American News Post

02/11/2025

In his retirement, Joseph Fosco has turned his focus to being an independent opinion columnist on current world affairs, particularly since the 2024 Presidential election season. He primarily shares his insights on Facebook, with additional presence on other social media platforms.

Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/joseph.fosco.9

X (Twitter):

Truth Social:

For a more detailed description of Joseph’s professional background, visit his LinkedIn profile, Joseph 'Joe' Fosco.

Joseph had a notable career with American News Post (ANP), where he initially joined as an intern in February 2008.

Semi-retired media mogul Conrad Black, also known as Lord Black of Crossharbour, served as a part-time contributing writer for American News Post. Lord Black was instrumental in founding ANP, which was previously known as KTF Media Group. 'KTF' stands for 'Keys to Faith', a name personally chosen by Lord Black.

American News Post broke new ground by being the first online forum dedicated to the detailed study of the Chicago Outfit, setting a standard for in-depth analysis in organized crime. Alongside this niche focus, it also covered current world affairs, earning recognition as the premier source for accurate and reliable information on these subjects. However, in August 2022, American News Post announced an indefinite hiatus from regular publications to reflect and innovate.

Despite this, ANP continues to engage with its audience by maintaining an open line of communication on its page right here.

Additionally, many articles published by ANP over the years can still be found on its website at https://www.americannewspost.com.

The image below, captured in 2024, features ANP's Joseph Fosco on the left alongside Michael Magnafichi, a notable podcast guest and former gaming supervisor for the Chicago Outfit.

02/06/2025

Memories of Armando A. Fosco, Sr.: A Reflection on Legacy and Labor
Authored by Joseph Fosco

February 5th marks the solemn occasion of the 38th year since my father's departure from this world. In reflection of this, I want to share a memory connected to a 1988 Sun-Times article (attached) that detailed the 1986 annual salaries of various Teamsters officials. Every official named in that article, along with several others not mentioned, seemed for unclear reasons to be inclined to accept my father's advice, whether solicited or not, even when his advice was complex or constructive.

I vividly remember overhearing a couple of phone conversations where it seemed like my father was in a position to guide both Dan Ligurotis and Bill Joyce. Jackie Presser, another notable figure, would send my father gifts and frequently complimented him, though my father never seemed particularly flattered by these gestures. One gift, in particular, was quite odd: an autographed oil painting of himself, accompanied by a card suggesting they commission another painting of both of them together to exemplify unity. My father politely declined.

Had my father still been alive when the article was published in 1988, a year after his death, I am confident he would not have appeared in it. My father would have undoubtedly caught wind of the article coming down the pike, which would have enabled him to keep his name omitted through his influence. He would have most likely had the late Teamsters boss, Tony Judge, handle the press. Speaking of Tony, God rest his soul, he put several people to work driving trucks for the Chicago Tribune at my father's behest. My father was quite helpful to many, securing employment for those he saw as underdogs, always offering them support without seeking or expecting anything in return.

Regarding my father's salary, I once asked him about his annual raises out of curiosity. In a light-hearted yet sincere manner, he replied that he annually decides what raise he deserves and then gives himself that increase. We both laughed at this, but knowing he was the chief officer of his local, his jest wasn't far from the truth. However, some of his underlings shared with me after my father's passing that he was extremely careful about spending the union's money, which I attribute to his occasional expressions of concern about federal scrutiny. He admitted that he could have justified a higher salary for himself, but he chose not to because, as he put it, "the government scrutiny he might get wasn't worth the extra money."

Looking back, I would have preferred to hear my father explain that he opted not to increase his salary because the money belonged to the union members. However, frankly, despite his genuine concern for the members, it wasn't his concern for them that drew him into the field of labor representation. In 1974, two years into his early and happy semi-retirement, he was suddenly told by some friends that he was going to be a union man for the Teamsters, despite already living very peacefully in his semi-retirement after a lifetime of being a successful proprietor of several different businesses.

An interesting life, to say the least. RIP AAF, Sr.

12/02/2024

I grew up and entered early adulthood with the belief that the FBI was an unfriendly, untrustworthy adversary. This suspicion led me to refuse communication with them in 2004 and 2005 when they contacted me to warn that my life might be in danger due to a complex personal issue involving some ruthless individuals. I later learned the potential murder plot was more about making a statement to others with whom I was involved at the time. Despite my distrust of the FBI, I've never considered myself the antagonist; rather, I've always seen myself as a good American. My experiences in Chicago, where I've lived my entire life, have given me insight into what I perceive as the FBI's unjust actions.

