Paul Davis of Philadelphia Weekly just wrote a column abut Target: The Senator, my 2017 book about former state Senator Vince Fumo, AKA "The Vince of Darkness."
I wrote the book to tell the full cat-and-mouse story behind the Fumo case. This was after The Philadelphia Inquirer had for years published a completely one-sided view of the federal investigation, indictment and trial of Fumo for political corruption, coverage that basically amounted to a cartoon version of reality.
While the Inquirer's relentlessly pro-prosecution anti-Fumo reporters subsisted on selective leaks from the feds, I was able to gain access to all 7,000 pages of the government's files in the case -- court transcripts, FBI interviews and grand jury transcripts.
Those files told a fascinating story about a colorful guy that the feds had been chasing since the 1970s, a politician considerably brighter and more able than the dim bulbs we now have running the city and state.
Although the feds had investigated Fumo for decades, they were never able to catch him committing a crime that they were looking for, such as bribery or kickbacks. Then, a brilliant prosecutor named Bob Zauzmer figured out a way to turn failure into success by cobbling together an all-encompassing 137-count indictment that basically sought to criminalize politics as usual. So that's how the feds, by bending a few of their own rules, and with the full force of the Inquirer behind them, were finally able to nail their man.
Here's a link to the PW story.
