Operation Gladio: The Unholy Alliance between the Vatican, the CIA, and the Mafia

by Paul L. Williams

Overview

This disturbing expose describes a secret alliance forged at the close of World War II by the CIA, the Sicilian and US mafias, and the Vatican to thwart the possibility of a Communist invasion of Europe. Journalist Paul L. Williams presents evidence suggesting the existence of "stay-behind" units in many European countries consisting of five thousand to fifteen thousand military operatives. According to the author's research, the initial funding for these guerilla armies came from the sale of large stocks of SS morphine that had been smuggled out of Germany and Italy and of bogus British bank notes that had been produced in concentration camps by skilled counterfeiters. As the Cold War intensified, the units were used not only to ward off possible invaders, but also to thwart the rise of left-wing movements in South America and NATO-based countries by terror attacks. Williams argues that Operation Gladio soon gave rise to the toppling of governments, wholesale genocide, the formation of death squads, financial scandals on a grand scale, the creation of the mujahideen, an international narcotics network, and, most recently, the ascendancy of Jorge Mario Bergoglio, a Jesuit cleric with strong ties to Operation Condor (an outgrowth of Gladio in Argentina) as Pope Francis I.Sure to be controversial, Operation Gladio connects the dots in ways the mainstream media often overlooks.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781633884793
Publisher:	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	12/18/2018
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	416
Sales rank:	589,753
File size:	871 KB

About the Author

Paul L. Williams, PhD, is a journalist and the author of Crescent Moon Rising, The Day of Islam, Osama’s Revenge, The Al Qaeda Connection, and The Vatican Exposed, among other books. The winner of three first-place Keystone Press Awards for journalism, he has written articles for major news outlets, including USA Today, the Wall Street Journal, and National Review. He has also served as a consultant for the FBI, editor and publisher of the Metro (Scranton, PA), and an adjunct professor of humanities at the University of Scranton.

Read an Excerpt

Apologia

I  know what you’re thinking.

The author of this book must be a Baptist.

It’s a common assumption.

Most Welsh people are Baptists and Williams is a Welsh name.

But names are deceptive.

I was born and raised a Roman Catholic. My parish was St. John the Baptist Church in West Scranton, where I learned by rote the Baltimore Catechism and sang “Panis Angelicus” with the choir. I wrote “JMJ” (Jesus, Mary, and Joseph) on the right hand corner of my composition papers, went to confession every Saturday afternoon, and received Holy Communion at Sunday Mass. I participated in all the rites and rituals—the Forty Hour Devotion to the Blessed Sacrament, the recitation of the litanies to the saints, and the yearly novenas at St. Ann’s Basilica.

In those Tridentine days, the liturgy was in Latin, which gave the Mass a sense of timelessness and the assurance that the teachings of Holy Mother Church were semper eadem—“always the same”—binding the generations in one system of belief.

I had my throat blessed on the feast of St. Blaise and my forehead anointed with ashes on the first day of Lent. I wore a St. Christopher’s medal and a scapular. I fasted and abstained on the days appointed and received all the sacraments, save Holy Orders and Extreme Unction.

As a graduate student at Drew University, my mentor was Fr. Gabriel Coless, an Augustinian monk, who provided rigorous instruction in the Patristics and Medieval Latin. After receiving my doctorate, I taught religion and the humanities at the University of Scranton, a Jesuit institution, and served as the editor of the annual proceedings of the Fellowship of Catholic Scholars. I also penned a number of articles on Vatican II and the effects of aggiornamento for National Review, where I met William Buckley, the celebrated CIA spook.

I encountered the wrath of Rome while writing Everything You Always Wanted to Know about the Catholic Church for Doubleday. Doubleday, at that time, was a publishing outlet for the Catholic Church through its imprint, Image Books, and an imprimatur was considered a prerequisite for publication. My clerical overseers found no fault with my handling of the evolution of doctrine and the matter of the pontiffs who later were decried as heretics. The problem arose with the subject of the Church’s “temporalities.” I was told to expunge all references to the Vatican Bank, including the donation of Mussolini, the Ambrosiano affair, and the P2 scandal. These topics had garnered headlines throughout the world and to exclude them from a book with a tell-all title would be an act of obsequiousness that bordered on cowardice. I refused to make the suggested cuts and was supported in my decision by Patricia Kossman, my intrepid editor. In 1990, the work was published by Doubleday without a nihil obstat—the declaration that nothing about the work is contrary to the faith—despite the fact that it contained no canonical errata.

In subsequent years, I probed deeper into the affairs of Vatican, Inc., during my tenure as the editor and publisher of the Metro, and as a consultant (CI-9) for the FBI. My findings, including the ties between the Vatican and Gambino crime family, constituted the core of The Vatican Exposed: Money, Murder and the Mafia, which was published by Prometheus in 2001.

