Marc heads to Williamsburg, Brooklyn to meet a 70-year old gangster and hear him confess to the murder of Pope John Paul I. What he learns is that there’s a lot more to Anthony Raimondi than meets the eye. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Hi, this is Mark Smerling of Crimetown in Crooked City.
And I have a new podcast for you, but only if you like wild and barely believable stories about the Brooklyn mafia, the Vatican bank, and how all that might have come together in the assassination of a pope.
Meet Anthony Raimundi, an old wise guy at the end of the road.
Anthony takes us from his childhood growing up in Brooklyn in a mobbed up family of sicilian immigrants.
Through his first murder and the Vietnam war to end up in Rome, Italy, Anthony offers his version of one of the world's most enduring conspiracy theories, the untimely death of Pope John Paul I just 33 days after he was elected.
Our series is called the Confessions of Anthony Raimondi.
And you can listen to the first episode right here, right now.
And if you like what you hear, other episodes can be found wherever you get your podcasts.
Now here's Anthony Raimundi.
Where is the closest catholic church to you right now?
I bet you could get there in less than 20 minutes.
Whether you're at home or at work, in your car or out for a walk, whether in a big city or small town, any place in the world, either hemisphere, it doesn't matter.
There's a catholic church nearby.
There are almost a billion and a half Catholics in the world, a population equal to China.
And ministering to all those Catholics are more than 400,000 priests who report to more than 5000 bishops who report to around 650 archbishops and cardinals.
And they all report to one man, the pope.
He oversees a vast empire of wealth.
His church is one of the largest landowners in the world.
The pope has the power to influence world leaders.
Popes have changed the course of history.