American Notes JUSTICE

The sentence seemed to satisfy even the most vengeful spectators. Four years in a tiny cell shared with two or three other prisoners. A $7 million fine. A $1.6 million bill for unpaid federal and state taxes. And once the jail term is up, 750 hours of community service caring for infants born with drug addictions or AIDS.

Tears failed to save hotelier Leona Helmsley, 69, the "Queen of Mean," who once sneered that only "little people pay taxes." Imploring Federal Judge John M. Walker Jr. not to imprison her for tax evasion, Helmsley wept, "I am more humiliated and ashamed than anybody could ever imagine." The judge was unmoved. Her attempt to charge off as business expenses items ranging from a $12.99 girdle to a $1.2 million pool enclosure for her mansion was the "product of naked greed," he declared. Helmsley is appealing the verdict, but as she left the courtroom, one of the little people had the last word: "There goes Marie Antoinette."