Bernie Madoff; Shmadoff

As crooked and corrupt as my Uncle Joe was, he would never steal from a charity or from an individual whom he knew; Uncle Joe also stole from large corporations. Bernie Madoff stole from charities and from his friends and from his sister.

[Genesis Of The Financial Meltdown]

Everyone is screaming loudly for Bernie Madoff to be sentenced to prison- everyone except Bernie and his attorney, Ira Sorkin.

Sorkin is providing Bernie with the best defense that a $1,000 an hour attorney can provide. And that is precisely the problem. Ira Sorkin is being paid $1,000 an hour with money that Bernie stole from individuals and charities. Here’s how it works: Madoff steals $50 billion. Then Bernie hires the best mouthpiece that his stolen funds can purchase.

Does anyone understand the inequity? If you steal a bicycle, you get a legal aid lawyer, who is underpaid and overworked. If you steal $50 billion you get the best shark that the stolen money can buy.

In 1962 Tino D’Angelis aided and abetted by my uncle, Joseph Lomuscio, attempted to corner the market in vegetable oil futures contracts. These contracts were secured by non-existent oil in storage tanks in Bayonne, New Jersey.

My Uncle Joe, a beloved character who once presented my brothers and me with a squirrel monkey as a present, signed the receipts for the non-existent vegetable oil, which were supposedly being held at American Express Field Warehousing Company- a subsidiary of American Express. The scheme imploded when large trading companies caused the futures market to collapse.

My Uncle Joe and Tino stole from banks and brokerage firms- and even managed to put the 4th largest brokerage firm, Ira Haupt, into receivership and Williston and Beane, a smaller brokerage firm, was taken over by Merrill Lynch.

As crooked and corrupt as my Uncle Joe was, he would never steal from a charity or from an individual whom he knew; Uncle Joe also stole from large corporations. Bernie Madoff stole from charities and from his friends and from his sister.

Madoff is so repugnant that he even stole from Carl Schapiro, his friend who helped him get started in the business. This is the equivalent of patricide.

This is heinous.

As a child my father taught me reverence, and I mean reverence for his friend, Sam Kaplan. My father had a small business and three small children and was in danger of losing his business. My father mentioned this to his customer and friend, Sam Kaplan. Mr. Kaplan –and it was always “mister” lent my father $10,000 on a handshake- and this was in 1951 when $10,000 was money.

Bernie Madoff stole $50 billion from his friends and from charities- and from Carl Schapiro to whom Madoff owed everything.

Bernie Madoff will probably be sentenced to 20 years in prison and serve his term at a country club. Madoff is probably in negotiations to protect other individuals, who knew of his fraud. It would have been impossible for Bernie to have perpetrated this fraud without assistance. Just the manufacture of trading sheets for thousands of clients would have required several individuals.

Bernie will serve his time and be permitted to receive Omaha steaks and other delicacies at the prison of his choice. Bernie’s time in prison will be far different than if either you or I had been convicted of a crime.

As for my Unlce Joe, he never went to prison. My Uncle Joe bribed a federal judge.

Such is justice in America.

Editor’s Note: A reader asked that we link this article to the following video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pqbhSiT0Pb4

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