While I recognize the positive aspects of the FBI's work, I have no personal experience with these. Friends in the legal profession have informed me that the FBI often interprets avoidance as a sign of guilt. This mutual distrust is likely, and frankly, I'm indifferent to their opinion of me, a sentiment that I believe is reciprocated.

Over the last 25 years, I've deepened my understanding of the FBI. Friends of impeccable character have shared stories of personal or observed negative encounters with the FBI, from dishonesty to harassment of major proportions. Recent events, such as James Comey's handling of the Hillary Clinton email investigation and his unconventional public updates before the 2016 election, along with Christopher Wray's seemingly delayed investigation into Hunter Biden's laptop, have only deepened my skepticism. These incidents, among others too numerous to list, highlight what I see as systemic issues within the FBI.

I trust that Donald Trump, with his personal and indirect experiences with the FBI and DOJ, understands these problems deeply. His plans for both agencies promise significant reform. With our mutual allies like Conrad Black and Rob Blagojevich, who have also faced scrutiny from these institutions, I am confident in Trump's approach. The arrival of Inauguration Day cannot come soon enough. May God bless Donald Trump, Elon Musk, Bobby Kennedy, and all who stand with them, and may God bless America.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/joseph.fosco.9 (active)

X: (active), (temporarily disbanded)

Truth Social: (active)

11/17/2024

A friend from another state sent me the attached article from a previous period, mentioning my uncle and certain close friends of his and my father's, evoking a sense of historical significance.

X

11/15/2024

Last night's event at Mar-a-Lago featured a remarkable opening by Sylvester Stallone, who introduced President-elect Donald Trump to the stage. This marks yet another instance where an iconic figure has stepped out of retirement to publicly endorse Trump, evidently due to his popular policies.

The ongoing surge in support for Trump has raised concerns for me about the future of the Democratic Party. As the son of a late labor leader who was deeply involved with the Teamsters Union during the 1970s and 80s in Chicago, my family's connection to the Democrats runs deep, extending well beyond my father's tenure with the union. Therefore, the Democratic Party holds significant personal value for me, even as I identify as a moderate independent with a vested interest in its direction.

However, the Democratic policies, which have increasingly seemed counterproductive to America's welfare in recent years, have led me, like many others, to vote less frequently for Democratic presidential candidates. This shift appears to have become more pronounced in recent times.

As a moderate independent who supports candidates based on merit across party lines, I feel compelled to express concern about the future prospects of Democratic officials and candidates in both state and federal elections. The 'Trump resistance' movement within blue states is particularly alarming, as it risks further ousting Democrats in upcoming elections, potentially jeopardizing future candidacies.

Since Trump's first presidential election in 2016, there has been a notable shift in the national electorate towards the Republican Party, influenced by Trump's policies. This shift persists despite Trump facing criminal sentencing on 34 felony charges and having multiple other felony charges pending.

A pertinent point to underscore is the recent commentary by Alex Soros, son of George Soros, who has described Trump's political resilience as "unstoppable" within the Republican Party. Alex suggested that Democrats are overly focused on internal campaign strategies, failing to address Trump's broad appeal and underestimating his strength.

I earnestly hope that Democratic politicians will begin to recognize that their current policies are not resonating with the American electorate as they might have anticipated. If Democrats do not acknowledge this reality and adapt their policies to better meet the everyday needs of Americans, the electorate will likely continue to shift further towards the Republican Party. Democrats, please take heed.

X

Sylvester Stallone praised Donald Trump as the “second George Washington” during a gala at Mar-a-Lago on Thursday night.While introducing Trump, Stallone com...

11/09/2024

Lawfare is an unpleasant topic, but the survival of its victims deserves celebration.

Recently, I reached out to my friend, Conrad Black, to congratulate him on his friend Donald Trump's victory in the 2024 presidential election. Conrad has tirelessly defended Trump against numerous false accusations over the years through both written articles and television appearances. Thus, I made sure to share my joy about the election results with him.

We appear together in the photograph attached, taken in late 2017 in Toronto, Canada. At the time, I was carrying more weight than usual, which is particularly noticeable for someone of my height, 5'8". However, I'm brave enough to share the photo regardless. Please excuse the brief aside. In the photo, Conrad is in the center, with Rob Blagojevich to his left. Lawfare has been a common struggle for each of us, albeit in different contexts. While Conrad and Rob faced significant federal legal challenges, my encounters were on a smaller scale, primarily at the state level rather than federal. Thankfully, all three of us have emerged from these legal battles mostly unscathed.

