Even as Bernard Madoff pleaded guilty in a Manhattan federal courtroom this morning, and with scattered applause and a sharp snap of handcuffs was led away by US marshals, much of the focus shifted to his family members and former employees who didn’t attend the hearing.

Madoff’s statement before the court seemed designed to protect his family. But both prosecutors and victims signaled their belief that he didn’t act alone, and that his confederates should be brought to justice.

“A lot of resources are being expended to find any assets and find anyone else that is associated with this crime,” assistant U.S. attorney Marc Litt told the court.

Ronnie Sue Ambrosino, a Madoff victim, asked the judge to reject Madoff’s plea until more information was uncovered. "I believe you have the opportunity to find out where the money is, and who else was responsible," she told Judge Denny Chin. Victims were allowed to speak only to whether the judge should accept Madoff’s guilty plea or require him to stand trial. But the judge said that victims will be allowed to speak more freely at sentencing about the distress caused by the swindle.

Madoff, 70, copped to all eleven charges against him - including securities fraud and money laundering - and faces up to 150 years in prison and forfeiture of up to $170 billion, the government’s estimate of the total amount investors gave Madoff over the decades of his fraud.

The true scope of Madoff’s swindle is unknown. Madoff initially admitted to scamming customers out of roughly $50 billion. Prosecutors later raised that amount to $64.8 billion, based on statements mailed to Madoff’s thousands of clients the month before his arrest. A court-appointed trustee has identified fewer than $1 billion in recoverable assets, and is searching for more.

The judge remanded Madoff to a federal detention center until his sentencing on June 16.

Madoff, wearing a neatly tailored grey suit, was at times inaudible as he answered the judge’s questions, affirming that he understood the consequences of his plea, and the potential 150 year jail sentence.

“Guilty,” Madoff said repeatedly, as the judge listed the eleven charges against him.

“Alright Mr. Madoff, tell me what you did,” Judge Chin said.

Madoff stressed that his mammoth Ponzi scheme functioned separately from other, legitimate trading businesses also under his control. "The other parts of my business...were managed by my brother and sons, and did nothing wrong," he said. Madoff began defrauding investors during the recession of the early 1990s, he said. “I felt compelled to fulfill my clients’ expectations,” he said. “I believed it would end shortly and I would be able to extricate myself and my clients from the scheme."

Madoff’s claim contradicts the government’s assertion that the fraud started a decade earlier, in the 1980s.

“He's clearly trying to protect his son and his brother and his wife," said Helen Chaitman, a New York attorney who is representing 300 investors in Madoff's firm, and who lost her personal savings in the scheme. But by revoking bail, she added, "The government did something right."

During his 20-year scheme, Madoff didn’t invest his customers’ money but instead cheated them in an elaborate Ponzi scheme that ranks as the biggest fraud in Wall Street history. "I am painfully aware I've deeply hurt many, many people,” he told the court.

Madoff, a former NASDAQ chairman, founded his investment firm in 1960, and was once among the city’s most sought-after money managers. He collected a roster of notable clients – now turned victims – including Hall of Fame pitcher Sandy Koufax, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Elie Wiesel, acclaimed film director Steven Spielberg, and New Jersey Senator Frank Lautenberg. By pleading guilty, Madoff avoided trial, angering many of the victims who waited in long lines outside the courthouse this morning to confront their money manager.

More than 200 people – mostly journalists – attended the hearing, some arriving as early as 5 a.m. to guarantee a spot in the packed courtroom and a separate overflow room equipped with video feed of Madoff’s plea. Many victims said they were pleased that the judge revoked Madoff’s bail, but were dismayed that he avoided a public trial.

A trial would “show our people in this struggling economy that we hold all people accountable,” said Mauren Ebel, a victim. “We would show that we’re a country that can learn from its mistakes.”

Glaring at Madoff in the courtroom, former client George Nierenberg took a half step toward him from the podium and addressed him directly: "I don't know if you've had a chance to turn around and take a look at some of your victims.” Madoff, who faced straight ahead for the rest of the plea hearing, briefly turned to glance at Nierenberg but did not respond.

Madoff and his firm, Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC, were charged in December; his assets were frozen and a receiver was appointed to pick through the elaborate fraud and return assets to investors.  According to the complaint, Madoff buckled when a rash of investors tried to withdraw funds as the markets tanked last fall. The day before S.E.C. officials arrested him, Madoff confessed to his sons that his operation was a "lie" and "basically, a giant Ponzi scheme.”

Victims also expressed their outrage at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, which had investigated Madoff’s operation but didn’t uncover the fraud.  “My in-laws, my aunt, my cousins - everyone was wiped out,” said Mark Labianca, 40, from Long Island. “This guy did not do this alone. The S.E.C. really dropped the goddamned ball. If he got the death penalty, it wouldn’t be a bad thing. The guy neutered me. It was a financial tsunami.”

After the hearing, the scene outside the courthouse was a media circus, with photographers and reporters chasing down and interviewing Madoff's victims.

In an elevator after the hearing, Brian Felsen, 23, whose family invested with Madoff for two decades, said, “He’s going where he’s supposed to be, hopefully he’ll never be a free man again.” Felsen’s family was introduced to Madoff through the late Mike Engler, a stock broker and golf buddy of Felsen’s grandfather.

Felsen believes that Madoff was not alone in his crimes, but calls Madoff the "mastermind," and said that Madoff's crimes were "way too large a scope for one person." 

(This is an updated story to an earlier published version.) 

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