Here comes Fumo

FORMER STATE Sen. Vince Fumo returns to Philly on Tuesday, 1,436 days after he surrendered at a federal prison outside of Ashland, Ky., to serve time on public-corruption charges.

Fumo must report to the Kintock Group, a 400-bed halfway house on Erie Avenue at Whitaker Avenue, which describes itself as a "residential environment for male and female offenders who are beginning their transition back to the community."

If that goes well, Fumo will return home to his mansion on Greene Street near 22nd Street in Fairmount to finish his sentence under house arrest.

The Inquirer first reported Fumo's impending release from prison yesterday.

"It's really his goal to be low-profile," said Dennis Cogan, Fumo's defense lawyer. "He doesn't want any attention. He won't be doing any press."

Fumo's fiancee, Carolyn Zinni, will drive him the 530 miles from the prison to the halfway house.

Fumo will be allowed out during working hours. Cogan is giving him a $10-per-hour job answering phones, filing paperwork and doing interviews. Fumo surrendered his law license after his conviction and will do no legal work at Cogan's law firm.

Fumo, 70, has had three heart attacks, the most recent in prison in January.

Cogan said the former Democratic powerhouse will need an extensive medical examination and likely physical therapy as well.

"This really has taken a toll on him," Cogan said of prison.

Fumo was convicted in March 2009 on 137 counts of conspiracy, fraud and other offenses, with a jury deciding that he had used state Senate staff as personal servants while spending money from two charities to fund his lavish lifestyle and ordering the destruction of emails to cover up his crimes as investigators closed in.