Every day court was in session during Vincent J. Fumo's nearly five-month corruption trial, Assistant U.S. Attorneys Robert A. Zauzmer and John J. Pease were never spotted at any of the nearby lunch spots.

They spent their breaks in a windowless room at the federal courthouse, prepping witnesses and plotting strategy, FBI Agent Vicki Humphreys recalled.

"John and Bob's work ethic is incredible," she said.

"It was not unusual to get an e-mail from John before 7 a.m. and one from Bob at 2 or 3 in the morning," former FBI Agent Kathleen T. McAfee said. Both agents led the Fumo investigation.

Zauzmer and Pease had to be uncompromising to take down Fumo, the former state senator from Philadelphia with a reputation as a relentless politician.

Zauzmer was the strategist. "He's one of the smartest people I've ever met," Pease said.

"You know you can't outwork him," Zauzmer said of Pease.

The prosecutors were rewarded with a jury verdict of guilty on all 137 criminal counts. Not so rewarding was U.S. District Judge Ronald L. Buckwalter's sentence Tuesday, condemning the 66-year-old disgraced politician to 55 months in prison - about 12 days per felony.

The U.S. Attorney's Office is considering an appeal.

Nonetheless, Zauzmer and Pease were busy going on with their lives the day after sentencing: Pease was in his office, and Zauzmer had driven to Newark, N.J., to hear one of his daughters sing the national anthem at a minor-league baseball game.

But they are not yet done with "Fumoworld."

"We're still putting together the case at this point," Zauzmer said of the continuing investigation of associates who once thrived in Fumo's orbit. And they have to prepare for the sentencing Tuesday of Fumo codefendant Ruth Arnao, who was found guilty on all 45 counts against her.

Former U.S. Attorney Patrick L. Meehan said the two prosecutors "were picked because they would be a good combination."

Meehan ran the office at the start of the investigation in 2003 through Fumo's indictment in 2007.

"They're both dogged, persistent, and smart," Meehan said, adding that both men can "dig in and find gold nuggets hidden in the stream."

Not to be intimidated

The son of a city Water Department auto mechanic and a homemaker, Pease was the first in his family to go to college.

He went to the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School and studied finance before earning his law degree at the University of Pittsburgh.

The seeds of becoming a prosecutor were likely planted during law school, when he was among 30 students selected nationwide to be an honors intern at FBI headquarters in Washington.