Fumo son-in-law undergoes grilling

The defense attorney for State Sen. Vincent J. Fumo subjected Fumo's estranged son-in-law to a lively and grueling cross-examination yesterday, repeatedly challenging his testimony as a prosecution witness.

Dennis J. Cogan, Fumo's lead lawyer, tried to poke holes in Christian Marrone's testimony that he spent 80 percent of his time during his first 18 months as a legislative aide to Fumo overseeing major renovations at the senator's Spring Garden mansion.

Cogan portrayed Marrone as someone who hated Fumo so much that he was exaggerating the amount of time he spent on the mansion, and he suggested that Marrone eagerly took on the project to curry favor with the powerful Philadelphia Democrat.

But Marrone, who is married to Fumo's eldest daughter, stood his ground yesterday, at one point challenging Cogan about the thrust and tone of his questioning.

Marrone also told Cogan that he was "mischaracterizing" his testimony, and that the lawyer was being misleading about what he was trying to tell the jury.

As Cogan questioned him rapidly - and closely - about whether he once "idolized" Fumo, Marrone at first said he had never said he had idolized the senator. But then, when Cogan showed him a grand-jury transcript in which he had said as much, Marrone conceded the point.

"I don't know what you're asking me," Marrone went on. "It's there, so I said it. I'm not fighting you, Mr. Cogan. You're standing over me. You're talking very loud to me."

Marrone, who is set for more cross-examination by Cogan this morning, is a key witness in Fumo's federal corruption trial as prosecutors try to show that Senate employees, including Marrone, did personal errands and political projects for Fumo on Senate time.

Cogan showed that Marrone had boasted on his resume about working on all kinds of legislative projects for Fumo. And he questioned whether it was mere coincidence that Marrone had recently turned over other documents to prosecutors, including resume material, just as the defense issued subpoenas for such information.

Fumo, 65, who has been in Harrisburg for decades, also is accused of defrauding a charity that his staff helped form, Citizens' Alliance for Better Neighborhoods, by getting the charity to pay for a variety of consumer products, including high-end vacuum cleaners and power tools.

Marrone said that Fumo had more tools than anyone else he knew and that he kept a toolbox on every floor of his mansion.

"He's a tool guy. That's the best way to describe him," he said of Fumo.

Marrone said Fumo's co-defendant, Citizens' Alliance head Ruth Arnao, would use a credit card to pay for all kinds of purchases that she and Fumo would make at a big-box discount store near Atlantic City. He said he later learned that Citizens' Alliance picked up the tab.

In some of his most pointed testimony, Marrone said that Arnao may have had the title of executive director, but Fumo was the one in charge of virtually everything Citizens' Alliance did.

Marrone testified that at one point Fumo tried to steer legal work for tenants in a building the charity owned to Fumo's law firm and that he also tried to steer business to Fumo's bank, First Penn.

He also said Fumo tried to send construction work for a charity project to a campaign contributor. "In the decision-making, ultimately that would put somebody ahead," Marrone told the jury.

Regardless of the size of the project, he said, Fumo was the one to decide whether the charity would pay for it.

Why, Assistant U.S. Attorney John J. Pease asked, wouldn't he go to Arnao to get approval for Citizens' Alliance expenditures?

"It wasn't her decision," Marrone replied. "It was the senator's."

Marrone, who now works as a lawyer for the Pentagon, said he left Fumo's office on good terms in August 2002 and went to work in the Montgomery County District Attorney's Office. He said he was fired from that job for failing to support former District Attorney Bruce L. Castor Jr.'s bid for state attorney general.

Marrone testified that his relationship with Fumo began to sour after news articles raised questions about Citizens' Alliance expenditures and he told Fumo in an e-mail that the charity should be reorganized.

In his reply, Fumo nixed the idea of a full-time manager, writing that it would cost too much and "Confidentially (only because I trust you) if we had such a person and tried to do some of the things that are political that we do, we would now . . . be subject to this blackmail if they chose to do it," according to the e-mail, which was admitted into evidence.

Marrone said that he felt betrayed and that their relationship worsened before he married Fumo's daughter, Nicole, as Fumo tried to inject himself into the wedding plans.

He said their last conversation was just after the birth of his first child, when Fumo called Nicole. He said the conversation lasted only about 15 seconds.