You Might Also Like: The Confessions of Anthony Raimondi

July 30, 2024·34 min·2 clips

An old mobster claims he helped kill a pope, linking the Brooklyn Mafia to the Vatican Bank.

Host Mark Smerling of Crimetown introduces 'The Confessions of Anthony Raimondi,' framing it as a series about one of the world's most enduring conspiracy theories: the death of Pope John Paul I just 33 days after his election in 1978. Smerling describes the Catholic Church's global scale — nearly 1.5 billion members, 400,000 priests, and one pope — to establish the stakes. Anthony Raimondi is introduced as an aging, cane-using Brooklyn man in his late 60s who dresses in a black tracksuit, gold bracelet, and dark sunglasses, self-described as a former made member of the Italian mafia. Smerling and producer Zach St. Louis accompany Anthony on a tour of his old South Brooklyn neighborhood, now known as Park Slope, where Anthony reflects on how gentrification has changed the area. The tour centers on St. Augustine's Church and school, where Anthony attended as a child. Anthony recounts December 16, 1960, when two commercial airliners collided above Brooklyn and one fell on Park Slope, killing passengers and destroying 14 brownstones. Anthony, then seven years old and sitting near a classroom window, says glass shattered into his face and he was taken by ambulance alongside a badly burned boy who had fallen from the plane and died the next day. In the ambulance, Anthony claims he saw a figure — which he identifies as Death or the Angel of Death — standing on the crashing plane and then walking down the street. He says psychiatrists could only offer two explanations: trauma-induced hallucination or a genuine sighting. Smerling notes that Anthony's stories are rooted in real events but tend to grow to biblical proportions. The episode then shifts to how Smerling first learned of Anthony: through an email from an NBC Universal podcast executive about a book Anthony had published called 'When the Bullet Hits the Bone.' The book places Anthony at the center of mafia history, claiming kinship with Lucky Luciano and a close relationship with Meyer Lansky. Anthony had also done a publicity tour on mafia-themed YouTube channels, where videos of him discussing the pope's murder garnered millions of views. Smerling and Zach meet Anthony in a Williamsburg conference room, where Anthony discusses recent health problems including COVID hospitalization, chemotherapy, blood transfusions, and a pacemaker. Anthony describes growing up in a multigenerational Sicilian immigrant household on Baltic Street, surrounded by relatives connected to the Black Hand, the Sicilian Mafia. He recalls a vast cast of mobsters, nicknames, and Brooklyn locations with apparent precision. Anthony then describes how in 1975 he was contacted by his cousin Cardinal Luigi Raimondi of the Vatican, who recruited him to help sell forged AT&T and IBM stock certificates in the United States, with proceeds funneled back to Italy. Anthony says Pope Paul VI was aware of the scheme. The scam collapsed when an associate informed on the group. When Pope John Paul I succeeded Paul VI, he declared he would defrock and excommunicate everyone involved in the fraud, exposing them to Italian law. Anthony says his grandfather then received a request from Vatican contacts to eliminate the new pope. After initial resistance, Anthony's grandfather persuaded him to travel to Rome with Vatican Bank head Paul Marcinkus to advise on how to carry out the killing. Anthony says he recommended lacing the pope's nightly sweet tea with liquid Valium and then administering potassium cyanide via eyedropper while the pope slept. He claims Marcinkus carried out the act, with Anthony present as a 'witness before God.' After five hours of conversation, Smerling and Zach leave the meeting. Smerling then writes to a senior Colombo family member serving a life sentence to verify Anthony's mob credentials. The prisoner initially denies knowing Anthony but, after Smerling mentions Anthony's nickname 'Pluto' and his connection to enforcer Hugh McIntosh, confirms recognizing him. The prisoner then requests no further contact. The episode ends with a preview of the next installment, which promises more detail on Anthony's mob career and the life of Pope John Paul I.

As heard by us

A wary, entertaining entry into Anthony Raimondi's mob-world claim about the death of Pope John Paul I.

Anthony Raimondi's story lands as a mafia-and-Vatican provocation, moving from a mobbed-up Brooklyn childhood to his claim about the death of Pope John Paul I, who died 33 days after becoming pope.

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A mob memoir that winds from Brooklyn to Rome and into a pope conspiracy.

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