A quack doctor who ran a booming skin and laser clinic business in Manhattan where a botched procedure killed a patient says “deep down” he all the time feared “something was going to go fallacious.”
In exclusive clips obtained by The Post of an ABC “20/20” episode set to air Friday, phony MD Dean Faiello, 63, agonizes over Maria Cruz’s horrifying death in 2003 during a jailhouse interview at Attica Correction Facility .
Faiello described the 35-year-old investment banker as “quiet and shy,” and recalled seeing her “somewhere between 10 and 15 times” at his Gramercy Park clinic.
“We spent many hours throughout the treatment, talking to one another,” he told ABC News senior investigative correspondent David Scott.
He also admitted he never told Cruz or some other clients that the complex laser treatments they sought were meant to be performed by a licensed medical doctor.
Faiello, who has a history of substance abuse, recalled being “drunk and high” during Cruz’s final visit on April 13, 2003.
“I used too many vials of lidocaine,” he said, remembering the moment Cruz allegedly collapsed into convulsions.
“There’s no logic to it, there isn’t any justification,” he continued. “Deep down inside, I used to be afraid that something was going to go fallacious.”
Cruz had sought Faiello’s treatment for a black mark on her tongue. Since 1996, Faiello built an upscale clientele at his medical spa, SkinOvations. — first practicing from a Park Avenue location, then at a spot with a coveted East 73rd Street address and eventually to the the Gramercy Park neighborhood.
But while Faiello promised patients results through progressive laser hair removal, blood vessel removal, electrolysis, and other treatments, he did not mention he was practicing without medical credentials.
Faiello– who The Latest York Times reported was voted “Most Prone to Succeed” by his highschool class in 1977– never graduated from college.
The facade began to crumble in Oct. 2002, when The Post published a bombshell investigative report that led to his arrest on three counts of practicing with no medical license.
He was subsequently released on bail under the condition that he stop treating patients, but covertly continued to see clients out of a West sixteenth Street apartment.
Almost 20 years later, crime reporter Pat Lalama explained to ABC how patients were swayed by Faiello.
“He played the part, he looked the part, he acted the part,” she lamented.
In Cruz’s tragic case, when Faiello realized she was dead, he reportedly transported her body in a suitcase to his Gilded Age mansion within the Forest Hill neighborhood of Newark.
He then buried her stays under the garage.
Faiello subsequently fled to Costa Rica on a three-month visa. He was arrested a number of days after Cruz’s body was discovered in February 2004.
Within the“20/20” interview, Faiello, who was in his 40s on the time of Cruz’s death, also describes his bizarre try and be adopted with a purpose to fight extradition.
He was unsuccessful, and returned to the US in May 2005, where he later plead guilty to a primary degree assault charge in Cruz’s death in exchange for a 20 12 months sentence.
Airing at 9 p.m. EST, the two-hour special features interviews with investigative journalists Jeane MacIntosh, who published The Post’s initial report, and Barbara Nevins Taylor, in addition to Faiello’s former romantic partner Greg Bach. Investigator Brian Ford and former friends of colleagues of each Faiello and Cruz also make appearances.
A quack doctor who ran a booming skin and laser clinic business in Manhattan where a botched procedure killed a patient says “deep down” he all the time feared “something was going to go fallacious.”
In exclusive clips obtained by The Post of an ABC “20/20” episode set to air Friday, phony MD Dean Faiello, 63, agonizes over Maria Cruz’s horrifying death in 2003 during a jailhouse interview at Attica Correction Facility .
Faiello described the 35-year-old investment banker as “quiet and shy,” and recalled seeing her “somewhere between 10 and 15 times” at his Gramercy Park clinic.
“We spent many hours throughout the treatment, talking to one another,” he told ABC News senior investigative correspondent David Scott.
He also admitted he never told Cruz or some other clients that the complex laser treatments they sought were meant to be performed by a licensed medical doctor.
Faiello, who has a history of substance abuse, recalled being “drunk and high” during Cruz’s final visit on April 13, 2003.
“I used too many vials of lidocaine,” he said, remembering the moment Cruz allegedly collapsed into convulsions.
“There’s no logic to it, there isn’t any justification,” he continued. “Deep down inside, I used to be afraid that something was going to go fallacious.”
Cruz had sought Faiello’s treatment for a black mark on her tongue. Since 1996, Faiello built an upscale clientele at his medical spa, SkinOvations. — first practicing from a Park Avenue location, then at a spot with a coveted East 73rd Street address and eventually to the the Gramercy Park neighborhood.
But while Faiello promised patients results through progressive laser hair removal, blood vessel removal, electrolysis, and other treatments, he did not mention he was practicing without medical credentials.
Faiello– who The Latest York Times reported was voted “Most Prone to Succeed” by his highschool class in 1977– never graduated from college.
The facade began to crumble in Oct. 2002, when The Post published a bombshell investigative report that led to his arrest on three counts of practicing with no medical license.
He was subsequently released on bail under the condition that he stop treating patients, but covertly continued to see clients out of a West sixteenth Street apartment.
Almost 20 years later, crime reporter Pat Lalama explained to ABC how patients were swayed by Faiello.
“He played the part, he looked the part, he acted the part,” she lamented.
In Cruz’s tragic case, when Faiello realized she was dead, he reportedly transported her body in a suitcase to his Gilded Age mansion within the Forest Hill neighborhood of Newark.
He then buried her stays under the garage.
Faiello subsequently fled to Costa Rica on a three-month visa. He was arrested a number of days after Cruz’s body was discovered in February 2004.
Within the“20/20” interview, Faiello, who was in his 40s on the time of Cruz’s death, also describes his bizarre try and be adopted with a purpose to fight extradition.
He was unsuccessful, and returned to the US in May 2005, where he later plead guilty to a primary degree assault charge in Cruz’s death in exchange for a 20 12 months sentence.
Airing at 9 p.m. EST, the two-hour special features interviews with investigative journalists Jeane MacIntosh, who published The Post’s initial report, and Barbara Nevins Taylor, in addition to Faiello’s former romantic partner Greg Bach. Investigator Brian Ford and former friends of colleagues of each Faiello and Cruz also make appearances.
