The night of a beating outside a Forest Park bar earlier this month, Berwyn Public Safety Director Frank Marzullo was trying to be a peacemaker by breaking up a fight, his lawyer said in court Thursday.
But a prosecutor shot back that Marzullo, charged with aggravated battery and official misconduct, was anything but a peacemaker.
“Frank Marzullo was directing a beating is what he was doing,” said Richard Schwind, chief of the Criminal Enforcement Division for the Illinois attorney general’s office. “He attempted to take over. He said he was in charge there, it was his crime scene. As a matter of fact, Frank struck one of the officers.”
As bond was set for Marzullo and three others accused in the beating, the Tribune learned that an ongoing federal probe into corruption in Berwyn has been extended to the Police Department, which Marzullo heads.
Subpoenas were issued earlier this month for records of department spending and of any money the department held or controlled, which could include ticket revenues, grant proceeds and money and other assets seized in police raids. The records sought are from Nov. 1, 1998, to the present.
Neither federal officials nor Berwyn officials could be reached for comment Thursday on the subpoenas.
The federal investigation into Berwyn government, which has included probes of city spending on a $65 million public works project and a multimillion-dollar revitalization program, has been under way since at least November 2003.
Marzullo, a 30-year police veteran set to retire Saturday, was free Thursday afternoon after posting bail on a $10,000 bond after a pair of morning hearings inside the Cook County Criminal Courts Building.
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He and four other men, including his son and brother, were indicted by a Cook County grand jury for their alleged roles in an election night beating inside and outside a Roosevelt Road steakhouse. Hours earlier, Marzullo-backed candidate Michael Woodward lost to Michael O’Connor in the race for Berwyn mayor.
Marzullo, 54, faces two felony counts of aggravated battery and four felony counts of official misconduct in the beating of Wayne Pesek, a former village administrator from nearby North Riverside.
Under the terms of his bond, Marzullo is not allowed to have any contact with witnesses in the case or their family members. He also must surrender his firearm owner’s identification card and all firearms or other dangerous weapons to Forest Park police by Monday.
Marzullo declined to comment. But his attorney, Michael Goggin of Oak Park, told Cook County Associate Judge James Obbish that prosecutors are painting the wrong picture of what happened.
Marzullo “steadfastly denies these charges,” Goggin said. “He cooperated from Day One with Forest Park police on this case. The evidence, I think, will show [Pesek] provoked the incident.”
In unsuccessfully arguing for a personal recognizance bond for Marzullo, Goggin said his client was trying to help.
“It was a fistfight between two people,” Goggin said. “Mr. Marzullo happened to be in the bar and tried to break it up.”
A Forest Park police report with names blacked out states that a man slapped an officer’s hand while police responding to the scene were trying to establish order.
Schwind told the judge that a man who was not Frank Marzullo brandished a gun during the beating.
Three co-defendants–Michael Fellows, 27; Marzullo’s brother, Russell Marzullo Sr., 47; and Charles Baugh, 38–also appeared in court Thursday to face felony aggravated battery charges. The three also bonded out. A fifth defendant, Marzullo’s son Jerry, was out of town on vacation and unable to attend the hearings, his attorney said.
Jerry Marzullo, 27, is scheduled to appear for a bond hearing Tuesday on two felony counts of aggravated battery. He was fired Thursday from his job as an assistant Cook County state’s attorney, spokesman John Gorman said.
According to the grand jury indictments, Frank Marzullo participated in the attack on Pesek, 54, striking and kicking him in the face and body. Pesek reportedly suffered bleeding on the brain and fractures to bones in his face, nose, and ribs. Pesek earlier this week told the Tribune that he also suffered a fractured elbow and a painful spinal fracture.
The indictments also allege that Marzullo interfered with Forest Park police responding to 911 calls that night, and waved his police badge and tried to obtain preferential treatment for Fellows, a Berwyn police officer.
Berwyn Police Lt. Thomas O’Halloran did not return a phone call seeking comment about Fellows or his status with the department.
Russell Marzullo Sr. was suspended Thursday from his job as a cement mixer for Chicago’s Department of Transportation, said department spokesman Brian Steele. He is accused of participating in the beating and injuring a female witness while unlawfully restraining her outside the Golden Steer restaurant, 7635 W. Roosevelt Rd, authorities said.
The federal corruption probe into Berwyn also subpoenaed records this month for Berwyn Recreation Department finances from Nov. 1, 1998 to the present.
Recreation Department Director Anthony Martinucci could not be reached for comment.
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