Now that we know that Chrysler is going into bankruptcy, we can almost hear the howling of the automaker's current majority owner. Cerberus, the NYC-based hedge fund ignorantly named for the multi-headed dog that guards the gates of Hell, currently owns the majority of Chrysler but will have its holdings "wiped out" by bankruptcy. (See the above June 2007 video about the Cerberus purchase of Chrysler only two short years ago.)

The dots have now been formally connected between the Chrysler and Madoff debacles. Cerberus is the hedge fund out of which J. Ezra Merkin operated — the Merkin embroiled in pal Bernie Madoff's scheme. (See Dennis O'Brien's "Snow, Quayle, Feinberg and Merkin: This is Who Gets Our Bailout Money?")

Before Ezra made his last name popular, most people thought of a merkin as just a pubic hairpiece. (Remember the sly name of Peter Sellers's "president" in Dr. Strangelove: "Merkin Muffley.")

But now it's the Ezra who muffed it. Earlier this month, he was accused by New York AG Andy Cuomo in a civil lawsuit of lying to clients about Bernie Madoff's role in his (Merkin's) hedge fund and thus improperly collecting more than $470 million in fees.

It was only in July 2007 that Euromoney named Cerberus the "best private equity house," adding, "A respect for existing management at buyout targets is central to the success of Steve Feinberg's Cerberus."