Philly: Survivors' lives shaken in wake of body-parts scandal

Theresa Fetzer fears that when she goes to the Palmer Cemetery to visit her parents' graves, her father's remains may not be there.

Her father, John Fetzer, who died May 1, 2005, had cirrhosis of the liver, tuberculosis, bladder cancer and hepatitis C.

Yet, his diseased tissue was stolen and sold in a national body-parts scandal that led to thousands of charges against three funeral directors, two businessmen and two companies last Thursday.

Fetzer said her father was cremated at one of the companies charged in the scam, Liberty Cremation, on Ruth near Somerset - just as her mother had been only five months earlier.

"They were literally throwing the ashes back in body bags that [bodies] came in," Fetzer said she was told by a detective. "God forbid they had four or five people, instead of cremating them individually, they would cremate them together.

"Now, we don't even know if his ashes are in the box."

The Fetzer sisters, Theresa and Debbie, were among 48 grieving families identified by a Philadelphia grand jury who were defrauded. The other 196 victims had falsified records.

Charged with offenses from operating a criminal enterprise, theft and forgery to buying prohibited body parts werethree Philadelphia funeral home operators - Louis Garzone, 65, of Kensington; his brother, Gerald Garzone, 47, of North Wales, Montgomery County; and James McCafferty, 37, of Mayfair.

Also charged were Liberty Cremation Inc., jointly owned by the three men, and the two brothers' Garzone Funeral Home Inc., which operates on E. Somerset Street near Ruth in Kensington, and on L. Street near Hunting Park.

The ringleader and owner of Biomedical Tissue Services, Michael Mastromarino, 44, of Fort Lee, N.J., and Lee Cruceta, 34, of Monroe, N.Y., the leader of Mastromarino's team of "cutters" who removed tissue, were also charged.

These charges are "long overdue," said South Carolina attorney Kevin Dean, of Motley Rice LLC, who represents Norman Card, Sr., one of the 244 victims identified in the grand jury report.

"It's a victory for the families who've had their loved ones' human remains misappropriated," said Dean, who represents at least two victims whose remains were harvested, and 18 recipients in Pennsylvania who have received diseased tissue.

"But it's not broad enough to include all the people who are culpable," he said.

Thousands of lawsuits have been filed nationwide since 2005 when the Food and Drug Administration halted BTS' operation.

Card, Sr., died of a heart attack on April 20, 2005, at age 72. But the grand jury found that Mastromarino completely fabricated the widower's medical and social histories, including his age, date and time of death as well as doctor's name, and claimed that his body was donated as an "anatomical gift" after speaking to "Sally Card," his wife.

Card's son, Norman Card, Jr., told the grand jury his late mother's name was Betty. The younger Card said he had a contract with Gerald Garzone to cremate his father's body at Liberty Crematorium, but he did not give permission for his father's tissue to be removed.

BTS received at least $6,853 from other companies for Card's tissue.

Carolyn Garcia, 25, of Kensington, said the remains of her stepfather, Joseph Pace, 54, had also been removed without consent. Pace had throat cancer, colitis, HIV, hepatitis C and an abdominal obstruction when he died on Jan. 25, 2005.

"I was devastated 'cause before my stepdad, my mom had cancer and I had her cremated at the same place [Liberty Crematorium]," she said. "I don't even know if I have his remains and that bothers me.

"I think they should be prosecuted to the fullest extent." *