Ringleader of body thief gang who stole Alistair Cooke's bones is jailed for at least 18 years

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Dentist Michael Mastromarino who could be locked up for a maximum of 54 years, admitted leading the £2.1 million operation of plundering American funeral homes.

Earlier this month the 44-year-old spoke to relatives of the dead in the state Supreme Court in Brooklyn, New York, and apologised for the anguish he caused.

The mastermind and his victim: Michael Mastromarino headed a team which stole Alistair Cooke's bones

"I am truly sorry for the pain that I have caused," he said. "May God have mercy on my soul."

The ring dismembered more than 1,000 cadavers in unsanitary conditions in New York state, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, and sold parts to doctors who transplanted them into patients.

Mastromarino had pleaded guilty in March to body stealing, reckless endangerment and enterprise corruption.

As part of the scheme, a team of so-called cutters removed bones, skin and tendons in an unsanitary embalming room, prosecutors said.

There are three co-defendants. One pleaded guilty, another was convicted at trial and the third is awaiting trial.

Cooke, the former newspaper foreign correspondent and the BBC's Letter from America, died in 2004 at age 95 in New York.