How America's biggest banks took part in a nationwide bid-rigging conspiracy - until they were caught on tape.

Someday, it will go down in history as the first trial of the modern American mafia. Of course, you won't hear the recent financial corruption case, United States of America v. Carollo, Goldberg and Grimm, called anything like that. If you heard about it at all, you're probably either in the municipal bond business or married to an antitrust lawyer. Even then, all you probably heard was that a threesome of bit players on Wall Street got convicted of obscure antitrust violations in one of the most inscrutable, jargon-packed legal snoozefests since the government's massive case against Microsoft in the Nineties – not exactly the thrilling courtroom drama offered by the famed trials of old-school mobsters like Al Capone or Anthony "Tony Ducks" Corallo.

But this just-completed trial in downtown New York against three faceless financial executives really was historic. Over 10 years in the making, the case allowed federal prosecutors to make public for the first time the astonishing inner workings of the reigning American crime syndicate, which now operates not out of Little Italy and Las Vegas, but out of Wall Street.

This Matt Taibbi essay was posted on the rollingstone.com website about lunchtime yesterday...and is from the July 5th issue of Rolling Stone magazine. It's a very long must read...and I thank reader U.D. for being the first one through the door with it. The link is here.

Ratings agency Moody's downgraded the long-term credit ratings of 15 major U.S., Canadian, and European banks today after markets in New York closed.

Of the 15 firms downgraded this afternoon, none were hit more than Moody's originally said was possible when it placed them on review in February.

The action will likely force many of the banks targeted post additional collateral against trades held on their books.

The fact of the matter is that most, if not all, of these banks are insolvent anyway. Only rule changes and 'new and improved' accounting procedures make them look good on paper. There is no market for most of the paper 'assets' they have on their respective books. This story was posted on the businessinsider.com website yesterday...and I thank Roy Stephens for sending it. The link is here.

Italy's prime minister, Mario Monti, has warned of the apocalyptic consequences of failure at next week's summit of EU leaders, outlining a potential death spiral whose consequences would become more political than economic.

The Italian leader is to hold talks with Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, the French president, François Hollande, and Spain's prime minister, Mariano Rajoy, in the hope that the single currency's big four countries can pave the way for a breakthrough at next week's meeting.

Speaking to The Guardian and a group of leading European newspapers, Monti said that, without a successful outcome at the summit, "there would be progressively greater speculative attacks on individual countries, with harassment of the weaker countries". The attacks would be focused not only on those who had failed to respect EU guidelines, but also on those like Italy, which he said had abided by the rules "but which carry with them from the past a high debt".

This story was filed from Rome yesterday...and is posted on the guardian.co.uk Internet site...and I thank Bob Fitzwilson for sending it. The link is here.

Italy's technocrat government risks a parliamentary mutiny unless premier Mario Monti can secure major concessions from Germany at a crucial summit of the eurozone's Big Four powers in Rome on Friday.

"Monti is desperate. Reform fatigue has breached breaking point," said a top Italian official. "There is a feeling here that the euro is basically dead already. Unless Germany offers a road map out of this crisis, Monti is not going to be able to hold it together much longer."

This story is the same as the one from The Guardian, except it has a whole different spin on it. Ambrose Evans-Pritchard does the honours in this piece posted on The Telegraph's website yesterday evening. I thank Roy for sending it my way...and it's certainly worth the read. the link is here.

Independent auditors said Spanish banks may need up to €62 billion in extra capital, to be filled mostly by a euro zone bailout, after Spain's medium-term borrowing costs spiraled to a euro-era record on Thursday.

Euro zone finance ministers met in Luxembourg to discuss how to channel up to €100 billion ($126 billion) in aid to Spanish lenders weighed down by bad debts from a burst property bubble. Madrid's economy minister said a formal request would be made in days for the bailout, which was agreed two weeks ago.

Many in the markets see the package as a mere prelude to a full program for the Spanish state, which Madrid vehemently denies it will need.

A prelude it is, as neither €62 or €100 billion will fix the Spanish banking system. This Reuters story was posted on their website yesterday evening Eastern time...and I thank Roy Stephens once again for bringing it to our attention. The link is here.

A meeting of eurozone finance ministers in Luxembourg was expected to send the “troika” of officials from the European Central Bank, European Commission and IMF back to Athens after the elections last weekend.

The new government, a fragile coalition which faces a strong far-Left opposition, has asked the EU for an extra two years to hit austerity targets set as part of the country’s €240bn (£193bn) bail-out.

Eurozone finance ministers, relieved that a pro-bailout Greek government has been formed, saving the EU’s single currency from almost certain break-up, are sympathetic to giving Greece more time.

This is another story posted on the telegraph.co.uk Internet site. This one was filed around 1:00 p.m. Eastern time. As usual, I thank Roy Stephens for sending it...and the link is here.

