New York- The quack cosmetic surgeon who fled to Costa Rica last year after allegedly killing a patient and burying her body in concrete was finally extradited yesterday to New York.

Dean Faiello, 45, who has been in the hands of Costa Rican authorities for more than a year, was dragged back to the U.S. aboard a Delta flight to Kennedy Airport by U.S. marshals to face murder charges.

“Thank God,” said Jose Navarro, an uncle of Maria Cruz, the 35-year-old Manhattan banker who authorities believe died more than two years ago during a botched procedure at Faiello’s phony clinic in Chelsea.

Faiello went on the lam in September 2003 as he faced sentencing on an unrelated charge of practicing medicine without a license. Meanwhile, Cruz’s petite body lay hidden inside a suitcase, buried in a concrete slab in the garage of a New Jersey home Faiello had quietly sold.

Cruz, a devout Catholic who grew up in the Philippines and landed an impressive job as a banker with Barclays, made the fatal mistake of going to the bogus clinic that Faiello setup in a friend’s apartment on W. 16th St., officials said.

Cruz had been plagued by a benign but embarrassing black growth on her tongue and had scheduled an appointment with Faiello to have it removed by laser, according to authorities.

But when Faiello allegedly injected her tongue with an anesthetic, she suddenly went into convulsions and died. Authorities said the phony doctor – already having pleaded guilty on the practicing without a license charge – panicked and hatched the plan to cover up the crime.

Ten months later, a tip from an ex-lover of Faiello’s led police to Cruz’s concrete tomb.

Within days, police tracked Faiello down at a fancy seaside resort in Samara, Costa Rica, and he was placed under arrest. Faiello, who has the AIDS virus, put up a long legal fight against extradition.

The phony doctor was dressed in a casual striped shirt and alligator loafers but looked at gaunt and unshaven when he appeared in Manhattan Criminal Court late last night.

He was ordered to be held without bail. Faiello is scheduled to be back in court this morning.

Cruz’s relatives were relieved to hear Faiello would face charges here.

Navarro said he had trust inauthorities – and a higher power. “I left everything to God,” Navarro said. “I have faith in the justice system in the U.S.”