Skip to content
News
Link copied to clipboard

Ex-Montco D.A. testifies for Fumo defense

The defense team in former State Sen. Vincent J. Fumo's corruption trial called its first witness yesterday, former Montgomery County District Attorney Bruce L. Castor, who testified that he had fired one of Fumo's chief accusers because the man was "sneaky."

The defense team in former State Sen. Vincent J. Fumo's corruption trial called its first witness yesterday, former Montgomery County District Attorney Bruce L. Castor, who testified that he had fired one of Fumo's chief accusers because the man was "sneaky."

Castor, who was district attorney before being elected county commissioner, lit into former Fumo aide Christian Marrone, who is estranged from his father-in-law.

Castor told the jury he dismissed Marrone in 2004 as a county assistant district attorney because Marrone had double-crossed him in the Republican primary for state attorney general - first backing Castor, but then endorsing his rival.

Castor said he didn't fire Marrone, 33, for backing someone else, but because he learned of the man's new stance only through rumors.

"He didn't come to me and say, 'I changed my mind,' " Castor testified. "He was sneaky."

Dennis J. Cogan, the leader of Fumo's defense team, called Castor in an attempt to discredit the character and credibility of Marrone, who was potentially one of the most damaging witnesses against Fumo.

In testimony in the fall, Marrone said that in his early years as a special assistant to Fumo, he spent 80 percent of his time overseeing the renovation of the senator's 27-room mansion in the city's Spring Garden section.

His testimony was critical to the government's charge that Fumo, then a powerful Democrat in Philadelphia and Harrisburg, defrauded the Senate by having taxpayer-paid staffers do all manner of personal work for him. Marrone married Fumo's oldest daughter, Nicole, in 2003, a year after he left Fumo's staff to work for Castor.

Marrone's testimony came as trial resumed yesterday after Fumo's medical emergency during court Thursday. Fumo spent two days at Hahnemann University Hospital after complaining of shortness of breath. Yesterday, his face chalky white, Fumo sat quietly during the proceeding.

During Castor's cross-examination, Assistant U.S. Attorney John J. Pease wasted little time in turning the tables.

Pease introduced e-mails, apparently kept and provided by Marrone, showing Castor campaigning on state time and using his county office for campaign meetings and governmental e-mail account for political communications.

Castor acknowledged telling federal investigators in a pretrial interview that he regretted using the county e-mail system for politics. "I probably shouldn't have done that," he told the investigators.

Pease also got Castor to agree that the county had hired Marrone only after he had proved himself by working as an unpaid intern and that he'd been ranked as outstanding by his supervisor.

In his direct testimony, Castor painted Marrone as an ambitious young man on the make.

Soon after he was hired as one of about 40 young assistant prosecutors, Marrone let his boss know he was eager to help him politically, Castor said. He told him he could use his contacts from his five years of working with Fumo to introduce Castor to political players outside Montgomery County.

At the time, Castor was gearing up to seek the GOP nomination for attorney general. According to the e-mails and testimony in court yesterday, Castor happily accepted the help as Marrone networked to connect him with such heavyweights as fund-raiser Robert Feldman, lobbyist Stephen Wojdak, and labor leader John Dougherty.

Soon, Marrone was being summoned to primary campaign strategy sessions at Castor's office. "Cool," Castor responded in one e-mail as Marrone worked to firm up labor support.

Even though the state Republican Party organization endorsed Tom Corbett, his rival in the 2004 race, Castor stayed in the primary. He lost to Corbett, who went on to win the general election. Corbett was elected to a second term last year.

Castor fired Marrone two days after losing the primary.

In his cross-examination, Pease suggested that Marrone had indeed told Castor he was withdrawing his support, doing so after Castor failed to win the backing of the statewide organization.

Castor disagreed. "I dismissed him because I didn't trust him," he said.