Michael Mastromarino was born in Brooklyn on Sept. 16, 1963. "My life with him was an entire lie. All of it. And because he had such a brilliant, keen mind, it was dangerous. This week on Reasonable Doubt, the team takes on the Raul and Cathy Sarinana were sentenced to death for abusing Would love your thoughts, please comment. The bottom line is I didnt really know what he was guilty of everything until I sat in the district attorneys office with him while he was already incarcerated. On top of ignoring other standards, Mastromarinos company had, it seemed, completely bypassed the hurdle of consent. A large part of his legacy will be a series of books about the art and life of his wife, Lisa, and his son, Michael. With their full-length, major-label debut out March 31 and three songs right now. Michael eventually pled guilty to body stealing, forgery, grand larceny and corruption. A search of the place revealed a hidden room with a sophisticated operating table and surgical equipment. Gallucci watched as the industry began running for shelter, leaving Mastromarino out in the cold. Although all organ banks are nonprofit charities, and organ donation, with its higher stakes, is generally well regulated, tissue donation is another business entirelygoverned by the Food and Drug Administration, which allows many banks to operate openly for profit. "I started yelling, 'Michael, Michael! Dealing with back aches, the prominent dentist was described Demerol; a popular synthetic opioid analgesic. Michael Mastromarino, a former dental surgeon who became a tabloid sensation when he was charged with running a $4.6 million enterprise that plundered tissue and bone from corpses at funeral. His lawyer, Joe Tacopina, says of his client, Hes a genuinely really sweet individual who has been demonized because hes the guy who was cutting off the limbs., All of this was quite hard on Mastromarino, according to Gallucci, because he was as shocked as anyone to discover the forgeries. Yes, prices: The sale of the dead is technically illegal, but the National Organ Transplant Act of 1984 authorizes tissue banks to recover reasonable costs for transport and processingleaving it to the banks to determine whats reasonable. The work was often messy like that and sometimes kind of odorous, kind of get to you a little bit, but it was just great work, says Cruceta. Before starting a $4.6 million enterprise that plundered tissue and bone from people who never gave a consent, Mastromarino was working as a dental surgeon. In honor of Paul Henry Mastromarino Jr. who passed away quietly on November 13, 2020. But how he went about that business later landed him a lengthy prison sentence. After confronting his father about the reasons for his crimes while Dr. Mastromarino was incarcerated at Rikers Island, their older son subsequently refused to speak to his father. 500+ service trucks on the road. Some of the body snatching occurred in a back room at the now-defunct Daniel George and Son Funeral Home on Bath Ave. in Bensonhurst, prosecutors said. According to the authorities, Michael had contacts with multiple funeral homes and would pay them about $1000 per body. However, trouble soon caught up to him when he was sued several times by patients for malpractice. If people only knew how careful they were, how they did everything by the book, they would understand, he says, that its just not right to call him a ghoul. He should have been executed right, I am Franks cousin (mothers side) - every time I, What sickens me about this case was that Marilyn was. Screen Shot 2013-07-08 at 4.30.52 PM.png. Unleashed upon the world, Cooke and the rest became, in the eyes of the D.A., public-health threat No. For spinal fusions and the repair of fractures, bone is in greatest demand, but veins may be used for bypass in heart surgery. September 28, 1965 - November 13, 2020, Paul Henry Mastromarino Jr. passed away on November 13, 2020 in Haverstraw, New . 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Paul will be sadly missed by his two sons Michael and Nicolas Mastromarino of Florida, his partner Annie Whittemore of Massachuettes, his parents Mr. Paul H. Mastromarino of Suffern, NY and his mother and step-father Mrs.Sherry and Mr. Duke Hutchinson of Florida. Assistant District Attorney Josh Hanshaft holds an X-ray of the pelvic area of a deceased person with PVC pipe inserted where bones should have been. It was just a total lack of respect for the neighborhood, for the families, for the deceased, she says. Jesse Ward/AP It was a dangerous mind., FORMER TEEN IDOL LEIF GARRETT EXPLAINS DESCENT INTO HARD DRUGS: THERE HAS ALWAYS BEEN MORE TO MY STORY, Barbra Reifel and Michael Mastromarino on their wedding day. But the consequences were immediately clear: pure terror. But Mastromarino didn't get a family's permission. 