ADIOS: Astor heir Anthony Marshall, in slippers yesterday, is off to jail for at least a year.
TOUGH LIFE: Charlene Marshall, the “Miss Piggy” wife of convicted Astor-swindler heir Anthony, kisses the high life goodbye yesterday. (
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Brooke Astor’s son, Anthony Marshall, was wheeled into custody by court officers yesterday afternoon to start his jail term — as his wife shook with sobs.
“My heart has been ripped out of my body,” Charlene Marshall cried, clutching her husband’s hand, eyes red with tears, outside Manhattan Supreme Court yesterday.
Anthony, 89, finally surrendered to begin serving his one-to-three-year prison term yesterday after four years of failed appeals of his 2009 conviction for swiping millions from his philanthropist mom.
Brooke Astor famously called her husband’s third wife “Miss Piggy” as Anthony robbed the elderly woman of her fortune to pay for upkeep on Charlene’s Maine estate, a 55-foot yacht and other perks.
Anthony’s attorney practically ripped the old man from his wife’s hands as she knelt next to his wheelchair, patting back his white hair and whispering, “We’ll always love each other.” Stoic, in blue sweatpants and flannel slippers, her soon-to-be jailbird hubby whispered back, “Always, always.”
Justice A. Kirke Bartley read a letter to Anthony from his estranged son Alex before being hauled off to the infirmary at Rikers. Alex Marshall had written to the judge to beg for mercy for his decrepit dad.
“Here’s some of the things your son has said,” Bartley said, adding, “He very much desires to speak with you.”
He quoted Alex, “I am very much concerned about his future. My father was a hero in World War II.”
Bartley continued, “Those who loved and believed in him asked to spare him time behind bars. What he has already gone through these past years has been punishment enough.”
Alex had asked the judge, “Please consider all my father has done for this country,” but he also quoted his dad about the events leading up to the trial: “You can’t change the past,” Anthony reportedly told his son.
Bartley said he regretted that his position forced him to send Marshall to jail.
Defense attorney Kenneth Warner blasted the sentence.
“Incarceration will simply make his final days more tortured and undoubtedly fewer in number. There is truly no just purpose for this punishment,” he said.
Marshall was silent in court and declined Judge Bartley’s offer to speak before being taken away. He stared at his wife with a slightly pained look on his wrinkled face as he was wheeled out — without cuffs.
The late Astor’s only son is suffering from dementia and was taken into custody with an oxygen tank and a bag of medication.