THE addict faced the judge in a $1,000 suit, looking testy and impatient, as if late for an appointment.

Bernie Madoff, who stole billions to feed his insatiable hunger for other people's money, was asked by Judge Denny Chin if he understood he had the right to a free lawyer, if he couldn't afford one.

"Yes, I do!" he whined with a sudden flash of anger - momentarily forgetting he was not in charge.

And in the next few minutes, Madoff, sociopath, spoke in front of an audience including victims who would rather stone him to death than listen. He was emotionless. Petulant. Bitter. And pathetic.

And he proved, beyond doubt, that he's learned absolutely nothing. Given the opportunity, he would piggishly steal from close friends and family again. And again. Addicts are like that.

Standing to his full, diminutive height, Madoff, with his flowing shock of white hair, spoke up for the first time in a disinterested monotone. And he made nothing but excuses for his pathological behavior.

"When I began the Ponzi scheme, I believed it would end shortly and I would be able to extricate myself and my clients from the scheme," he said. "However, this proved difficult and ultimately impossible."

More than 20 years of stealing like a man with a monkey on his back, and the best he can do is say it was "impossible" to stop stealing? He didn't end it there, though I wished he would have.

He went on to say that the businesses with his name on them, run by his brother and sons, were legit. This brought snorts of derision form the cheap seats.

Like hell.

I've never seen a sober federal court audience applaud when a judge slapped on handcuffs. But this one did. Loudly.

Miriam Siegman, 65, who lost everything she had to Madoff, and now subsists on $170 a month in food stamps, was left numb by the display.

"He still believes in his own myth," she said incredulously. "He's a banal, little man in an expensive suit."

And to think: It was so easy.

andrea.peyser@nypost.com

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