On “My Life is a Lifetime Movie,” viewers met Barbra Reifel -- whose husband was accused of stealing body parts. After becoming addicted to painkillers and losing his medical license, Michael Mastromarino opened a tissue bank, where he sold body tissue for transplants and research.
Even worse, The New York Times reports that Mastromarino admitted to selling tissue samples that were cancerous or infected with H.I.V. and hepatitis.
"I looked at him and asked, why would you do it?" Reifel said. "And he said, 'Greed. I did it for greed.'" Mastromarino made more than $4 million dollars in four years through his scheme.
Mastromarino had stolen and sold skin, bones and other body parts from more than 1,000 deceased men and women without their consent.
An investigator on the case said, "When we saw the x-rays of the bodies, I’d only liken it to Frankenstein."
In 2008, Mastromarino plead guilty to numerous charges and was sentenced to 58 years in prison.
More shocking true stories are told every Wednesday on "My Life Is a Lifetime Movie" at 10 p.m. ET on Lifetime.
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