The Real Bernie Madoff

Ralph Griffith wrote a book that no one else could have!


Sara Stratso

November 9, 2020


There has been no shortage of books written about Bernie Madoff, but Ralph Griffith’s book stands out above all the rest because the author and Madoff were incarcerated together for seven years.


Bernard Lawrence Madoff, a prominent Wall Street figure, was serving time in North Carolina’s Federal Medical Center in FCI Butner. Madoff, the former chairman of NASDAQ (National Association of Securities Automated Quotations Dealers) had been sentenced for 150 years for an elaborate multi-billion dollars Ponzi scheme targeting investors. Griffith had been doing time because of bank robbery and parole violations. Both had heart conditions and thus were sequestered together in the federal medical facility. Griffith was working in the prison library as the law clerk.


Griffith humorously describes their friendship with; “We spent 7 years living in a 60-man unit. It did not have the square footage of a decent-sized home. As such, we had a lot of idle time on our hands. It does not take a lot of imagination to understand the opportunity that presented itself to me.”


After Griffith writes, “Picture Bernie Madoff sitting in your living room for seven years,” he continues to pen an extremely comprehensive expose of the nefarious dealings of Wall Street. These dealings, according to Madoff, are aided and supported by the federal and state governments in the U.S. and Europe, along with various regulatory agencies. Griffith is fearless in his critique of corporations, politicians, and judges. He is fond of quoting one of Bernie’s favorite sayings, “It’s all a bunch of sh—t!"


There is a disclaimer at the beginning of the book on page 2 in which Griffith proclaims, “All information about the subjects of this book are controlled by the government and financial services industry. Anyone who should write and expose these truths will never be employed in private, government, or any universities again…”


This in itself is a hook to catch a reader’s interest. This statement certainly caught my attention! An especially important takeaway from this book is that Griffith points out that these villainous practices still continue today.