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

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 [in the late 1970s] 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.)[em] [/em]