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Operation Gladio: The Unholy Alliance between the Vatican, the CIA, and the Mafia Hardcover – February 3, 2015

by Paul L. Williams (Author)

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This disturbing exposé 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.

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Print length

381 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Prometheus Books
Publication date

February 3, 2015
Dimensions

6.3 x 1.2 x 9.3 inches
ISBN-10

1616149744
ISBN-13

978-1616149741
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Editorial Reviews

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“[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

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.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

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.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Prometheus Books (February 3, 2015)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 381 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1616149744
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1616149741
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.32 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.3 x 1.2 x 9.3 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #386,927 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #984 in Communication & Media Studies
- #1,676 in History of Christianity (Books)
- #2,148 in Christian Church History (Books)

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4.6 out of 5

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Noelle

An education

Reviewed in the United States on March 16, 2024

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Great read. Thorough but easy to read nonetheless.
Definitely a new way to view the world from WWII to the early reign of Pope Francis.

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Lisa Johnson

A deep dive into the subject matter...Will Piss You Off in the End!

Reviewed in the United States on February 2, 2024

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Nearly every red blooded American I speak to these days knows there is something not quite right about our country at present. This book will give you insight into when it started to go wrong and by whom and it ties into many of the American conflicts we have lived through since the Civil War. I have a huge library on this subject matter and it is one of the better books to wade through. It will literally piss you off when you read this material, but you will be much more informed when you do!

8 people found this helpful

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Sam

Fascinating read

Reviewed in the United States on July 28, 2023

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Very revealing, thoroughly researched, excellent read, like a crime novel, but sadly true.

3 people found this helpful

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HeavyElectronicsBuyer

The most important book I've read in 30 years. And I read a lot of books.

Reviewed in the United States on February 19, 2015

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All I can say is wow. This is a book that every concerned American should read. Instead of the lies told in our schools today, students should be reading Operation Gladio.

What's truly sad is that most of Europe and the rest of the world already knows about Operation Gladio. It's only in the USA that we're all in the dark. And you are forced to ask yourself after reading this, 'why weren't we informed at all about this? Why didn't our Congress even have a say (or did they?) in these momentous and horrible atrocities and events that happened in Europe after WWII?

The information in this book is why Gary Webb was 'suicided'. It takes a brave man to publish this, and my hat goes off to Paul Williams for doing so. The information is not subject to discussion--everything he says is backed up by the results of FOIA requests and 1st hand sources, all copiousy footnoted.

My only caveat of this book is it is incomplete. Sure, it tells all about a specific operation, which, while operating for a long time (and probably still), it is missing the overall picture. When you've finished the book, one is left thinking, 'well, this is obviously the same modus operandi as the Iran Contra, and you can smell the same level of evil pragmatism in the Kennedy assassination (I mean, it was/is the irrational fear of communism overtaking the world that is why Kennedy was assassinated, since he was trying to stop the ridiculous cold war with Russia).

It remains that there is still a very evil and nefarious shadow govt in control of a large portion of our foreign policy, and of critical portions of our govt overall. Any concerned American knows there is something seriously wrong with 9/11. Heck, there was yet another consuming fire in a hi-rise building (in Malaysia). where though portions of the building were gutted from the fire, the building managed to remain standing. Heck, you can *see* the naked steel beams after the fire was extinguished.

Yet, we're being told to believe that somehow, the steel managed to melt in not one, not even two, but THREE buildings(!!!!!!!!), one of which wasn't even hit by a freaking plane! How stupid does our gov't think we are? Obviously stupid enough, since it's been 14 years, and still there is no real investigation of what happened. And mark my words, if we do not get to the bottom of these evil acts, we are doomed to have them be repeated.

If you truly want to know what our shadow gov't is up to, this book is a must read. Just understand that what this book tells is what kinds of evil acts our alphabet agencies are capable of (Of course, Operation Northwoods, Iran Contra, ad nauseum, are excellent examples of that too, but Kennedy managed to nix that evil act), and that they're still out there doing acts of evil, in the name of our country, and by proxy, in each of our names.

But if you want to start down the rabbit hole of why the world is such a mess today, this book is a must read. If you care a whit about what goes on in our country, this book is a must read. It would also be an incredibly enjoyable read, if it wasn't freaking true. Every US citizen needs to read this book.

145 people found this helpful

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Bogdan Marcu

Relevant and documented

Reviewed in the United States on January 18, 2022

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A very good analysis of the period 1960-1980 of [mostly] Italian subterranean politics. My generation grew up with these news, penetrating behind the Iron Curtain: Aldo Moro assassination, Bologna railroad station bombing, Enrico Mattei murder, etc. And then, the attempt on Pope Wojtila's life. The Italian movies of the era, ending in tragedy and confusion (with images of blown-up Alfa Romeo's, and protagonists shot in the back by the most unexpected friend, still stuck to our brains) without any explanation of why...
P.L. Williams clarifies everything that happened then. Why, how, and more importantly, who paid for it. With notes, sources, documented, in a clear narrative. And with a powerful subliminal message: if this was happening then, the authors lengthy epilogue explains, similar dark workings continue today...

