Madoff to plead insanity?

At least that's what lawyers for the alleged scamster are considering - well, at least that's what Rush & Molloy say they're considering. Talk centers on Bernie having some sort of mental break or perhaps a multiple personality disorder (why not toss in the Twinkie Defense, while they're at it?). The NY Daily News gossips also hear that he's taking a heavy dose of anti-anxiety medication.

“He seems really out of it,” says a source, who believes Madoff’s family fears he’ll follow the example of Rene-Thierry Magon de la Villehuchet, the Madoff client who slit his wrists last week. “He has a very low affect. Bernie barely speaks. His wife, Ruth, and his sons, Andrew and Mark, do most of the talking for him.”

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No doubt people will call him crazy like a fox and recall mobster Vincent (Chin) Gigante, who tried to escape jail by mumbling and stumbling around the streets in his bathrobe. Top criminal attorney Edward Hayes doesn’t think it will fly: “Madoff admitted to his sons that he knew it was a Ponzi scheme. His best defense is making himself essential to discovering where the money is and getting it to the victims.”