Man sentenced for illegally stealing body parts

NEW YORK (CNN) - The mastermind of a multi-million dollar conspiracy to steal body parts from corpses - including that of "Masterpiece Theatre" host Alistair Cooke - was sentenced to prison Friday, according to Kings County District Attorney Charles J. Hynes.

Michael Mastromarino, the owner of Biomedical Tissue Services, was sentenced to to 18 to 54 years following a March 18 guilty plea to a charge of enterprise corruption, nine counts of reckless endangerment and four counts of body stealing, in addition to other charges.

A criminal case against him and three others began in 2006 and expanded to seven funeral home directors and three funeral homes. The directors admitted their involvement in the illegal body part snatching ring, pleaded guilty and turned over their mortuary licenses.