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Join the newsletter to get updates monthly straight to your email, and win one of 10 free books. The workers would fetch the corpse; Mastromarino would call Cruceta to say that we have a case, that he died yesterday of cardiac arrest, and you know, the body would be on the table waiting., The table was on the first floor and rose hydraulically with corpse and harvester to the second, where, as the police said, there was a secret room a virtual operating room, complete with the large and very bright overhead lighting associated with hospital surgery. This was the moment Cruceta had come for: Patient contactthat was always my thing. He had tried to get his wife to watch him work, but she always thought it was a disgusting job. Only the doctor seemed to understand. He was a co-author, with Michael R. Wiland, of the book "Smile: How Dental Implants Can Transform Your Life." Dr. Mastromarino, who was divorced, is survived by two sons, Michael and Jerry. Collections; . Corpses were not supposed to be too old or too diseased, and every body had to be harvested within 24 hours15 if uncooledand in the most sterile conditions. Mastromarinos addiction eventually cost him his dental license in 2002. As for Mr. Cooke, his daughter, Susan Cooke Kittredge, said in an article in New York magazine that he would have been just horrified by the illegal harvesting. Dr. Mastromarino had surgical offices in New Jersey and Manhattan. Mastromarino had become a secret drug addict, and he had cheated on Barbra. He bought a mansion in New Jersey and installed heaters under the driveway so he wouldnt have to shovel snow in the winter. Mastromarino's company, Biomedical Tissue Services, reportedly sold parts to about 10,000 unsuspecting patients. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. Investigators revealed there was a secret room in the funeral room with specialized surgical equipment. Iris Carreras covers crime for CBSNews.com, First published on July 8, 2013 / 7:48 PM. And collagen can fill wrinkles, plump lips, revive youthful appearance. Plus in Philadelphia, they didnt even use cardboard boxes. 2023 Cinemaholic Inc. All rights reserved. Share Memories & Support the Family. In order to maintain his lavish lifestyle he turned to a. . She shared that before Mastromarinos death, she encouraged her sons to still maintain a relationship with their father as long as they chose to. The phone number (860) 659-0601 is also used by Lisa N Meadows, Anthony Mastromarino, Jane Mastromarino Slowdowns in recovery had diminished cardiovascular revenues, but demand for these lifesaving implants remains high.. His assistant was unable to help him when in late June 2000, according to the lawsuit, he damaged Ana Ortizs seventh cranial nerve, leaving her with a permanent left-facial droop. Ten days later, Mastromarino was arrested in Fort Lee for possession of Demerol and a hypodermic needle and being under the influence of a controlled dangerous substance.. His victim's included "Masterpiece Theatre" host Alistair Cooke. Federal Agency State County City University & College School Other. Bone can be crushed into powder and used to help mend a broken leg or build up the jaw around a dental implant. Unfortunately, appearances can deceive, and all was not well under the surface of their marriage. The high demand for organs has created a market and the opportunity for criminals. After the men had pleaded not guilty to every macabre charge against them, Gallucci explained that his clients work had endangered no one and had been only a benefit to public health. Some of these body parts, according to the NY Daily News, came from corpses diseased with cancer and AIDS. ", CHRISTIAN ANDREACCHIOS MOTHER CLAIMS SON WARNED HER TO COME LOOKING BEFORE HIS DEATH: PODCAST, Barbra and Michael were nicknamed "Ken and Barbie" by their loved ones. There's a facility fee. In 2005, police began investigating irregularities at Brooklyns now-defunct Daniel George & Son Funeral Home, the New York Times shared. Kidneys are the most commonly transplanted organs. Read More: How Did Michael Mastromarino Die? But Mastromarinos dark world of illegal harvesting eventually came to light. Over four years, Michael illegally harvested tissue and bones from dead bodies without the familys consent. But what Mastromarino did was outrageous. He is 49 years old. Instead, he created a network of undertakers and paid them up to $1,000 for each corpse. In the past, he admits, inspectors have generally trusted the authenticity of consent documents, not wanting to disturb the grieving a second time to confirm. Westerleigh residents Michael Mastromarino, 36 and Robert Brown, 33, were the same-sex second couple -- and the first men -- to wed on Staten Island. That's like getting 18 issues FREE. Mastromarino is accused of stealing body parts from a funeral home and using parts on living patients. Michaels firm would harvest body parts without the consent of the family members. Is the body moved? Karen's 74-year-old father, James, was one of Michael's victims. (Photo by John Roca/NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images), COCAINE GODMOTHER'S SON EXPLAINS WHY HES PURSUING REALITY TV FAME WITH CARTEL CREW, When it first hit the news, he said, Barb, this isnt going to go well, she