Cityfile: New York's Most Notable and Influential

Going to prison is about to get a lot less boring. The federal prison system is introducing email to imprisoned inmates! "It's a way for inmates to still keep in touch with their families and still maintain community ties," says a spokesperson for the Bureau of Prisons. Officials say that the communications will be monitored to ensure that "no convicts are trying to scam from behind bars." But does this mean that Ruth Madoff will set up an AOL account— ruthiem212@aol.com appears to be available!—so she can shoot off messages of support to her husband behind bars? Will Raffaello Follieri begin sending sad love notes to Anne Hathaway? The possibilities boggle the mind. [NYP]

• Arthur Sulzberger Jr. and his new girlfriend, Helen May, first met during an Outward Bound trip to Machu Picchu in 2005, according to May's husband, Kevin Ward. "I'm just sorry my wife didn't find someone more substantial. There's way less there than meets the eye." [P6]
• Etta James says she "didn't really mean" the stuff about Beyonce; she's still "miffed" at Obama for not inviting her to the inauguration. [NYDN]
• Kelly Cutrone inked a deal with Bravo for a new reality show. [P6]
• Russell Simmons is reportedly dating model Julie Henderson. [NYDN]More

Just because Raffaello Follieri is sitting in a prison cell doesn't mean his legal troubles are over. Yesterday five former employees told a judge that the fraudster cheated them out of $1 million in wages that were promised to them back when Follieri's firm was "working with" the Vatican on "real estate deals."  Anne Hathaway's ex wasn't in the courtroom to respond to the allegations; he participated via video hookup from Pennsylvania's minimum-security Loretto Federal Prison Camp. The worst part: the former Prada aficionado had to wear a green prison uniform for his TV appearance. Sounds miserable, doesn't it? If you're beginning to feel sorry for Raffi—or you happen to have some extra time on your hands today—perhaps you'd be interested in cheering him up with a belated holiday card? Be our guest! Raffaello's contact info is below. More

• Madonna's interest in Alex Rodriguez appears may have waned (she's been spotted with a young Brazilian model in recent weeks), but there's another rich, older, equally Kaballah-obsessed woman happy to take her place. At a New Year's party in Parrot Cay last week, Donna Karan seemed smitten with the slugger, although A-Rod "refused Karan's advances" since he's "still hung up on Madonna." [P6]
• Not only are most people on Mustique happy the Noel family stayed off the island this year, but a bar even created a "No Noel" cocktail to celebrate. [P6]
• Lindsay Lohan says on her MySpace blog that she and Samantha Ronson have not broken up, just in case you've been up all night worrying. [People]
• Officials in the Bahamas have completed an autopsy on John Travolta's son, Jett, and claim the death was caused by a seizure. [CBS, NYP]More

This was the year when the reckless behavior of risk takers from Wall Street traders to mortgage lenders to Bernie Madoff blew up in everyone's faces. So it will probably come as cold comfort to learn why certain people are willing to commit such daring acts: It's because they have fewer inhibitors of happy-chemical dopamine in their brains, neuroscience researchers have discovered. So they get an extra feel-good high whenever they take a risk, predisposing them to keep flirting with danger—until, you know, the market crashes or the feds come knocking.

• Remember all that talk about how a noble Guy Ritchie was walking away from his marriage to Madonna without asking for a penny? Madonna would like everyone to stop feeling sorry for him and note that he's actually getting somewhere between $75 and $92 million (depending on the value of several real estate properties), making it "one of the largest payouts ever," according to Madge's publicist, Liz Rosenberg. [NYP, Mirror]
• Imprisoned con man (and Anne Hathaway ex) Raffaello Follieri has agreed to pay back $3.6 million to the people he scammed, although it's doubtful it will ever happen since Follieri's lawyers say he's "virtually broke." [NYP, AP]
• Newlyweds Tommy Hilfiger and Dee Ocleppo are honeymooning at Tommy's home in Mustique and are planning a big reception in New York sometime after New Year's, just so you know. [Cindy Adams]More

This is going to come as shocking news, we're sure, but it seems convicted con man Raffaello Follieri is not having a fun time in prison. His lawyer submitted a letter to the sentencing judge this week and he reports that Follieri has been horrified to find that "the food looks spoiled, the showers are filthy with excrement and the place smells really bad." And he doesn't have a window either, which would suck in any case, sure, but probably sucks even more when your last apartment was a $37,500-a-month Trump Tower duplex. More

