My dads friends who are in their 70-80's like to say the first rule is don't steal from rich people.

If you're Wells Fargo, you can break the law and steal tens of millions from your working class customers. The most that will happen is the government will demand a fine that is essentially a just a share of the take.

Do that to wealthy people like Madoff did and you die in prison.

Exactly, there's a threshold at which they'll finally act. Even then, it's just a penalty fee. Which, if you're wealthy, it's basically legal.