Murder suspect dubbed Michelangelo of buttocks injections

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A Gothic hip-hop artist who did illegal cosmetic surgery on the side boasted at her murder trial today that her body sculpting work was so popular she was dubbed "the Michelangelo of buttocks injections."

Padge Victoria Windslowe, who performed under the name "Black Madam," is accused of killing a 20-year-old dancer from London during a procedure at an airport hotel that involved industrial-grade silicone and Krazy Glue.

The woman's 2011 death — and the months that Windslowe spent on the lam — led Philadelphia police to investigate the strange world of "pumping parties" and underground surgery.

"Everyone was calling me 'the Michelangelo of buttocks injections,'" Windslowe, 45, of Philadelphia told a judge at a final pretrial motion this morning, just before her trial got underway. "God's blessed my hands with everything I touch. I make lots of money, in lots of ways."

The judge said that jurors must ultimately decide "the degree of recklessness" Windslowe assumed when they weigh third-degree murder, manslaughter and other charges.

The trial is expected to last several weeks and include testimony about another dancer hospitalized for two weeks after the silicone moved to her lungs. Windslowe is charged with aggravated assault in those injuries.