Berwyn Public Safety Director Frank Marzullo and four others are being investigated in connection with the Election Night beating of a former official from another town, a Forest Park administrator said Wednesday.
Marzullo’s son and brother also are under investigation in the beating outside a Forest Park restaurant of Wayne Pesek, 54, of North Riverside, said Forest Park Village Administrator Michael Sturino. None has been charged, and the Marzullos could not be reached for comment.
Pesek’s mother, Mildred, said he was in intensive care Wednesday in Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood. Forest Park sources said Pesek, a former village manager in North Riverside, suffered bruising to his brain.
“Should the investigation warrant, this incident will be referred to the state’s attorney’s office for felony review,” Sturino said. “Local charges may also result.”
Sturino confirmed that Marzullo, a political powerbroker in Berwyn who supported a slate of candidates that was soundly defeated in Tuesday’s election, was present when Forest Park police responded to a 911 call outside a Roosevelt Road steakhouse at about 11:15 p.m. The officers found five men standing over the injured man in an alley, he said.
Also present was Marzullo’s son Jerry, a former Berwyn firefighter who works as a lawyer in the Cook County state’s attorney’s appellate division, and Frank Marzullo’s brother Russell, a longtime cement mixer for the city of Chicago’s Department of Transportation, Sturino said (this sentence as published has been corrected in this text).
Sturino declined to offer more specifics about the investigation, but a police report in which names of the five were blacked out says a squad car surveillance camera captured at least part of the incident.
Sources said at least one of the other two men involved was an off-duty Berwyn police officer who lives in Chicago.
John Gorman, spokesman for Cook County State’s Atty. Richard Devine, said Forest Park police notified the office of the investigation involving the Marzullos. Gorman said officials in Devine’s office believe that to guard against a possible conflict of interest, any criminal charges should come from the Illinois attorney general’s office.
According to the police report, one of the five men repeatedly interfered with attempts by Forest Park officers to speak with witnesses in the Golden Steer restaurant and bar, 7635 W. Roosevelt Rd. Sources identified the man as Frank Marzullo.
At one point, the man reportedly produced a police badge, thrust it at two Forest Park officers and shouted, “I’m in charge here.”
When officers attempted to interview an unidentified witness to the beating, the man reportedly said, “Get a [expletive] subpoena if you want to talk with him. He’s not under arrest; he’s leaving.”
Frank Marzullo, whose $165,000-plus salary makes him among the highest paid law enforcement officials in the nation, is a 30-year veteran of the Berwyn police force, a Morton College trustee and is deputy committeeman of the Berwyn Regular Democratic Organization. But after Tuesday’s drubbing by the Independent Voters of Berwyn, he will soon be out of a job. Mayor-elect Michael O’Connor has pledged to fire Marzullo as his first official act. The police report appears to include mention of the situation:
“While outside, [redacted] approached me. He said that the political party that supports him in Berwyn lost the election today. He said he will be out of a job May 10, 2005.
“He said his group was upset about the loss and went to the Golden Steer. He apologized for his behavior and said, `I made a mistake. It shouldn’t have come to this.'”
A restaurant worker who is dating Pesek told police that one of the men picked a fight with Pesek. After a short exchange of words, Pesek was dragged out of the bar and into the street, the woman told police.
The report continues: “Once outside, they knocked [redacted] to the ground and began hitting him. [Redacted] was able to get his footing and attempted to flee. They chased him to the alley where they knocked him down again and began hitting him.”
At least four of the five men in Marzullo’s party delivered blows, according to the woman’s account in the police report. She told officers she suffered a punch to the face while trying to break up the fight.
