Jury gets a tour of 'Fumo World'

Former State Sen. Vincent J. Fumo was assailed yesterday by a federal prosecutor as a glutton, a liar, and a thief with a "royalty complex" who obliterated the line between public service and his own enrichment.

"The corruption in this case, ladies and gentlemen, is as astonishing as it was pervasive," Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert A. Zauzmer told the U.S. District Court jury in his closing argument in Fumo's fraud and obstruction-of-justice trial.

He told jurors that the trial had provided them with a unique view of "Fumo World."

"The most important work in Fumo World was taking care of Mr. Fumo," said Zauzmer, who called it "a place of its own - far away from the ordinary reality, and apart from the ordinary laws."

Pacing slightly and clutching a handful of papers containing his talking points, Zauzmer spent the day outlining what he said was an "avalanche of evidence" against the once-powerful Democrat and his codefendant, Ruth Arnao.

A close Fumo friend and former legislative aide, Arnao, 50, headed Citizens' Alliance for Better Neighborhoods, the Fumo-created nonprofit in South Philadelphia that is at the center of the federal indictment.

Jurors listened intently in a courtroom crowded with lawyers, law students, and others who have regularly attended the marathon trial, now in its fifth month.

Zauzmer portrayed Fumo as greedy and self-centered, and told the jury that Fumo had used his power and influence in the Senate to "enrich himself" with "other people's money."

But as time went on, he continued, Fumo got caught up in the power.

"All of this went to his head," he told the jury.

Combine the "royalty complex" with Fumo's constant worries about money and his thirst for more, Zauzmer said, "and you wind up with this case."

And as soon as the veteran senator learned that the FBI was investigating him, he set out to obstruct the inquiry by making sure all e-mail to and from him was permanently purged, Zauzmer said.

Now Fumo wants it both ways, citing the lack of e-mail as evidence he did nothing wrong, the prosecutor said.

"This obstruction scheme was aimed first at the investigators - and now it's aimed at you," Zauzmer told jurors.

He is set to resume his summation this morning before Judge Ronald L. Buckwalter, and is likely to take the rest of the day.

Arnao's attorney, Edwin J. Jacobs Jr., will follow, and then Fumo's lead lawyer, Dennis J. Cogan, will deliver his closing argument tomorrow.

Fumo, 65, who had been in politics most of his adult life and represented Philadelphia in the Senate for 30 years before stepping down in the fall, faces 137 counts of conspiracy, fraud, tax violations, and obstruction of justice.

He is accused of defrauding the Senate by getting employees to do personal and political-campaign work on state time and defrauding Citizens' Alliance by getting the nonprofit to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars buying him tools, vacuum cleaners, farm equipment, and other items, and paying for polls, a secret lawsuit, and other endeavors.

Arnao is charged with 45 counts, mostly relating to the alleged fraud on Citizens' Alliance.

In measured tones but with blunt words, Zauzmer, 48, a federal prosecutor for 19 years, ripped into Fumo on a very personal level.

He noted that Fumo had testified that one of his ex-girlfriends had a drinking problem, that an aide was a gambling addict, that another had "emotional problems," and that one of his own daughters was troubled.

"This is quite a family," Zauzmer said. "This is someone who is looking out for himself and always looking out for Number One. Everyone else goes under the bus."

Throughout the closing, the former senator was stoic, and his expression betrayed little.

Zauzmer talked of the sumptuous lifestyle Fumo had put together: the 27-room mansion in Philadelphia, the two properties at the Jersey Shore, the farm near Harrisburg, the summer home in Florida.

He talked of Fumo's flow of money from his family bank and his job as a "rainmaker" for the Dilworth Paxson law firm. In his legal post, Zauzmer said, Fumo was paid more than $900,000 a year "because of his connections."

And yet, he went on, Fumo had a Senate staffer handle his law-firm expense account.

"He's making $900,000 a year," Zauzmer said. "Heaven forbid he should pay a secretary."

Despite Fumo's wealth, Zauzmer said, it was never enough.

"He spent everything that came into his hands, and he always wanted more."

By Fumo's reckoning, Zauzmer went on, the Senate's resources became "his own."

"He did not just cross the line between public and private resources," Zauzmer said. "He obliterated it."

Zauzmer told jurors that Fumo had gotten Senate employees to clean his house, tend his farm, handle his personal bills, and oversee renovations of his Spring Garden mansion.

He noted that although Fumo had three drivers, their boss spent as much as 40 percent of the year vacationing in Florida, on Martha's Vineyard, and at the Jersey Shore.

"This is just gluttony," Zauzmer said.

Fumo's staffers worked zealously on campaign matters, too. His staff ran fund-raisers, handled campaign accounts, labored in all of his elections, and assisted other candidates whom Fumo supported, he said.

They didn't do all of that, Zauzmer said, out of love for Fumo. They did it, he said, because Fumo ordered them.

Zauzmer challenged the testimony of Fumo, who had said that his staff always provided taxpayers with the required 371/2 hours per week of legislative or constituent-service work - and that any political work on personal work on his behalf had been voluntary.

"He was not honest with you," said Zauzmer.

Two Senate aides, he said, did no Senate work at all. He said their time had been devoted exclusively to personal and political tasks for Fumo, or writing checks for Citizens' Alliance. Just cogs, he said, in "Fumo Inc."

Another aide, Zauzmer reminded the jury, testified that he had flown to Florida on state time to install a weather station on the roof of Fumo's home on Jupiter Island.

"This is outrageous," Zauzmer said. "He's 1,000 miles away from doing the job he's supposed to do."

In many other cases, Zauzmer said, workers may well have put in more hours than the required minimum. But this, the prosecutor said, merely reflected the fact that Fumo had defrauded the Senate by "wildly overpaying" them in return for turning them into personal servants.

To justify the pay, Zauzmer said, Fumo had senior staffers submit false job descriptions to Senate administrators.

For example, he noted that one top aide had been paid $133,000 a year - though she had spent summers at the Shore and her duties appeared to be mainly dealing with Democratic Party committee people.

Her pay, Zauzmer said, was "just outright theft." He added, "This is what you get for being a friend of State Sen. Fumo."

In all, he said, the government estimates that Fumo overpaid his staff by as much as $1 million yearly.

"This," Zauzmer said, "is what he wants all of you to think is spitting on the sidewalk."

The Inquirer's live blog from the Fumo trial is at: http://go.philly.com/fumoblog

To read more about the former state senator, go to: http://go.philly.com/fumo

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