The International Monetary Fund has directly confronted Germany by urging the eurozone to take a "determined and forceful move" to "complete economic and monetary union" by sharing government debt and underwriting failing banks.

Christine Lagarde, the IMF's managing director, last night unveiled the blueprint to save the euro while warning that the EU's single currency was under "acute stress" that threatened "the viability of the monetary union itself".

The IMF's intervention is timed to tip the balance against Angela Merkel at a critical summit between Germany, France, Italy and Spain in Rome today where the embattled German Chancellor will be fighting off identical demands.

This Roy Stephens offering was posted on The Telegraph's website just before midnight British Summer Time. It's a must read in my opinion...and the link is here.

Air France said Thursday it is to slash over 5,000 jobs or around 10 percent of its workforce in voluntary departures by 2014 as part of a vast plan to make the struggling French airline profitable.

A total of 5,122 jobs will be shed and the carrier said in a statement that all departures would be voluntary provided a new framework agreement can be signed with unions.

"Air France has chosen to work in complete transparency and to privilege social dialogue to find structural and sustainable solutions, included in corporate agreements," it said.

This story was posted over on The Economic Times of India website earlier this morning...and is another story from Roy. The link is here.

For a long time, the German economic powerhouse seemed immune to the effects of the European debt crisis. In recent weeks, however, economic indicators have begun to suggest that dark clouds may be gathering over Germany.

German companies believe the euro crisis has damaged their prospects for growth in 2012, according to new figures released on Thursday. Manufacturing activity hit a three-year low and export orders have also seen a sharp drop. The data suggest the crisis is starting to hit the previously robust German economy.

This story showed up on the German website spiegel.de yesterday...and I thank Roy Stephens for digging it up for us. The link is here.

The HSBC manufacturing PMI, which monitors activity in the sector, fell to 48.1 in June from 48.8 in May - anything below 50 signals contraction. June marked the eighth consecutive month of contraction.

Chinese manufacturing was hit both by falling exports and weak domestic demand. New export orders fell sharply in June to the lowest level since March 2009, underlining the weakness of some of China’s major trading partners.

China’s manufacturing sector continued to slow in June,” said Qu Hongbin, HSBC’s co-head of Asian economic research.

I thank Roy for this story as well. It was posted early in the evening BST on the telegraph.co.uk website...and the link is here.

The first is with Egon von Greyerz...and it's headlined "We Are Headed For Panic As Global Markets Tumble". The last blog is with James Turk...and it's entitled "Gold & Stocks Smashed, Expect Massive Spike In Fear".

With gold crossing the Rs 30,000 mark, investors are betting on silver now. Last week's rally took the white metal's spot prices close to Rs 55,000 per kg from around Rs 52,000 barely a month ago. Bullion dealers say demand for silver is coming from the industrial sector and coin sales but analysts feel an upward swing in the prices of metals coupled with a weak rupee has resulted in the rally.

India imports the white metal as production is insufficient to meet growing demand. India is the largest importer as well as consumer and the average domestic consumption of the metal is around 3,000 tonne per annum, according to a report of the Working Group on Mineral Exploration and Development. "Indian import of silver for 2012 is expected to decline to a range of 3,500 tonne to 4,000 tonne owing to a weak rupee and a high import duty compared to 4,800 tonne imported last year.

This story was posted on The Economic Times of India website before the big New York smash-down yesterday. I thank West Virginia reader Elliot Simon for sending it along...and the link is here.

GATA's secretary/treasurer was interviewed for five minutes this morning on CNBC Asia in Hong Kong by news anchor Bernie Lo. Video of the interview has been posted at the CNBC Asia archive...and it's a must watch. The link is here.

Archeologists in Germany have an unlikely new hero: former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder. They have nothing but praise for the cigar-smoking veteran Social Democratic politician.

Why? Because it was Schröder who, together with Russian leader Vladimir Putin, pushed through a plan to pump Russian natural gas to Western Europe. For that purpose, an embankment 440 kilometers (275 miles) long and up to 30 meters (100 feet) wide had to be created from Lubmin, a coastal resort town in northeastern Germany, to Rehden in Lower Saxony near the northwestern city of Bremen.

The result has been a veritable cornucopia of ancient discoveries. The most beautiful find was made in the Gessel district of Lower Saxony, where 117 pieces of gold were found stacked tightly together in a rotten linen cloth. The hidden treasure is about 3,300 years old.

The 1.8 kilograms (4 pounds) of gold, which was found in a field, consists of some jewelry, but primarily spirals of gold wire, which are tied together in chains consisting of 10 spirals each. This isn't jewelry, but an ancient form of gold bullion.

I posted the original story of this find back in February when they first dug it up. A lot of water has passed under the bridge since then...and now the arguing has begun. It's a must read for sure...and Roy Stephens last offering in today's column. It's posted over at the spiegel.de Internet site...and the link is here.