People who are considering donating their organs to save other people’s lives might think twice after learning that a powerful Japanese crime boss received a life-saving liver transplant at the UCLA Medical Center, the Los Angeles Times reported today.

The surgeon who performed the operation, Ronald W. Busuttil, is executive chairman of UCLA’s surgery department. The newspaper, citing law-enforcement sources, said Dr. Busuttil also performed liver transplants on three other men whose criminal records or suspected involvement in Japanese organized crime now have them banned from entering the United States.

All four transplants took place from 2000 to 2004, during a period when more than 100 patients in the Los Angeles area died waiting for liver transplants. The newspaper said there was no evidence that Dr. Busuttil, described as a world-renowned liver surgeon, was aware he was operating on gangsters. Both the university and Dr. Busuttil have released statements saying they don’t make moral judgments about patients, and that they treat them according to their medical needs. —Katherine Mangan