ABC’s two-night “Madoff” movie will be followed by “Madoff: After the Fall,” a documentary airing Thursday night at 10 and hosted by ABC News chief investigative correspondent Brian Ross.
“You’re going to learn what Bernie does in prison. He takes turns cleaning cells and working in the commissary. He’s made friends with drug dealers and pedophiles, who make pizzas for him in the microwave,” says Ross, whose 2009 book, “The Madoff Chronicles,” is the basis for ABC’s movie. “Bernie’s sort of made peace with his lot in life. He’s considered a big shot in prison. They go to him for stock tips.
“We also catch up with Ira Sorkin, Madoff’s lawyer, who says he could have ‘gamed’ the system and kept Madoff out of prison for another year, but that Madoff made the decision to get rid of the pressure on [his wife] Ruth and all the cameras by pleading guilty.
“It was an act of love on Madoff’s part, to do this for Ruth.”
Ross says he requested interviews with Bernie and Ruth Madoff for Thursday night’s special (they both declined).
“Bernie is sort of interested [in talking]. He’s trying to do a little [image] rehab,” Ross says. “He’s trying to spin [the Ponzi scheme] like it’s a grander conspiracy. There’s one guy who took out $7.2 billion, Jeffry Picower down in Palm Beach [Florida]. He died in a swimming pool a month after Madoff was arrested and his widow turned all the money in. Madoff says Picower was in on the scheme.
“It’s a Shakespearean drama,” Ross says of the Madoff case, alluding not only to the Ponzi scheme but the deaths of both Madoff sons (Mark, who committed suicide, and Andrew, who died after battling cancer). “Ruth is a sad figure. She tells people she did not go through with the divorce like she said she would. They’re still married and in contact — but Bernie calls.
“She never calls him.”
