A class action suit was filed against funeral directors and others in Philadelphia by families of more than a thousand relatives who were dismembered and sold in a gruesome and illegal body parts scandal. The people claim their relatives body parts were harvested without consent and defendants used forged documents.
Lawrence R. Cohen, attorney for Anapol Schwartz, the Philadelphia law firm filing the lawsuit, said that the scheme took tissue from 1,007 bodies, including 244 from Philadelphia funeral homes. Seven individuals and the funeral homes and human tissue services with which they worked are charged with conspiracy, negligence, and the intentional infliction of emotional distress.
The defendants allegedly made $3.8 million from sale of body parts obtained in Pennsylvania, New York and New Jersey between February 2004 and September 2005 in an ghoulish illegal operation.
In all, the scheme took tissue from 1,007 bodies, including 244 from Philadelphia funeral homes.
Named in the body parts suit are Michael Mastromarino, Christopher Aldorasi, Lee Cruceta, Kevin Vickers, Gerald Garzone, his brother Louis Garzone and James McCafferty.
Five of the accused face criminal charges at a trial scheduled to start on September 2.
