Anyone who works in television news knows what a collaborative enterprise it is. The same is true of this book, my first.
I will be forever indebted to Ellen Archer, Will Balliett, Katherine Tasheff, Brendan Duffy, and Kristin Kiser of Hyperion for asking me to take on this project and its exciting electronic versions, which combine the printed word with the power of the visual. They treated this rookie with great kindness. Thanks also to David Lott, Shubhani Sarkar, and Vincent Stanley at Hyperion as well as Laura Hopper at Kingswell.
Ben Sherwood, James Goldston, David Westin, Kate O’Brian, and Kerry Smith, my bosses at ABC News, encouraged me throughout the process to expand the reach of our investigative unit and find new outlets for all we learned about the secret world of Bernie and Ruth. As always, I relied on the excellent advice and guidance of John Zucker and Betsy Schorr of ABC News, and my longtime friend Marty Lobel, even though they are lawyers.
My partner in digging through all of the court documents, tracking down witnesses, and confirming every last detail was the exceptionally diligent and talented Kate McCarthy of ABC News. No detail was too insignificant and no challenge too great as we learned together the joy of being able to write more than a minute-and-a-half report for ABC World News with Charles Gibson.
Since the night of Madoff’s arrest, Richard Esposito helped ABC News “own” the story in his then-role as the network’s senior investigative reporter. His connections and sources are without equal, and I will never forget how he gave up his seat in the jury box at Madoff’s sentencing so I could get a close look at the man who had ruined so many lives yet still seemed more concerned about his wrinkled suit and unruly shirt collars.
Everyone at the ABC News investigative unit played an important role in our reporting on the Madoff scandal. Asa Eslocker, Joanna Jennings, Vic Walter, Nicholas Brennan, Yuliya Talanova, and Len Tepper spent many long days at work without complaint recording on video the life and times of Bernie and Ruth and their family and cohorts. Joel Stonington and Linsay Rousseau Burnett gladly accepted stakeout duty. Joe Rhee, Megan Chuchmach, Rehab el-Buri, Justin Rood, Ben Buchanan, and Maddy Sauer produced the broadcast and ABCNews.com reports that served as the basis for this book.
Avni Patel and Angela Hill worked tirelessly to learn the stories of dozens of Madoff’s victims and yet treat each one with the individual respect that was due them.
Anna Schechter’s reporting from Palm Beach, Florida, provided extraordinary texture for the account of how Madoff so cavalierly swindled his fellow golfing partners and country club members. The Madoff inner circle was not happy to see her in town, but even after one of them smashed her camera, Anna kept digging.
Most important to me in reporting and writing this book is my longtime producer and friend Rhonda Schwartz, who now runs the ABC News investigative unit. Her tireless efforts and investigative coups are legendary in the television news business. Every chapter in this book is better because of her reporting. She rarely gets all the public credit she deserves for the award-winning investigative reports we have produced together for ABC News and NBC News, so it is a great pleasure to be able to thank her in print for so many years of partnership and excellence.
Finally, I need to express my great admiration and appreciation for the many people who spoke to me and my colleagues at ABC News about Bernie Madoff. Former FBI agent Brad Garrett provided invaluable insight into the workings of the criminal mind. Many of the sources of this book cannot be thanked by name because of the sensitivity of their positions.
Others took the risk, even when they were advised it was not in their best interest to talk with me. Madoff’s former secretary Eleanor Squillari, his former messenger “Little Rick,” and his onetime security guard and confidant Nick Casale each provided a rare insight into the secret world of Bernie and Ruth and the largest financial crime in Wall Street history.