FABRIZI FILING 'A MISTAKE'

BRIDGEPORT -- An FBI report that contained allegations of cocaine use
by Mayor John M. Fabrizi should have been filed under seal, U.S.
Attorney Kevin J. O'Connor said Friday.

"Unfortunately, it was a mistake that had reverberations," O'Connor
said. "As soon as we learned it was filed inappropriately, we took
action to have it immediately sealed."

O'Connor said Fabrizi was not a target of the drug investigation.
However, the U.S. attorney said he could not comment on whether the
mayor or anyone else in City Hall is targeted in any other type of
investigation. "We never do that," he said.

Rather than blame anyone else in his office for filing the documents
openly, O'Connor took responsibility. "It was unfortunate; we
addressed it immediately by having the document sealed and I issued
an apology," he said. But that apology did not go directly to
Fabrizi. Instead, it went to his attorney, J. Robert Gulash. Gulash
could not be reached for comment Friday.

"I'm pleased the U.S. attorney released a statement setting the
record straight," Fabrizi said Friday. "I hope people listen to what
the U.S. attorney has to say."

He said he has no plans to resign.

On Thursday, when told about the allegations in the FBI report,
Fabrizi said he had "made some poor choices in my life," but he
stopped short of saying whether those involved cocaine use.

Asked what the reaction has been to his admission of "poor choices"
in the past, Fabrizi said people have been kind.

"I've had a supportive reaction," the mayor said.

The now-sealed document is an FBI report on a series of interviews
with Juan Marrero, an accused drug lord who, with his brother Victor,
is cooperating in an ongoing investigation into Advertisementcocaine,
oxycodone, marijuana and steroid trafficking throughout Fairfield
County and the Naugatuck Valley. So far, 29 people -- including Juan
and his brother Victor Marrero; Anthony Erodici, a state correction
officer; Jeffrey Streck, a retired Bridgeport police detective, and
Shawn Fardy, a Democratic Town Committee member -- have been
arrested. According to the report, about five months after his arrest
on Feb. 19, 2005, Juan Marrero told the FBI he supplied Fardy with
15.5 grams of cocaine in 2004 after the town committee member said
"Fabrizi was coming over" and "needed a hit." Marrero told the FBI
that Fardy was a regular customer. He also said that Fardy claimed to
have a video recording of the mayor using cocaine.

Marrero told the FBI he never sold drugs to the mayor.

While Victor Marrero has pleaded guilty and is awaiting sentencing
for cocaine trafficking, Juan Marrero has not changed his innocent
plea despite his cooperation.

Fardy and Erodici also maintain their innocence. Streck has pleaded
guilty to conspiring to distribute oxycodone and is awaiting
sentencing later this month.

Fabrizi, a Democrat, took over as mayor in 2003 after his
predecessor, Joseph P. Ganim, was convicted of 16 federal corruption
counts, including extortion, bribery and racketeering. Ganim is
serving a nine-year sentence in a federal prison camp.

Staff writer Bill Cummings contributed to this report.