An amended complaint filed by Burlingame-based law firm Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy against Bernie Madoff and his alleged co-conspirators in a massive Ponzi scheme contains some salacious new details about the professional atmosphere Madoff cultivated in the early years of BMIS, including allegations of drug use and prostitution:

Behind the Facade, Madoff and BMIS Had A Dark Side

83. Behind this facade was a different side of Madoff and BMIS. Starting in 1975, Madoff began sending a long-time employee and office messenger to obtain drugs for himself and the company who worked with another individual who became a supplier to BMIS. These two men were described as
street tough men from Harlem “who were not to be messed with.” Their job was to get drugs and bring them to the office for use at BMIS. The employees in the office were well known and everyone knew, including some special investors. Drug use in the office was described as rampant and likened the office to the “North Pole” in reference to the cocaine use. Eventually the main employee supplier was fired for his drug abuse when cocaine and other undisclosed drugs were found in his desk in 2003. Madoff worried that it might bring in drug prosecutors who might uncover the big scam.

84. In regards to the diversion-filled office environment, employees described the wild office parties sans spouses. There were topless entertainers wearing only “G-string” underwear serving as waitresses, and a culture of sexual deviance existed in the office. The employees had late night affairs in exciting places – such as their boss’ sofa “with whomever they could find.” Employees described it as a wild, fast-talking, drug-using office culture.

85. Madoff also maintained a list of his favorite attractive female masseuses in his personal telephone book. Madoff’s affinity for escorts, masseuses, and attractive female employees was well known in the office culture, and certain feeders were allowed to participate in the conduct. A significant amount of the money stolen from investors went towards these lavish indulgences as well as other expenses for his employees, family and favorite feeders.

Among the other potential revelations in the complaint, which runs to nearly 300 pages, is that Madoff may have begun his Ponzi scheme as early as the the 1960s, not the 1990s, as he has claimed.

One of the victims of Madoff’s scheme who is being represented by Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy is a retired Foster City teacher.

Here’s eight photos from last week that didn’t make it into the paper, all taken by Times staff photographer John Green. Above and below, Foster City Mayor John Kiramis ships out for Southern California on Wednesday aboard his 50-foot power boat from Sausalito Shipyard & Marina. He’s resigning from the City Council and moving to Lancaster, in Los Angeles County, to help care for his ailing mother-in-law.

Nuffie Calbreath takes in the festivities with her dog Bella at Saturday’s Burlingame Pet Parade. Hundreds of pets and their owners turned out for the sixth-annual event.

Owners and their pets stroll down Broadway during the parade.

A cluster of grapes on the vine at Thomas Fogarty Winery in Woodside. The wine grape harvest has begun at Fogarty and other San Mateo County vineyards.

Elizabeth Enriques (right) picks grapes on Thursday at Thomas Fogarty.

Members of Mexico Vivo perform at the Redwood City Salsa Festival on Saturday.

Sigmund Jacobson, of San Leandro, tries some salsa at the festival.

Foster City is touting the fact that it received recognition for having really good roads. Best in the Bay Area, in fact. Yay.

You get the feeling Foster City officials wish that critics of Mirabella San Francisco Bay Parkview Plaza, a major development planned for 15 acres next to City Hall, would just kind of fade away.

But that seems unlikely, especially now that Foster City parents are clamoring for the construction of a fourth elementary school on city land. Some of these parents are well aware that four acres of the 15-acre Mirabella site remain available, since plans for a public charter high school there fell through last summer.

The Foster City Council was never particularly fond of the charter school idea and its backer, the Foster City High School Foundation, so it’ll be interesting to see how it reacts if and when parents of children in the San Mateo-Foster City School District suggest the eastern corner of the Mirabella property as a possible school site.

Regardless, the small but committed group of residents who oppose Mirabella is not going anywhere. In fact, they may be about to amplify their message.

Let’s put aside the questions of the moment — those pertaining to traffic and construction noise and other issues covered by an environmental impact report that the city is currently reviewing — and step back for a look at the bigger picture.

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Before Barack Obama’s election win recedes too far in the rearview mirror, here’s a couple bits of local reaction that didn’t make it into the paper.

In the photo above, Karen Cunningham, sporting a Barack Obama T-shirt, was captured celebrating the Democratic Party’s historic night at the victory party for Rep. Jackie Speier in Burlingame.

Meanwhile, Bill Stewart, 70, took in the election results at an NAACP-organized party at B Street Billiards in downtown San Mateo.

Stewart, a computer consultant and member of the Foster City Association of Black Residents, grew up in Memphis, Tenn., where he participated in sit-ins during the civil rights movement.

He moved to California following graduate school to work for the NASA Ames Research Center in Mountain View. Because of his race, he was not able to rent an apartment in Palo Alto.

On Tuesday night, Stewart said Obama’s victory struck him as “almost unbelievable.”

Stewart recalled living in the segregated South during college: “You were not allowed to try on clothes in certain stores … you couldn’t go to a lunch counter, buy a sandwich and sit down.”

“It’s a transition to a new day,” he said of the election. “What we need to do now is start working for economic parity for African-Americans.”

Foster City Mayor Pam Frisella learned firsthand last week that you’ve got to pay the cost to be the boss.

Frisella got a number of emails from aggravated Foster City residents after the foghorn on the San Mateo Bridge malfunctioned once again.

Speaking from Sacramento, where she was attending a League of California Cities conference with City Councilwoman Linda Koelling and City Manager Jim Hardy, Frisella said last week that she’s already learned something about her new position: When you’re mayor, people take their comments directly to you, even when you can’t fix things.

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Huijun Ring, one of seven candidates for three seats on Foster City’s City Council, is racking up the endorsements.

One of the first big names was San Mateo County Supervisor Jerry Hill. Now’s she added State Sen. Leland Yee, D-San Francisco/San Mateo, to her growing team of supporters. She’s also snared the endorsements of Assemblyman Gene Mullin, D-San Mateo, and the Sierra Club. (She’ll discuss environmental issues at an event from 10 a.m. to noon on Sunday at Boothbay Park.)

In addition to Ring, the candidates for the council consist of Councilwoman Linda Koelling and Councilman Rick Wykoff, who are running for re-election; Art Kiesel, a member of the city Planning Commission; Marcia Cohn-Lyle, a member of the San Mateo Union High School District’s Board of Trustees; Patrick McKinnie, a group home counselor; and Stanley Roberts, a television journalist for KRON-4.

Of all the challengers, however, Ring has made the most noise so far. And if form holds from the last time we wrote about her, the comments section will soon fill up with glowing recommendations from her friends and supporters.