John Marsilio Background

April 4, 2003
BILL CUMMINGS – Connecticut Post

Marsillio fired by Fabrizi

BRIDGEPORT Incoming acting Mayor John Fabrizi has fired longtime city Public Facilities Director John Marsillio and told him to vacate his office today.
Fabrizi, scheduled to become mayor this afternoon following Mayor Joseph P. Ganim's formal resignation, informed Marsillio on Tuesday that, as of today, his services would no longer be needed.

Ganim is scheduled to resign today in the wake of his March 19 conviction on 16 federal corruption counts. Fabrizi will immediately become interim mayor until the November election.
Marsillio confirmed Fabrizi personally informed him that he would be replaced
Fabrizi could not be reached Thursday for comment, but sources close to him said the decision to replace Marsillio is based on a desire to bring in new people and concerns that Marsillio, along with other department heads, did not stand in Ganim's way, or raise red flags, over irregularities in awarding city contracts.

During Ganim's trial in U.S. District Court in New Haven, Marsillio's name came up numerous times. Although no one accused Marsillio of criminal wrongdoing, Paul Pinto, Ganim's admitted bagman, said in wiretapped conversations that Marsillio and former Finance Director Jerome Baron were "players," meaning they could be counted on not to make waves. Both Marsillio and Baron, who recently left the city for a job in Rhode Island, were directly involved in many of the big-ticket projects for which Ganim was convicted of rigging.
…

Marsillio was hired by Ganim in 1992 and quickly rose in status on the mayor's team. He was considered one of Ganim's most trusted department heads and advisers. Marsillio's services were so valued that several years ago Supt. of Schools Sonia Diaz Salcedo proposed hiring him to oversee school construction projects.

The plan involved splitting Marsillio's time between the school system and his city responsibilities, but City Council members objected and the idea was dropped. He also became embroiled in controversy in 2001 when the Connecticut Post learned Marsillio was one of six top city officials, including Ganim, who received lucrative life insurance policies.

Ganim forced Marsillio and the other department heads to give up their policies after the Post ran stories questioning whether the insurance had been legally purchased. One of the racketeering counts on which Ganim was convicted involved the policies.

Marsillio bristled at any suggestion that he was an "enabler," saying he had no idea Ganim was taking kickbacks. "I know that's the perception," Marsillio said. "Joe Ganim made mistakes that were of his doing."
Marsillio said the remaining members of Ganim's team, himself included, have been through extensive interviews and review by FBI agents and none have been accused of wrongdoing.
"I don't know how many members of the City Council would survive that," Marsillio said of the scrutiny. Ganim "was hanging around with people you would not want to deal with. But I tell you that I never saw anything illegal," Marsillio said.
"I'm not Ganim's stick-up guy," he said.


CORRUPTION PROBE NETS 1st CONVICTION AS FEDS TRACK WEB OF GIFTS, CONTRACTS

New Haven -- Federal authorities, after years of investigation, on Wednesday charged that a wide-ranging web of corruption --including shakedowns, kickbacks and bribes at Bridgeport City Hall -- influenced the awarding of lucrative municipal contracts. The
allegations are contained in a 15-page criminal complaint against Paul J. Pinto, 30, of Easton, a close friend and political ally of Mayor Joseph P. Ganim. Pinto pleaded guilty in federal court to a scheme in which the Ganim administration is accused of awarding
contracts based on money and gifts being paid to city officials and aides. While Pinto is the only individual named in the complaint, a powerful Elected Official, who received cash and goods in exchange for favorable action on a variety of issues, is at the center of
the web. Sources involved in the case say the unnamed Elected Official is Ganim, but the mayor Wednesday vigorously denied any wrongdoing. Neither Ganim nor any officials of any of the companies cited in the complaint have been charged.
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Then there was the life insurance scheme, which the Post exposed in April. At that the time, the Post reported the city paid $821,000 to purchase $2.6 million in life insurance policies for the mayor; Dennis Murphy, his chief administrative officer; Jerome Baron, the city's finance director; Robert Kochiss, the city's director of policy and management; John Marsilio, the public facilities director, and Michael Freimuth, the economic development director. The policies were purchased through Frank W. Sullivan, a broker now on leave from Salomon Smith Barney in Greenwich and a boyhood friend of the mayor.
Several council members said they were unaware of what they did on June 21, 1999, until the Post pointed it out to them nearly two years later. The purchase was presented to the Common Council as a line-item paragraph hidden within nine pages of budget transfer entitled Harbormaster budget transfer from gasoline for vehicle to uniform allowance acoount. …
From The Connecticut Post, By Michael P. Mayko, mmayko@ctpost.com, 14 June 2001