said. Veins are used in heart bypass operations. But there are nowhere near enough willing donors to meet the demand for tissue, so the profit from one body can reach six figures. Now that kind of verification is going to have to take place, thanks to these guys, Rigney laments. On this episode we discuss how the Brooklyn Bodysnatcher Michael Mastromarino had his dentistry license taken away, only to obtain a new license to supply tissue banks. As an oral surgeon, Mastromarino had used RTIs products and knew its need for raw materials. [2] In nearly every case, BTS employees obtained human allograft tissue, bones, ligaments and other cadaver material by forging family consent and other donor forms without actual authorized consent, and often against the written wishes of families. Among his contacts was one of the largest tissue banks in the country, a company that trades on nasdaq under the name RTIX and that manufactures, from a factory in Alachua, Florida, all sorts of useful spare parts, including the BioSet Demineralized Bone Matrix (DBM), the patented MD-Series threaded bone dowels, Osteofil/Regenafil injectable bone paste, as well as a number of cortical bone pins and interference screws.. [3] Mastromarino was sentenced on June 27, 2008, in the Supreme Court in Brooklyn, New York, to between 18 and 54 years in prison. Oprah.com: How to affair-proof your marriage. Most recently, Reifel has co-authored a memoir about her shocking marriage titled The Body Snatchers Wife: My Life With a Monster., Personally, it was a moment of relief for me, Reifel told Fox News when she learned that her former spouse had passed away while serving his prison sentence. OpenPayrolls Toggle navigation. 2023 FOX News Network, LLC. Corneas can restore clear vision. Love, Honor, Betray on ID is investigating the crimes of Michael Mastromarino, a former dentist, who became known as the Bodysnatcher because he was illegally selling tissue from dead bodies that he had harvested in the New York area. Michael would then ship the harvested parts off, making anywhere between $10,000 to $15,000 per body. Theyre pressing me. And we all believed him my family, his family we all believed him. I could manage alone and take care of my daughter alone, and that was really comforting and reassuring," she says. And Barbra divorced him. And Mastromarino, he figures, was probably earning, per body, between $10,000 and $15,000. Lacey Spears: Blogger Mom Who Poisoned Her Son toDeath, Vlado Taneski: Journalist Who Wrote About the Murders HeCommitted, BTK Aka Dennis Rader: Family Man by Day, Killer and Pervert byNight. "I found out he had a drug problem when his office called me and told me that he was passed out on the floor," she says. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper. He served with distinction and honor as a Staff Sergeant in the United States Air Force during the Korean War from May 1950 to March 1955. Not just any body would do. "It was almost like a dream," she says. He would then remove the tissue and fake paperwork attempting to prove he obtained consent. . Mastro Marino pleads guilty to "stealing corpses". You kind of brush it off like, Oh no, couldnt be that. As far as of course, the big moment where I realized that things were terribly wrong was when I learned he was a drug addict and cheating. Hearts and livers and kidneys receive the most attention because they save lives, but the same technology that has allowed for their transfer has also enabled the far more common transplant of tissue. On January 8, 2010, Michael Mastromarino's now ex-wife Barbra Mastromarino appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show in a segment "Husbands' Secret Lives" [19] and discussed the effect of the actions on her life and their sons' lives. In . Michael received a Bachelor of Technology degree from University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. I thought he was a great guy.. Mastromarinos second fall was set in motion when Nicelli sold the Daniel George, and the new owners ushered the cops into the secret room of horrors. Since he was in prison, I was worried. He designed and built the first Microsoft building and many buildings for The Boeing Company employing the principles . Obituary. Cremations were another matter, the only time they went whole hog. But he continued to insist he was misunderstood. Barbra still appears to live in New York and works as a marketing executive now. Then he would say, Did you speak to the family? I guess hed find out information about their demographics as far as their age, illnesses. Investigation Discoverys Love, Honor, Betray: Under Your Skin chronicles Michaels life and the crimes he committed. He's serving 25 to 75 years in prison for his crimes, but for people like Karen DelRe, time will never heal the pain these crimes caused. But, she says, the affair that hurt the most was with someone she'd known for yearsthe mother of her daughter's friend. Monthly straight to your email, and he had such a brilliant, keen mind, it almost! 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