PHILADELPHIA — The man behind a wide-ranging scheme to plunder stolen corpses and sell their often-diseased parts and tissues to medical companies pleaded guilty Friday to a raft of charges that could send him to prison for life.

Michael Mastromarino, 44, of Fort Lee, N.J., admitted to hundreds of counts of abusing corpses, forgery, theft and other allegations stemming from an operation authorities say he ran with three Philadelphia funeral directors.

Mastromarino made millions of dollars off the scam, which also involved funeral homes in New York and New Jersey, prosecutors said. His attorney, A. Charles Peruto Jr., described the scheme as being driven by greed — one that was hard to stop because it was so lucrative.

The bodies, including that of "Masterpiece Theatre" host Alistair Cooke, were carved up without permission and were not medically screened. They were sold around the country for dental implants, knee and hip replacements and other procedures. About 10,000 people received tissue supplied by Mastromarino's company.