FABRIZI PHONED ALLEGED DEALER

Mayor's Cellphone Records Cited

BRIDGEPORT -- At least 13 phone calls were placed from Mayor John
Fabrizi's city-issued cellphone to an alleged cocaine dealer between
October and December 2004, the Connecticut Post reported Sunday.

The report comes after federal prosecutors inadvertently filed a
court document last week indicating that the same man, Shawn Fardy,
36, had a videotape showing the mayor of Connecticut's largest city
using cocaine.

Fardy, a Democratic town committee member, was charged in May with
conspiring to possess cocaine with intent to distribute and using a
phone to facilitate a drug deal.

At the time, Fabrizi said he did not know Fardy "personally."

But after being shown the cellphone records obtained by the Post in
March through a Freedom of Information request, Fabrizi acknowledged
that he had called Fardy on numerous occasions over the past few years.

Asked to explain his previous statement, Fabrizi said his comment
represented a "poor choice of words." He said Fardy was a friend of
his brother, Mark.

"I talked to him on a number of occasions," John Fabrizi told the newspaper.

Messages seeking additional comment Sunday were left at the mayor's
office and in the cellphone voicemail of his spokeswoman.

The mayor, as a justice of the peace, also performed Fardy's marriage
to Lori Lasorso in July 6, 2001, according to city records.

On Thursday, John Fabrizi's name was linked to Fardy's in a summary
of an FBI interview with Juan Marrero, who also faces cocaine
trafficking charges. Marrero told the FBI of the videotape and 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.

On Friday, the mayor acknowledged making "poor choices" in his
personal life, but would not say whether he had used cocaine. "I've
never claimed to be a choir boy," Fabrizi said.

Mark Fabrizi acknowledged that Fardy was a friend, but said he did
not know whether he called Fardy from his brother's cellphone in late 2004.