Fake Plastic Surgeon Finally Extradited Back to NYC

Over a year after the body of analyst Maria Cruz was uncovered in a Newark, NJ home, the fake plastic surgeon whose botched operation killed her was finally extradited back to New York City. Dean Faiello had fled to Costa Rica after the fatal 2003 operation on Cruz's tongue. Cruz had a reaction to the anesthesia and went into convulsions, and instead of heeding the advice of a doctor friend he called, Faiello decided not to call an ambulance but buried her in a concrete floor in a Newark home. Cruz's family had spent almost a year looking for her, and it was only when detectives found out she was seeing a "specialist" for a black growth on her tongue that they were on Faiello's trail; then an ex-lover told detectives about the home Faiello sold in NJ. He now faces charges of second degree murder with depraved indifference. Gothamist was surprised that extradition takes so long: Faiello was found February last year, but a court in Costa Rica only agreed to his extradition in December, and now he's back in NYC. Justice certainly takes a long time.