Cell Phones Link Fabrizi To Suspect (13 Calls To Accused Cocaine Dealer In 04)

BRIDGEPORT -- Though Mayor John M. Fabrizi said last month that he didn't know Shawn Fardy "personally," his cell phone records show he called the accused cocaine dealer at least 13 times between October and December 2004. It's also the same time that Fardy is caught on a FBI wiretap placing a cocaine order "in code" to his accused drug connection, Juan Marrero, saying it's urgent that he get back to him because Fardy has a lot of anxious customers. Marrero, who was arrested on Feb. 19, 2005, for narcotics trafficking, "regularly provided cocaine to Fardy who would in turn distribute cocaine to his own customers," Juan Gonzalez Jr., a member of the FBI Safe Streets Task Force, states in Fardy's arrest affidavit.

Fabrizi also failed to mention that as a justice of the peace he performed Fardy's marriage to Lori Lasorso in July 6, 2001, according to city records.

Another alleged link between Fabrizi and Fardy surfaced in documents filed in U.S. District Court on Thursday in connection with a sweeping federal investigation into drug dealing in southwestern Connecticut. Accused drug kingpin Juan Marrero told the FBI that Fardy, a Democratic Town Committee member, said he had a video showing Fabrizi using cocaine, according to the documents.

Marrero also said that he once provided Fardy with 15.5 grams of cocaine after Fardy told him that "Fabrizi was coming over" and "needed a hit," the documents said.

"I've made some poor choices in my personal life. It's human. I've never claimed to be a choir boy," Fabrizi said last week, responding to the allegations. Pressed on what the choices were, Fabrizi would only say: "They were poor choices on a social level & They were random poor decisions that were of a personal nature to me."

On May 24, when it was revealed that Fardy, 36, of Nutmeg Road, was charged with conspiring to possess cocaine with intent to distribute and using a phone to facilitate a drug deal, Fabrizi distanced himself from the Democratic Town Committee member.

"I know a lot of people in this city. But I didn't know him personally," Fabrizi, a Democrat, said of Fardy.

Confronted with an analysis of cell phone bills he'd provided to the Connecticut Post in March that showed the mayor's calls to Fardy's cell phone, Fabrizi acknowledged that he had called Fardy on numerous occasions over the last few years. Asked to explain his previous statement, about not knowing Fardy "personally," Fabrizi said his comment represented a "poor choice of words." He said his brother, Mark, was friends with Fardy.

"As soon as I saw that in the paper, I knew it was a poor choice of words," Fabrizi said. "My brother was friends with Shawn. I talked to him on a number of occasions.

"I'm sorry," Fabrizi said. "I have talked to his mother and father and talked to him." Fardy's father, Andrew, is a member of the city's Democratic Town Committee. His mother, Patricia, is chairwoman of the Planning and Zoning Commission. Shawn Fardy was first elected to the 90-member Bridgeport Town Committee in March 2004.

The mayor placed the calls to Fardy on his city-issued cell phone, according to records the Connecticut Post obtained in response to a Freedom of Information request. Christmas calls

As he turned over the records, Fabrizi reviewed random portions of some of the bills in a 3-inch-thick stack covering the period from April 2003 through January 2006. Fabrizi told a reporter that all of the bills were his and that his office had instituted improved accounting measures to ensure that city departments know which phones are assigned to whom.

According to the records, Fabrizi chose Christmas 2004 -- a time when families and friends strive to be closer -- to call Fardy's cell phone at least five times between Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and the day after. Christmas Day also is the mayor's birthday.

"Shawn was very down and out around the holidays, and I reached out to him so he could spend it with my family, so he could feel like he was worth something," Mark Fabrizi said. "I thought he'd be safer with us than by himself."

Mark Fabrizi was unsure whether he called Fardy from his brother's city-issued cell phone around Christmas 2004.

"Maybe. Probably," Mark Fabrizi said. "I mean if I did I don't know what phone I used, you know, or if I did. If we were in a car together and I didn't have a phone and he did, yeah, I'm going to borrow it from my brother & My family is very tight. We're tightly weaved together."

The calls were made to Fardy's personal cell phone, which is not listed in a directory. For the mayor to have the number, someone would have had to give it to him.

According to the records, John Fabrizi, or his brother, called Fardy at 8:38 p.m. and 9:57 p.m. on Christmas Eve 2004. On Christmas, the very first call made from Fabrizi's cell phone was an attempt to reach Fardy at 11:50 a.m. Instead, Advertisementa wrong number was dialed. That was followed up with two more calls, starting at 11:51 a.m. The last time the cell phone records show Fabrizi's cell phone contacting Fardy was at 2:05 p.m. the day after Christmas. The calls totaled 10 minutes.

Around the same time John, or Mark, Fabrizi was calling Fardy, the Town Committee member was making some calls of his own.

On Dec. 23, 2004, an affidavit based on a federal wiretap states that Fardy called Juan Marrero at around 2:16 p.m. and placed an order, in code, for 15 grams of cocaine.

Then, on Dec. 27 at about 1:47 p.m. Fardy called Juan Marrero again and said that he needed to see Marrero again and he was sorry.

