Today we're excited to bring you the first episode of Shadow Kingdom: God's Banker. In the summer of 1982, the Vatican’s top money man was found dead. Roberto Calvi was at the center of a prolific money laundering scheme that put him in the crosshairs of the Sicilian mafia, a secret far-right chapter of the Freemasons, and the Catholic Church. Forty years after his death was ruled a suicide, Shadow Kingdom host Nicolo Majnoni got a tip that there was more to the story. So who killed God’s banker?

Shadow Kingdom is a new series from Crooked Media and Campside Media. Each season starts with a crime, and as the layers are peeled back to find out who or what is at the center of it, a larger system at play is revealed.

Subscribe to Shadow Kingdom: God’s Banker wherever you get your podcasts or join Crooked's Friends Of The Pod subscription community to hear the full season right now. Join Friends Of The Pod at crooked.com/friends or subscribe through the Shadow Kingdom Apple feed.

Tommy and Ben discuss late-breaking news that Russia and Ukraine may agree to a 30-day ceasefire, Canada’s new Prime Minister and the rapidly escalating trade war with the United States that he’ll inherit, and the final death knell for USAID. They also talk about the irrational anger at the Trump administration’s direct talks with Hamas, and the Anti-Defamation League’s ludicrous support of the arrest of a Columbia university student for his role in pro-Palestine protests. Then they cover the recent violence in Syria between the new government and pro-Assad loyalists, and the ICC arrest of Rodrigo Duterte, former President of the Philippines. Then Tommy speaks to journalist and System Update host Glenn Greenwald about the Trump administration’s attacks on free speech, a realistic end to the war in Ukraine, Tulsi Gabbard, Trump’s new FBI leadership, and censorship in Brazil.

For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email transcripts@crooked.com and include the name of the podcast.

Tommy and Ben discuss the continued fallout from President Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s disastrous White House meeting, including Europe’s attempt to come up with an alternative peace plan, Trump casually talking about regime change in Ukraine, and the giddy response from the Kremlin. They also discuss the potentially devastating economic consequences of Trump’s trade war with Canada, China, and Mexico, the grim death toll from DOGE destroying USAID, why the Trump administration helped Andrew Tate return to America, Israel blocking humanitarian aid to Gaza, and news from Panama, Venezuela, and Mexico. Then Ben speaks to Natasha Hall, Senior Fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, about the way geopolitics are affecting the establishment of a new government in Syria.

For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email transcripts@crooked.com and include the name of the podcast.