Four charged in body parts scam

0 Comments | AFP, February, 2006

NEW YORK (AFP) — A dentist and three other men were charged in New York with illegally harvesting bones and organs from more than 1,000 corpses, in a case likened by prosecutors to "a cheap horror movie."

The four defendants allegedly made millions of dollars selling unscreened body tissue taken from the bodies of people who never consented to be donors, including that of veteran BBC broadcaster Alistair Cooke.

"The amount of callousness involved here is incalculable," said Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes as he detailed how the men allegedly replaced the bones of their victims with PVC piping so that their theft would not be noticed at a funeral.

According to a 122-count indictment, the team forged death certificates and donor consent forms to...