This disturbing expos 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 staybehind units in many European countries consisting of five thousand to fifteen thousand military operatives. According to the authors 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 leftwing movements in South America and NATObased 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 mujahedeen 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.In a new and lengthy epilogue to this paperback edition the author continues the Gladio story into the 21st century suggesting that the CIA is heavily involved in the US heroin trade to fund its operations in Central Asia the Middle East and Mexico. In addition he presents troubling information about the creation and support of ISIS.Sure to be controversial Operation Gladio connects the dots in ways the mainstream media often overlooks.