FUMO NOW FACING HEART SURGERY

IMPRISONED former Philadelphia state senator Vince Fumo has new problems - heart problems.

A source close to the onetime South Philly power broker says Fumo was recently taken from his low-security federal prison in Kentucky to a nearby hospital, where doctors found a 90 percent blockage in one artery.

The physicians at Our Lady of Bellefonte Hospital initially recommended a stent for the 69-year-old Fumo, according to the source, who requested anonymity, but are now looking at open-heart surgery.

The health problems are the latest setback for Fumo, who once wielded enormous clout over Philadelphia affairs but was eventually sentenced to 61 months behind bars following his 2009 conviction. A jury nailed Fumo on 137 felony corruption charges that centered on his misuse of state workers and state money, as well as funds donated to a charity he founded.

Fumo's health problems come as he's scheduled to move from the federal facility in Ashland, Ky., to a halfway house this summer, on track for a scheduled release in 2014.

Coincidentally, word spread of his new woes the day after the Inquirer reported that Fumo's fiancee, Carolyn Zinni, has started an online petition to bring more fresh fruits and vegetables to her boyfriend and his fellow inmates in Ashland.

Thursday night, news reports circulated in Philadelphia that Fumo had suffered a heart attack, but that could not be immediately confirmed.

Fumo has suffered two heart attacks over the years - one in 1977 and another in 2008, as he was awaiting trial. He had cited heart problems, as well as a plethora of other health conditions and addiction to the antianxiety drug Xanax, as reasons why his time behind bars should be limited.

- Staff writer Will Bunch

contributed to this article.