At the time of our 2017 meeting, we were unaware that the White House pardon attorneys were about to initiate a process to nullify an unjust mark on Conrad's record, and significantly reduce the severe sentence imposed on Rob's brother, former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich.

Postscript: I am currently on a temporary hiatus from my work with American News Post, but I occasionally post here on our page.

I am actively engaged on my verified page, X and Truth Social.

You can find me here:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/joseph.fosco.9 (most active)

X: (active), (temporarily disbanded)

Truth Social: (active)

News Media

09/07/2024

Re: DiFronzo, John (revised on 09/07/2024)

ANP is on hiatus for a while. However, we have decided to post (solely on our page) a piece regarding the federal government's 2007 Family Secrets case.

For those who have a sincere desire to formulate a clear and accurate understanding of some of the aspects of the Family Secrets trial, you are encouraged to participate publicly or privately.

We believe that serious researchers will be more inclined than others to participate despite welcoming help from our entire audience.

During ANP's occasional periods of hiatus over the last roughly 16-years, our viewership numbers have fluctuated accordingly. We are very patient people at ANP.

If possible, please share any potentially helpful information whatsoever in the comment thread beneath this post or via ANP's private messenger.

Please take your time. As indicated above, our hiatus times mean slow traffic to our page and please remember that we are very patient.

The Family Secrets piece:

We'll begin by asking you to pardon our declared and obvious ignorance on several aspects of the 2007 Family Secrets trial.

If we recall correctly, in 2007 Michael Spilotro's daughter testified about a phone call that she purportedly recieved and answered from inside of her family home around the time of her father's 1986 disappearance.

Perhaps she believed the caller was a man asking questions about her father.

(Note: Please correct us if we are wrong about anything indicated herein, as accuracy and fairness remains steadfast for ANP. Pardon our digression.)

We believe the daughter was of the opinion the voice that she recalled hearing in a 1986 telephone call was one of the defendants on trial in 2007.

We currently understand that the 1986 telephone call was described by prosecutors as corroboration supporting some of Nick Calabrese's testimony.

We are confident this purported corroboration scenario was referenced publicly in a post trial press release by federal prosecutors as an example as to why John DiFronzo wasn't indicted for the Spilotro murders in the 2007 Family Secrets case.

To be clear, we believe to recall that in 2007 prosecutors went on in their post trial public statements to explain that Nick Calabrese's eyewitness testimony about DiFronzo's presence at the 1986 Spilotro murder scene wasn't good enough for the purposes of indicting DiFronzo because of some sort of office "policy" requiring a minimum of two forms of corroboration.

That said, prosecutors basically emphasized that their star witness was not good enough to rely on regardless of his direct eyewitness account under oath about seeing John DiFronzo at the Spilotro murder scene.

In other words for "policy" reasons their eye witnesses testimony was in need of corroboration despite prosecutors' willingness to rely on so-called corroboration in the form of a 21-year old memory from a then child about the sound of a caller's voice that was purportedly heard during a supposed conversation over the phone in 1986.

Does anyone know if 1986 local landline phone records of the Spilotro girl's household were entered into evidence by prosecutors or by the defense of the 2007 Family Secrets case?

Does anyone know or recall if in 1986 the relevant phone company was able to provide connectivity information on itemized local landline calls?

ANP believes phone companies had capabilities in 1986 to determine and itemize incoming and outgoing local and/or long distance phone calls. Please let us know if you feel that we are incorrect about anything indicated herein.

So, we are almost certain that outgoing local landline telephone calls were discoverable in 1986. Again, we are very confident the same went for incoming local landline calls, but we are not absolutely certain at this time. Though, we'll find out soon.

However, we do suspect that actual incoming local landline phone numbers may not have been identifiable in 1986, though we are confident that terminology indicating that an "incoming call," (without the incoming phone number listed) was discoverable in 1986.

If we are correct that incoming and outgoing local landline phone calls in 1986 were detailed (perhaps only on request), we would be very curious if the incoming 1986 phone call in which the Spilotro girl testified about in 2007 was corroborated with an itemized phone bill and/or itemized call log of incoming and outgoing local landline phone calls for the Spilotro household in 1986.

At the very least if such a phone log from 1986 was available and/or entered as evidence in 2007, any incoming calls to the Spilotro house in 1986 in connection with the Spilotro daughter's testimony would have provided great value for justice in the 2007 trial.

If any 1986 Spilotro household landline local incoming phone calls weren't entered as evidence by prosecutors or defense attorneys in 2007, did any defense attorneys make arguments in 2007 about a lack of any 1986 Spilotro phone records to test the credibility of the government's so called corroboration in the form of the supposed phone call relevant to the Spilotro daughter's testimony?