15 people found this helpful

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Tall Tom

Easy read by the author

Reviewed in the United States on January 5, 2024

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This book is easy to read, the structure of it flows really good. As far as the topic goes, "SPOILER ALERT" it is more proof that for an international intelligence gathering organization the CIA is a joke, but they are great at making and selling heroin. No wonder the CIA is in bed with the mob.

6 people found this helpful

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Michael Totten

Gripping, compelling, mind-boggling read

Reviewed in the United States on January 10, 2017

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This book is mind-boggling. I have a total disdain for conspiracy theories, and have avoided much of the literature about the covert operations of the U.S. government for half a century. But the recent chance reading of the riveting book, The Devil's Chessboard: Allen Dulles, the CIA, and the Rise of America's Secret Government, quickly followed by The Brothers: John Foster Dulles, Allen Dulles, and Their Secret World War, led me to Operation Gladio, and it is a powerful eye-opener. I think the documentation in each of these books places them well beyond the realm of conspiracies and firmly entrenched in reality. The bibliographic resources point to a rich literature, which is expanding of late due to the public release of previously classified government documents. Of course Noam Chomsky has been addressing many of these covert operation issues for decades, as did the former Wall Street Journal foreign correspondent Jonathan Kwitny in his two superb books, the 1986 book, Endless Enemies, followed in 1987 by, The Crimes of Patriots: A True Tale of Dope, Dirty Money, and the CIA. See also the gripping book by former FBI language translator Sibel Edmonds, Classified Woman-The Sibel Edmonds Story: A Memoir.

31 people found this helpful

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EvitaDrake

Dense, detailed and gripping.

Reviewed in the United States on December 19, 2022

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Highly recommend - as someone who reads in this genre I still found new revelations that shocked me. The author ties together what is truly a hydra of sinister connections and exposes the pure brutality that informs the quest for power. It is helpful in today's world to consider how these fundamental quests and strategies are being employed today.

6 people found this helpful

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Frodobaggins

An eye opener to the ugly truth

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 2, 2022

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This book is a must read for those who want to know about the true facts in Western Europe during the cold war. I liked this book so much that I read it twice with the Audible Narration. The powers that we trust for global security are the biggest criminals. Operation Gladio could even be running now.

5 people found this helpful

Cafe Baghdad

drugs finance everything and everyone who is anyone is in on it including the CIA and the Vatican

Reviewed in Germany on March 22, 2021

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when the powers that be need money they resort to the drug trade. The Vatican Banks cut or laundering cash from the Heroin trade was 15-20%. The book focuses on the period after the second World War. It should at least reference the three wars fought against China in the 19th Century, the opium wars one and two and the "8 Nation allaince", to defend the opium heroin trade that was run y the Iraqi Jewish family of David Sassoon. NATO's anti communist wars stem from the "8 Nation alliance" that fought to extend the the forced legalisation of opium in China after the Opium wars. Fantastic book !

optilune

livre important

Reviewed in France on March 9, 2020

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produit conforme et délai de livraison respectée

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Robert Alexander

A warning...Be prepared to be shocked.

Reviewed in Australia on August 20, 2017

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Having just finished this book I felt compelled to say how important it is for every thinking person to read it. Your view of the world will never be the same again. What it reveals is truly mind blowing and shattering.

One person found this helpful

John Duddy

Prepare to be stunned.

Reviewed in Canada on June 11, 2015

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Prepare to be stunned. Following World War Two, in business together were the Vatican, the CIA and the Mafia. Pope Pius X11 and friends created the Vatican Bank and started laundering drug money for the CIA. Lucky Luciano and the Sicilian Mafia helped the evolving CIA to create a huge money laundering scheme to pay for terrorist attacks that plagued Europe for many years, killing and wounding thousands to prevent leftists from taking over governments. The Vatican Bank provided funds for CIA to help overthrow leaders and social movements in many countries of Europe and Latin America etc. Imagine, the Australian government ousted in a coup. Read about Vatican banker, Roberto Calvi hanging from Blackfriars Bridge, read about rogue popes, Mafia Dons, Henry Kissinger, Clinton and Mena. Read about the October Surprise when CIA/George H. W. Bush arranged the Reagan election in a conspiracy; read about Negros and narcotics, secret societies, false flag terrorism, the murder of a Pope. The mess we find ourselves in today can be partly explained by this on-going conspiracy. And the damage continues well into the new century. The author is Catholic; he pulls no punches about the cover-up of pedophile clergy; he is not thrilled by the elevation of John Paul the Second to sainthood.
Prepare to be stunned.
Which country is the top terrorist country in the world?
Who are the top drug dealers in the world?
Name the biggest money laundering banks in living memory.
This book is a top notch read, with footnotes and index. Great work Paul L. Williams.

8 people found this helpful

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Operation Gladio: The Unholy Alliance between the Vatican, the CIA, and the Mafia Hardcover – February 3, 2015

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