For the past fourteen years, I have been engaged in combing all available government records regarding the Vatican, the CIA, and the Mafia. The task has been grueling, since most of the files—even the files of Pope Paul VI, Michele Sindona, Roberto Calvi, Archbishop Paul Marcinkus and other individuals long dead—remain classified; any disclosure of their contents would represent a threat to “national security.” Fortunately, enough information has come to light in recent years that readers can obtain a complete account of the unholy alliance of Gladio.

Am I still a Catholic?

Suffice it to say, anyone who attempts to come to terms with the facts presented in these pages will have his faith in Holy Mother Church compromised, if not shattered.

Table of Contents

Apologia 9

Acknowledgments 11

Leading Rogues 13

Chronology 15

List of Abbreviations 19

Chapter 1 The Stay-Behind Units 23

Chapter 2 The Lucky Break: Negroes and Narcotics 30

Chapter 3 The Vatican Alliance 45

Chapter 4 The Drug Network 53

Chapter 5 The Secret Society 61

Chapter 6 The Rise of Michele Sindona 79

Chapter 7 False Flag Terrorism 95

Chapter 8 Gladio: South of the Border 111

Chapter 9 Il Crack Sindona 128

Chapter 10 High Times, New Crimes 145

Chapter 11 A Papal Problem 154

Chapter 12 The New Network 167

Chapter 13 The Shell Game 179

Chapter 14 The Desperate Don 189

Chapter 15 The Pope Must Die 196

Chapter 16 The Shooting in St. Peter's Square 206

Chapter 17 A Raid and Redirection 216

Chapter 18 Blackfriars Bridge 223

Chapter 19 Killings and Kidnapping 232

Chapter 20 Works of God 243

Chapter 21 Death and Resurrection 256

Chapter 22 Gladio Triumphant 266

Chapter 23 Semper Eadem 281

An Epilogue in Four Parts 291

Notes 321

Index 383

Editorial Reviews

12/22/2014
Williams (Crescent Moon Rising: The Islamic Transformation of America) struggles to convince readers of the many of the conspiracies presented in his book, such as the improbable claim that “the Vatican played a key role in the emergence of the cocaine trade by offering the drug cartels its money-laundering service in exchange for stiff fees.” But not many readers are likely to be persuaded by his blend of hyperbole and innuendo. For example, Williams exaggerates in claiming that the “only” regime to create “a state of fear approximating that of Argentina was Hitler’s Germany.” He condemns those with deposits in a CIA-backed bank in the Bahamas, including Creedence Clearwater Revival—without producing any evidence that the band was, or should have been, aware of the bank’s role in laundering money. Williams also doesn’t always connect the dots he feels should be connected; he notes, for example, the claims that ex-CIA agents were present when Pope John Paul II was shot, without explaining why their presence would make any sense, even if they were a party to a conspiracy. The book, as a result, is an unconvincing account of over half a century of megaconspiracies. (Feb.)

Publishers Weekly

"[Operation Gladio] is riveting, incredibly well researched, and horrifying in its implications; it should be mandatory study in universities and government.” —IQ al Rassooli, member of the Advisory Council for the Intelligence Summit and author of Lifting the Veil: The True Faces of Muhammad and Islam“The people and their misdeeds exposed in Paul Williams's Operation Gladio will cause the reader to question what person of authority and leadership can be trusted, especially since these foul acts are not confined solely to the dusty pages of history.” —Sgt. Thomas Juby, retired Royal Canadian Mounted Police Forensic Crime Scene Investigator and member of the Advisory Council for the Intelligence Summit“The Court of Public Opinion is finally in session. We, the Jury, will read aloud this critical verdict to the world: ‘These Emperor Caesars definitely have no clothes!' Vicious felons have been hiding in plain sight. Williams's book is not just a book but a blatant indictment against these exposed, treacherous, and ruthless tyrants!” —Brent M. P. Beleskey, producer for The Intelligence Summit: International Educational Forum, former consultant for the Ontario Gang Investigators Association, member of Drug Watch International, and investigative researcher for Paul Palango's Dispersing the Fog: Inside the Secret World of Ottawa and the RCMP“For decades the CIA has been conducting covert wars without the knowledge or consent of the United States Congress or the American people. The CIA has funneled billions of dollars into dark operations, funding gun running, criminal figures, and attempted coup operations that resulted in the deaths of scores of people—all under the guise of ‘national security.' Paul Williams exposes one such operation—Gladio—and courageously reveals the shadowy connections between US intelligence, the secret Vatican bank, and the global Mafia. Williams demonstrates a level of courage I have seen in few authors today.” —Kevin M. Shipp, former CIA operative and author of From the Company of Shadows“

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