The Wizard of Lies Page #13

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You wanna go outs...

Okay, uh.

Grouper!

Gotta get your blanky.

Grouper, come back.

Hey, Nicky, with Papa

we're gonna play peek-a-boo.

Grouper, come!

Grouper!

Grouper! Grouper, come!

Come on, that's a good boy.

That's a good boy.

Look at...

Grouper, good.

We're just

gonna go outside.

Hello?

It's Marty.

Mark's dead.

Stephanie!

- He... he hung himself.

- He's dead.

Has anybody

called my mother?

I have to call my mother.

Andy?

It's so good to hear

your voice, sweetheart.

I wrote Bernie a letter

a week after

Mark killed himself.

And I never sent it to him

because they

monitor his mail

and I thought

they would never, ever

give him

a letter like this.

Well, here, you can say it on TV.

He's probably watching.

Well, what I wrote

to him was,

"Bernie, while I will not

send you pictures

of your grandchildren,

there is one picture

I do want you to see.

That last picture

of your son Mark.

You owe it to his widow,

his children,

his brother, his mother.

So, here is what I wish

for you, Bernie.

Every time

you sit down to eat,

as you pick up

your plastic fork,

I want you to see

your son's corpse

hanging from the rafter

directly over your table

right on front of you,

Bernie,

so at every meal,

you see your son Mark...

his white sweat socks

are swaying

ever so gently

at your eye level

immediately above

your food dish.

And as you look up, Bernie,

you see...

you see your firstborn

son hanging there,

his head at a

left leaning angle

looking down at you,

asking how could you

do that to your son

who up until two years

before his death

had given you

the greatest gift...

his unconditional love

for his father. "

Well, I hope

he heard that.

- I hope he heard that.

- Well, he gets free television,

so why shouldn't

he hear it?

Why isn't he in a hole

where he belongs?

He says that he is

happier in prison

- than he was before.

- Free meals!

- He feels safe in prison.

- His victims

are eating their dinner

out of cat food cans.

Then he says, "The average person

thinks I robbed widows and orphans.

I made wealthy people wealthier. "

That is not true.

Mark... he wrote a note.

The note said,

"Bernie,

this is what happens

when you destroy

your sons

- by your life of deceit. "

- Mm-hmm.

- "F*** you, Bernie. "

- Mm-hmm.

- That was Mark's suicide note.

- Right.

I can't keep coming here.

I want a relationship

with Andy

and he won't see me

if I keep coming here.

I can't have it both ways.

No, I understand.

And I can't talk

to you anymore.

You can't write to me

or call me.

It'll be too hard.

Ruth, all I want

is what's best

for you

and for the boys.

Boy, Bernie.

Boy.

You were my lifeguard.

I thought you were gonna

protect me forever.

Best job I ever had.

I never had to

save anybody.

I don't know

if it will ever

be any different

than it feels now.

I don't think

after losing a child

things ever get better.

I don't see much

of a future for me.

And I don't really care

if I have one.

The future's hard.

Yeah, I was sorry to see

that "People Magazine"

used that photo of you and

Mark when he was a boy.

I can never

forgive you, Bernie.

And yet

I'm not angry at you.

I don't know why.

It's a combination

of feeling numb

and it seeming

fruitless.

I don't remember how much

I got paid as a lifeguard,

but it was never

about the money.

In 2013,

I invited Andrew to speak

at a writing seminar

I conducted at Princeton

under the general theme

of writing about con artists.

Andy had just started

chemotherapy

for the reoccurrence

of lymphoma.

The topic I asked him

to think about for the class

was how the media

had covered his father's case

and how that

affected his life.

I've always wondered,

why didn't you go on TV

and state your case?

Why didn't you

defend yourself?

Well, one of the reasons

I've always

felt uncomfortable

about the prospect of going

on TV and telling my story

is that I don't know if I'm that

sympathetic a character.

And at the end

of the day,

I lived a life of great

wealth and privilege.

I traveled the world.

I wanted for nothing.

All of that

was subsidized

by my father's victims.

It's hard to, um,

tell our story...

Mark's,

my mother's, myself...

when there are

so many other stories.

My brother

killed himself.

My mother lost the

only man she ever loved,

turned out to be

a complete fraud.

But, you know,

there were just three of us.

There are thousands

of victims.

And, uh...

Any other questions?

Yes.

The father-son

relationship

is such an important factor

in anyone's life.

There must be some part of

that relationship with your father

that still exists.

Even after all this,

can you see some point

where you could visit him

or talk to him again?

My father is dead to me.

On September 3rd, 2014,

Andrew Madoff died

from mantle cell lymphoma.

Hi, this is Ruth.

Leave a message

after the tone.

Hi, Ruth,

I just wanted to...

I know I said I wouldn't call,

but I just, um...

um, okay.

Hi, this is Ruth.

Leave a message

after the tone.

We're sorry.

You have reached a number

that is no longer in service.

If you feel that you have

reached this recording in error,

please check

the number and...

Hey, I was online today

and I'm reading some

of the old coverage of me

and I came across

this article.

Frankly,

it was just ridiculous.

What was the article?

The "New York Times" interviewed

this guy, a forensic psychologist

who worked

on the Ted Bundy case.

And this guy, Joe Blow,

whom I've never met,

never talked to,

don't know from Adam,

never seen in my whole entire life

was going on and on

about the similarities

between Ted Bundy

and myself.

Ah, I can see how that comparison

would be troubling, but...

Well, there is

no comparison.

I mean, how can you

compare me to someone

who decapitated women and

kept their heads as mementos?

I mean, that's the behavior of a truly,

truly evil human being.

I mean, what comparison is there,

ever, possibly in that?

And yet the "New York Times,"

"the newspaper of record,"

"all the news

that's fit to print"

never had anyone say this is a

preposterous piece of writing,

especially for

the business section.

Well, why do you think

they made that comparison?

- You know, when I turned myself in...

- Your sons turned you in.

No, no,

but I turned myself in.

It was a matter of a few days,

so I was gonna do it.

So anyway,

when I turned myself in...

it was the height of the whole

anti-Wall Street hysteria

and they needed a villain,

they needed a face

for the whole mess

they created.

That face became me,

so that's...

I don't know, I just...

I don't even wanna

think about it.

Think about what?

Well, he killed people,

innocent people.

And in my case,

I told people, everyone,

"Don't put more than half

your money with me.

You never know.

Who the hell knows?

I mean, one day,

I could just go crazy. "

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