pleaded guilty to 248 felonies related to the case.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/...neral-home.html
It's like Something from a Horror Film