Chapter 9
Three days later, the formal arraignment hearing took place in the federal district court of Manhattan. Richard and Eleanor stood before the federal judge looking pale, defeated, and stripped of all their former arrogance.
The prosecutor laid out a devastating case involving financial fraud, extortion, and endangerment of a protected citizen. The judge denied bail entirely, citing the extreme flight risk and the severity of the federal charges.
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As the bailiffs led them away in orange jumpsuits, Eleanor caught sight of reporters taking photographs from the gallery. She tried to shield her face with her handcuffed wrists, her once-proud posture completely broken.
The trial was projected to result in maximum prison sentences with no possibility of early parole. Justice, swift and absolute, had finally caught up with the architects of cruelty.
