Skip to content
News
Link copied to clipboard

A personal twist at Fumo trial

The case against Vincent J. Fumo took a personal turn yesterday, when his estranged son-in-law testified that he was hired to work in the state senator's legislative office but spent much of his time overseeing renovations at Fumo's mansion.

Christian Marrone , Fumo's son-in-law.
Christian Marrone , Fumo's son-in-law.Read more

The case against Vincent J. Fumo took a personal turn yesterday, when his estranged son-in-law testified that he was hired to work in the state senator's legislative office but spent much of his time overseeing renovations at Fumo's mansion.

Testifying as a prosecution witness on the second day of Fumo's federal corruption trial, Christian Marrone said he was new on the job in the summer of 1997 and eager to please.

"There was an enormous, enormous amount of work that needed to be done," Marrone said.

And so, he said, for about 18 months, he supervised plumbers, electricians, carpenters, painters, masons and other craftsmen renovating Fumo's historic Spring Garden mansion.

Marrone's testimony is poised to expose a deep rift in Fumo's personal life - his estrangement from his eldest daughter, Nicole, who is married to Marrone.

Yesterday, she sat in court with other Marrone family members while her husband testified. During a break, Fumo walked past her without a glance in her direction.

Outside the courtroom later, Nicole Marrone grabbed her husband's hand as Fumo walked by. She and Fumo, 65, have not spoken in several years.

Marrone, now a lawyer in Washington, testified that his assignment after getting hired to work in Fumo's district office in South Philadelphia was to put together a map showing all civic associations in Fumo's district.

He said that the senator was "pleased" when he completed that assignment, and that Fumo soon asked him if he would "take on a project" for him.

Essentially, Marrone testified, he was to become the "project manager" for the renovation of the 10,000-square-foot mansion.

The house, he said, had four floors plus a basement and sub-basement, a gun range, and an elevator.

He said he would report to Fumo's South Philadelphia office in the morning, head over to the mansion to meet with contractors, go back to the office, then return to the mansion to check again on contractors.

"If you didn't stay on top of them, it wouldn't get done," he said.

The jury of 10 women and two men has not yet heard from Marrone about how his relationship with Fumo soured, although Assistant U.S. Attorney John J. Pease is expected to broach the troubled relationship when the trial resumes Monday.

U.S. District Judge Ronald L. Buckwalter cautioned jurors that they have only heard one side of testimony from Marrone, who is expected to be on the witness stand for several days.

"Don't draw any conclusions about this testimony," the judge told the jury.

Marrone's much-anticipated testimony came as prosecutors focused on one part of the sweeping corruption case - that Fumo allegedly defrauded taxpayers by having Senate employees do personal and political work.

Prosecutors contend that Marrone spent 80 percent of his time during his first 18 months as a legislative aide to Fumo overseeing the mansion renovations.

They said other Fumo staffers cleaned the mansion, which was eventually completely restored, did his grocery shopping, paid his bills, picked up his children, and arranged for home repairs.

Another former legislative aide, Ruth Arnao, 50, who headed Citizens' Alliance, is on trial with Fumo.

Marrone took the stand following the completion of testimony by Senate chief clerk W. Russell Faber, who said under questioning by Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert A. Zauzmer that Senate workers were prohibited from doing personal or political work on Senate time.

But under cross-examination, Faber acknowledged that personal errands would not be prohibited as long as they were done outside the Senate workweek.

During his questioning of Faber, Fumo's lead defense attorney, Dennis J. Cogan, highlighted a central theme of the defense: that Fumo staffers worked long days and that Senate rules are murky and allow virtually any work that would advance the "legislative function" of a Senate member.

Cogan outlined a series of possibilities: What if a Senate employee was present at Fumo's home during a meeting with congressional officials? Could that employee serve Danish or bagels, even do a bit of cleaning?

Faber said he would have no problem with that.

Cogan also asked about longtime Fumo aide and friend Roseanne Pauciello, who, he said, had a full-time job as a truant officer and had also worked full-time for Fumo.

As long as she did her truant-officer job outside of Senate time, Cogan asked, would Faber have a problem with that?

"No," he replied.