In this addendum I will be explaining how a particular element of my reputation was unjustly established, despite my polar opposite actions. Most of you would probably agree with me, that a writer’s reputation is relevant.
As silly as it seems to me, I would like to state that I am not, nor have I ever been, a cooperating witness or confidential informant for the state or federal government. The supposition that my writing over the last decade is part of this deal is, quite frankly, laughable. The few professional regulations complaints or civil lawsuits that I have filed over the years are not relevant to the topic at hand.
There are lots of good and bad reasons someone might inform on an organization to the law. There are Good Samaritan informants, people who see wrongdoing and are compelled to report it, even at great cost to them and their families. There are also rat informants, those that cut deals with the government to save their own skins. Good Samaritans tend to have very clean backgrounds, and Rats are just criminals looking to get off a sinking ship. I think you will agree that I fit neither of these classifications.
I don’t have any impending or pending criminal indictments, which has been the case for my entire adulthood, with the exception of the matters previously divulged in Addendum VIII. A rat is always ducking and dodging serious criminal cases, which is his or her prime (if not only) motivation being a cooperating witness or confidential informant.
Joseph Fosco
As early as my unjust 1992 jam with the law (which is well explained in Addendums VIII and IX) had ended, a small number of extremely uninformed common people suspected that I may have cooperated with law enforcement in order to get out of a 10-year mandatory minimum prison sentence that I was then facing. Additionally, a multi-count probation violation case, citing dozens of counts against me, that was tossed out of court added to the suspicion of some. It was well believed that most of these people who were suspicious of me were engaged in personal struggles with cocaine-induced psychosis and paranoia. These people were mainly from the Elmwood Park and Melrose Park areas of Cook County, Illinois.
Regarding my 1992 bogus criminal matter, the prosecutor’s office came at me only roughly 6-months after my sentencing date with a vengeance. They wanted me to serve prison time over their bogus probation violation allegations against me. Over several months they called one or two court-hearings to discuss the amount of prison time that they wanted me to serve. This went on for over a year. You don’t have to be a lawyer to see how my actual circumstances are inconsistent with a defendant who is a cooperating witness or confidential informant. Cooperating witnesses and/or confidential informants are favored by the prosecutors, which was the exact opposite with me. In fact, in my case, the prosecutors came after me in a way that is consistent with what really occurred, the judge had previously boxed them into a corner that prompted them to drop their bogus Class-X Felony count against me.
However, in my opinion, the clincher is the fact that the judge tossed out the bogus probation violation counts over the prosecutor’s heated argument for prison time. This my readers was not a case where a defendant, who worked as a cooperating witness or confidential informant would end up. Actually, it’s often the judges, who are disappointed when they see defendants receive deals from prosecutors that seem too generous. In my case, there was no mistake that my blessings of justice came from the bench, and that is not where help begins for cooperating witnesses or confidential informants, especially not with a raging prosecutor, who simultaneously demanded prison time in a heated exchange with the court, precisely as the counts were tossed out of court by the judge.
Even if I could pull the wool over the general population’s eyes, there are people I could never fool. Certainly word would have reached the likes of a Willie Messino and Nicholas “Buddy” Ciotti (both who were serious Chicago Outfit operatives with enormous influence with the upper commands of multiple police departments in Cook County, especially Elmwood Park and Melrose Park), as I became extremely close with both Willie and Buddy over a number of years. The development of my closeness to Willie and Buddy began as my 1992 criminal matter was drawing to a close, which was around the mid-1990s. For obvious reasons, Willie and Buddy would not have made the decision to get close to a cooperating witness or confidential informant. While there is an off chance one of them might have missed this, there’s no way both would.
My now late friends Willie Messino and Buddy Ciotti both passed away within four months of each other. Willie passed in November of 2002 and Buddy passed in March of 2003. God rest their souls. Today, Willie would be 104 years old and Buddy, 77.
Within days of Willie’s passing, the man who I sparred with for a few years by this time, Rudy Fratto, began misinforming others in our somewhat mutual social circles that I was a confidential informant for the federal government. One of the best ways to sabotage someone’s potential in life, is to defame them in the way that Rudy defamed me. This was something that Rudy would not get away with so easily if Willie were alive. I am not suggesting that Willie was Rudy’s boss, but Willie knew Rudy’s number and hated a bum rap. Rudy is an expert in delivering bum raps to others (the late Mike Castaldo was falsely accused of certain acts by Rudy as well). Willie would have called Rudy out instantly, and Rudy would not have wanted to deal with Willie, which is why shortly after Willie’s death, the timing for Rudy to close in on me was perfect. I will add that numerous other slanderous comments about me went along with the confidential-informant stuff. Eventually, extortion and murder conspiracies would become big problems (all explained in Addendum VIII). This should help some of you understand why Rudy would take part in extorting someone like me, who he labeled a confidential informant. Rudy knew better.