♦  Lydia Hearst, seen here attending a party last week, doesn't think her family's publishing company should be hosting parties these days. "It's time to work through this crisis, not party through it," she says. [P6]
♦  How are Madonna and Guy Ritchie coping with their split? Madonna has supposedly enrolled in anger management classes at the Kabbalah Center, while Guy has been out with Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law. [The Sun, People]
♦  Elisabeth Hasselbeck is introducing Sarah Palin at a rally in Florida this weekend. [ET] 
♦  A month after vacationing together in St. Tropez, Jennifer Lopez has asked Benny Medina to come back on as her manager. [Fox411]
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Raffaello Follieri Goes Down | A Manhattan judge handed down a 4 1/2-year sentence to Raffaello Follieri this afternoon on wire fraud, money laundering and conspiracy charges. Anne Hathaway's ex-boyfriend is expected to serve his sentence at either Fort Dix or Otisville. (He'll have to cough up a $1,400 fine, too.) But he's really sorry: "I just hope that someday those who have been hurt by my actions will forgive me," he said to the judge through a translator. [People]

♦  Who's helping Madonna cope with her nasty, public divorce from Guy Ritchie? Best pal Gwyneth Paltrow, of course. "You know, she's a dear friend, and I'm supporting her in all [the] ways that I can... she's a very good friend." [Us, AP]
♦  In other Madonna news, Guy Ritchie now believes Madonna is spying on him, Madonna is now suggesting she wants to raise her kids in NYC, and Alex Rodriguez wants to move so he can be closer to the love of his life. [The Sun, People, R&M]
♦  Least plausible rumor ever: "Well placed sources" say that if Obama is elected president, he'll consider making Oprah British Ambassador. [TMZ] More

♦  Now that Madonna and Guy Ritchie have officially split, the focus is now on her relationship with Alex Rodriguez: Some say he knew that the separation announcement was coming, which is why he's been "lying low" in a five-star Beverly Hills hotel for the past few days. [Us, NYP, E!]
♦  How's Guy doing? Don't worry about him: He could walk away with as much as $250 mil. in a settlement since he and Madonna never had a prenup. [NYP]
♦  A sex tape starring Peter Cook and Diana Bianchi may be out there, although Cook's lawyers are still saying he has "no knowledge" it exists. [P6]
♦  David Duchovny and Tea Leoni have officially split up. We're as shocked as you are [E!]
♦  Raffaello Follieri didn't just swindle adults. He also tricked a 15-year-old girl by promising to get her Anne Hathaway's autograph and then never coming though. Now she's suing him. [NYDN]More

♦  Are Madonna and Guy Ritchie really divorcing? It might be another rumor or really a Sun exclusive, but the British tabloid says they plan to announce the split as soon as today. [The Sun]
♦  Christie Brinkley is suing Peter Cook for violating the couple's confidentiality agreement by talking about their relationship on 20/20. [NYP]
♦  The "mystery illness" that's caused Janet Jackson to cancel tour dates is supposedly a vestibular migraine, which "induces the sensation of vertigo." The good news is that now she's apparently cured. [ET]
♦  Raffaello Follieri's lawyers yesterday asked a judge to "go easy" on Raffaello in exchange for his quick return to Italy where he'll "never be heard from again." Ha! [NYDN]
♦  The 40-year-old CEO of a company called Future Tech Enterprise on Long Island is actually paying $20,000 to box Michael Lohan. And Stephen Baldwin is now planning to serve as the match judge. [Newsday via NYO]
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♦  Samantha Ronson refused to DJ an event at Rubyfruit, allegedly because she doesn't spin at gay or lesbian bars. Her rep, of course, denies this. [P6]
♦  David Spade didn't turn up at Eric Trump's charity golf tournament in New Jersey last week because he thought it was taking place at Trump's LA course. [P6]
♦  An Atlantic City monsignor wants his name added to the list of Raffaello Follieri's victims. He says he gave the Italian playboy $110,000 because Raffaello said he needed the funds to pay some nuns. [NYDN]
♦  MTV has finally confirmed Whitney Port's Hills spinoff. It will begin airing in early 2009. [E!]
♦  How exciting! Mike Bloomberg will become an honorary citizen of Tbilisi, Georgia tomorrow night. [P6]More

Photos of John McCain on a yacht with imprisoned con man Raffaello Follieri have surfaced. The pics, which were obtained by the Nation, were taken in 2006 when McCain met up with the Italian playboy aboard a yacht in Montenegro. The delicious irony: At the time, Follieri, who pleaded guilty yesterday to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, eight counts of wire fraud and five counts of money laundering, was living high on the hog thanks to billionaire Ron Burkle. So one of the Democratic party's most generous and reliable donors was the one who actually paid for McCain's "evening floating on the Adriatic with one of Hollywood's top actresses and her smooth-talking Italian beau." [The Nation]

Raffi Giveth, the Feds Taketh | The Smoking Gun has a list of items that Anne Hathaway had to turn over to the FBI since the dapper young gentleman who gave the items to her—Raffaello Follieri—will now officially be spending the foreseeable future in prison. For those of you updating their calendars at home, Raffi will will back in court on October 3rd for sentencing. [TSG, AP]