Prompted by an ongoing investigation into a ring that allegedly stole body parts of more than 1,000 corpses, the New Jersey state Senate approved a bill yesterday making it a first-degree crime to trade in human remains against the wishes of the deceased.

No charges have been filed in New Jersey against Mastromarino, who has denied any wrongdoing in the case brought by the Brooklyn District Attorney's Office. He contends funeral parlor directors were responsible for getting consent for body-part donations.

The stolen body parts sold to five commercial tissue processors for use in thousands of transplant patients from Vermont to California, without obtaining families' permission or testing for disease.