Two former computer technicians on Fumo's staff, Leonard P. Luchko, 50; and Mark Eister, 30, were previously indicted on such obstruction charges - and now will go on trial with Fumo and Arnao. U.S. District Judge William Yohn had scheduled that trial for May, but yesterday's superceding indictment is likely to trigger a delay.

In another count in the new filing, Fumo is charged with aiding Arnao in filing a false tax return to the IRS on behalf of Citizens' Alliance in 2002.

On the tax form she signed, Arnao pledged that the charity had not been used for political purposes. It is illegal for nonprofit organizations to engage in political activity.

In part, the indictment levels charges that have previously surfaced. As has been reported, it noted that Citizens' Alliance spent $250,000 to pay for political polls and also secretly financed a lawsuit against a foe of Fumo's in the state Senate.

One new allegation is that Fumo had detectives trying to dig up dirt on Rendell, city union leader John Dougherty, and Fumo's ex-wife and former girlfriends.

Detectives researched Rendell's purchase of a home in Ocean City, N.J., the indictment says.

At the time of the detective work, Fumo was supporting another candidate for governor.

One expert in Pennsylvania politics said the spying was "political dynamite" that, more than anything else, could cost Fumo support among his fellow legislators.

"In all my years of studying and writing about state government I have never heard anything that even remotely sounds like this," said G. Terry Madonna, a pollster and analyst at Franklin and Marshall College. "It's mind-boggling."

Rendell declined through a spokeswoman to comment.

"He won't comment. No way. Nice try," spokeswoman Kate Philips said.

Also new was the indictment's wholesale portrait of Fumo as an imperial boss who used Senate and charity workers as personal errand boys and girls.

Fumo had Citizens' Alliance employees at "his beck and call" to handle chores, the indictment says. Senate staffers, too, were available to "serve him in any manner he desired . . . to further his political goals and attend to his personal wants."

When Fumo bought a working farm near Harrisburg, state workers were assigned to set it up. While holding down a Senate job, these staffers allegedly bought feed for horses, hired hands to mend fences, and pondered the precise breed of goat to buy.

To underscore what they called Fumo's greed, prosecutors took pains to highlight his considerable wealth.

Aside from his substantial income as a banker, Fumo has served as "of counsel" to the prominent Philadelphia law firm Dilworth Paxson. The indictment revealed Dilworth paid Fumo "as much as $1 million per year."

The indictment also cites Fumo's mansion in the Spring Garden section of Philadelphia; a beach-block home in Margate, N.J; a bayside condo in Ventnor, N.J.; a 100-acre farm outside Harrisburg; and a multi-million-dollar house in Florida.

The indictment reads in part like a catalog of Fumo's wide-ranging passions and love of gadgets. It says Citizens' Alliance spent more than $75,000 buying tools that ended up in Fumo's four houses.

A licensed electrician, Fumo liked having the same set of tools in each house, the indictment says.