On Friday morning, Mark Madoff dropped off an envelope and a card for the parking attendants at Mercer Parking, where he stowed his black 2008 Land Rover. He gave the attendants $400 and a greeting card decorated with penguins from him and his wife thanking them for their help, said an attendant there.
Officers from the NYPD and the Medical Examiners Office removed Mark Madoff's body at his apartment on 158 Mercer Street in Manhattan.
Anthony Diaz, 37, an attendant at the garage, said Mr. Madoff, his wife, child, babysitter, and dog often would leave early on Saturday mornings for trips to the family's summer home.
The Land Rover on Saturday was still parked in the garage, the attendant said. After 9 a.m., New York City police announced Mr. Madoff was found dead in his Soho apartment of an apparent suicide. "He's a nice guy," said Mr. Diaz as a crowd of journalists and spectators on holiday shopping trips gathered around the crime scene. "I feel bad."
The burgeoning crowd itself became a draw, conspicuous in the affluent area, with small groups of people in Santa hats and dogs playing on the sidewalk.
Police were guarding the doors, shooing away those who got too close to Mr. Madoff's roughly 12-story apartment building, which is also barricaded by a scaffolding setup for construction.
"What's going on here?" one person who walked by blurted out.
The scene overlooking Mercer Street.
"Bernie Madoff's son killed himself in there," replied another passerby, pointing to the building.
The block between Prince and Houston streets, is also the stomping grounds of celebrities such as Jon Bon Jovi and Kanye West, and attracts young, affluent residents.
"You can see their chauffeurs piled up on the side streets all the time," said Anderson Robin, 31, of the Bronx, a sales associate at Zadig & Voltaire, an upscale clothing store directly across the street from Mr. Madoff's apartment. "The majority of the foot traffic on this street is the socialites, younger people with money, or people looking for specific brands."
Mr. Madoff's apartment is neighbors with Joyce Theater, a small contemporary dance theater. The Mercer Hotel and Mercer Kitchen are also within a stone's throw.
"We are just being nosy," said Linda Bessant, 34, who was standing with her fiancé, Stewart Hasler, 33. The couple was visiting New York from London and came across the crowd while sight-seeing in nearby Greenwich Village and stood across the street for a half hour.
At around 12:20 p.m., police quickly wheeled Mr. Madoff's body on a cart out of the building and into a medical examiner's van. The sidewalk was packed with journalists and onlookers as police rushed out his body bag.
Dozens of gawkers lifted their smart phones to photograph the moment, including two women who had stumbled upon the scene. The women talked between themselves, calling Mr. Madoff's apparent suicide a "selfish" act.
After his body was moved, the women quickly said, "Let's get lunch" and marched away.
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