Additionally, if so what exactly were the defense arguments in 2007 regarding a possible lack of 1986 phone records as evidence?

Did any defense attorneys make any attempts to discover 1986 phone records in preparing for the 2007 trial date? If so, exactly what attempts were made by the defense?

Were any attempts to obtain 1986 phone records made by prosecutors for the 2007 trial? If so, exactly what attempts we made?

Of course if such itemized phone calls of 1986 were discoverable, ANP would be curious if whether the call log would've indicated the time span of the incoming and outgoing phone calls to the Spilotro household.

If so, it would have been easy to find an incoming local call on the day in question in 1986 that lasted as long as the phone call had purportedly lasted in accordance with the Spilotro daughter's 2007 testimony.

We certainly realize that 1986 phone records would probably not be stored for multiple years by any phone company, which would have made it impossible for Family Secrets prosecutors to discover 1986 phone records through subpoena power in 2007.

However for the roughly 1-week or so that the Spilotro brothers were first considered missing in 1986, we believe law enforcement had a duty to then gather all possible phone records at the time of the reported disappearances in order to properly investigate the then double missing person's case.

If law enforcement somehow dropped the ball in 1986 and failed to check the Spilotro household phone records regarding the then missing person's investigation, we would trust that law enforcement would've increased and/or improved their investigative efforts when the investigation changed in 1986 from a double missing person's case to a double homicide investigation.

If so, the phone records would have been gathered and held as evidence in 1986, especially since the double murder investigation remained unsolved and/or as an open investigation until it was prosecuted in the Family Secrets trial in 2007.

So, we believe no reasonable excuse would exist for a lack of forensic analysis at trial of any potential 1986 phone records in testing the credibility of the government's supposed corroboration found in the Spilotro daughter's testimony about a 1986 phone call.

ANP intends to obtain the relevant facts. However, pardon our current ignorance on these matters.

ANP certainly understands that we may learn that the facts in which we are seeking were already sought after and proven or dismissed at the appropriate time. If so, please let us know. Again, pardon our current ignorance on these matters.

Any information that you wish to offer ANP via the comment thread below or through ANP's private messenger will be greatly appreciated. Additionally, contacting us through our website is also possible.

Lastly, please know that any helpful information that you offer will be thoroughly vetted and follow-ups may very well be necessary. Thank you.

P.S.

You must follow ANP's fb page in order to comment if you wish to comment publicly. Otherwise, email or instant messaging will suffice.

The comment threads on our actual website have long been deactivated because of spam abuse by anonymous sources.

Thank you.

(The original version of this revision was posted on April 7, 2024).

09/06/2024

Over the course of the last two to three decades, I have frequently operated as an independent journalist and social commentator, focusing on corruption and its various facets. While my work has not achieved significant publicity, it is fair to say that at the height of my performance, my public influence was somewhat moderate, placing me in the micro to mid-tier range.

Individuals in the public eye, irrespective of their audience size, especially in adversarial domains such as journalism or exposing corruption, frequently face a range of labels and exaggerated allegations, including baseless claims of fraud, deceit, or other underhanded acts, intended to discredit or retaliate.

Regrettably, associates of public figures may be compromised, either knowingly or unknowingly, by adversaries seeking to retaliate against the individual in the public eye, either directly or indirectly.

Like many others, I have experienced all of the above, although my own experiences are dwarfed by the severity of what others have faced.

My faith continues to be a guiding force. In this context, I hope God blesses Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and Bobby Kennedy with the strength to finish what they have begun. America needs them now more than ever.

Sincerely,

Joseph Fosco

06/20/2024

What would you call a group of hardened criminals adequately capable of almost every heinous crime known in our lawbooks (and beyond), who suffer from nearly every psychiatric disorder in the medical books, i.e., paranoid disorder, defiance disorder, personality disorder (including psychotic episodes, ego/narcissism, addiction, etcetra), who are also abundantly capable of functioning as successful influencers over corporate, politics, local law enforcements, judiciary, labor, gaming, murder and general crimes; all in the spirit of efficiently generating substantial revenue, political power and wealth for themselves?

I wonder if any psychiatrists or medical schools have ever conducted deep dive research projects focusing on any of the above.

If so, I would be curious to learn the medical opinions of the supposed mentally well folks, such as those employed within corporate, politics, local law enforcements, judiciary, labor, gaming, etc., who have worked in lockstep with the above described criminals.

I apologize in advance for possibly offending anyone who may typically hold a fondness for any of the above described criminals.