Longtime Fumo aide Arnao breaks with boss

By Emilie Lounsberry and Craig R. McCoy

Inquirer Staff Writers

At long last, Ruth Arnao is distancing herself from her longtime friend, boss, and mentor, Vincent J. Fumo.

Arnao, who was convicted with Fumo and is scheduled to be sentenced Tuesday, says in a court filing that she recognizes her conduct was wrong but that she was "irrationally devoted" to Fumo and "incapable of questioning his orders."

While the courtroom focus turns to Arnao's sentencing, public outrage continued yesterday over the 55-month prison sentence U.S. District Judge Ronald L. Buckwalter gave Fumo on Tuesday. People complaining about it made phone calls and sent e-mails and letters to the judge and the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Prosecutors are expected to appeal Fumo's sentence, which was far below the more than 15 years they had sought, or the 21 to 27 years calculated under federal sentencing guidelines by a veteran probation officer.

In advance of Arnao's sentencing, two dozen of her friends and associates submitted letters to Buckwalter echoing her sentiments about her relationship with Fumo.

"I know it sounds crazy, but Ruth thought Vincent was God. She was blind when it came to Vincent," Gaetana Carbone-Secreto, a former Fumo aide, wrote to the judge.

"Her devotion to him was spectacular and his fall from grace in her life has left her emotionally shaken, fearful and on the brink of mental collapse," wrote another friend, Cynthia Marelia.

Marelia was scathing in her description of how Fumo treated Arnao during the many years she worked for him.

Fumo "became her knight in shining armor," Marelia wrote. "Ruth Arnao's knight shattered her life by his lies, his deception, and his total lack of concern for her."

Arnao, who has been a secondary figure in the case, has asked for a brief postponement of her sentencing so a psychiatrist can complete his evaluation of her.

Her attorneys, Edwin J. Jacobs Jr. and Stephen F. Funk, made the request Wednesday, saying Arnao has been undergoing intense therapy, in large part to sort out her relationship with Fumo.

They said they needed a full report from forensic psychiatrist Richard Limoges to prepare for her sentencing.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys John J. Pease and Robert A. Zauzmer yesterday urged the judge to reject the delay.

Fumo was convicted of 137 counts, and Arnao was found guilty of 45 counts of conspiracy, fraud, and obstructing justice.

At 52, Arnao had been aligned with Fumo for half her life.

A mother at 16, she thrived once she became a member of the Fumo team in 1984. By the time she left the government payroll in 2004, she was making $95,000 a year as Fumo's deputy chief of staff.

After that, she was executive director of Citizens' Alliance for Better Neighborhoods, the South Philadelphia nonprofit that Fumo referred to in his testimony as "my baby."

Citizens' Alliance paid her a peak amount one year of $153,000 - and fronted her legal bills, which amount to more than $2 million. She agreed she would reimburse all legal costs paid by the nonprofit if found guilty.

The jury convicted Arnao of joining with Fumo in looting Citizens' Alliance, using its credit cards for personal spending sprees. She was also convicted with him on charges of obstruction of justice. The total amount of the rip-off, prosecutors contended, was $1.7 million.

In the letters to Buckwalter, her friends and supporters wrote that Citizens' Alliance, under Arnao's direction, had done much to improve the neighborhood around the Passyunk Avenue business strip.

They also said she had labored hard in other civic work, including helping feed AIDS and cancer patients. In one letter, Rosemary Dougherty, the principal of the Christopher Columbus Charter School near the avenue, said Arnao had been key in getting the school started.

"Whether being there for a friend who has cancer, helping out a child whose parents were not around or just taking her job to another level, Ruth was always on call," friend Melissa Heller wrote.

Arnao now works for a Bucks County businessman who is a close friend of Fumo's.

She is married to businessman Mitchell Rubin, an ally and close friend of Fumo's.

Federal prosecutors have said in court that they are investigating Rubin, a former chairman of the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission, on allegations that he was given a "no-work" contract by Fumo. Among the many counts that Fumo was convicted of were two charging him with handing such a contract to Rubin.

The Fumo defense team contended that Rubin worked for his money.

In their letters to Buckwalter, Arnao's friends portrayed her as someone who had been devoted to Fumo almost to the point of obsession and who slowly, during the trial, came to the realization that she had done wrong.

Mary Farrell said she had watched her friend "deteriorate severely" through the trial and especially since the March verdict.

"Her trust in Vincent has disappeared," Farrell wrote. "She understands now that her absolute trust in Vincent was misplaced, that it should have been challenged, and that she now faces the greatest loss imaginable just short of the loss of life."

Her trust in Fumo was so complete that it allowed him to direct of many aspects of her life.

Farrell said Fumo had corrected Arnao's grammar, pushed her to lose weight, and encouraged her to finish college. He was a tough and demanding boss, she wrote, and Arnao was "crushed" whenever he criticized her.

The demands on Arnao were "wildly extreme," Farrell went on.

"At one moment she could be asked to speak with top officials, and at the next moment she would be polishing the brass doorknobs of Vincent's house."

Contact staff writer Emilie Lounsberry at 215-854-4828 or elounsberry@phillynews.com.

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