http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6064692.stm
US undertakers admit corpse scam
Seven undertakers in the New York area have admitted being part of a scheme to steal body parts for transplants.
The criminal operation saw body parts removed from corpses without the consent of relatives and sold to biomedical companies.
The body of veteran BBC broadcaster Alistair Cooke was among those used.
Brooklyn district attorney Charles Hynes said that hundreds of parts were sold for millions of dollars, and that more people were likely to be charged.
He said the seven, who have not been named, agreed to co-operate in the investigation and entered their pleas in a secret hearing.
One of those who pleaded guilty was the undertaker who removed parts from the body of Alistair Cooke, who died in 2004 aged 95, Associated Press reported.
Four other people who have been named - Michael Mastromarino, Joseph Nicelli, Lee Cruceta, and Christopher Aldorasi - on Wednesday pleaded not guilty to charges of illegally harvesting bones and organs from up to 1,000 bodies, and were released on bail.
They could face up to 25 years in jail if convicted.
Mr Hynes said in a statement: "These ghoulish thieves thought they could pull off the crime of the century, stealing bones from the dead, without any thoughts to their victims' families or the transplant recipients who would receive possibly tainted bone and tissue grafts."
Cancerous bones
Prosecutors said they had unearthed evidence that death certificates and other paperwork were changed.
Brooklyn district attorney Michael Vecchione said: "They falsified documents indicating the bones were of people who had no diseases, when in fact most of them did have diseases - which would make the harvesting of those bones, and the reselling of them, illegal."
In Mr Cooke's case, his age was recorded as 85 rather than 95, and the cause of death was listed as a heart attack instead of lung cancer that had spread to his bones.
Other evidence includes X-rays and photographs of exhumed corpses showing that where leg bones should have been, someone had inserted white plastic pipes.
The pipes were crudely reconnected to hip and ankle bones with screws before the legs were sewn back up.
New York City Police Commissioner, Ray Kelly, said: "The unspeakable desecration of the bodies - PVC pipe was used to replace bones. Indeed, the very equipment that they used, the mask and gloves and surgical items were tossed into the bodies."
Transplanting tissues such as muscle, skin and bone is common in the United States and the trade in implantable body parts is legal, providing certain conditions are met.
Originally posted by ivanhoeThat sounds like a mafia ring to me.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6064692.stm
US undertakers admit corpse scam
Seven undertakers in the New York area have admitted being part of a scheme to steal body parts for transplants.
The criminal operation saw body parts removed from corpses without the consent of relatives and sold to biomedical companies.
The body of veteran BBC b ...[text shortened]... and the trade in implantable body parts is legal, providing certain conditions are met.
Originally posted by ivanhoeAs bad as that sounds there was a case in Georgia a couple of years ago where a cremation service did not cremate the remains, but instead ground up cement blocks and gave this to the families. To make matters worse, the owner had the bodies lying all around the property. Investigators found video tapes of the corpses put in all kinds of sexual positions with other corpses.
I didn't want to mention it ..... the names are so ... well .... italic ... know what I'm sayin' ? 😕
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Originally posted by kirksey957I emember that, something similar happened here in NH this past year
As bad as that sounds there was a case in Georgia a couple of years ago where a cremation service did not cremate the remains, but instead ground up cement blocks and gave this to the families. To make matters worse, the owner had the bodies lying all around the property. Investigators found video tapes of the corpses put in all kinds of sexual positions with other corpses.
Originally posted by kirksey957... weird hobbies some people have ...... 😕
As bad as that sounds there was a case in Georgia a couple of years ago where a cremation service did not cremate the remains, but instead ground up cement blocks and gave this to the families. To make matters worse, the owner had the bodies lying all around the property. Investigators found video tapes of the corpses put in all kinds of sexual positions with other corpses.
Hasn't Hollywood made a deal with those freaks to write a script and to make a movie about this .... the story sounds interesting enough to me ... just imagine ... 😛
Originally posted by ivanhoeYeah, it was called the "Texas Chainsaw Massacre", part I (1975?), and now part II is playing....
... weird hobbies some people have ...... 😕
Hasn't Hollywood made a deal with those freaks to write a script and to make a movie about this .... the story sounds interesting enough to me ... just imagine ... 😛
I'm most states, a corpse doesn't even have to be embalmed, and one can be buried in a regular pine box; however, you still have to go in a vault 6-feet deep....cremation is getting popular, and it's cheap, but as the boomers start dying, look for it to be as expensive as a regular funeral...funerals are for the living anyway...done told the wife to cremate me and bury me at sea aboard a Coast Guard vessel...if I die before her, that is...
Originally posted by ivanhoeSelling dead people's bits.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6064692.stm
US undertakers admit corpse scam
Seven undertakers in the New York area have admitted being part of a scheme to steal body parts for transplants.
The criminal operation saw body parts removed from corpses without the consent of relatives and sold to biomedical companies.
The body of veteran BBC b ...[text shortened]... and the trade in implantable body parts is legal, providing certain conditions are met.
Now, that's capitalism at its best for you!
Originally posted by chancremechanicAnother option that is free is to donate one's body to a medical school.
I'm most states, a corpse doesn't even have to be embalmed, and one can be buried in a regular pine box; however, you still have to go in a vault 6-feet deep....cremation is getting popular, and it's cheap, but as the boomers start dying, look for it to be as expensive as a regular funeral...funerals are for the living anyway...done told the wife to cremate me and bury me at sea aboard a Coast Guard vessel...if I die before her, that is...