That meant, according to the affidavit, that Fardy was requesting another quantity of narcotics and letting Marrero know it was urgent because Fardy's customers were seeking him out urgently to buy narcotics. Wedding ceremony

Long before Fabrizi became Bridgeport's mayor, he was one of the city's dozens of justices of the peace. He performed Fardy's civil wedding ceremony on July 6, 2001 to Lori Frances Lasorso. It was the first marriage for the bride and the groom, two Bridgeport natives, who went to their high school prom together and dated on and off for years before marrying. Lori Fardy could not be reached for comment. Fabrizi's signature appears on the bottom of Fardy's marriage license in large, clear cursive handwriting below Fardy's scribbled signature.

Mark Fabrizi confirmed that he asked the mayor to "do the wedding as a favor" to him.

"I've known Shawn since we were 5. We were fishing buddies back in the day, and rode dirt bikes together too," Mark Fabrizi said from his motorcycle shop. "But I haven't talked to him in a while. I've got Lyme disease. It's been bad, flaring up a lot lately."

Referring to other calls in 2004 placed to Fardy on John Fabrizi's city-issued cell phone, the mayor acknowledged he made them, but said he could not recall specific conversations.

"It could have been a number of issues, either political, town committee or returning a call," John Fabrizi said.

When asked if FBI agents or other law enforcement officials had discussed Fardy with him, John Fabrizi declined to comment.

On Oct. 29, 2004, U.S. District Judge Janet Bond Arterton, who just two years earlier presided over former Bridgeport Mayor Joseph P. Ganim's corruption trial, signed an order allowing federal agents to tap the phones of Juan and his brother, Victor, Marrero, identified in court documents as Target Telephones I, II and IV. None of the court documents released to date indicate who owned Target Telephone III.

Just before Arterton gave the government permission to tap the Marrero brothers' phones, John Fabrizi dialed Fardy's cell phone at least eight times. The exchanges lasted a total of 17 minutes, according to the cell phone records. The federal wiretapping operation eventually led to the arrest of Victor and Juan Marrero in March 2005 on drug-trafficking charges.

Victor Marrero has pleaded guilty and Juan Marrero is awaiting trial. In a court affidavit, a police officer swore that Juan Marrero told him -- and other law enforcement officers -- that he "regularly provided cocaine to Fardy who would in turn distribute cocaine to his own customers."

Asked last week if he ever bought drugs from Fardy, Fabrizi declined to comment. On May 24, when asked the same question, he had responded, "Absolutely not."

Outside the federal courthouse in Bridgeport on Tuesday, where Fardy emerged after his arraignment on the drug-trafficking charges, he refused to say much to reporters. "Uh, I am not talking," he said, before flashing the peace sign. "Uh-uh."

Under the city's phone policy, calls should involve only city business. But the policy notes that "personal calls must be held to a minimum," and the cost of those calls must be reimbursed.

Caryn Kaufman, a spokeswoman for Fabrizi, said the mayor's personal calls, placed through his cell phone, do not violate the policy. She said top staff, including the mayor, have unlimited minutes on their cell phone plans, so there is no cost to reimburse.

The policy does not address whether a city-issued cell phone can be loaned to another person. In fact, the phone policy does not even mention cell phones. It was established in 1996.

Why of course, that must be what happened! I frequently call my brother's friends, particularly the ones that I do not know and with whom I do not associate. In fact, I do this every two months, just like the <Democrat> mayor of Bridgeport.

Although the paper omitted his party affiliation, usually a dead giveaway, the New York Times said he's a dem.

"But I haven't talked to him in a while. I've got Lyme disease. It's been bad, flaring up a lot lately."

Give the brother at least a few points for originality in coming up with silly-sounding excuses. They must teach that 'skill' at Democrat school.

Hey?

Caught on film doin' some toot?

No PRRROOOBBLLLEEEMMMM. It's ok, you're a Dum-o-crat cut from the same cloth as DC Mayor Marion Barry.

""I know a lot of people in this city. But I didn't know him personally," Fabrizi, a Democrat, said of Fardy."

Hmmmmmmmm, 13 phone calls?

One before your B-day to get you some toot?

______________________________________________________

""I've known Shawn since we were 5. We were fishing buddies back in the day, and rode dirt bikes together too," Mark Fabrizi said from his motorcycle shop."

Juan Gonzalez Jr., a member of the FBI Safe Streets Task Force, states in Fardy's arrest affidavit.

Hint: seek and you shall find.

"13 times between October and December 2004"

Gee, when I think of how often I call people I don't even know who just happen to be friends of my brother, yeah, I usually call the same guy just about every week, just to pass along that my dear bro is thinking of him but suffering from that Lyme disease, etc. YEAH RIGHT. Actually, I like to call hundreds of people I don't know every week, just to say "hi"...... The Demagogues really do think everyone else is as stupid and/or dishonest as they are.......

Although the paper omitted his party affiliation, usually a dead giveaway, the New York Times said he's a dem.

His predecessor, Ganim, is in jail. He's a republican. In CT it doesn't matter what the party affiliation is. CT, like Chicago, has the most crooks per capita sitting in public office. I wish I could leave.

Sorry pal Ganim , Fabrizzis Predessor is a Democrat

OOOPS! You're right. I was thinking of Giordano from Waterbury.

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