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10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Michael Mastromarino.md
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end: 2008-10-22
fn: 1
created: 2026-09-23
updated: 2026-09-23
updated: 2026-10-15
---
Michael Mastromarino (died July 7, 2013) was a [[New Jersey]] oral surgeon who, after losing his dental license, founded [[Biomedical Tissue Services]] (BTS) in 2002 and ran it as a business "selling human tissue from cadavers to tissue banks around the country." Between 2001 and 2005, by his own admission, he and a team of "cutters" removed bone, skin, tendon and other tissue from the bodies of people who had not consented to donation, forged consent forms and death records, and sold the tissue to processors whose products were transplanted into patients. He pleaded guilty in [[Brooklyn]] in March 2008 and in [[Philadelphia]] in August 2008, and was serving concurrent sentences of 18 to 54 years in [[New York (state)|New York]] and 25 to 58 years in [[Pennsylvania]] when he died of cancer, aged 49.[^1][^2][^3]
@ -63,7 +63,7 @@ Among the bodies was that of the broadcaster [[Alistair Cooke]], who died in Mar
On February 23, 2006, the Kings County District Attorney, [[Charles J. Hynes]], announced a 122-count indictment of Mastromarino, Nicelli, Cruceta and Christopher Aldorasi for enterprise corruption, body stealing, opening graves, unlawful dissection, forgery, grand larceny and falsifying business records. "What happened here," Hynes said, "is like something out of a cheap horror movie."[^5] The four were charged with removing bone and tissue from 1,077 bodies at funeral homes without the permission of families.[^8] On March 18, 2008, Mastromarino pleaded guilty in Brooklyn to fourteen counts including enterprise corruption, body stealing and reckless endangerment, admitting that he had carried out the scheme from 2001 to 2005 and had forged records of the time of death and ages of the dead and switched blood and tissue samples; he agreed to forfeit 4.68 million dollars, and his wife, Barbra, 190,000 dollars. "What he did was wrong," said his lawyer, Mario Gallucci.[^2] At his sentencing to 18 to 54 years before Judge Albert Tomei, relatives of the dead addressed him; a woman who said she had contracted hepatitis from one of his bones implanted in her back called his actions "sick, disgusting, appalling." Mastromarino said: "I'd just like to take the opportunity to apologize for the pain and grief I've caused to the donor families and the donor recipients... God have mercy on my soul."[^9] Aldorasi was sentenced to 9 to 27 years; Cruceta pleaded guilty and testified against him.[^10]
In Philadelphia, after a grand jury investigation begun on May 4, 2006, Mastromarino entered an open plea of guilty on August 29, 2008, and on October 22, 2008, was sentenced to 25 to 58 years, concurrent with his New York sentence. The judge sentenced him on 32 of the 244 theft counts consecutively and gave aggravated sentences for abuse of corpse because the conduct was "so beyond the pale of what the guidelines contemplate." Because he had forfeited 300,000 dollars in cash, the Commonwealth sought no further restitution. The [[Superior Court of Pennsylvania|Superior Court]] affirmed the sentence on July 21, 2010.[^1]
In Philadelphia, after a grand jury investigation begun on May 4, 2006, Mastromarino entered an open plea of guilty on August 29, 2008, and on October 22, 2008, was sentenced to 25 to 58 years, concurrent with his New York sentence. The judge sentenced him on 32 of the 244 theft counts consecutively and gave aggravated sentences for abuse of corpse because the conduct was "so beyond the pale of what the guidelines contemplate." Because he had forfeited 300,000 dollars in cash, in one account of the sentencing, the Commonwealth sought no further restitution; the Superior Court's opinion records the forfeited sum as 800,000 dollars in cash. The [[Superior Court of Pennsylvania|Superior Court]] affirmed the sentence on July 21, 2010.[^1]
### Death