Picture This: Top Slideshows of 2009
The most popular pictures on the Blotter this year.
Dec. 30, 2009— -- From photos of convicted Ponzi scammer Bernie Madoff's multimillion dollar yachts to graphic images of private security guards at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul holding naked pool parties, slideshows were one of the most popular multimedia elements on the Blotter this year.
These pictures from ABC News' Investigative Team take you inside the stories that are making headlines.
The most popular slideshows on the Blotter this year are:
1) Bernard Madoff's Luxuries - Click here to see.
The most popular slideshow of the year was a fascinating visual tour of Bernie Madoff's life of luxury, from his multimillion dollar residences to the top vehicles he drove. Readers saw his homes, including a Manhattan penthouse and French Riviera chateau, and some of the items purchased with money from his massive fraud scheme.
2) Inside Palm Beach: The Secret World of Bernie Madoff - Click here to see.
The exclusive world of Palm Beach, where Bernie Madoff, one of the most talked about criminals of the year, spent much of his time and stolen millions, is the setting for the second most popular slideshow on the Blotter in 2009. Go behind the town's tall hedges and security gates for a glimpse of sprawling mansions, high society events and grand parties, where Madoff and his wife Ruth lived for 15 years.
3) Lewd Hazing at Kabul Embassy - Click here to see.
Pictures from the Project on Government Oversight showed private security guards at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul barely clothed and naked, in what one of guard told ABC News was a situation where the guards were pressured to participate in naked pool parties to gain promotions or assignment to preferable shifts.
4) The Madoff Family Album - Click here to see.
From his high school photo to a Mexican vacation to the inner sanctum of the Manhattan office from which Bernie Madoff orchestrated his massive Ponzi scheme, this slideshow is a family album of the Madoff family. See Madoff and his wife Ruth dancing the night away and some of the couple's family that also lost money in the scam.
5) The Wall St. Madam - Click here to see.
Go inside what was one of New York's biggest and most expensive escort services, until it was busted last year. Kristin Davis, the madam who ran the business, told ABC News' Brian Ross that Wall Street lawyers, investment bankers, CEOs and media executives often used corporate credit cards to pay for $2,000-an-hour prostitutes.
6) Behind the Scenes of a Kidnapping - Click here to see.
ABC News cameras went alongside law enforcement officials in Phoenix, Arizona, which has become the kidnapping capital of America with more incidents than any other city in the world outside of Mexico City and over 370 cases last year alone. This slideshow takes readers inside one case in the city, where officials say kidnappings have been spurred by Mexico's drug cartels that have expanded business across the border, bringing with them violent crime and ruthless tactics.
7) Anatomy of a Worldwide Body Trade - Click here to see.
Graphic pictures illustrate the results of a three-month "20/20" investigation into the business of bodies: real human bodies skinned, trimmed and essentially pickled and cured in plastic. See the bodies on display at one of the profitable exhibits, posed in several positions to show how muscles work in motion, as well as other elements of the investigation from China to the U.S.
8) Wall St.'s Most Infamous Faces of the Year - Click here to see.
From the flamboyant financier Sir Allen Stanford to Richard Fuld, the former CEO of the bankrupt Lehman Brothers, and, of course, the infamous Bernie Madoff, this slideshow is all about the men behind the scams, luxurious perks and corporate collapses that made the news in 2009.
9) Plane Scare: ABC News Viewers Send in Photos - Click here to see.
This popular slideshow of the year is composed of photos sent in from ABC News viewers of the botched Air Force One promotional photo op over Lower Manhattan that sent many eyewitness into panic reminiscent of the 9/11 attacks. See the photo op, estimated by the Air Force to have cost over $328,000, from the perspective of those on the ground who saw it take place.
10) Celebrity Housing Crisis - Click here to see.
Hollywood stars weren't immune from the mortgage crisis that financially devastated the nation this year. Even wealthy celebrities like Ed McMahon were affected. Click here to find out whose homes landing them in the midst of the crisis this year.