Would you like proof that Rudy was right about me as far as what he knew of me privately? Here are copies of FBI 302 reports that clearly show that I was not working with the FBI, not even during times when almost anyone would want to work with the FBI. Click here to see for yourself.
In all the years that I have been writing, my numerous internet (and other) detractors and defamers, who have slandered me up and down in multiple places, have never accused me of being a cooperating witness or confidential informant regarding my bogus 1992 criminal matter. However, now that I have recently shed light on the subject, I would not be surprised if any opportunistic slanderers begin spreading defamation by depicting me as someone who informed on others to get myself out of serious trouble in the 1990s. If this does occur, I can pretty much promise you that any potential slander will obviously be nonsense, and will therefore blatantly lack credible corroboration.
As for not being a Good Samaritan informant, that case is sadly even easier to make. Something I have said before, I will now say again, I am no angel, not even close. I have made a few mistakes, and some really big ones. I have even done some unpleasant things in my lifetime. Fortunately, nothing unpleasant enough where I would expect to be greeted by a padlocked gate at Heaven’s entrance-way, with a sign displaying a red arrow pointing in the direction of a downward traveling elevator. Nevertheless, I do suspect that I will have plenty of time to write while sitting around in purgatory for a century or two.
Now I’ll make a confession. I could have avoided making a great deal of the mistakes that I have made in my life, if I would have used better sense. C’est la Vie. I hope I have disabused some of you who may have otherwise been thinking that I consider myself as a perfect person, or even near-perfect of a person, and/or that I may believe that I am some sort of hapless victim. I can see how some of my earlier written pieces from roughly 10-12 years ago may have given some of my readers the impression that I was depicting myself as a total victim. Again, I accept that I could have avoided a lot of my problems in life.
What about American News Post?
When I started writing about true crime, which was roughly 12-years ago, I was not yet conditioned to write about tense autobiographical experiences without being somewhat affected by passion in the course of my writing. When I started out as a new writer on the internet without having proper training, or having a dozen or so years of experience as I do now, I made some mistakes along the way, which of course contributed to building my experience.
I didn’t go to school for writing. So, those familiar with my work from roughly 10-12 years ago have to cut me some slack for the amateur work that I produced back then. I am now a more experienced writer. Obviously, there’s still a lot of room for improvement. Writers who write about nonfiction, true crime pieces, as I do, tend to develop some thick skin over the years, as our detractors often defame us on the internet or wherever they can and however they can. These detractors come at us exploiting the truth of our personal issues, distorted truth, and completely manufactured information.
After being involuntarily and unjustly ostracized from a number of my longtime network of social and or business associates and acquaintances, I decided that I would shine lights on some of those who played various roles in my then new predicament. This is actually the main portion of what I realized was unprofessional about my earlier work, which is why I no longer engage in this type of work. The beginning was my training as a writer.
Obviously, I use my work with American News Post for the purpose of sharing history on organized crime in Chicago, primarily the Chicago Outfit. I’m a history buff. My interest is the Chicago Outfit.
My interest was not always history. I wrote breaking news pieces regarding Chicago Outfit operatives and/or associates, which I may plan on continuing from time to time. I dabbled in investigative reporting of various Chicago Outfit matters. This has long been suspended. I don’t see it coming back. History is my thing. Of course, the door will always remain open for anything else interesting to my viewers.
The Mafia Report Series:
5/13/20 – Mafia Report: Chicago Outfit
5/31/20 – Mafia Report: Chicago Outfit – Addendum One
6/4/20 – Mafia Report: Chicago Outfit – Addendum Two
6/24/20 – Mafia Report: Chicago Outfit – Addendum Three
7/18/20 – Mafia Report: Chicago Outfit – Addendum Four
6/11/21 – Mafia Report: Chicago Outfit – Addendum Five
8/28/21 – Mafia Report: Chicago Outfit – Addendum Six
9/17/21 – Mafia Report: Chicago Outfit – Addendum Seven
9/29/21 – Mafia Report: Chicago Outfit – Addendum Eight
10/11/21 – Mafia Report: Chicago Outfit – Addendum Nine
