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Body Part Theft

Sat, 2008/02/16 - 12:17pm | by CSB

Male Nurse Help Cut Up 244 Corpses

A male nurse admitted he cut body parts from 244 corpses and helped forged paperwork so that the parts, some of them diseased, could be used in unsuspecting patients.

According to authorities, Lee Cruceta was the lead cutter in the group that trafficked in more than 1,000 stolen body parts for the lucrative transplant market.

Cruceta pleaded guilty to conspiracy and taking part in a corrupt organisation, abuse of a corpse and 244 counts each of theft and forgery. Several funeral directors have also pleaded guilty in New York and the accused ring-leader Michael Mastromarino, 44, is being held in the case as well.

Mastromarino, a former oral surgeon, paid funeral directors US$1,000 (about RM3,200) per corpse, and then sold the parts to tissue banks. The body parts fetched up to US$10,000 (about RM32,000) a piece, though the tissue banks resold them to hospitals for many times that amount. Prosecutors believe Mastromarino, employing several teams of cutters, took in US$6 million (about RM19 million) to US$12 million (about RM38 million) since 2001.

Source: 
The Star, February 1, 2008.
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