Prosecutors: Fumo unrepentant in prison

In streams of e-mails sent from prison, an unrepentant and angry Vincent J. Fumo profanely lashes out at federal prosecutors, the jury that convicted him, the press and former political allies - and dismisses his offenses as "my so-called crime."

"I feel like Caesar and Christ all tied into one with Brutus and Judas both stabbing me in the back," the disgraced former Democratic state senator wrote at one point.

This remark from an e-mail, and scores of others, were made public Friday by federal prosecutors in a court filing arguing that Fumo should be resentenced to a longer prison term.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys John J. Pease and Robert A. Zauzmer want a federal judge to resentence Fumo to at least 15 years - triple his current sentence.

They said that the e-mails, taken from Fumo's last six months in prison, show him to be "unchanged, convinced that he committed no crime, wholly unrepentant, virulently hostile towards the prosecutors and all other law enforcement officials ..."

The government prosecutors said they recently obtained the e-mails and that Fumo, as a prisoner, was well aware that the material could not necessarily be kept private.

In one message, Fumo talked about "This whole nightmare of my case. I never hurt anyone in my life. There were no victims."

"But because of who I was and the jealousies that swirl around my success and power, I was targeted. In the end, I got convicted of technical b--- s---. But the press started a feeding frenzy that still has not subsided."

He called the federal jury that convicted him on every count in 2009 "dumb, corrupt and prejudiced."

By midday Friday, Fumo's defense team had yet to file a brief with the court making their case. Friday was the last day for both prosecutors and the defense to file such arguments.

But in a filing last month, Fumo's lawyers urged Ronald L. Buckwalter to reinstate the controversial 55-month sentence he imposed two years ago.

They said Buckwalter should again grant Fumo a break for what the lawyers called his "extraordinary level" of public service, as well as for private acts of generosity.

In August, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit ordered Buckwalter to resentence Fumo. Without specifying what new sentence should be imposed, it said Buckwalter had made numerous legal mistakes in arriving at the 55-month sentence he imposed in 2009.

Among other criticisms, the appeals court said Buckwalter had put way too low a price tag on the cost of Fumo's crimes.

Buckwalter had concluded that Fumo cost taxpayers and other victims just under $2.5 million, but prosecutors said the correct loss was much greater - $4 million.

This is significant because, under federal sentencing guidelines, the recommended term of imprisonment shoots up dramatically once crimes exceed $2.5 million.

Buckwalter is to issue the new sentence after a hearing Nov. 9.

Once one of the most powerful Democrats in Harrisburg and Philadelphia, Fumo, now 68, was found guilty on all 137 counts he faced.

He was convicted of defrauding the state Senate by handing out no-work contracts, of wildly overpaying his staff while they did personal and partisan tasks for him, and of using taxpayer money to dig up political and personal dirt, even spying on his own son and daughter.

Fumo also siphoned off money and staff time worth hundreds of thousands from a South Philadelphia civic organization. He took free vacations year after year on luxury motor yachts that belonged to Philadelphia's Independence Seaport Museum, for which he was a board member.

Finally, he staged a cover-up, having his staff delete thousands of e-mails, that the government said could have masked even more crimes.

Last month, Fumo's lawyers described him as a sad figure behind bars in Ashland, Ken., overweight with long hair and a beard, depressed and anxious after the appeals court reopened the question of how much time he would serve.

Weeks before the resentencing hearing, prison officials have already put Fumo on the circuitous route to get him to Philadelphia for the session.

According to prison officials, he was transferred Oct. 20 from the Ashland prison camp to the federal prison in Atlanta. Since Wednesday, he's been held at a federal detention center in Brooklyn, presumably to await the Philadelphia hearing.

To spare him this arduous travel, his defense team last month asked Buckwalter to permit him to take part in the resentencing via a remote video hookup from the Kentucky prison. Buckwalter rejected that.

Contact staff writer Craig R. McCoy at 215-854-4821 or cmccoy@phillynews.com.