Fumo's son-in-law expected to testify - against him

THE FEDERAL corruption trial of state Sen. Vincent Fumo, scheduled for next month, is likely to provide a fascinating but painful look at Fumo's personal life.

Material filed in court this month suggests that one of the key witnesses against Fumo will be his son-in-law Christian Marrone.

After a bitter falling-out five years ago, Marrone and his wife, Nicole, Fumo's oldest daughter, cut off contact with the senator. Some Fumo allies blame Marrone for the federal investigation that has ended Fumo's political career and now threatens his personal freedom.

For five years, from 1997 to 2002, Marrone was a trusted Fumo aide in the senator's South Philadelphia headquarters. But since just before their marriage in 2003, Marrone and his wife have been estranged from Fumo.

It is unclear how federal prosecutors got Marrone's cooperation, but it's clear he will be critical to the government's case.

A list of trial exhibits submitted Aug. 4 to U. S. District Judge William H. Yohn Jr. includes nearly 200 e-mails between Fumo and Marrone, dating from 1998 into 2002.

Most of their correspondence deals with renovations to Fumo's 27-room mansion in Fairmount. Prosecutors alleged last year that a Senate employee, subsequently identified as

Marrone, had spent 18 months working nearly full-time as project manager for restoration of Fumo's home on Green Street.

A recent list of prosecution exhibits also cites Marrone e-mails for several other areas of alleged misconduct by Fumo.

These include the use of Senate employees and contractors on political campaigns, and various activities of the Citizens Alliance for Better Neighborhoods, a non-profit organization allegedly misused for Fumo's personal benefit.

"I don't think this investigation would ever have started without Christian Marrone," said City Councilman Jim Kenney, a longtime Fumo ally. "Prior to the federal government's involvement, I think he provided information that found its way to the Inquirer. That produced a multitude of stories that I think got the attention of the federal authorities. . . . I do believe, without Christian's involvement in providing that information, it would never have gotten to where it is today."

Through a spokesman, Fumo declined comment on his relationship with Marrone and his son-in-law's role in the federal probe.

Marrone, 33, now lives in Virginia with his wife and their two young daughters. He works at the Department of Defense in a high-level Pentagon job, dealing with Congress on defense-related issues.

Marrone told the Daily News in a telephone interview this week that he would not speak for the record about the Fumo case.

"I don't see any purpose in talking about the trial or Vince, at this point," he said.

But Marrone referred to the idea that he helped initiate the Inquirer stories or the federal probe as "totally baseless and ridiculous. . . . It's completely desperate and runs counter to the facts at hand. . . . Facts are stubborn things and the truth will come out."

Marrone grew up in the Girard Estate section of South Philadelphia, the son of a Democratic committeeman in the 26th ward. His father, Carmen, had a patronage job with the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission, secured with Fumo's support.

Big and strong, 6 feet 3 and 260 pounds in high school, Christian was a first-team All-City football player, starring on the offensive and defensive lines at St. John Neumann High School. He graduated in 1993.

He went on to Penn State, recruited by Joe Paterno, but a series of knee injuries ended his college football career without his having played in a varsity game. Interested in politics, he graduated in 1997 and Fumo gave Marrone his first job.

Last year's federal indictment said that Marrone, then identified only as "Person No. 19," was paid a $29,000 salary as a "legislative assistant" in 1998 and eventually made $45,857 as a "research analyst."

But "during his entire tenure" on Fumo's staff, the indictment alleged, he "worked on numerous and varied non-Senate tasks," including political campaigns, Citizens Alliance matters and coordination of the renovation work at Fumo's mansion.

While on Fumo's payroll, Marrone began attending law school at nights, first at Widener University, then at Temple University, where he met Nicole Fumo. They soon began dating and by 2001 were considering marriage.

Sources close to Fumo say he was initially pleased at the prospective marriage.

But his relationship with Nicole, his oldest daughter, had been rocky for years. Various conflicts over wedding arrangements added to the strain, and eventually Nicole decided to exclude Fumo from her wedding, which took place in March 2003.

Meanwhile, after getting his law degree in 2002, Marrone left the Senate payroll, the Democratic Party and Philadelphia. He moved to Whitemarsh Township, changed his registration to Republican and got a job with the Montgomery County District Attorney's Office.

Nicole, now 35, was one of two children from Fumo's first marriage, which ended in divorce in the mid-1980s. Fumo has another daughter, now in college, from a second marriage, which also ended in divorce.

The senator referred to his children when he announced last March that he was giving up his re-election bid.

"I love my children," he said, "and I want them to know, while they may not have always come first because of my public service, for the rest of my life they will always come first."

However sincere that statement was, Fumo's lawyers may target Marrone's character and motivation.

Last week, they submitted a list of potential witnesses, including Montgomery County Commissioner Bruce Castor, the former D.A. who hired Marrone in 2002 - and fired him less than two years later.

In a telephone interview, Castor said that he'd been contacted by Fumo's attorney, Dennis J. Cogan, who asked about his experiences with Marrone and said he might call Castor as a defense witness at Fumo's trial.

"I didn't know all this behind-the-scenes stuff," Castor said in a telephone interview this week. "But it was evident when Marrone worked for us that he absolutely hated Senator Fumo. . . . He was constantly bashing the senator."

Castor had his own falling-out with Marrone when Castor ran for state attorney general in 2004. Marrone initially supported Castor, but switched allegiance to his opponent in the Republican primary, Tom Corbett, after a blowup between Castor and Bob Asher, the county's longtime Republican power broker.

The day after the primary, Castor fired Marrone. Castor said there were work-related issues in addition to the political rift.

Asher subsequently helped Marrone land a job with the Bush-Cheney re-election effort, which led to a post with the Presidential Inaugural Committee and then to Marrone's current job, in the Pentagon's Office of Legislative Affairs. *

Daily News reporters Ted Silary and Michael Hinkelman contributed to this report.